Kaizo R34 owner gets US DOJ letter : 60 Days to Export or Surrender

[DeutscheBAG!]

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8MPCKJQzPA8/SoiF0UdvQeI/AAAAAAAAk14/R1Hu4qijNt0/SCAN0002.jpg_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800
http://gtrusa.blogspot.com/200....html (http://gtrusa.blogspot.com/2009/08/us-department-of-justice-letter-60-days.html)

[Krappy]

Not a R34, it was for an R33... If that is an actual letter from US DOJ it's terrible, he states "if my information if correct" and provides no evidence and who the hell from DOJ ends a letter with "Very truly yours" from DOJ?

[Elbow]

Uhhh what's the point of posting this? lol

[Krappy]

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/08/11/us_attorney_thomas_obrien_stepping_down/

Same US Attorney who dictated the letter is now stepping down, because he failed so bad at dictating a letter.

[DeutscheBAG!]

Uhhh what's the point of posting this? lol

car talk you big dummy :D

[Doppelgänger]

Oh I love that our government feels the need to spend xxxxxx money on hunting down a few Skyline owners and putting a knife to their throat for no justifiable reason. Someone should send them an envelope full of anthrax in return. If I had a Skyline and I got one of those letters...it would be game on.

If I were bored enough, i'd actually like to call Mr Eastman and ask why they give a Flying-F about some random car.

[Elbow]

Especially in this time, when crime locally has sky rocketed, people are losing jobs, etc. The government fears a Skyline on the road.

[RUFFIAN]

Its the God Damned tree huggers and the same asshole who get mad at the Weed growers and the moonshiners for not kicking proceeds to the gov.

[nintendobratkat]

Especially in this time, when crime locally has sky rocketed, people are losing jobs, etc. The government fears a Skyline on the road.

lol

[RL...]

The governments priorities have always been misplaced....

[Shift_2WIN]

^x2

[speedminded]

R33's are federally legal...and why would the Department of Homeland Security be CC'd at the bottom?

[SampaGuy]

Oh I love that our government feels the need to spend xxxxxx money on hunting down a few Skyline owners and putting a knife to their throat for no justifiable reason.



If you and I can't import and drive a skyline then so shouldn't he. Its about being fair to everybody. Its a risk all the skyline owners take.

[speedminded]

Oh I love that our government feels the need to spend xxxxxx money on hunting down a few Skyline owners and putting a knife to their throat for no justifiable reason. Someone should send them an envelope full of anthrax in return. If I had a Skyline and I got one of those letters...it would be game on.

If I were bored enough, i'd actually like to call Mr Eastman and ask why they give a Flying-F about some random car.Corporate and Government establishments are laying off people left and right. Ever think some employees may be doing a little extra to secure themselves a job?

The last I heard the Kaizo's are a stripped down unibody you purchase and built from the ground up, no different than replica GT40's or Cobra's. Most replica's are of cars that are over 25 years old though. I've heard different stories on how people are registering the Kaizo cars.

Kaizo's website now says it's "temporarily" down so I don't know if they got Motorex'd or not. Even Motorex's website is still up so I find that highly unlikely unless they took it down to cover it up. Too many assumptions going on.

The letter shows the VIN # starting with ECR33...if that is indeed an R34 registered as an R33 then why not put the hammer down on them? That's exactly what Motorex did. R33's are federally legal in the US, R32's and R34's are not.

[Shadow102]

Interesting question though is why are r33's federally legal but 32 and 34 are not?

[TIGERJC]

Interesting question though is why are r33's federally legal but 32 and 34 are not?
B/c Motorex did all the safety and epa tests on the r33, so thats the only legal skyline out of the 3. The r32 and r34 have never been safety, and epa tested

[speedminded]

Interesting question though is why are r33's federally legal but 32 and 34 are not?It's about $1,000,000 to perform crash testing. Motorex purchased the results of the crash testing from a company and begun importing R32-R34's under the same results claiming them all as the same vehicle. There are also extensive modifications required to make them EPA legal, which they weren't doing. Eventually the DOT, EPA, NHTSA, and Customs all came down on them.

[nintendobratkat]

It's about $1,000,000 to perform crash testing. Motorex purchased the results of the crash testing from a company and begun importing R32-R34's under the same results claiming them all as the same vehicle. There are also extensive modifications required to make them EPA legal, which they weren't doing. Eventually the DOT, EPA, NHTSA, and Customs all came down on them.

I thought you could import them legally if they were only going to be used as track cars. Is that wrong?

[Sinfix_15]

i dont know about you guys.... but i feel a lot safer now knowing that Skyline is off the street!

[IntegraXTR]

^^ that's what I thought, if you're just importing them for show or track then it is legal. I could be wrong though.

[nintendobratkat]

I found some stuff here: http://www.nicoclub.com/articles/skyline-import-1.shtml

It's like 6 pages though..


Skyline and the US Federal Government
Vehicles imported into the United States that are less than 25 years old must comply with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) regulations and they must be imported via a Registered Importer (RI). If vehicles are imported that do not meet FMVSS regulations, they must be brought up to compliance by the RI within 120 days of entry into the US. NHTSA also limits the models of vehicles that are eligible for importation into the United States.

NHTSA states, "to be imported free of restriction, a motor vehicle less than 25 years old must be originally manufactured to comply with all applicable FMVSS and bear a label certifying such compliance that is permanently affixed by the vehicle's original manufacturer.". Skylines, sadly, do NOT meet that criteria.

