mm just to clarify, CBP is Customs Border Patrol, not Canadian Border Patrol The pinhead was saddly one of our "special children".AZhitman wrote:Interesting that some pinhead Canuck thinks he's an expert on US law.
Yup and I would have loved to toss this in their face if it was me they were pushing around.AZhitman wrote:Ah - My bad.
That's even worse. OK, now I'm REALLY interested.
Nonresidents may import a vehicle duty-free for personal use up to (1) one year if the vehicle is imported in conjunction with the owner’s arrival. Vehicles imported under this provision that do not conform to U.S. safety and emission standards must be exported within one year and may not be sold in the U.S. There is no exemption or extension of the export requirements.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_Con ... ad_TrafficMotorists visiting the United States as tourists from countries that have ratified the Convention on International Road Traffic of 1949 may drive in the U.S. for one year with their own national license plates (registration tags) on their own national license plates (registration tags) on their cars and with their own personal drivers’ licenses.
I think this post largely hit the nail on the head.Axoure Dragonkin wrote:I love how almost every poster on discussion has blamed the govt for over reaching, treading on the peoples rights, spending too much money, having nothing better to do, Obama being a Muslim, not showing us a birth certificate, death panels for grandma, taking over health care, mandatory abortions, taking away our guns, and activist judges.
Nobody, has mentioned the facts here:
Nissan did not export Skylines to the US when they were in production. If Nissan had not underestimated the US market for turbo cars (why we got the KA instead of the SR) we would not be having this discussion.
Motorex, a private small business company AKA the almighty GOD of laissez faire economics, DID NOT complete the crash testing as required by the NHTSA. They tried to pull a fast one. If they had done the right thing and complied with the rules instead of cheating, we wouldn't be having this discussion. Their business practices are why we have regulations in the first place.
I build commercial airplanes for a living. If Motorex, made jumbo jets, wouldn't you be glad the FAA is all over their a** for violations, keeping your family members from dropping out of the sky. BTW, you don't even want to know what fines are like in the aerospace industry...
VandrelSOUSA was accused of operating a illegal importing ring, unfortunately. A sad result of which his car (which had been imported illegally by another person years ago) got caught up in it. He thought he had a legal car and didn't.
Now, I personally don't care if they are safe or not. If you want to drive one, go for it. Modify it however you like, in my opinion. The only person you are affecting is yourself.
Just like I personally don't care if you smoke pot or not. I'd rather you smoke legal and taxed pot that you bought at the gas station because it would cut off the cartels knees, fix some of the immigration problem, and fix a large portion of our budget problems as well.
I don't agree with these seizures, but I can't fault the govt either. The part that is worst is that it is the owner of the vehicle left holding the bag at the end. This is just an unfortunate situation all around.
The only real people who are 100% at fault are these shady import companies who sell you a Skyline knowing full well that they are sticking it to you. Even more than them, blame Motorex.
What you have to consider is though. That for Nissan it was a liability issue. If they supported it, stood behind it writing letters etc, Nissan NA would be making themselves responsible and part of the liability. If they helped and approved, then people got killed in skylines or if accidents involving skylines killed others, they'd have a lawsuit on their hand. From individuals and the gov't. They'd be stuck losing money defending a car that wasnt intended for the American market anyway(if s*** hit the fan). Nissans thinking about money and lawsuits. They were covering their own asses.mechanicalmoron wrote:I think this post largely hit the nail on the head.
That said, the reason they're doing this to skyline owners is because they said so, and you didn't listen. So they're going to beat you until you do listen. It doesn't matter that they didn't have a good reason for saying so, all that matters is they felt like saying so and are butthurt that you don't take their worthless words more seriously.
It's obviously beyond silly that they even have the right to seize a private piece of property, they should have no jurisdiction over your car, simply because it's a car, unless you drive it on their roads. It should only be a registration debate, not a crushing peoples cars debate.
But it's still all motorex's fault, and nissan's for not really caring enough anyway. You don't have the skyline because of nissan, too.
