the way i had it understood, is that taka had just moved here and was aloud to bring one vehicle with him as a personal use car, and had to send it back after 1 year was up, they only allowed 1 car, which is why the silvia's are still in port of tampa, the 7 is now back in japan, and the 7 wasnt "registered", however, it was tagged "JDMFD3S" which was a nice little touch

 

yes i believe that is what taka did but it was jacksonville port not tampa i think. the silvias got sent off along time ago. he reads this board sometimes but you'd be better off finding him on wanganmidnight.com's boards he posts there recently.

i know there are various people in miami and stuff who have imported cars somehow for longer than a year, a few of them are caribbean guys who have contacts in jamaica, puerto rico, and areas down there that are somewhat parts of the US or easier to import from as far as cars go.

i know al and patrick at garage advance got a few cars imported but i dont know if they'll be able to keep them longer than a year but its a start maybe. they imported a Honda Beat i think, one of those minibox cars (like an echo) and they are bringing some soarers and skylines and silvias over. he might be able to help, other than that i know not much of anything besides cali people.

also some guy on honda tech i think bought an r33 skyline and actually had it legalized but he lives in utah or nevada or something and apparently it was way easy to legalize, florida might be harder.

 

Here's your answer....it's not worth it.

1. Taka is a foriegn national (Exchange student) which is why they allowed him 1 car for 1 year.

2. To qualify for a race/show vehicle is extremely hard. I have heard of Ferrari's being rejected

3. RHD is NO LONGER considered comparable to LHD.

4. Emissions testing is $$$. Wallace LAbs is the most popular. It will cost you several thousand, and when it fails, your back at square 1.

5. The car must be imported through an RI. Most RI's WILL NOT let you supply conversion parts and they cost money.

6. Between petition, importation, and quarentine times, it can take up to 2 years to import a car, IF YOUR PETITION IS ACCEPTED. Current Petitions are averaging 9-12 months for decision.

SO....Sell it, and forget it.

Charles

 

sell it and forget it!?!?! that is like telling me to forget the last 4 years of my life.....the car has already been deregistered in japan so selling it would be really hard.....and if i move back it'll be just as hard to get it re registered over there....juss some stupid crap about how if a car is preped to be sent outa the country its practically impossible to register again...guess i'll be sending it to canada or something...and sneaking it down...

 

No disrespect intended here, but why would you spend the last four years of your life acquiring a car from another country and not research the process, costs, and feasibility of importing it into the U.S.?

 

Look, I spent several years in Japan too. USAF, stattioned in Misawa. I understand your concerns about the car be de-registered and all, and the cost of JCI and the hassles to get it back on the road in japan so that you could actually sell it.

Let me put it to you this way, THERE IS NO WAY YOU WILL EVER IMPORT THAT CAR LEGALLY.

Don't believe me? e-mail me and we can take this discussion off-line and I will show you why not. I'vfe proven my point to MANY. I've been reading the laws since 1995 when I returned from JApan, and you know what....NO LOOPHOLES. In fact, now it's even harder.

Now, if you want to ILLEGALLY import your car to the USA....there are ways. I don't normally discuss these, but if you are serious about doing this, I might entertain the thought of letting you know how, but I wouldn't do that here (and the information would have to remain confidential).

e-mail me,

cphelps5@tampabay.rr.com

Charles

 

Your best option is to seperate the drivetrain from the car (they can even be in the same container, and ship it over as "parts"

Then just swap all the stuff over to another mr2 and consequently sell off the remaining shell as a RHD swap for an mr2 + lots of parts that board.mr2faq.com would buy in a jiffy

 

i didn't spend 4 years of my life aquiring the car....i've had the car for 4 years...and have had some good times with it.....id juss like to have more good times with it over here...

 

Understood.

Makes more sense knowing the rest of the story.

Good luck.