I am thinking of starting a company geared towards importing otherwise unobtainable cars, engines, and parts to the US. The 6gen GT-4, of course, is one of these. Also Nissan S15 Silvias, R32 and R34 Sylines, and other Japanese and European goodies that due to DOT and EPA restrictions are not importable. I already know all the laws and rules and have formulated a method for doing this legally. And it's not easy, there is a lot you have to do to keep them completely legal and road-safe. A few questions, though. 1. How much would you be willing to pay for an ST205? 2. What other cars would you recommend? 3. Any other suggestions? Thanks.

If you could really do it, that would be awsome. For a stock one I would pay 14,000-16,000 maybe I dont
know. How much would It cost to import them?

stock...no more than 5-6K....because you can get them cheap dirt money....our models are old...

i'd like a st205 rear cut

well if your importing r32s and r34s, i think i would take one of those to be honest.

to be able to legally drive a gt-four in the u.s., i'd pay a lot.

>

Alright.. let me buy a ST185 and sell it to you for 10x how much I got it!

>

LOL!, yeah i would consider buying a skyline too if you were able to get them

i was thinking about shipping just the shell over as a car-kit...then ship the engine in later. would that work? i heard that shipping the shell over is the best option..then after u get it, put it together but the dash has to be on lhd..iono about insurance. ehehe lie!

FYI:

Theres already a company in the United States that does just this. They get their hands on whatever imported vehicle that you are willing to pay for. The company is called Evolution Imports out of Orlando, Florida and they import many vehicles into North America directly to their lot and are for sale, ready to buy and drive legally.

If you're serious about getting a genuine JDM import, they're the absolute best. They sold a silver 1995 GT-Four for around 19 grand last year if I recall correctly, it was on their site for a while for sale right on their lot in Orlando with a complete registration and everything.

but the thing is, some states are strict and wont allow certain cars (cough* minnesota)...maybe just leave it in the garage and look at it...i wouldn't mind doing that...

if u no how i can get a rear end for my orange celica aka dg's let me no

i wouldnt mind having a GT-4 and an S15 (also maybe an FTO.... that would be something you dont see everyday)

Block, your almost on the right track, but doing it that way violates EPA Regulations. And the EPA will hurt you just for the fun of it.

When I finish importing a vehicle, it will be mechanically sound, cosmeticly excellent, street ready, road worthy, EPA and DOT legal, VINed, registerable, and insurable. And once they have been registered in one state, they are fully transferable to any other, as long as it passes emissions(generally California is left out on this one, but it can be done...$$$). Also, vehicles can legally be left or right hand drive in the US. Left hand conversion would cost extra because of the fabrication required.

Yes you can buy used JDM vehicles on their home market fairly inexpensively. Yes, they could be imported for roughly 5-8k if you plan to only use them for show or race. ***I do not do things illegal and will not be party to any questions as such.*** But if you do plan to show or race only, I can help there, too.

But, it costs me roughly 10-15k to import most vehicles and do it legally. I am building a network of exporters and buyers that can get nearly any vehicle. And if you find a car overseas you want to import, I would be willing to work with you to see it done. Also I plan to run a parts house and shop to round out the business. That way I can do LHD conversion and other customizations at a much lower expense.

For ST205 I was thinking roughly 13-20k depending on year, modifications, and what I can get them for. The Celica is what started my import obsession, and I like the forum, so I'll make minimal profit on the GT-4's and other vehicles sold to 6gc members. I would charge more for other, more popular vehicles like Skyline and Silvia, late models such as NSX and RX-7, rarities such as GT-4 WRC Group A and NSX-R MR, not to mention expensive European toys like TVRs, Maseratis, and Ferarris.

This post has been edited by slyd: Oct 1, 2006 - 9:53 PM

hmmmm iam pretty interested. i want more info bro whenever you get it

well if you all are willing to spend 14,000 + for a st205 ..hmm..

so tempting to sell but thrill of driving my own st205 is priceless ..







This post has been edited by FORGMANN: Oct 1, 2006 - 10:02 PM

LMK on how this goes.

i wouldn't want to drive a rhd car everyday...but i would be all over a lhd st205...thing is, idk if they were ever offered anywhere in the world. i could do up to maybe 15. over that and we're too close to the price of a nice used (or new, for that matter) us market car.

seems that you've thought this over pretty well...but are you planning to get into p&a as well, seeing as you said you wanted to make sure every car was tip-top before sale? because i think you'd quickly find that it's much more lucrative to deal in parts alone than entire cars. i think you have to either sell cars, as-is...or parts...but doing both is going to be hugely diffcult, imo.

man i'd take a real gt-four over any car in the US! its rare and awd! but that's just me.

