Importing Skylines to the US

To make a long story short, I had a friend who ordered a soviet Mig 15 jet from the federation of mother russia. The russian government ended up shipping the jet via crate on a ship into Los Angeles. However, when we ( my friend, my self, customs/TSO ) went to inspect the jet we noticed that we had 2 crates for inspection. We opened the first crate, there the jet was. So we were all curious what the second shipment was? Maybe extra parts, turbine, oil, fuel tanks... Upon opening the 2nd crate we noticed 2 23mm cannons and 137 mm cannon fitted for the fueslage. Apparently, the Russians accidentally had 2 jets mixed since my friend had specifically ordered a jet trainer. Overall it spend about 2 years in the port. He flew the jet over santa monica from time to time. Ended up spending $200,000 in noise fines ( low level cruise flights ). He sold it about 4 years ago to a museum. True story.



BTW what ever happened to that one Japanese idiot who got arrested in LA for importing skylines and then stealing them or whatever it was?
 
corporatesteve
To make a long story short, I had a friend who ordered a soviet Mig 15 jet from the federation of mother russia. The russian government ended up shipping the jet via crate on a ship into Los Angeles. However, when we ( my friend, my self, customs/TSO ) went to inspect the jet we noticed that we had 2 crates for inspection. We opened the first crate, there the jet was. So we were all curious what the second shipment was? Maybe extra parts, turbine, oil, fuel tanks... Upon opening the 2nd crate we noticed 2 23mm cannons and 137 mm cannon fitted for the fueslage. Apparently, the Russians accidentally had 2 jets mixed since my friend had specifically ordered a jet trainer. Overall it spend about 2 years in the port. He flew the jet over santa monica from time to time. Ended up spending $200,000 in noise fines ( low level cruise flights ). He sold it about 4 years ago to a museum. True story.
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Got some pics to share?
 
corporatesteve
To make a long story short, I had a friend who ordered a soviet Mig 15 jet from the federation of mother russia. The russian government ended up shipping the jet via crate on a ship into Los Angeles. However, when we ( my friend, my self, customs/TSO ) went to inspect the jet we noticed that we had 2 crates for inspection. We opened the first crate, there the jet was. So we were all curious what the second shipment was? Maybe extra parts, turbine, oil, fuel tanks... Upon opening the 2nd crate we noticed 2 23mm cannons and 137 mm cannon fitted for the fueslage. Apparently, the Russians accidentally had 2 jets mixed since my friend had specifically ordered a jet trainer. Overall it spend about 2 years in the port. He flew the jet over santa monica from time to time. Ended up spending $200,000 in noise fines ( low level cruise flights ). He sold it about 4 years ago to a museum. True story.
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Cool story bro. And the fact that you said "True Story" makes it that much more believable. And luckily, you have a TON of posts, so everyone trusts you.
 
^And he comes from the future!! How can you miss that!!


Sad that the 2 Skylines will be crushed. 2 less of a species already too rare
 
Eh, the R33s aren't that rare, and the R32s aren't rare at all. The community that owns the majority of these cars in the US are really guarded and resentful of the law and authority. I'm not entirely sure why. This guy, for instance, owned cars that were illegal. While trying to sell them, he suggested doing things that were illegal. It's not worth risking your life trying to sell a piece of machinery. If you have a lot of disposable income, it might be worth it to buy and own one, but don't be surprised when ICE comes knocking on your door to confiscate it. So many of these guys know the risks, but whine up a storm when the hammer comes down.
 
Only the R32 aren't "rare", but try to find one in bare stock and in good condition.
You pay for it.

R33 and R34, especially GTR are rare number wise. Around 11500 R33GTR aren't a lot.

And most Skylines were purchased legally by customers, and the **** storm only came later when the gov found out that they (import company) cheated on the test.

It's clear that this guy wasn't the smartest in trying to sell them. But there were legit customers who got their cars taken away.
 
11,500 is not really rare. No legitimate customers have gotten their cars taken away in the US. Anyone who purchases a skyline and has done any amount of reading knows that in order to guarantee your car not being taken away, it has to have a US Substitute VIN number. Those cars are Motorex cars. Despite the owners lying about the crash tests, all cars brought in by them are still legal. All others are subject to seizure unless it's known that they'll never be operated on the streets - IE race cars. Even when selling a car, the knowledge owners have of which states accept other state registrations and the laws behind transferring to other states are well fleshed out.

