To the OP, since I have gotten the first gen civic bug, and its over 25 years old. Can I import one as long as I have a broker to help me clear customs? And then the paper work should be cake to register?


I remember hearing the same thing from my brother in law(who lives in Cali) while he was giving me crap about registering my 76 Civic as classic.

 

You can say it's a kit car and it looses value or buy a civic/integra shell and pop tags ans title it under that. You only do this when you plan on keeping the car, not for resale.

 

if its older than 25 years you shouldnt have a problem. call the DMV and they'll tell you exactly what you need, but thats not like trying to import an ITR.
Thats such a bad idea...

 

awesome info!

looks like my early mid-life crissis car will be a 91 CRX SiR w/ glass top right from japan!!!


gotta save some dough

 

Yes you can register it as a classic. And yes its fairly easy to do.

Thanks man! I agree it would be a good sticky.

This is NOT legal, just letting you know. (Just because you keep it doesnt make it legal)

 

This is all very interesting. Good read.

I had no idea the US government would have it so hard on you guys. Not to mention they nearly always pickup such illegal dealings. Good example would be the Kaizo Skylines that were seized.

Altho when reading about the Skyline seizures I recall picking up a particular detail about the 25 year old classic car rule which was "you can only import a vehicle which was originally sold in the US". Hence even after 25 years, since the Skyline was never sold in the US it still cannot be imported. Any truth to this?

Since CTRs and ITRs share the same chassis as the US equivalents just slightly different, I guess slide through no problems.

 

This is why America doesn't have nice cars, and the rest of the world laughs at us.

You dont want some 80's Honda....you want a f#cking 1984 Group B Peugeot 205!

 

Well, there's more to it than that. Motorex worked with another RI on classifying some of the information as confidential. Some of that information was airbag related. The airbags were made specifically for Motorex, so it made it impossible for someone else to just come along and copy what Motorex did, as they would not have the airbags.

No airbags= not DOT legal.

I was in the first meetings with the DOT, they asked us for a worst case, they knew the years and models of the cars were different, however they allow something called "substantially similar". The DOT had about 18 months to review the paperwork and documentation that Motorex gave to them. The DOT had every opportunity to examine what Motorex was doing, prior to them becoming an RI, prior to providing the first Bond Release , Nov 15, 1999. If we want to split hairs, the DOT didn't even issue the statement in the Federal Register until 2000, allowing the Nissan Skyline, but they gave a bond release early.

Since Motorex, how many RI's have successfully imported non originally produced for the US cars?

In the last 11 years, I have heard a lot. Here's my take. 100% of the people don't have the money, or the time to actually do it. The kind of guys that want these cars, and especially the type of guys that are running Hondas, don't have dollar 1 to get it started. Sounds harsh, real life is harsh.

--
Sean Morris
tyndago@gmail.com

 

i'm in to watch this.

have a friend with several rhd si-r civics. were brought in cut in half - right behind the driver seats - and welded together as he had a body shop. were all given state titles and tags... but i don't know the legality of them...

on a vw forum, a guy with a vw rallye golf was forced by the gov't to surrender it to be crushed, as it was found out by the gov't...

 

That sounds so unsafe and from what I learned from Dr. DC2 also incredibly illegal.

 

THIS! Must feel good driving down the freeway doing 70mph knowing youre in a car that was cut in half and then rewelded back together... yea im sure hes a good welder and there was no hindrance to the chassis structual integrity (sarcasm). Oh but its ok and cool because its RHD and thats way more important than being safe. FAIL!

 

88 240sx & 96-98 GTS/GTR skyline is on that list too

they do have a few hondas/acruas...legends...and preludes, crv, accords...

not bad info..thanks for the post OP

 

Hey Dr. I figure you might know this since you tried looking up all the loopholes but are those cut in half jobs actually street legal? I figure no because they'd be a major no no with the DOT safety regs and standards.

 

What do you mean by this? Bringing in a GMV in pieces and reassembling/rewelding it back together? Its still illegal.

 

there are ways to graft a JDM front and USDM rear properly. its been done. there is an AMAZING thread on how it was done, and i've seen the car, its phenomenal. all factory spot welds drilled, perfectly braced, COMPLETe precision, amazing.

but..i've also see a COMPLETE hack job...simply chopped, welded, and driven. the hack job car was in our shop a few months ago, and got a 600 WHP turbo setup. YIKES

 

I had the chance to drive an R34 last year. Was cool but I'd never actually want a GMV to drive here in the USA. Never really understood what all the hype was about driving a RHD car of any kind here.

