What does it take do make a japanese car legal for streets in America also what would be the approximate cost

 

First you have to pass emmisions. Then you have to crash test... Which means you need 4. And you need the 5 MPH bumpers. Alot of bux since you can just get a front clip and make it RHD and put the JDM front on it

 

Well I can purchase a 1996 JDM RHD complete car for 7,500.00 the jdm front end alone is 3,500

 

Id look into that alot more. 7500 for a car that wasnt available in this country at all and is still rare over seas? Seems fishy to me.

There are a ton of shady ways to do it. They involve clean titles and swaping VINs... But I wont get into those

 

I thought it sounded weird too but It is a real company that sells these and many other jdm cars here in america. I have seen pictures it need a new front fender. The picture were very detailed, and that is all I could see wrong with it (the fender is smashed in about 4-6 inches. I was told it is still drivable and it even looks it. how illegal is a VIN swap?

 

A vin swap is VERRRY ILLEGAL!!!

 

Well like anything... Its only illegal if you get caught. Check it to see if it was welded together. They may have bought 2 halves and welded them together which ruins the structural integrity of the car...

ID look in person before I commited to anything

 

Well like anything... Its only illegal if you get caught. Check it to see if it was welded together. They may have bought 2 halves and welded them together which ruins the structural integrity of the car...

ID look in person before I commited to anything[/QUOTE] how often do they weld two halves together????

 

Couldnt tell you but Ive heard is been done before. It is possible to do.

 

scary stupid people out there

 

Yup. Anything to make a buck. Id take a look in person. Its going to be hard... Id buy it for track duty. Then it doesnt need to be registered.

 

from wat i have seen at my friends body shop... its not a rare thing that they weld two cars together

 

In regards to two halves being welded together to make one car....

Every car that is built, is welded together. That's how the factories do it, and that is how front and rear clips are put on totalled cars to make them driveable again after being wrecked. It isn't necessarily the welding of two different halves of a car together that is scary, it is the integrity of the weld that is unknown that makes them scary. When one buys a car new at the dealer, they can be confident that the welds that keep the chassis together are good. When one buys a car that was once two different ones... it is hard to have that same confidence unless you know the bodyman and his reputation for doing the work correctly.

So, welding a car together isn't really the issue... it becomes an issue when one does not know the quality of the work done. I've been an automotive employee for many years, working in the service department of several dealerships, and have seen it done well, and well... not well. One is best not buying such a car if they do not know personally how well the car was reassembled.

 

check out my thread on importing a jdm spec car

 

I was going to mention the fact that there was a recent thread about this exact thing...but then I realized this is an 8-year old thread that got raised from the grave. Jeeze!