Probably not. Things come long and slow(or not at all) with the gov't. It could be a year before anything becomes of this. They made him lose his car, they won. They got his car already, they did their job. So technically its over for them as far as theyre concerned. They may ignore this case and do nothing. See for them, they made him get rid of his car, and they got another "contraband" vehicle off the road. Case closed. If he had kept his car, they'd still be agitated and have a reason to comeback, give him attention and fight him. He'd have more grounds to fight them on. But he gave the car up and exported it, so theyre pleased. Theyre probably not going to pay him any attention now.kylefeuuu wrote:anything new vanbdrel
Maybe I read it wrong, I thought they DIDN'T get his car.nitrous36 wrote:Probably not. Things come long and slow(or not at all) with the gov't. It could be a year before anything becomes of this. They made him lose his car, they won. They got his car already, they did their job. So technically its over for them as far as theyre concerned. They may ignore this case and do nothing. See for them, they made him get rid of his car, and they got another "contraband" vehicle off the road. Case closed. If he had kept his car, they'd still be agitated and have a reason to comeback, give him attention and fight him. He'd have more grounds to fight them on. But he gave the car up and exported it, so theyre pleased. Theyre probably not going to pay him any attention now.kylefeuuu wrote:anything new vanbdrel
The more I look at this. The more I think he should of hung on to the car to keep their attention and entertain things. Then something may of happened sooner. Its like going back to fight a bully that took your lunch money. Well hes already got your luch money and its gone. If I was vandrel, Id be more interested in finding the idiots responsible for this. Because its not the car that got him caught, its the rumors that were spread about him that got him in trouble. If I were him I would try to find out who they were. But not to fight them, there are so many laws you could throw at them to f*** them over.
Sorry, but you really can't blame Nissan on this other than making a decision not to sell the Skyline in the US those years. Just because some enthusiasts wanted Skylines in the US does not mean it would have been a financial success for Nissan.mechanicalmoron wrote:It's a combination of nissan not caring
2nd. Keep us updated!kylefeuuu wrote:anything new vanbdrel
What happens if they don't respond within 90 days??? Also didnt know you were in NC. Based on what happened(them coming to take your car) I immediately assumed you lived in Cali or some place like that where imports are high profile. I live near by in wilmington in the southeastern part of the state.VandrelSOUSA wrote:Just to clear up some of the responses here,
The car is NOT "gone". It's still here in the great state of North Carolina. The government still has yet to respond to my lawyer, as they are obligated by law, within a 90 day window. Their time is coming to a end. Legally they cannot do anything with my car until they respond and the pending litigation against them is solved.
Jumping over to the bigger picture, we (the community) are working a angle to attack this problem. It will jump into the 6 figure range but will be for the greater good of all and benifit all current owners. Within the upcoming months be sure to watch for news releases detailing our project and how you can help.
Thanks for the kind words and support. We're always looking for support in this case as it progresses on all fronts. Our community is very engaged in the current legal cases involving Skylines in this country. As you can imagine, legal fees don't come cheap. In our case we're up against a $495/hr rate. We don't ask for much but anyone that's willing to "give" is welcome to forward contributions VIA PayPal to [email protected]chozobody wrote: I would be more than willing to donate both my time and money to help with this fight.
Then they are going to be sued. They have a obligation as per the law to respond and settle the matter. If they fail to do so while wrongfully holding my property then they will be liable to face serious litigation in a court of law as well as pay all my legal fees and possibly additional fees.nitrous36 wrote:What happens if they dont respond within 90 days???
Your PM's are disabled. I tried to respond to your question240SXREX wrote:I have done endless amount of research
Drug trafficking? WHAT kind of drug runner would use such an obvious, targeted car, that's sure to get law enforcement attention? AND that costs 20x as much as the chevy down the block?240SXREX wrote:I have done endless amount of research and the only thing that I can think of other than all the other modifications you have to do is lower the factory govern and have a disclaimer along with all the other little warning signs that you have to add.Foreign cars are brought into America everyday. There has been rumors of these cars being used for drug trafficking and what not but the people that legitimately own their Skylines shouldn't be robbed of the freedom. If it got here and customs approved it and it passed EPA plus registered importer released bond then why are they taking a car that they approved worthy of driving on US soil. I love this Country but don't take away my pursuit of happiness when your a law abiding citizen. Heck I'm scared of driving my 240sx wondering if I will lose that freedom. I wish we could govern the government and make a JDM V.I.P. Car the official presidential car. I bet they would see the passion and drive that we have for Japans awesome engineering. Heck the skyline is way ahead of it's time. What's next it is too much of an electric sports car when they go green. They ought to us some of the bond money that you pay at the port to get all t crash testing
done to be certified and if there is money left then put it towards registered importers inforcement agents.