You can own a non motorex skyline, drive it on the street every day, have insurance, and have it registered in your state. That doesn't mean it won't get seized by ICE.

e - http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Niss...3420685?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item231dc6c30d

That's the motorex difference. I'm surprised he didn't post a picture of the VIN, but he must be emailing one to prospective buyers, because he's getting the money for a legal car. A normal state legal (not federal) would be going for around half that price.
 
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I thought all MotoRex cars were to be confiscated like any other Skyline? Due to their little incident with the government.

Plus, if you think about 11,500 globally and the total amount of cars existing and on the roads, that's quite rare. It's not a "you see it all the time" kind of thing.
 
They're not the most common thing in the world, but you're not going to have trouble finding people to sell them either. And yeah, all motorex cars are legal due to the government putting their stamp of approval on them (literally.)
 
I think you are exaggerating on their availability to the public eye a little to much. Also, I say that they were all illegal because MotoRex had stopped adding the necessary bits to make them legal, correct? And, I believe it was only the R33 that was under special attention because it was the only that was crash tested. ;) I keep reading about an R34 Limited Edition that's legal... interesting...
 
In markets where they're sold legally, they're plenty well available. The Ferrari F430 is a 'rare' car, but it's pretty easy to find them for sale. I use that as an example because total production numbers are nearish to 11.5k worldwide. Anyway, all skylines imported under motorex are legal. They will not ever be seized by the federal government. That makes them legal. Regardless of whether or not they were brought in with the correct crash testing and modifications, as long as they got the NHTSA bond release and substitute VIN they're good to go. Pretty simple. And where did you read about that?
 
Multiple sources, to many to actually try and find again. (Includes older brother who has Skyline owner friends) Where are you reading your information from? :odd:
 
http://www.skylineowners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=74784

There is a good summary. The general issue of importing skylines is something that I've followed since I was in highschool (I'm old now :() In the grand history of importation, there was something like 110-120 total skylines imported by motorex. Not all of them were GTRs, and less than 10 of them were R34s. Regardless of the laws the broke to do it, motorex got all the certifications and requirements met by all federal standards meaning that a motorex imported skyline can be driven and registered legally in all 50 states. On top of the guarantee that your car can't be taken from you, this makes your life additionally easier.

Kaizo attempted to do something similar and produced a fair amount of cars that were deemed road legal, but the government shut them down. They put them together like kit cars, actually rebuilding a chassis, then having someone else install the drivetrain. They didn't get too many cars out and the government shut them down. These cars were not given 'substitute' VINs since technically they never had one in the first place. They didn't have as many customers, and I guess the government felt comfortable taking the few cars they had sold just to get them off the street. Kaizo was run by and ex-ICE or importation guy that felt like he knew the law good enough to find a way around it. The laws were vague with regards to chassis manufacturing and engine suppliers, and he thought he could use that to manufacture skylines (and one EVO 6 that sold on ebay for a very reasonable amount.) He was wrong :(

The most common skylines in the US are completely illegal in all ways - they slipped past customs. They were brought in through containers that weren't searched and registered as something else or through companies. They were registered in states with very lax inspection and registration laws. This is where the guy who got the F&F car crushed comes into question. He owned his car in one of those states and was suggesting states where it could be transferred with little to no issue and explaining how to lie. State governments really don't care about this sort of thing, but it's something the federal importation guys have been rough on for the past year and a half or so. Loads of state legal skylines have been seized.

Anyway, that's how it works out. A state legal R32 will run you between 12-20k, R33 25-35, R34 40-50. A motorex car usually adds another 10-15k on top of that price.
 
McLaren
The GT-R's fanboy love is more accredited to Gran Turismo than Fast & Furious, much like the STi & Evo. In fact, that's most likely where the movie got the idea to use it as well.
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I remember watching The Fast and the Furious for the first time, there was a guy playing Gran Turismo before they raced.
 
Wouldn't it be possible to "import" skylines through Canada though? I know quite a few people that just drive down to the US with their import and just sell them off there. Not sure if it's illegal but wouldn't that be technically possible since it would be a Canadian registered vehicle?
 
