Enjoy Some Forbidden Fruit With These Six Vehicles Now Legal for US Import

[Gotbeefboy564]

Don't believe I've ever seen a first gen Elise. Though I have seen second gen ones. And I've seen a number of R34 Skylines and S15 Silvias. I've also seen a handful of kei cars too. Mostly the trucks and vans it seems but I've seen at least one Honda Beat.

Yep seen a lot of kei cars too and few regular right hand drive cars no european ones yet except for that Elise saw a few S15s at Gridlife one year but they were mostly drift builds.

 

[Tornado]

Kei trucks are, if not exactly common, easy enough to find here. I know of a Suzuki Carry outside of town that is used on a farm. One of the lockstations for the Canal even uses one of some manufacturer for around the dry dock.

 

[EngieDiesel]

Kei trucks are, if not exactly common, easy enough to find here. I know of a Suzuki Carry outside of town that is used on a farm. One of the lockstations for the Canal even uses one of some manufacturer for around the dry dock.

About 4-5 years back I was doing some contract work at an Owens-Corning plant in southern Ohio and they had a half dozen Daihatsu Midget IIs that were being used to move materials between storehouses. I asked about them (because Gran Turismo, of course) and apparently they were not that difficult to get ahold of since they weren't going to be registered for road use.

I would presume other industrial sites would have similar vehicles in use as runabouts and such, so corporate asset selloffs may release a few into the wild if you know where to look.

 

[HuskyGT]

You're in Utah and I'm assuming SLC. If that's the case, these guys can help: https://jdmlegends.com/

Their shop is in Murray right by the big Intermountain Hospital.

Nice. Thank you I live about 10 minutes from Murray. I assume it's probably very expensive to do this, but it won't hurt asking.

 

[mustafur]

Might be worth getting a FTO GPvR, I've seen a few for under 10k here and they didn't make many of them, they are almost certainly going to double or more, they didn't get made untill 97 so there is a few years to go.

If your looking at getting a FTO I highly recommend you stay away from the Auto, the gearbox just sucks power and is stupid slow compared to the manual.

 

[bloodyboyblue]

Might be worth getting a FTO GPvR, I've seen a few for under 10k here and they didn't make many of them, they are almost certainly going to double or more, they didn't get made untill 97 so there is a few years to go.

If your looking at getting a FTO I highly recommend you stay away from the Auto, the gearbox just sucks power and is stupid slow compared to the manual.

That’s how everyone thinks which will make autos and 4 cylinders good value in the future since no one will want them. For people like me who would only be buying it for the looks/to cruise.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

AKA “If you’re from the rest of the world and you wanted one of these you’re screwed because now the prices are going to double or triple because they’re legal to import into the US”. Mostly for the more “collectible” models. Maybe not for something like a Rasheen, which is more likely to be imported to a more developing market.

I’m just glad we in Canada have a 10 year grace period between when the cars become legal here and when they become legal in US where the prices are reasonable.

If I were Canadian, I would basically start stockpiling R34 GTRs and lining them up at the border.

I'm waiting until 2022 2020 to get my RHD ITR. I've thought about actually buying one in Canada now, and just storing it up there until it's legal to register in the US.

 

[mustafur]

That’s how everyone thinks which will make autos and 4 cylinders good value in the future since no one will want them. For people like me who would only be buying it for the looks/to cruise.

I don't think this, it's fact.
The Auto in the FTO is junk, Best motoring did a video on it back in the 90s, the FTO is a 6 cylinder as well.

 

[bloodyboyblue]

I don't think this, it's fact.
The Auto in the FTO is junk, Best motoring did a video on it back in the 90s, the FTO is a 6 cylinder as well.

I meant that people in general who are buying JDM cars generally want the manual, and the article said itself that the 4cyl FTOs are pretty much worthless

 

[-Fred-]

If I were Canadian, I would basically start stockpiling R34 GTRs and lining them up at the border.

Just wire me the money and I'll order you one, I'll keep it safe for you in the meantime.

 

[Downhill Dino]

There are a lot of people already doing that, even from the U.S. Requires a lot of patience.

 

[mustafur]

I meant that people in general who are buying JDM cars generally want the manual, and the article said itself that the 4cyl FTOs are pretty much worthless

There is a reason why lol:

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

My favorite LM-class car from GT1 was the FTO.

Maximum nostalgia:

 

[mustafur]

FTO LM was Goals.

 

[05XR8]

I don't see many FTOs, like when I first arrived in Australia 12 years ago. A workmate dropped the FTO V6 in his Mirage coupe(that was about 7 years ago). It had go, but was mainly a show car(Lamborghini doors and air bags, no big stereo system though).

It's mainly WRX/STI/Forester country.

If I was back in the USA, I'd be saving for a Chaser.

 

[Crash]

Why are (were) these car forbidden in the USA?

