jdm fc us vin?
 

ok, so i bought a RHD fc3s from a member on here.
this car is not converted, its legit RHD, but the only thing that conserns me is the vin.

the vin on the car's firewall is fc3s-216616
i konw its not a 17 digit vin, so had to be converted to a 17 digit vin.

the car has a new york title, and the vin on that is JM1FC3322H0546911
i decoded the vin on the title and it read its an 87, as i was told

the 8th number on vin do state the car is turbo II from what i get from the decoder.

does this seen to be right?

just trying to get a little more info on this,

also, dont have the vin plate that goes on the dash, so dont wana have problems if i ever get pulled over since the car is RHD and will get more attention.
dont want the car to be inpounded or somthing for no reason.

any suggueston?

thanks
Abner

sounds like he put the US vin numbers on the car to register it (which is illegal). looks like you should have done some more research on the car before buying it.

^agreed. your car is probably also stolen. you are in deep shit if you get pulled over, that car will be taken from you.

thats a bumer, n yea its my fault for not looking more into this before buying.

Lol, stolen rhd jdm fc in Iowa... Sorry, had to get that out.. I lived in a corn state for a while...

its has the chance of being a stolen car that was sold to you, but you dont know til you get it checked out

So you bought it from a member here? Care to rat out his name?

so this US vin, is it on the door? what about the dash?

.

The member is ramello.
When I asked him about the title he told me it had regular title, asked him if he had any sort of importing papers and he just told me it had already been title so there was no need. Wich I didn't think much of since I figured, once titled there wouldent be much more needed than a title.

I contacted him a couple days ago and he did say he had the vin plate that goes in the dash, he said it was in the car and it deff Wasent.

So I'm just confused on what to do.
Is there a way to title the car legaly?
Since it will be 25 years old soon. Or a way to at least get some of my money back?

thing is you can't even strip it and scrap it, they will look at the VIN. Unless you chop it up into tiny pieces and scrap it that way...

Semi-legal route:
Buy a cheap (but properly titled) shell and swap everything over. Then scrap the RHD Shell.

just swap tags tell cops u converted it other wise just pass it on to someone else if your to scared

Tiny? No try half. Nearly any crush yard will take one half at a time. Either that your cut it in half, then cut the roof off, put the headlights and tail lights and bumpers inside the car, and then put the halfs facing inwards, and through some crap on top of it to make it look like you have a bunch random junk on there. I've taken many a wrecked ass car off people's hands to part out. Usually when they wreck em and they just sit and rot for 10 years the people have no clue where the title is.

guess ill just have to look for a clean title car and switch everything over.


might just part it out :(

why? everyone telling you to scrap it.. don't do that. If you can register it, then your good. Keep proof of sale with you in case you ever need it.. but other then that, go ahead and sleep like a baby tonight and don't worry about it.

proof of sale is worthless...there isnt a way to legally drive it

Swapping vins is illegal, but unless you get caught, who is gonna know?

Seriously I never had a cop check my vin once when pulled over. Unless the car is stolen they are gonna pull you over to check your vins. Even if they do and the vin swap was done well it wont matter much.

Oh, just go to the DMV. Tell them you want to purchase this vehicle but want to make sure its clean because it's a RHD. They'll run the vin and tell you wether or not you should purchase the vehicle. Then you'll know better what you want to do with the car...

Best advice so far has been find a clean LEGAL shell and swap over. As a student taking a few small law classes I can tell you 100% bill of sale is squat, also if you get pulled they see it's stolen and you have the I didn't know, play stupid alibi, you are still liable for willingly recieving possible stolen merchandise and can still be prosecuted with the evidence saying you could have easily had reasonable suspicion and bought it anyways.

how many times have you got pulled over driving a RHD car?

JDM CARS DO NOT HAVE VIN'S!

agreed. and get rid of the shell ASAP

Its not illegal to drive a RHD car in the united states.

Tank is right. It only matters if it is brought over legally or illegally. Illegally would be if somebody brought it over in pieces and reassembled the car here in the states. Then you have an illegal non-registered vehicle. Not a stolen vehicle.

it illegal to drive an illegally imported car with a false title and registration.

i dont really care. it's not my car.

Doesnt your local DMV/motor department look over the car anyways? I know when I have transfered tittles to california, the DMV actually look at the car to see if the vins are tampered. I say if your car can pass that with an official like that, then let it be.

Guy just bought a car, im sure he doesnt want to go through the suggested hassle everyone has here to scrap it/swap the shell.

