So first of all this is my first post! So I'm excited to get to know the fourm. Hopefully if I can get my hands on an r32 I'll be on here more often.

I come from the world of lsx and camaro's (ls1tech and ltxtech). I have had a few z28's and my brother has a mustang. So I am not un-familer with wrenching and getting around smog. However I have always wanted a Skyline and just sort of gave up on the idea but I realized that people have them and they must get them some how and it dawned on me that I need to come on a Nissan forum where people have the darn things.

Then it dawned on me that the R32 will be legal in 2014... and that is only a month away. So, now I want to buy myself a really cool Christmas present: an r32.

The problem is I have no idea how or where to even think about buying one of things things and I don't know anyone or anywhere a performance/tuning shop for one would be in the Bay Area, CA.

I hope some people on here can share some insight! I wouldn't care about legality but getting a car seized is a little over the top. I'll stick to only tampering with emissions. haha well anyway. I hope I can get my hands on one of these because it is really exciting to think about.

Lots of info here

so-you-want-to-buy-a-skyline-in-the-us-t159216.html

Know that you are not the only one who thought of this and are actually very far behind the curve. The Fast and Furious tax on these cars will be punishing and you can expect to pay substantially more than these cars should be worth owing to the anomalous market.

I'm seeing folks trying to snap up any 89 GT-R they can find around here with half of them admitting they just want to ship em and flip for fat bank next year. That's the types of folks you will be dealing with.

Know that most cars of that vintage are beat up, running on the last useful rotations of their abused engines and rusting badly. Include a budget for a complete tear down resto of EVERYTHING if you intend to do anything more substantial than limp the car around showing off and hope you never have to answer a challenge from some pizza-faced kid in a riced out POS because if you take the bait you will likely puke the engine trying to show him "godzilla."

I wish you luck.

I'll echo themadscientist's thoughts/advice.

These cars are getting old and many being brought back next year will have deferred maintenance and rust issues.

If you are serious about purchasing one of these cars, check out some of the other threads on here and brush up on what a good car looks like and do your homework in finding a good car. There will be a number of them in country by the end of next year, but not many will be in "good" shape.

Caveat emptor.

Just to answer an immediate question for you, the 25 year exemption for vehicles eligible to be imported is from the month of manufacture. The earliest GTRs will not be legal for importation until August of 2014, about 9 months away.

Oh ok well I'll just have to wait then. My camaro was giving my all kinds of electrical problems lately so I decided I wanted a new toy instead of rebuilding the engine. However it sounds like I'll have to wait a while (August), I'll let the hype die down a little so I don't pay too much for the car. I was thinking about getting a motorcycle anyway in the meantime. My car is on its last leg, soon I'll have to either rebuild it or buy something else for a crutch daily driver.

I am 20 with way too much time on my hands and an unusually good job for my age. My income vs. expense ratio is stacked in my favor. So that's why I thought it would be cool just to have one and enjoy it. I'll wait and watch the market I think. Hopefully they don't get ridiculously expensive like the mk4 turbo supra's. We'll just have to see. That's another cool car I would like to own, along with a termi cobra.

The price is only going to climb the closer we get to August. We've already started seeing it here in Japan, and the Japanese know.

I'm guessing the market value will rest around the low 20Ks USD when they start being sold in the US. The hype will not die down for at least a couple years until there are substantial numbers, my opinion, so you might be waiting awhile.

These are old cars, and I would use it as a toy and not my only car (as I speak out of both sides of my mouth having one as my only car in Japan), so if you can stomach 20k for a late 80s Nissan as a weekender, then it's a great experience so long as you do your homework.

Ok thanks for all the advice and the warm welcome. Sounds more expensive that I initially thought. Honestly I was expecting something near 10k maybe less maybe more.

Sure thing.

10K is about the going price for an OK car in Japan, low teens for something fairly decent and from 6-8K for some fairly beat cars. Factor in the couple to 3 thousand it will take for shipping, land transportation, brokerage/paperwork translations, and fees and it gets expensive. Market value will undoubtedly drive up the price of the car from that point as well.

The price is only going to go up; there's no getting around it. As each successive year rolls around it will spike. I expect it to get so bad I am picking up my R now and I live in Japan. There are only so many cars and the massive suction from the American "tuners," christ I hate that term, is sure to impact availability here in a big way.

themadscientist wrote:The price is only going to go up; there's no getting around it. As each successive year rolls around it will spike. I expect it to get so bad I am picking up my R now and I live in Japan. There are only so many cars and the massive suction from the American "tuners," christ I hate that term, is sure to impact availability here in a big way.

Haha, I hate the term "tuners" as well. What does that even mean, right? Dyno tune? "Tune" up as in spark plugs, fuel filters... haha. Tuners... smh. I guess they mean "upgrades, mods and custom work. " For some reason people like the term "tune" for no reason at all. Besides all the fast cars never look or sound nice and refined anyway.

So to me its never been "tuned" its more like: it got a needle full of steroids stuck up its a** and then flew down the track. lol

I had a couple of "tuned" car way back when that would beat cars with twice the money wrapped up in them.

My secret? Well, it's just us, right? Several quick oil changes with filter to flush the motor, new spark plugs, fuel and air filters, clean the air flow meter, throttle body and AAC valve, set the timing and tighten the throttle cable, and flush the intercooler and radiator fins of years of accumulated crud.

When I was seriously street racing most all my cars had nothing more than a full exhaust and high flow air filter, a piggy back fuel computer to get the most out of the OEM fuel system, a boost controller set to a reasonable level and a boost gauge. So many "tuned" cars lost to a car with a simple tune up, it was ridiculous.

"tuners" pfft, Throwing a bunch of random parts at your car isn't tuning and that crap only impresses when hard parked. If I wanted to park and show off I would have drove a VIP car here. This Skyline's for racing. You can tell by the lights.

California is an issue. They have their own EPA. so while you will be legally allowed to import the car, registering it in California is much more difficult.

You can read some more about the 25 year rule here - http://www.motoiq.com/MagazineArticles/ ... -Rule.aspx

Some more about Kalifornia here - http://vehicleimport.blogspot.com/2013/ ... newer.html

There are still some nice cars. I know a great company that is currently importing legal cars and looking for 89's and storing them until legal. Rivsu Imports. Check them out. They will not over charge and will find a nice car.