Save your pennies folks - '89 GT-R now legal in the USA

  • Thread starter Thread starter CodeRedR51
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Funny enough, my friend saw a black R32 GT-R at the Walmart in my town. Unfortunately he never got a picture, but considering that the car brought over from Canada is grey, that's probably not the same guy. Possible that he could have stopped by on his way to Maryland.
 
We're coming into the period of time where automakers all over the world starting developing some very interesting models, the Japanese in particular I suspect will be at the top of a lot of people's lists.

I for one look forward to this in 2015:

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I've seen a R33 Skyline GTS-R, I actually thought it was a GT-R until I saw the badge
 
Downhill Dino
Of course, just because it's illegal doesn't mean there aren't some already here. ;) Seen only one myself though.
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I'm not a Skyline fan, butI had to do a double take as I think it was the first R32/R33/R34 Skyline I seen in person, let alone on the road.

I knew they were illegal but it did have Illinois plates. It was also converted to left hand drive.
 
I'm eagerly awaiting to see how they're going to price those things for you guys. 100% sure they're going to rip off a bunch of people because of the badge. You can get a clean V-Spec II for around 16-17k over here.

Which reminds me, I need to move to Alberta. The Quebec government outlawed RHD cars in 2009, deeming them unsafe (riiight.) so we never actually got any of the good stuff (EVOs, DC2s and EK9s, JZXs, R33s and R34s and the likes). You can still import them, but you can't register them, which makes them useless.
 
I've always been tempted to buy a Suzuki Cappuccino. Those little buggers are dear though. There's only been a couple sold here and they went well north of $15k.
 
INEEDNAWZZZ
http://southrnfresh.com/wordpress/2013/06/cory-stovalls-skyline-r32/

How did that get over there then? I read the actual article about the build of it, and it said the guy bought it as a rolling shell. Possibly imported but not road registered? Or is it one of Motorex's legalised imports?
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The only way to get them across "legally" is to send them over as a shell. You have to either have the transmission and engine and such shipped over separately or purchase it from elsewhere. Doesn't make them legal, just a legal-ish way of getting them into the country.

MadMike32
It just occurred to me that this is going to be legal soon.
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And when it is, you know I'm going to buy one.
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Good luck with that! They're pretty expensive. More then the R32 actually. :lol:
 
-Fred-
I'm eagerly awaiting to see how they're going to price those things for you guys. 100% sure they're going to rip off a bunch of people because of the badge. You can get a clean V-Spec II for around 16-17k over here.

Which reminds me, I need to move to Alberta. The Quebec government outlawed RHD cars in 2009, deeming them unsafe (riiight.) so we never actually got any of the good stuff (EVOs, DC2s and EK9s, JZXs, R33s and R34s and the likes). You can still import them, but you can't register them, which makes them useless.
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Alberta's too far. You could just come to Ontario haha.
 
Downhill Dino
The only way to get them across "legally" is to send them over as a shell. You have to either have the transmission and engine and such shipped over separately or purchase it from elsewhere. Doesn't make them legal, just a legal-ish way of getting them into the country.



Good luck with that! They're pretty expensive. More then the R32 actually. :lol:
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Worth it. I love little cars like that. Especially the really odd ones like the AZ-1 (preferably a Mazdaspeed.)
 
It was merely a joke, neighbor. :)

A lot of those cool Kei cars are fairly useless in North America, comparable to something like a Smart I guess, although infinitely cooler.
 
-Fred-
It was merely a joke, neighbor. :)

A lot of those cool Kei cars are fairly useless in North America, comparable to something like a Smart I guess, although infinitely cooler.
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I desperately want to get one to taunt all of my friends in their massive trucks. And again, small cars are just fun to drive when they're done right. The current generation of city cars are all rather bland, but things like the AZ-1, BEAT, and Cappuccino are just awesome.
 
There have been gray market ones running around SoCal for years, I knew a guy who had an R32 GTR and an R33 GTS-T way back in '04-'05. The legality is dubious though, usually they got in through connections, special permissions for dealers, or lying on the registration. (I've heard of some being registered as 240SXs.)

Sadly the R32 won't be legal in California, as all cars after '76 (IIRC) have to pass our smog and crash regulations, imported or not. I guess it's technically possible to make one pass but it'd be very expensive and difficult.
 
I get the impression there are ways around just about any of these laws. I've seen R32, 33, and 34 GTRs on the streets here in Mandeville, LA.
Given, it's a fairly affluent town about half an hour north of New Orleans and there's a fairly popular race track in NOLA but all the same, those cars are on the road and still in RHD.