Now that you mention it, I'm sure a large portion of state registered skylines are from Canada. It's easy to do and would likely be an easy transition for a state to accept such a car and give it plates. I tried looking for it, but could find an article where this Canadian owner was complaining about his car getting seized after he was warned to not bring it stateside by a customs official. They took it when he was driving back into Canada after getting in.

It's not the hardest thing in the world to get them into the US. It's also not the hardest thing in the world to get them registered in a state with laws that aren't too strict about documentation. It might very well be the hardest thing in the world when the government stops by and just takes your car. Most people can't afford that sorta thing.
 
Even VIN numbers don't beware you of getting your car crushed:


It's funny that basiclly safe cars are denied in the US for whatever hypocrite reason, Big scandal when Toyota senior drivers confuse gas and brake, but nobody makes a scandal of all those domestic SUV that barrelroll and catch fire :ill:
 
Chinese_Drifter
Wouldn't it be possible to "import" skylines through Canada though? I know quite a few people that just drive down to the US with their import and just sell them off there. Not sure if it's illegal but wouldn't that be technically possible since it would be a Canadian registered vehicle?
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Canada =/= U.S. thus it is illegal. IF Canada allows it but the U.S. doesn't then bringing it into the states is illegal. Just like certain other things you can have in Canada but not the U.S.
 
*ibo* S3 Racer
Even VIN numbers don't beware you of getting your car crushed:


It's funny that basiclly safe cars are denied in the US for whatever hypocrite reason, Big scandal when Toyota senior drivers confuse gas and brake, but nobody makes a scandal of all those domestic SUV that barrelroll and catch fire :ill:
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Your commentary has no place in this thread and, on top of that, is actually completely wrong.
 
ShobThaBob
Your commentary has no place in this thread and, on top of that, is actually completely wrong.
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well it has more content than your commentary, and is even more appropriate to this thread than your reply to it.
 
Since this thread involves importing, does anyone know if its possible importing Peugots into Canada from Mexico, through the USA?
 
*ibo* S3 Racer
well it has more content than your commentary, and is even more appropriate to this thread than your reply to it.
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It's been well known and documented that many concept cars and show cars get crushed. Every now and then there's a piece on it. Normal state of being for companies that do that sort of business.

Your quip makes the assumption that the cars are safe, which you don't know. It brings up something about the Toyota legal battle, which has nothing to do with importing, and implies that there was never a legal battle regarding SUVs that roll over.

Since you don't live in the US, you really shouldn't be making random assumptions about cars and the legal history regarding tort cases. Hint - there was a giant scandal about those domestic SUVs that roll over. That's why I said you didn't know what you were talking about.

As for importing to Mexico from Canada, it should be pretty straightforward and I doubt there would be any issue with it.
 
ShobThaBob
It's been well known and documented that many concept cars and show cars get crushed. Every now and then there's a piece on it. Normal state of being for companies that do that sort of business.

....
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See that is a more constructive answer than STU&GTO.

I did not know that that happens to show cars, here they are 99% road legal and never crushed.
 
For manufacturers, they're very often not issued VIN numbers, so while they might be 99% similar to the production vehicle, they wouldn't be sold for that reason alone. For show cars for specific companies, the cars are used as a testbed for all sorts of different interior, exterior, and mechanical modifications. There'd be a fair amount of liability if they were to sell something like that to the public, so instead of risk it, they crush them. In both cases, there are numerous exceptions. Not every turner or OEM does it, but it's not rare.
 
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Niss...3682064?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item3cc76a7b10

So, this recently popped up on the ebays. Of course I am thrilled, as they're claiming legality, the pictures look great, and their FB site shows many sales of JDM cars - they don't look shady. I give them a call, and a girl assures me that they can get me any paperwork I require proving that is a legal car. I throw the link up on a skyline forum, and the consensus is pretty much that it's a state titled car. BUT! I am given a new resource.

http://www.nhtsa.gov/Vehicle+Safety/Who+to+Contact+in+OVSC

The OVSC. Finding out the legal status of the vehicle is easy - just give them a call, provide the VIN number, and they'll let you know if it was brought in by a Registered Importer. This one was not. If it was, surely the price would reflect that. If it was, surely they would've taken a picture of the substitute US VIN. Oh well. If I lived in FL, it would be mighty tempting, but the truth of the matter is driving this car anywhere else means it would very likely be seized within a year. That's the motorex difference :( :( :(
 

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