However these rules came to be, from whoever lobbied for them in the first place, cars that are not specifically certified by a manufacturer for sale in the US cannot be imported and registered for public road use unless the car is at least 25 years old from month of manufacture.

Like how it generally works in Western countries nowadays, all new cars sold in the US are certified by the manufacturer with the NHTSA that it meets federal crash standard and safety laws and with the EPA that it meets emissions laws, and it's generally specific versions of cars that affect safety and/or emissions gets certified, hence even if a model is broadly certified for sale but a specific engine combination never did, that engine combination cannot be brought to the US and sold until the manufacturer runs the tests and shows certification that it meets the rules. All new cars sold in the US will bear a sticker saying something about that.

The federal safety and emissions laws are exempt as soon as a car turns 25 years old and thus can be registered for road use even if the cars did not meet original federal rules, hence why when some cult car that was previously unavailable in the US turns 25, there's a rush of Americans importing them.

The main exception is what's called the "show and display" law that allows certain "historically" or "technologically significant" cars to be imported for very specific, limited use. There's a list of those cars maintained by the federal government and to get a car on it requires and application and proving that a car does indeed meet that requirement.

Of course, even when cars are legal for import at the federal level, states can still levy additional requirements for road registration (and it is up to each individual state to issue registration and plates). California is probably the most famous example of this, and their rules above and beyond the federal rules make 25+ year old cars still very difficult to register there.

 

[bloodyboyblue]

However these rules came to be, from whoever lobbied for them in the first place, cars that are not specifically certified by a manufacturer for sale in the US cannot be imported and registered for public road use unless the car is at least 25 years old from month of manufacture.

Like how it generally works in Western countries nowadays, all new cars sold in the US are certified by the manufacturer with the NHTSA that it meets federal crash standard and safety laws and with the EPA that it meets emissions laws, and it's generally specific versions of cars that affect safety and/or emissions gets certified, hence even if a model is broadly certified for sale but a specific engine combination never did, that engine combination cannot be brought to the US and sold until the manufacturer runs the tests and shows certification that it meets the rules. All new cars sold in the US will bear a sticker saying something about that.

The federal safety and emissions laws are exempt as soon as a car turns 25 years old and thus can be registered for road use even if the cars did not meet original federal rules, hence why when some cult car that was previously unavailable in the US turns 25, there's a rush of Americans importing them.

The main exception is what's called the "show and display" law that allows certain "historically" or "technologically significant" cars to be imported for very specific, limited use. There's a list of those cars maintained by the federal government and to get a car on it requires and application and proving that a car does indeed meet that requirement.

Of course, even when cars are legal for import at the federal level, states can still levy additional requirements for road registration (and it is up to each individual state to issue registration and plates). California is probably the most famous example of this, and their rules above and beyond the federal rules make 25+ year old cars still very difficult to register there.

The Lane Museum in Nashville has an S660 (that you can drive one day a year at their Rally for the Lane) and a few other Japanese models imported under that rule, and that’s how a few Porsche 959s made it over here when they were new

 

[Joey D]

the article said itself that the 4cyl FTOs are pretty much worthless

No, it didn't.

The four-cylinder is low on power, but it's not worthless considering it's not super heavy and handles, presumably, pretty well.

 

[homeforsummer]

No, it didn't.

The four-cylinder is low on power, but it's not worthless considering it's not super heavy and handles, presumably, pretty well.

I'm not sure, but he might have been talking in terms of actual value. FTOs in general are pretty cheap and I expect the 4cyl ones are cheapest of the lot!

Always liked the FTO. Drove one many, many years ago before buying my first MX-5. Wasn't the most in-depth of test drives but it felt interesting to drive and the engine was so smooth. It was an auto, but as far as old-school autos go it really didn't feel too bad - the manual override was fairly effective and throttle response still felt good.

Would still consider one at some point, but virtually every one that ever comes up for sale in the UK is either a complete shed or seems to have been owned by someone who spent all their money on awful modifications and none on maintenance. There are always a few at Japanese car shows over here and without fail they look like they've been owned by someone whose taste in car modification began and ended in 2001. It'd be hilarious if it wasn't so tragic.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Would still consider one at some point, but virtually every one Mitsubishi, period, that ever comes up for sale in the UK whole world is either a complete shed or seems to have been owned by someone who spent all their money on awful modifications and none on maintenance.

The tragic case of Mitsubishi.

 

[mustafur]

Put it this way, on Gumtree and Carsales(the two main places to buy cars from in Australia) there isn't a Single Clean Manual FTO in the entire country.

Granted a few months ago there was about 3 but this car is becoming extremely rare for good examples.

2 years ago when I was looking at getting one there was a Clean GPvR Manual in Scotia White for only 7k AUD, It's significantly rarer then basically any 90s JDM car at this point(talking about GPvR), considering it will beat any non JDM DC2R and DC5R stock for stock it's an epic proposition.