JadeFalcon wrote:Hmm. . . one idea. . .
Get it titled as a custom car. That's how those old hot rods that people build themselves are legal to drive. I know you can do that in Louisiana, and you should be able to do it anywere else.
Motorex wants you to believe the only way to get a Skyline is through them, so they can rape you with doubled or tripled prices.
Just wondering, how much did it cost ya?
---Jade
Um, the only way you can legally drive one in the U.S. for more than 1 year IS through Motorex.
First of all, those "old hot rods" are legal because they are classics. Anything over 25 years old can be registered as a classic, and they can be anything. No emissions testing, complete custom vehicles, etc.
If you register a car new than 25 years old, as a custom car, it must be registered for demo only, and has a maximum regestraton of 1 year. Anything past that, and you have to return the car to the country in which it was imported from.
It sickens me that everybody thinks they are other ways around Motorex. There isn't. Not for street use anyway, or atleast not legally. Motorex is the ONLY way to get a skyline legally on the road here.
Well, I take that back, you can do all the EPA tests to bring a car into the U.S. yourself. Don't expect it to be cheaper though. You'll have to buy a minimum of 3 of the vehicles to start with. Crash test two (side impact and head on impact), and use the 3rd one to change over bumper height specifications, and make the proper OBDII modifications to comply with federal OBDII laws for whatever year skyline you buy. When you are done with everything, you will have to go through the mile high paperwork, and pay for all the EPA certifications.
If you look back, Motorex is not the first company to do this sort of thing. Ameritech did the same to the McLaren F1 as Motorex is doing to the Skyline. You know how much it costs (or costed, during production) to get an F1 here in the U.S. and be legal? It was approx. 1.2 million dollars. Ameritech had to make back their money for the lost cars during crash testing, just like Motorex is doing.
Motorex prices are not outrageous. You figure a car that is comparable with a NSX, Viper, Corvette, Esprit, costs you $50-$100k. What do these other cars cost? They are right along the same price.