Rotank is correct. Back in 2004, I emailed the NHTSA asking for more information on importing an Evo 3. Their response was that it had to be 'substantially similar' to a US-spec car in order to be modified for compliance with FMVSS or be on file from the manufacturer that it would perform the same as a Left-Hand Drive vehicle of the same series/make/model. Some vehicle manufacturers have gone the latter route, such as Subaru with the early 90s Legacy.

All in all, you're in for an uphill battle as your car was probably VIN-swapped before you purchased it. A carfax report would confirm this in the event that the proper US-spec vehicle was totaled and its location/mileage/condition.

The following is merely conjecture on my part, based on what I know regarding the NHTSA, not a substitute for sound legal advice. Highly suggest doing your own research to be certain before you attempt any of the following:

Since the FC already exists here in the states, with the same 13B Turbo engine as in japan (with emissions equipment changes of course), you may be able to squeeze through the Substantially Similar loophole by making a list of bodywork/structure pieces that are identical and different (Part numbers would be useful here) to show that any difference between RHD and LHD would be insignificant provided that all other parts are FMVSS-compliant (windows, lights, bumpers, seat belts etc). This relies on divorcing the car from its incorrect VIN though.

Now, if it was VIN-swapped from a totaled US-spec car, this might give you the chance to claim it as being Rebuilt from Salvage. You'll have to provide receipts for replaced parts (IE: all of the J-spec parts) with the VIN of the donor vehicle. Since quite a few parts are identical between JDM and USDM vehicles or are only different on paper due to part numbers, this may be easy or difficult.

Fortunately, Mazda was very systematic with part numbering and only changed the prefix between regions & models. Generally speaking, Mazda only increased the last digit in the prefix to indicate a higher-spec part.

For bodywork on the FC, JDM parts begin with F044 (GT-X & GT-R) through F070 (Infini IV). US-spec parts begin with FB01 for S4 and FC01 for S5. Mechanical parts follow the ECU number (N318 for manuals, N319 for automatic S4's in Japan, N374 for all JDM S5's), while US-spec are N332/N333 on S4 and N370 for s5.

If you'd like, I can help you cross-reference parts between each version as I have every FC & FD parts catalog for both regions. Also got a limited European FC parts catalog as well.

Lots of good information. I too was looking to import an EVO 3 at one point, and I decide it would be easier and more prudent to buy a Mirage 4 door, swap to a 4g63 + awd, and then buy the evo 3 bodykit, or oem panels.

Still looking for another mirage 4 door.

But for certain cars which you can import rather cheaply, specifically the ones allready made in the united states, you need to bring in into compliance with federal safety and emissions laws.

Why is everyone dead set on the man just saying screw it and taking the risk of driving a stolen car. This isn't just a get pulled and busted and gettin a slap on the wrist. Get caught and the least that will happen is you will get stuck with receiving stolen property, even if you prove it was unknowing, you lose the car and get nothing back. What's he gonna do if the inspector ever decides to check of the registration matches the car vins? He is gonna report it cause he won't want the hassle of being in trouble for passing a stolen car. This isn't something to play around with. This can lead to serious felonies for being involved with stolen cars. That's grand theft.

May I ask what you paid for it? Is the guy you purchased it from local?

Lots of good info guys.
Where I live, they don't do emissions or chek the cars what so ever.
They rarely chek the vins when pulled over. And they only chek the dash ones.

And from what I know, there is no way to chek if the car is stolen. Since it has the 10 digit vin, it might not even pop up.
I'm gona try and get a hold of a vehicle department inspector for my county and ask him more about it or what I can do. If I could I would even title as Kik car just so I don't have to go trough swaping firewalls and stuff.

N no, the guy I bought it from is not local, he is a member on here (ramello) and had it on his forsake thread.
He had the car in carlsbad California

If i can't title it, I'm just gona sell the front clip to someone that wants to go trough doing the firewall conversion.

Thanks for all the advise guys.

lol here in ny all u need is bill of sale and title

i have some history with rhd cars.. here it is easy to get a rhd car titled.. well at least it was.
brought in an r32 gts-t and legally registered within 4 months for about 6k$ total including car

same guy also brought in an evo 3, basically same thing. cant find pics of this car.

there are multiple silvias/r 31/32/33/34s running around here though. all with legal state titles. def arent us govt legal though

basically how these guys were doing it was buying the cars and sending them to canada. then register in canada and drive across the border. once here, they can register them legally as a vehicle purchased from canada. as far as i know, this still works for the most part.

thats the problem, the title is for a US car, and thus the vin doesn't match the JDM car....