I would be willing to pay about 15k *if* the car was in good shape. In other words the engine had been rebuilt or it had less then 75k miles on it. Paint and such aren't a big deal to me, but the car would have to be mechanicaly sound because paying for parts for it would be huge.

>

haha, I am weeping now.

This post has been edited by snapshotgt: Oct 1, 2006 - 10:51 PM

well i'd like to see some 86-92 rx7's, and cool ST185's, not just gt-fours though, gotta see some ss-ll and ss-lll

oh yeah... i wouldn't mind an ss-iii either. but i've never heard of any lhd ss-iii's. and when i said gt-four, i meant st205.

Well, as I said, my network of buyers should be able to locate nearly any vehicle. So SS-II and SS-III are definately options, actually cheaper and easier (except for the 3sge-vvt-i models).

As for buying a cosmetically flawed vehicle for customization, we should be able to find a reduced price, well used, fender bender, or something. If your going to replace body panels with fiberglass or carbon, restyle, reupholster, repaint, etc. anyway, why buy a perfect specimen? But I will not sell anything, other than by explicit customer request, that is substandard. Likewise, I will not buy anything that requires anything other than minimal reconditioning. Most vehicles will come with a warranty, probably a year or two. But the lawyers and insurace people will have a lot of say on that front.

As for left hand conversion, there are two ways: 1. Locate new or used dash pieces from a LHD-spec or similar dash from the same manufacturer and extend wiring, fabricate bracketry, ducting, and such. 2. Complete fabrication of mirror image dash. Obviously number 2 is more expensive, but normally we should be able to locate suitabe parts for the conversion. As far as the GT-4 goes, just get a dash out of a wrecked LHD-spec ST or GT and your half done. Making it look stock and pretty is the hard part, wiring and mechanicals (usually) are fairly easy.

As for GT4 - in Europe you can get LHD 1994-1996 priced from 10 to 16 k $. Mileage in range of 100-150 k miles. And 96 is the last year for LHD. 97-99 are available RHD only so JDM is the only option. You could get them for around 10-12 k $ but you need to add 2-3 k $ for conversion. Of course shipping to US of 1-2 k $ needs to be added to both options. I am not aware of any of your taxes (import, excise, whatever you may have) which need to be on top of all that.

Ergo, it would be very difficult to get GT4 to US below 15 k $.

Also, remember that spares are original only which means: 1) available in Toyota , 2) priced by Toyota .

This post has been edited by TomPoz: Oct 2, 2006 - 6:54 AM

GT4 in Japan cost from 2K$ till 8K$ depending on condition and etc. And all this pricing is fo a DAMAGED cars only. SSIII Prices are a little bit lower...

Shipping from Japan to almost any country is the same (almost the same) Shipping from Japan of 40ft container including 4 cars would cost somthere near 5-6K$ range. so even if you buy a well used GT4 lets say of 97 for about 5$ with little cosmetic damage + add another 1.5K for shipping, add customs fees, papers and etc and im well sure you will be standing in about 10-12K$ price range with it RHD.

I did imported already 6 JDM cars, and will do more in future, so im a bit familiar with all the stuff and etc.. And to get best prices of the JDM cars you have to have a really really good source - cuz otherwise Add another 1-1.5K of dealer fees...

Unfortunately, in the US we have different import laws than our European friends. Please, if you are not from the US, you probably don't understand what we have to go through, so don't confuse the issue with non-US importation laws and regulations. I'm not trying to be mean, it's just different here.

As an individual, you can import a car illegaly (to the US) by doing a few things to it. Then you have to do illegal things to register and insure. Good luck ever selling it. Furthermore, if a cop, dmv, epa, dot, etc. ever gets a suspicion of what you did, bye bye car, and hello prosecution.

In Japan there are many electronic auction houses. All cars are rated on a scale and have pictures so that the buyer knows what they are getting. And my buyers have been instructed to inspect each vehicle that they buy before finalizing. I will not buy substandard cars unless my customer has instructed me to. Nearly 70,000 cars per week go through the auctions and private sale houses my buyers have access to. I am working to expand that. According to the pricing information they have given me, add to that processing and shipping, add to that various other things that have to be done to keep it legal. It can be done for what I have priced, but like doggy said, you just have to have the right source.

You have PM.

so slyd are you speculating about all this or are you actually ready for business?

This post has been edited by celica47: Oct 2, 2006 - 5:44 PM

driving a real st205 sounds mighty appealing...hMmMm

bboy