Iron Chef

There's a whole industry devoted to it over there - American-spec LHD Japanese cars brought back in to Japan and sold at ridiculous price. Very weird, but understandable when the whole LHD foreign car thing carries much more status.

The other post wasn't aimed at you, but I'll try again regardless. Yes, the cars were built in Japan for the US and Canadian markets only, not for local consumption, then a US importer brought them back in to Japan from the US as private imports, in the same way we bring Skylines here. Japan has no regulations requiring cars having to be RHD, so none of them are converted. Go into a Benz dealership in Japan and you can choose whether you'd like left or right hand drive.

I read that one - I'm not eating my words just yet, but I'm getting out the knife and fork....lol

Still not gonna happen, but I'm happy to eat my words if they prove me wrong.

AndyD can probably update you, but I suspect it's either at the workshop or very close to heading there. Lack of extra photos was because the car made it on a boat before the agent could even get down to the docks to take pics - damn those Japanese and their efficiency! lol I suspect AndyD is currently foaming at the mouth waiting to get down and have a look at it!!

I remember the car well, and yes, the Japanese on the plate says "twin plate clutch set"

If you have the original invoice from whoever sold the car to the other bloke in Japan, try contacting them. The compliance workshop who applied for the import approval may already have a copy, but I suspect it's them who is hounding you for it. Actually, ask the workshop for the copy of the invoice from the dealer/agent in Japan might be your best shot - the RAW would've needed it when they applied for the import approval in the first place.

Just in case you missed it the first time...

^^^Sold in Japan, but only as imports from the US, in LHD only. Stupidly expensive...

4 door R35?? NOT. GONNA. HAPPEN. The V35/36 and the R35 are totally different cars.

Thanks for the support fellas. Obelisk, I got your email, but I've just spent the last 24 hours on planes coming back from Japan, so I'll get back to you tomorrow probably. My first impression is that with no service records, and no record either way of accident history, it would probably be a fairly risky proposition, although it does look pretty sexy with those rims

They won't be $25K, nowhere near it, and DRIFTT-san, I didn't pick one up today (bought too many big $$ cars this week so had to sacrifice my own purchases for the team) but will get in soon once some money is back in the bank in Japan. I'll give you a buzz when I get back.

Hmmm - I'm writing this in Nagoya, maybe I should try and pick one up while I'm here...

It's on - I got the email confirming about 5 mins ago

You get what you pay for If it's a track-only car, then fair enough, but don't try sending it through compliance.

He's a top bloke - good at spotting good cars. Many of the import brokers here use his services, including me.

Awesome - might try and pick one up while I'm here in Japan. Jash - loving your work fella Nice article!!

Grey on purple mmmm - on that note, keep an eye out for a midnight purple R33 GT-R with grey 18x9.5" Prodrives on it, hit the road yesterday. Super quick car...

Was at All Japan Day that car - rims are mighty porn.

Theoretically yes, but there were so few GT-Zs (is that the correct model name?? from memory) made that it's not worth a workshop's time and money to go through the process to comply them.

See above - I can't believe someone tried to apply for it under SEVS...

Don't get defensive love - I wanted to look at the RR because I AM curious, and I thought you might be interested to see how much they're selling for at auction. I own an EP3 Type R, so I can hardly be accused of being anti-Honda. If you purely wanted to make a profit, then a luxury car is always your best bet, but obviously not the most fun thing to drive - at the other end, you can choose an S14, thrash the crap out of it and have an awesome time with it, and at the end, make a little bit of money on them. In between the two extremes is a sliding scale of fun v profit, and somewhere in there is a sweet spot where you can make a bit of money and have fun with the car. A Forester is an excellent choice in that regard. I have no idea what the retail is on an RR, but the number of people looking to spend more than $50K on a Civic would be very small, while there would be a heap willing to spend the same coin on an Evo wagon. That was my point. And the only reason the wagon isn't on SEVS is because I haven't had a crack at the application yet and 2500 is still worth it. You can choose to ignore what I'm saying, I'm not going to take it personally, and if you buy an RR and make big money on it back here, then more power to you.

Forester

Hence why I'm working feverishly on all Cadillac models before October

Not easily - presuming it's an aftermarket, you coupld probably buy a new head unit for the same money you spent converting the Japanese one.