So, out of curiosity:
The article says that his cars were missing the VIN tags, which makes them illegal to possess.
If someone were to import a car with VIN tags intact, and use the car as a race car, not try to register it or drive it on the street, then this would be legal?

 

^ Yes.

 

I'm not sure. I want to say that it shouldn't matter since the car never sees a public road, but at the same time you are required to pay taxes (in my state) on any vehicles you own which implies registration.

 

^ At that point would it be considered a vehicle? It is for off road use only with no US vin.

There must be people in your state with race cars what do they do? Perhaps keep it in a garage or parked in the trailer.

 

Just wait till they are 25 years old and then it's a moot point. That's what I'm going to do anyway...

And old dude was trying to commit fraud, he 100% had it coming, though I wish they'd find a way to preserve the GTR's.

 

I couldn't say how it is possible (or necessary) to legally own a "track only" car without registration unless it is a kit, and even those are usually registered. There doesn't seem to be a bunch of internet literature on it, either. This calls for more searching, I guess.

 

You're right. All USPS employees who need to daily drive the FDs have a very practical use for it.

The regs do make exception for track-only cars or museum-quality cars of collectible interest where driving on the street will not happen. However I think those need to be petitioned on an individual basis.

David

 

besides car shows and racing why would you want a RHD import? you aren't going to carry the mail in it. you look stupid going through a drive through backwards, the gubmint wants to seize it because they think its a terrorist. so why waste the money bringing one in to barely be able to drive if you could afford importing fees? if it were already "legal" in the states and you just want it, then sure I guess but still. I don't see a point in having one I guess.

 

i was hoping i wasnt the only one who took the time to read the artical.

worth noting jap vins are only 10 digits VS 15.


side note (im canadian)
when registering my 1997 rx7 i first tried in BC and was told that i needed a north american vin to be issued, they are ~$500 and have to be installed by ICBC.

in alberta they didnt give a single **** that i had a JDM vin and gave me my registration.

very weird side note to this, if i was to take my registered in AB car to BC i could keep using the JDM vin.

 

Dude those are awesome reasons to import the car. Also, FDs from Japan are dirt cheap compared to what we have here and probably built better with lower mileage parts. Even if just for a parts car a RHD FD would be useful.

 

if I recall correctly and this could be hear say, but I think the law is less strict if you intend to use the car for "recreational purposes" ie; racing/demo car/etc. could be quite mistaken though...I think part of the reason is you don't necessarily have to have a license plate. If I had the option to race and had the time for it, I wouldnt see anything wrong with a rhd road course or circuit car. 20b race car = yup.

 

2 sides to every story: http://www.gtrusablog.com/2012/05/ho...line-gt-r.html

http://www.gtrusablog.com/2012/05/co...onsin-and.html

 

This guy was an idiot for trying to sell a black market item on f'ing ebay. There were countless ways this could've been avoided, and countless reasons why not a **** should be given in the first place that they're in this country.

 

There is no reason. Except one idiotic one.

So i can look massively awesome at car meets yo!!!

Jdm engines are restricted. Hell their speed limit is 180kph for God's sake.

A Jdm 2jzgte is rated @ 280-290 while the usdm version is 320 HP. Lol

Why else besides rare parts would you have a RHD import? As a collector sitting in your garage, I guess.

But to try to drive it on the street yet complain when authorities wanna do something about it or get annoyed when they harass you? Pointless and stupid.

You want hassle free RHD driving? Move to England or japan.

 

Or Canada, where the laws aren't so ridiculous
Being able to purchase a mint, rust-free, low-mileage FD with all the records intact for a reasonable price is better than being stuck choosing from the over-priced rusty high-mileage beat-on broken ones that are usually for sale

 

Well as speaking as someone who has a RHD car, i had no trouble getting a tag or title for my car, it is not titled as a rec vehicle or have a VIN from another car, while i dont daily my car i do drive it on the weekends. I do get looks from people as i drive down the road and people love to tell me they like my car and ask where i got it from. I have owned both and my reasoning for wanting one was for uniqueness simple and plan, hell there are atleast two others here as well and i know that there are atleast two Cosmos here titled and tagg'd. I have only been stopped once by the police and that was when i first got the car and hadnt got a tag for it yet

 

So much wrong with this post...

