R32 is going to be 25 years old soon....... is anyone else thinking about it?

[Kordyte]

Hey guys, I don't post much here, mostly because I have an EvoIX and not a Nissan, heh

I was thinking though... the R32 GT-R is my favorite Nissan, produced between 1989 and 1994. The rule in America in general (I live in Illinois) is if a car is 25, it's much easier to title and register, right? 2014 is coming up, and by that time I should have the money to pick one up. The prices to register the R32/R33/R34 right now are far too rich for my blood anyway. I emailed the DMV, I'm waiting for a response. I think you guys will be a little more helpful anyway.

So... could I go over to Canada, Pick up a '90 GT-R for 15 grand or so (that's seemingly the going price, check out Craigslists and Canada car forums), let the car sit and work on it in my garage until 2015, and then go title/register on the cheap and easy?

Am I the only one excited about this? I wouldn't mind having it with an antique plate, either.

Thanks in advance, guys

[akwikz]

You're plan won't quite work yet. If you were to get one now and "sneak" it over, you would not be able to ever register it legally here. When you bring in a 25 year old car, you need to have all of your DOT, EPA, and Customs paperwork on hand when you go to the local DMV. The car needs to have entered the U.S. declared as 25 years or older so that it can have the proper exemptions. If you tried to register a car that does not have this papertrail, it will be just like the guys registering them illegally today.

You're idea is a good one though. In 6 years, you will be able to get an '89 GT-R in Canada for next to nothing. Their market is so flooded with them that the bottom has already fallen out and I see them going for as little as $10-$12k. Why deal with shipping from Japan when you can just drive one home? Right? So, my suggestion is that you keep on eye on the Canadian Skyline market and on Jan 1, 2014 you drive on home. I don't know about your local regulations, but as far as the Fed. Gov. is concerned, you will be legal.

Brian

[Kordyte]

So essentially I need the paperwork saying that it's 25 years old when I bring it in? (seems kind of goofy... I wouldn't be driving it anyway)

Thanks!

[BLKTOPS14SR]

So explain this. Its not 25 years old.zerothread/296585

How did he get it here. Please explain this to me as I seem to be missing something.

[Gold Digger]

Getting a Skyline here isn't the problem. It's doing it the correct way that's the problem. A lot of guys drive grey market cars, ones that aren't federally legal to be on the streets. Some guys have cars that were legalized by MotorEx before they fell through.

Maybe the OP is just biding his time to do it the correct way because after the 25 year mark, those cars are exempt from all the legal BS that they would have to go through if brought in now.

[BLKTOPS14SR]

So you can just import a car here. Get it at the dock and trailer it home and wait to get it legalized or drive it and hope that nothings happens as a grey market car. I thought customs wouldn't even let it out of the port without it being brought up to spec right there. Thats what I might have been misinformed on. That would also explain the amount of Skyline's for sale that have no registration done. Like the R33 GTS-4 on here a while back. It's changed so many hands and no-one has done the paper work. There's actually legalized RI here in Terre Haute that could perform the proper legalization. You have to have an RI to import the car correct. Average Joe couldn't just import a car, unless it really is 25+ years old. Thanks very much for any info.

[Kordyte]

Right, I'm waiting till the R32 is truly 25 years old, starting in 2014.I know it's next to impossible to properly register/title them now, so I'm not gonna. I'm a broke-*** college kid right now, but in 6 years I should have money. So for the guys who have the ORIGINAL ORIGINAL GT-R's (hakosuka and kenmari or whatever), how hard/easy was it to title/register those? Do you NEED an antique plate?

[Gold Digger]

So you can just import a car here. Get it at the dock and trailer it home and wait to get it legalized or drive it and hope that nothings happens as a grey market car. I thought customs wouldn't even let it out of the port without it being brought up to spec right there. Thats what I might have been misinformed on. That would also explain the amount of Skyline's for sale that have no registration done. Like the R33 GTS-4 on here a while back. It's changed so many hands and no-one has done the paper work. There's actually legalized RI here in Terre Haute that could perform the proper legalization. You have to have an RI to import the car correct. Average Joe couldn't just import a car, unless it really is 25+ years old. Thanks very much for any info.

There are some shady ways people get the cars in, and I am not sure of all of them, but a common way is to bring it in with no engine and transmission, have it listed as parts, then send it out somewhere off the coast, then have it assembled and listed as a kit car, then brought back in.