State Titled JDM cars,, your days may be numbered

[speedminded]

They are and they aren't. Some people just don't know what they're talking about and others are insistent that it's the skyline itself that's illegal. The truth is how they have been brought over, and there ARE legally imported Skylines in America. When they come through they must come through an importer which can modify them and certify them to be street-legal and be properly bonded. Same as how you get a TVR into America, and I've seen more of those than Skylines. The difference is that a TVR is an expensive enough car that people have it imported the RIGHT way.


Another way to get the car is to live overseas as an active agent of our wonderful federal government, typically the military. You can bring the car that you purchased overseas back with you, as long as you pay for shipping it here, as long as you have had it for a certain amount of time overseas. A car you have for six months wouldn't count. The car you've driven for five years while you served your country? Yeah. The problem is cars that are brought back that way are not actually imported. They're brought back as property of a government agent serving overseas and are not legal to sell or be owned by anyone. Once the person is done with them, or if the person that brought them leaves the country again, the car is supposed to go out as well. There's also time limits if you're talking about certain reasons to be overseas. It's a loophole, but not one anyone can really exploit.


Oh, and as long as it's Homeland Security and not DOT/Customs taking your car away, they are taking the car away because of an issue during importation, not because of an issue with the car itself. Blame the guy who decided to bring it here without spending the time and money to get it done legally.

Re-read the thread on the other forum. You don't have the Japanese Title? I'd seriously look into the paper-trail for that car, because if you're not careful it may get tagged as stolen property (What 90% of most Skylines get seized because of) and impounded. Not having a Japanese title on an obviously imported car is a BIG RED FLAG.

Unless Nissan of America gives you a letter saying that the chassis is 100% the same as an existing American version car as far as crash testing is concerned then the R32 and R34 is illegal. The R33 is the only one of the three that has had the crash testing successfully performed on it, the R32 didn't pass and the R34 hasn't been tested. Motorex bought the R33 test results from a company in Wisconsin and claimed the R32 and R34 was the exact same car, that's one of the reason's why they got in serious trouble.

An emissions conversion may pass the EPA regulations but neither the R32 or R34 are NHTSA or DOT legal until they successfully go through the the crash testing procedures and meet their safety regulations.

[Kaiser]

Unless Nissan of America gives you a letter saying that the chassis is 100% the same as an existing American version car as far as crash testing is concerned then the R32 and R34 is illegal. The R33 is the only one of the three that has had the crash testing successfully performed on it, the R32 didn't pass and the R34 hasn't been tested. Motorex bought the R33 test results from a company in Wisconsin and claimed the R32 and R34 was the exact same car, that's one of the reason's why they got in serious trouble.

An emissions conversion may pass the EPA regulations but neither the R32 or R34 are NHTSA or DOT legal until they successfully go through the the crash testing procedures and meet their safety regulations.

And a Bugatti Veyron cannot claim to have passed the exact same safety tests, because Bugatti refuses to allow any of the cars, or even chassis without engines (Which would not pass american regulations anyways) to be trashed just to test how it reacts under certain pre-assumed conditions. That doesn't magically mean that the three people who have Veyrons here in the states are going to get their cars seized tommorow. There are plenty of ways to have a car legally registered as a street-legal vehicle in the US if you're willing to actually look through. 90% of ALL issues with imported vehicles have NOTHING to do with the safety or regulation of the vehicle itself, but instead are caused by people trying to cheat the required duties and taxes on the vehicles, or because the cars are missing a link in the title chain that means you can't trace ownership. That redflags the car as possible stolen property and will almost always guarantee indefinite impound "awaiting further investingation" that will probably never happen. The government is trully more interested in getting it's "fair share" than whether or not the cars are suitable for open-market sale in america. Something which is significantly different from being suitable for private personal importing anyways.

Other cars that would have a VERY hard time being "legal" because of safety rules: Every single limited production european super luxury car that refused to waste half-million dollar vehicles on proving whether or not the driver could survive a side-impact at 35mph. Every single hotrod or kit car built off of a modern fab & fit chassis from a chassis shop. Every single true hotrod that has a replica chassis to replace overly rusted or damaged chassis rather than a rebuilt and reinforced original. Those last two typically get "counted" as "antiques" even though 90% or more of their parts are completely modern, and the only thing "antique" about them is their styling. Every car with a lambo door kit, aftermarket seats or seatbelts (Even standard three-point versions, let alone harnesses). Every limousine ever produced. Ever. Period...I could sit here and think of a hundred other possibilities for cars that no longer or never did meet their safety ratings and can still be found on the roads of america. Not to mention things like the Pinto and the Yugo who's design flaws weren't exposed during testing and are still around today. Or vehicles who could certainly have passed safety testing at time of production but couldn't even begin to come close to passing modern safety testing, like a '55 Bel Air with no seat belts and bench seats.

The reality is: If you have the time, patience, and money, you can get just about anything over here and not have someone coming to snatch it up from you. However, people are lazy and greedy and try to cheat the system, as with what happened with Motorex and what has happened again and again with the attempted market importers who are just in it to make cash.

[koukis14]

And a Bugatti Veyron cannot claim to have passed the exact same safety tests, because Bugatti refuses to allow any of the cars, or even chassis without engines (Which would not pass american regulations anyways) to be trashed just to test how it reacts under certain pre-assumed conditions. That doesn't magically mean that the three people who have Veyrons here in the states are going to get their cars seized tommorow.

What. Where the **** do you get your information from.

[Hamhands]

And a Bugatti Veyron cannot claim to have passed the exact same safety tests, because Bugatti refuses to allow any of the cars, or even chassis without engines (Which would not pass american regulations anyways) to be trashed just to test how it reacts under certain pre-assumed conditions. That doesn't magically mean that the three people who have Veyrons here in the states are going to get their cars seized tommorow. There are plenty of ways to have a car legally registered as a street-legal vehicle in the US if you're willing to actually look through. 90% of ALL issues with imported vehicles have NOTHING to do with the safety or regulation of the vehicle itself, but instead are caused by people trying to cheat the required duties and taxes on the vehicles, or because the cars are missing a link in the title chain that means you can't trace ownership.

you sir are an idiot, the veyron is a production vehicle with several dealerships in the USA, Hell, Ive been to the one in Miami, where they have 3 Veyrons for sale, they arent grey market, they are meant for the US market...... gotta love people who "know" things, when they are really and truely clueless......

[Kaiser]

you sir are an idiot, the veyron is a production vehicle with several dealerships in the USA, Hell, Ive been to the one in Miami, where they have 3 Veyrons for sale, they arent grey market, they are meant for the US market...... gotta love people who "know" things, when they are really and truely clueless......

I'm sorry. How many stars did the Veyron get on NHTSB Crash Test rating?

If you can find that, I'll give you a gold star. Until then, how about going and reading what I wrote, eh?