Personally, I have no interest in a RHD car unless I get to drive on the left side of the road.
That said, I'd absolutely love to have an R34. :drool:
I guess it's pretty difficult to have your cake and eat it too. :ouch:
 
Takumi Fujiwara
There have been gray market ones running around SoCal for years, I knew a guy who had an R32 GTR and an R33 GTS-T way back in '04-'05. The legality is dubious though, usually they got in through connections, special permissions for dealers, or lying on the registration. (I've heard of some being registered as 240SXs.)
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This was a pretty common way of doing it up until a few years ago (as was having cars shipped to America, bought, shipped out of the country, then shipped back in pieces to be registered as a kit car). A lot of the ones that had done that ended up with their cars siezed when the federal government started cracking down on it, though.
 
Hmm, but the article said something about it being harder in California. I live there so anyone from Cali know why it would be harder to bring a GTR into California?
 
andy0a
Hmm, but the article said something about it being harder in California. I live there so anyone from Cali know why it would be harder to bring a GTR into California?
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California law is different and would require the cars to conform to CA emissions and crash (I think) standards, which makes it difficult and expensive to get them registered here.
 
Downhill Dino
The only way to get them across "legally" is to send them over as a shell. You have to either have the transmission and engine and such shipped over separately or purchase it from elsewhere. Doesn't make them legal, just a legal-ish way of getting them into the country.



Good luck with that! They're pretty expensive. More then the R32 actually. :lol:
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Negatory, in the good ol' USA, the only way to legally import an out of country car, is to have the car shipped to a specially certified shop that is licensed by the Fed Gov to bring cars up to US safety and emmisions standards. This typically requires engine swaps, replacing all of the glass, and strengthing of the A, B and C pillars, as the roof is required to hold twice the weight of the car in the event of a roll over. Typically the work required to import and bring an imported car up to par is more expensive than the actual car itself. I was looking into shipping an Eunos Cosmo to the States while I was in the Military.
Also, I wonder what the article in the OP considers legally registered, cause there are at least 2 R33's that have been in El Paso for years now. Fully legal and registered.
 
Well yes, that originally was the case. For the R33 at least, and then when they were declared illegal by the U.S. there really wasn't a way to legally import and drive them. To my understanding.
 
It was some years ago that I looked into it. I don't remeber any car specifically being declared illegal. Just that any car being imported needed to be brought up to code at an authorized shop. Of which, at the time there were like 5, 3 one the west coast, one in like AZ or CO, and another on the east coast. Maybe more. The cost of the work is what prohibited me. Custom cut DOT safety glass is expensive. Not to mention the rest of the work. Anyway, as I said, that was some 5,6 years ago. No doubt rules have changed.
 
Motorex actually crash tested the R33 back in the day, so they can be made legal per those specs. The issue is that they crash tested the R33 Skyline GT, and claimed it was the same as the GTS and GTR, and also that the R32 and R34 were the same as the R33. As the R32 and R34 cars were never crash tested, the ones that were issued US VIN numbers have been seized and destroyed on many occasions.

It's possible to get a car like the Skyline and import it in an illegal way and even get it registered in your state if you have the proper paperwork on it. You can built it from a shell and essentially register it as a kit car in many places from what I understand. That doesn't make it legal, as that type of registration has multiple limitations.

I had a friend here in AL that had several Skylines as well as a JDM Supra and CTR over the years. They all had plates and insurance ... but I don't think they were technically legal.

I borrowed his R33 for a couple of weeks while the Evo was down once. you get a lot of weird looks driving a Skyline through AL.

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Rallywagon
It was some years ago that I looked into it. I don't remeber any car specifically being declared illegal. Just that any car being imported needed to be brought up to code at an authorized shop. Of which, at the time there were like 5, 3 one the west coast, one in like AZ or CO, and another on the east coast. Maybe more. The cost of the work is what prohibited me. Custom cut DOT safety glass is expensive. Not to mention the rest of the work. Anyway, as I said, that was some 5,6 years ago. No doubt rules have changed.
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I believe you are correct, but the catch is three cars must be crashed to determine the specs at which it must meet. I believe it's for front, side and rollover testing, and the test cars must be structurally sound for each test ... so three cars go bye-bye.

There is also the "Bill Gates" law which allows import of specialty vehicles under very strict circumstances. I don't remember all the details, but Gates imported a classic Porsche that was held in customs for years until he was finally able to push a law through to allow him to take delivery.
 
TouringBubble
I believe you are correct, but the catch is three cars must be crashed to determine the specs at which it must meet. I believe it's for front, side and rollover testing, and the test cars must be structurally sound for each test ... so three cars go bye-bye.

There is also the "Bill Gates" law which allows import of specialty vehicles under very strict circumstances. I don't remember all the details, but Gates imported a classic Porsche that was held in customs for years until he was finally able to push a law through to allow him to take delivery.
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Now that you mention it, I think I do rememebr the crash test stipulation. Why was the porsche held I wonder though. As far as I know, and also according to at least MI law, anything over 25 years old is free and clear, regardless of saftey or emmisions.
 

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