 

to say a gmv has never been legally imported at anytime is wrong as motorx imported many skylines that are dot and nht..... certified and these cars are still legal to this day even though it was done illegally they are grandfathered in.

 

i read somewhere that they rounded up as many of the skylines as they could from the owners who bought them from motorex even though i guess it was technically not the owners fault. What do you mean by grandfathered in?

 

till this day I can't register my Rhd ek2 =( I drive it with dealer plates

 

I heard the roundup was mostly the "skyline kit cars" that Kaizo company was putting out. I heard they were rounding up other skylines too but I thought they were just ones that weren't brought in through motorex.

By grandfathered in he means that since they were given legal status before the government wised up and started cracking down, they're allowed to keep their legal status.

 

this is some great info in the opening post! Ive read up on the 25 year rule n Supramania, and i would really like to import a Supra TTR (89-92 2.5 twin turbo) after they turn 25. thats really the only rhd car I would want just because it wasnt available in the US. There's also some nice cars on that list that conform, i saw 2nd and 3rd gen rx7s on there...

 

Hey all, I rarely ever come to this site but in a recent s2ki.com thread about importing cars someone linked to this thread. I've done a lot of research and even imported a couple of classic Minis under the 25-year-old exemption. Dr. DC-2's info is by far the best post on the subject I've ever read. Some details I wasn't even aware of. Glad to see someone gets it.

I have something to add that some of you will find interesting. You CAN import a GMV newer than 25 years without having to do any mods or conversion to the car and LEGALLY register it for the roads under the "Show and Display" rule. This is the law that Bill Gates helped pass by nagging a buddy of his, some dude named Bill Clinton, after Gate's gray-market Porsche 959 sat for over a decade in a customs impound lot.

Anyway, it goes like this: if the car you want to import is not currenty under production, was never sold in the US, was produced in limited numbers, and is not on the import eligible list mentioned above, then you can apply to the NHTSA for importation into the US. If the car was mass-produced (over 500 built), you must state why the car is of significant historical or technological value. You must prepare a convincing case as there are no set makes or models that qualify for this exemption - NHTSA reviews applications on a case-by-case basis. If approved, you will be able to legally import the vehicle and register it for street use without having to do any modifications to it.

Now for the catch: you can't rack more than 2,500 miles in a year. You can only drive the car to "similar" car events or to have it serviced. And even though it's not on the website, I've found out that you can't be a business and can't sell the car for two years (to prevent dealers from importing multiple cars for profit). To keep you from tampering with the odometer, the Feds will pay you random unannounced visits to your home to check on the car and record the mileage.

So yes, there's a way to import that rare JDM car you've always wanted. Still, importing Civic and DC5 Type R's might not be easy since those models were sold here in different trim. You'll have to make a really persuasive argument to the Feds on why Type R's are considered a totally different model (in addition to the technology/historical value argument). Still, it doesn't hurt to ask. I'm guessing the Euro FN2 Type R would be the easiest to import since the body and chassis are totally different from anything sold here. And while the mileage and destination restrictions may sound harsh, were you planning to daily drive something rare, exotic, expensive, and hard to find parts for to work everyday anyway?

Here's the link to the info on NHTSA's page. There are also links there to the paperwork needed to apply: http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/impo...2003022010.pdf

 

Thanks for your input. I know of the "show and disply act myself, didnt mention it because there arent really any 90's Hondas from Japan that fall under this rule. But thanks for posting!

 

I heard about the "show and display" rule and I heard that in order to be eligible the car still needs to be made EPA compliant.

 

Dr. no prob. I wish this info was more widely available. We'd have lots of cool rides on this side of the pond, not to mention much less fraud (plenty of stories of people who bought a GMV and got burned)

I'm curious how you know that no 1990's Hondas qualify. Have you looked into it? Is it because Type R's are too closely related to the Hondas/Acuras sold here to be considered a different model? It's what I speculated in my post but would like to know for sure.

You're right, my bad. Just read my post again and it's very misleading. By mods I meant DOT stuff like airbags, lights, glass, etc but didn't mention that at all.

Here's the EPA guidelines on converting an imported car for those interested: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/imports/420b10027.pdf