Random Customer showed up today...
- Thread starter 13COBRA
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It's not a big deal, after a bit.
First time I drove one was in downtown London, it was a big deal. Also, I made the mistake of not knowing any laws or signs or anything (still don't), and everything was opposite all at once.
It took a solid day and getting the **** out of London to get comfortable.
Haha I've heard you need a set of nuts to drive there. And avoid being a pedestrian
After reading the title, I expected Al Bundy with one of his "A fat woman walked into the shoe store today" stories.
I've driven a number of RHD cars including an R32 GTR, Pajero, a few Highace vans, and a tiny little Cappuccino (lol) among some others. Putting around is easy but when it comes time to row through the gears the coordination just isn't there using your left hand. It definitely took me a little bit to get it right, especially when you aren't driving them every day.
Thats pretty cool. I saw a JDM 300 ZX on the road recently but not this cool
I saw an article where a Japanese dealer opened a showroom here in FL and all they sell are JDM RHD cars that people have been chasing forever.
Japanese Skyline GT-R Specialists Craft Sports JDM Opens First Overseas Dealership in Florida
Kinda want to go do some window shopping....
^^^That place is literally right up the street from me. Super cool place. TONS of cars in inventory as well as in the back getting restored.
Thats pretty cool. I saw a JDM 300 ZX on the road recently but not this cool
I saw an article where a Japanese dealer opened a showroom here in FL and all they sell are JDM RHD cars that people have been chasing forever.
Japanese Skyline GT-R Specialists Craft Sports JDM Opens First Overseas Dealership in Florida
Kinda want to go do some window shopping....
Those are everywhere up here
Yeah, I saw some video a year or so back about a company in Japan with a massive warehouse of Supras/GTR/etc. The company did importation into the US as well as buying them from online auctions in Japan. If it was something legal to import, they help you buy it, they toss it in a container and it's off to the US. For cars not yet legal, they offered a storage fee and they had plenty of cars just waiting to head to the US. The company also sold a lot of parts from wrecked rare import cars, bumpers, engines, wheels, etc.
You're talking about garage-defend, I hope to use them in a year or two for an Evo V. Garage Defend
I've talked to a couple people on reddit who used them and had very good experiences. Those people also managed to buy R33 GT-R's a year before they became legal and about 6 months before the prices literally doubled. When I went to japan in Nov of 2018 a clean R33 GT-R could be had between 28-32 grand US. Now they're 38 grand for a rough example and 40-60 grand depending on condition.
The whole thing is stupid, back when R32 GT-R's became legal in the US you could buy a nice example for 18-22 grand, now they're 40 grand cars and GTS-T's are 18-22 grand. I'd really love to own a R33 but I'm not paying Shelby GT350 money for one.
Also for anyone thinking "I'll wait for an R34", they're already selling for 50-150 grand depending on shape so good luck when they hit the US. All the ones I saw in Japan (aside from the two that were used for rentals) were in pristine shape driven by older guys.
Long ago when Motorex was a thing, my buddy imported the very first GTR to America, the r33 in FNF was the 2nd. I had this thing in my garage putting Hks cams and cam gears, we put a HkS dragger exhaust on and we tuned it on a power FC. This was 99ish. Fun times. It was a mid 11 second car and we would pretty much rape everything.
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My old boss had a Motorex R33 GTR Nismo as well, and he also had a 70s Skyline, and he imported a number of cars on his own before they got shut down by the feds. He had a Silvia Spec R and an STI but I forget what year, I want to say like a 1999. The Silvia was never street legal but the STI they transferred all the parts over to a US spec model. His R33 was the Nurburgring record car and when he had it it was making around 700awhp. He sold both to Cobb Tuning and last I saw it appeared it was for sale at a dealership in Texas. It was silver just like the one you posted and had silver Nismo wheels and a silver roll cage.
Yup
These are the '60's Muscle cars of Japan and nothing really replaced them. Japanese laws made them into throw away scrap and the world had been buying up motor sets, half cuts and exports for 30 years.
Now cars are both rare and desirable. Combine that with Covid, inflation and retarded easy financing.... Boom, triple in price.
As for "why" someone pays that, same reason a Fox, Terminator (et al) go for big bucks. Nostalgia and the fact that they are vastly different from modern cars in terms of looks, feel and experience.
Turbo RBs just sound and rev out freaking sooo good.
I've been thinking of a R32 GTS-T. Easy 300whp, sub 2,800lb, turbo Inline 6, good looking RWD car with great suspension and huge aftermarket.
You are sure you talk about real Evos (and the many special editions)? If so, I will quit my job tomorrow and start to import these cars to Germany, where they are offered for well over 100k Euros.
Although I have to admit, I do not know if they are actually sold for these prices, same goes for the Evo models of the Mercedes 190 and BMW M3 E30, which are offered for over 200k sometimes...
Well I know the ones I saw on the road were Evo models but the ones I saw online for sale may not have been, I just assumed they were because I know these Deltas beibg imported here are all caming from Japan, and since the majority of one of the particular Evos was imported to Japan after being manufactured I figured they were the ones making their way over here. The ones I saw going for 30-40k at the import dealers weren't perfect examples either so it's hard to say if that was top dollar or not. They looked like they had been daily drivers and needed some minor work to get them back to pristine. I'll keep an eye out to see which ones they actually are. You are probably right though.
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