I'm sure someone has noticed and it probably goes something like this.

Vice President: Mr president! We have another petition to repeal the ban on import cars under 25 years old? Should we spend a bunch of time and money giving them what they want?

President: So they can spend all their money at Japanese exporters instead of American dealers? Mmmmmmmm nope!

 

^LOL, your last sentence is the crux of this whole debacle and unfortunately why something like this probably will not change. It's certainly worth a shot though.

 

If you were the Japanese government, you'd want the US to be able to buy these older cars, if only to drive the market for new cars. That said, you're talking about a small, niche market.

I like your dream. Only 10 years to go!

People have been doing this for a long time (and, ironically, reading up on EI's dubious Evo VII imports were how I ended up on this site) and it's still not fully legal. You can try, and if you get the right people, you'll be able to register and insure your car. At least until NHTSA decides they don't like what you're doing... and crushes your car. This has happened to a lot of Lotus cars, and lately Land Rover Defenders.


http://blog.dupontregistry.com/featu...llegal-in-usa/

(Note that the 1989 R-32 is now legal under S&D and the R-33 is only legal if it's a Motorex version)

 

Total aside, but the President probably could change this just by signing an XO to NHTSA to change it. This isn't really legislative, it's just NHTSA and EPA rules. And as mentioned, you're talking a TINY market - maybe 5000 cars/year? In a country that moves 15 million....

Of course, Fox would complain about executive overreach, and demand we all support Ford and GM, until someone pointed out they're all made by union workers and then heads would explode.... wait, can we make this happen?

 

that is incorrect-ish

Why would he sign an executive order? There is already a well established protocol to import a vehicle. Just because a bunch of people that want one don't have the money to do it doesn't mean it should be easier!

The government does not making importing cars difficult. I've done it. There are hundreds of cars imported-just not skylines. All those Chinese scooters? Same import regs. The damn Suzuki mini trucks all over now? Same regs. The reason you don't see Skylines anymore is because 99% of the people who would want to buy one don't have the money or resources to pay for it. Banks don't loan 40,000 usd on a 15 year old Nissan. And people wiht 45k cash don't usually want one either. That's why it hasn't happened beyond what already has-there's no market. Motorex and their financial backers learned that the hard way, tried to scam it, and Jiro wound up in prison. So did Graeter. I was in it 7 years and 15,000usd in just legal fees over my Skyline before I actually got it.

 

I'm all in.

 

You will have to excuse my ignorance about the political processes involved, I have trouble understanding our own system over here. The initial issue I see with this is getting the right person to make this a priority, someone with the capabilities to push this forward who thinks it is a valuable use of their time. (Hence my satirical involving of the president).

You've hit the button on the media. However accurate it is or is not, perception is still greater than reality and the perception that the gain to America will be far outweighed by the loss will be remarkably easy to create. As mentioned, your local manufacturers but also your imported new vehicle dealers, used car dealers and also you trying to sell your own vehicle privately which has grossly depreciated thanks to an influx of cheap used imported vehicles. Remember, perception>reality.

On a side note, you don't think 5000 is a little conservative? Dependent on the process I'd feel that could be exceeded easily. It's not just JDM fanboys who are going to be in on this.

 

The only response anyone would get to this is to follow the standard, already published NHTSB regs to become a Registered Importer. There are hundreds of them. Any one of them could import a Skyline if they wanted to go through the approval process, there just isn't enough money in it for the hassle.

 

Odds are I'll never import a car . But feel there shouldn't be regulations on what kinda car you can bring as long as the person driving it has a valid licenses they should be able to make the choice .

 

Most of the rules are written/enforced by NHTSA, with some emissions rules courtesy of the EPA (but enforced by NHTSA). The president could theoretically issue an executive order and tell NHTSA to change the rules to be more amenable to importing unique foreign vehicles. No real reason for him to, it took a lot of lawyers to make the original Show & Display law (aka the Gates/Allen 959 rule) happen.

Basically there's 2 ways I'm aware of to import a car (kinda curious about ikt since it seems like an R34 runs afoul of both). S&D is for limited run (less than 500) cars of significance that someone has done the paperwork for. You're limited to 2500 miles a year for these. Most of them are obviously exotics. You'll note on the list a few cars that people tried sneaking in under S&D and got busted for:

http://icsw.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/imp...t06202005.html

The other way involves some relatively straight forward paperwork. The catch is that for cars under 25 years old, all applicable FMVSS standards (at that time) must be met. This typically means crash testing and updating emissions, which is why it's rare, and why I'm curious what method ikt used to bring an R34 here. Motorex did this for the R33, including crashing 2 or 3 of them to prove safety, and had an emissions update. Of course, they got greedy and tried sneaking in R32s and R34s under the same import exemption and got in jail for it. Graeter just flat out lied on his paperwork and to in jail for it.

As far as motorcycles/scooters and trucks, the emissions and safety rules on those have always been MUCH more lax than on passenger cars. Depending on the engine displacement of a motorcycle, as long as it's not a 2 stroke you can probably import most anything. Trucks have fairly minimal safety/crash standards and easy to pass emissions, at least up until fairly recent. So yes it's much easier to import those.

ikt is absolutely right about one thing, and that's that most of the people who want one of these (e.g. an R34) don't have the means. If you're talking a $30-60k car + importing fees for a 15+ year old car, you're talking people who have a fair amount of money. And then you're talking about people who might not want to drive around a 15 year old Nissan with no warranty, no maintenance/repair infrastructure, etc. If you had $60k lying around would this really be your first choice?

I actually think 5000 is high for that reason... how many cars are out there people would actually want to import that you can't get here already in some form? GTR, S15 silvia, LR Defender, a couple older Lotus models?

 

Because we have emissions and safety rules for a reason. Allowing anyone to import anything would gut those rules.

 

Ignoring the obvious ones. Commodores/Falcons (specifically the utes and wagons), Megane, Focus RS, Audi A1, MB A45 AMG (and a bunch of other sweet hatchbacks). But there isn't any real volume in those.

The real volume will be in your cheap import dealers popping up the moment they get access to these vehicles.

 

I always thought it was Big Auto and the Oligarchy keeping out cheaper imports under the guise of 'safety'.

 

Agreed. I bet Nissan would truly hate this petition. They want to sell their new R35's. They don't want potential buyers moving to old R34's.

 

Yup, that is my train of thought.

Why don't you come over here, you could land yourself an R34 GTR same day you arrive, or pick yourself up a Stagea 260RS. GTR wagon FTW!