What does the above mean? First off, the NHTSA had originally determined that the 1990-1999 versions of the RHD Nissan GTS and GT-R Skyline were eligible for importation (R32, R33, R34 generations) as long as a HS-7 declaration is made. At the time it enters the US, the clock starts ticking and the car must be brought up to code via the RI within the 120 days allowed. Hey, this sounds simple!

Not so fast. The question that must be posed is: What is required to bring the vehicle up to FMVSS standards? That's a hard one to answer as only a few people really know. Many so-called "importers" CLAIM to know, but won't divulge their information under the guise of "protecting their business interests" which is a convenient way to skirt the question. In reality they have no clue as to the process needed for Federal legailzaton and simply dump the burden on their customers.

In comes the saga of Motorex. Motorex was a RI that was in business from 1998 to 2002 after which time they closed shop. Motorex took the initiative to work with the Federal Government in order to determine what is needed to bring an imported Skyline "up to code" to be legal within the US. As part of this process, they worked with JK Technologies to import numerous R33's, at their expense, for crash testing in order to determine the modifications needed. As a consequence, Motorex claimed a proprietary interest in the modifications which are now covered by a confidentiality grant. Not only did this give Motorex a corner on the market for legal Skylines, it also allowed them to command a premium price for each legalized car. In effect, other RI's do not have access to the information gained via the crash tests performed nor the modifications needed, thus they will not be able to get Skylines to meet FMVSS requirements.

While making loads of money, Motorex also made loads of enemies. In yet another interesting twist, it was alleged that Motorex didn't actually comply with all crash test requirements for the R32 and R34. The US Department of Transportation, in response, offically rescinded importation eligibility for both the R32 and R34 Skylines, therefore only 96-98 R33 Skylines were still eligible to be imported. However, since that date, Motorex encountered a flurry of additional legal challenges, ultimately closing its doors. As a result, there is currently no information available (confidential nor public) to legalize R32's nor R34's.

UPDATE: On March 13, 2008, the NHTSA added addendums to the rules as they apply to the crash tested R33's. The previously mentioned Confidentiality Agreement with Motorex/J.K. Motorsports has expired, thus the steps required to legally modify R33's has been released. The only information not included in the disclosure concerns EPA required OBD modifications. Full disclosure is available for review: NHTSA-update.pdf

On March 1, 2006, the NHTSA issued the following decision, rescinding nearly all Skylines from importation eligibility:

"This document announces a final decision by NHTSA to partially rescind a prior decision by the agency that 1990-1999 Nissan GTS and GTR passenger cars not originally manufactured to comply with all applicable Federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS) are eligible for importation into the United States. As a result of this decision, only Nissan R33 model GTS and GTR passenger cars manufactured between January 1996 and June 1998 are eligible for importation. All other model and model year vehicles admissible under the prior decision are no longer eligible for importation. As a consequence, the agency is rescinding vehicle eligibility number VCP-17, which covered vehicles admissible under the prior decision, and issuing vehicle eligibility number VCP-32 to cover only those model and model year Nissan GTS nd GTR passenger cars that remain eligible for importation. The rescission will only bar the future importation of the model and model year Nissan GTS and GTR passenger cars that are no longer eligible for importation, and will not affect the status of vehicles that have already been lawfully imported under vehicle eligibility number VCP-17."

JK Technologies, LLC, who performed the actual crash testing for Motorex, did petition the NHTSA to perform crash testing for R34's. Due to the Motorex fiasco and VCP-17 above, the petition was denied and will continue to be denied for R32's and R34's. As for R33's, only JK Technologies have any information or the capabilities to federally legalize these vehicles.

To recap the above: Skylines imported into the US for use on public roads must either be over 25 years old or they must conform to FMVSS standards. While R32 - R34 Skylines were initially allowed for import, the FHTSA rescinded the importation of the majority of Skylines by limiting it to R33's that were manufactured between January 1996 and June 1998. In order to import a Skyline, an official RI must be used and they must fill out a HS-7 declaration for the vehicle. If the vehicle is to be used on the streets then the RI has 120 days in order to modify the vehicle to pass FHVSS requirements. The only company that has information in regards to Federally legalize R33's is JK technologies. No other RI has access to this information nor are they capable of performing the upgrades needed for Federal legalization. It is possible for another RI to Federally legalize R33 Skylines but they will have to first go though the costly process that Morotex/JK Technologies has already performed and as of this time none have done so.

And this...


Show / Off-Road Use Only
Additionally, it should be noted that there are a number of Skylines in the US listed as off- road (read: racing) purposes only. A vehicle imported for "Show or Display" may receive NHTSA approval to be driven on the highway, but the odometer must not register more than 2,500 miles in a 12-month period. NHTSA approval of limited on-road use is to allow the vehicle to be driven to and from nearby displays of similar automobiles. Another reason permission is granted is to maintain the vehicle’s engine, braking, lighting, and other dynamic systems in good working order. The Catch: The vehicle is still required to meet EPA requirements. If the original engine in the vehicle will be replaced with a non-original engine to meet EPA requirements, it must be identified in your application since it may impact on the technological or historical significance of the vehicle, thereby resulting in a denial of the application. Such permits are rarely granted and are monitored closely.

[1SICKLEX]

Basically the fockers tried to very very very loosely interpret the law and got boned for it. They basically tried to sell a JDM legal Skyline as a "kit car".

Those are NOT kit cars, they are registered vehicles in Japan.

Unless they got the best lawyer ever and a judge they know, they will lose this case.

[VooDooXII]

There aren't enough cars that "don't comply with the EPA standards" for people to be worrying about. Real or not, I hate how this sort of stuff is such a worry.

[Glides]

Lol. Called the numbers, they match up to the peoples name. Lawl.