I own a RHD FD because:

1) They're legal in Canada

2) The engine is not restricted to 180km/h. The ECU is. My Power FC isn't.

3) I was able to purchase mine for $4000, low milage and rust free (nevermind that I was able to get every penny of that back and more)

4) All high-end JDM engines of that era were rated at 276 HP whether they exceeded that or more. All GT-Rs, RX-7's, 300ZX TT's, NSX's, Evo's, etc. Dyno results showed that many of these cars well exceeded their 276hp rating. Read up about the manufacturers "Gentleman's agreement"

-Geoff

 

In Toronto we harass Cops lol, it's amazing everywhere we go Cops gives us thumbs up lol
most of the time they like our cars because they wanted to get rx7 when they were young and it sound like v8 to them.

 

I think this thread is funny. Enjoying every silly post whinning about enforcement of existing statutes that illegally imported RHD owners absolutely knew about when they bought them.
While crushing the cars is sad on an individual scale, I'm reminded that the quickest way to get an bad law repealed is to enforce it.

 

I want to point out that several provinces are looking at banning RHD cars. Quebec currently has a moratorium on RHD Vehicles. In particular. British Columbia has everyday people driving JDM cars because they have low mileage, reliable , and cheap means of transportation. A lot of these opponents claim how unsafe the public is driving these vehicles on two lane roads.

Do you know how many of those little minivans are being used for business deliveries running around the downtown core in Vancouver? Hence the auto dealer association is petitioning to the government to put a stop to importation of these cars. They are eating into used and new car sales.

 

Only Quebec has banned RHD, they are able to get away with this because Quebec operates on a different legal system than the rest of Canada.

Quebec is based upon French legal code called Civil Law.
The rest of Canada's legal system is based upon Common Law.

Currently no other provinces are looking into banning RHD cars. BC made a bit of a stir when they attemped to pass off a very poorly done study that indicated RHD cars were more dangerous than LHD cars, but were quickly forced to acknowledge that the study was lacking a solid basis. Since then they have left the RHD issue alone.

Furthermore in Quebec all existing and registered RHD cars are still legal. They have only stopped issuing new registrations. All existing cars are grandfathered in.

Look at the United Kingdom where they drive RHD and the rest of europe drives LHD. There are no measurable increases in accidents associated with LHD & RHD versions of the same car operating on their roads. Additionally many vehicles sold in the UK are only available in LHD straight from the dealer.

-Geoff

 

Wow so much irrelevant with this post.

1) we're talking about the US, not Canada.

2) yes you can disable the governor, then what's the advantage of Jdm? If US cars don't need a pfc to go 155mph etc from factory?

3) sure I do believe 276 was rated for all Jdm. But a usdm supra rated at 320. Again what's the advantage to Jdm in this case?

4) you want a rust free car? Get a Cali or Nevada fd.

Like I said its senseless to actually go out of the way for a Jdm car when we have fd's already in the US, LHD.

Why would you want RHD here anyway? Simple. Its to show off to rice boys who watch a ton of initial d.

 

3) Rated doesn't mean actual. The same motor and tune was in the JDM car as the USDM, the 276 hp is an imaginary number. I would suggest reading up on the Gentleman's agreement regarding japanese horsepower in the 80's/90's.

4) Do you think I could get a rust free LHD FD in Nevada or California for $4000? If so, I'm on my way there now with my chequebook.

It just seems that you have a lot of rage over something that doesn't have any direct impact on you.

-Geoff

 

Wow so much irrelevant with this post.

1) we're talking about the US, not Canada.

2) yes you can disable the governor, then what's the advantage of Jdm? If US cars don't need a pfc to go 155mph etc from factory?

3) sure I do believe 276 was rated for all Jdm. But a usdm supra rated at 320. Again what's the advantage to Jdm in this case?

4) you want a rust free car? Get a Cali or Nevada fd.

Like I said its senseless to actually go out of the way for a Jdm car when we have fd's already in the US, LHD.

Why would you want RHD here anyway? Simple. Its to show off to rice boys who watch a ton of initial d.

 

My comments were directed at 1QWIK7, not you.

However since we are on the subject of pointless technicalities.... The thread title should read " For those with a RHD FD in the US <sic>" There should be no "n" after the "a". NOW that is a pointless technicalitie.