ADP91

Strap yourself in mate, it can take anywhere from 4 - 8 weeks. Mine took close to 8. I'd say 6 - 8 is the norm, with anything less than 6 being a big bonus.

Yeah my delays weren't caused by the shop itself, they were actually excellent. It just took forever to receive the purple compliance plate, and then the RMS/RTA put a hold on the cars registration pending a random inspection. So many hoops to jump through... I know what you're saying though. An already painful process can be exacerbated in a big way by an inept workshop.

Surprising to hear. I had an excellent experience with him as have many others I know. Shipping and compliance time frames are almost completely out of the importers hands. My old car sat in compliance for over 8 weeks, even though it was only supposed to take 5 or 6. However the car shipped over a week earlier than it was supposed to. It's very hit and miss. I do buy the Christmas excuse, it would be a legitimate reason - although a 2-3 month delay I can't vouch for. $4000 in compliance costs sounds a little high. I seem to remember paying less than half that and it included 3 months rego, however the car didn't require tyres or any other major expenses. Are you sure you weren't informed of any issues the car may have had prior to purchasing it? I recall Ben being extremely thorough, down to the smallest of marks on the paint. Sucks to hear you had such a rough experience. Just curious, what car did you buy?

http://www.j-spec.com.au/

That's a fair point to make, like I said. I'm guessing price structures are based on volume, and the assumption is that they're charging everyone regardless so the cheaper tickets go to the spectators who make up the majority of sales. Of course we then arrive at your other point of whether its appropriate to charge participants at all. I'm not sure where I sit on that one. Is there a separate insurance policy that covers your property whilst it's on site at the event? Is there a security team patrolling the display area? There might be things we're overlooking. if you have to question one thing, it would be the apparent 50% price rise over last year. I'm sure there is a reason, and some clarity may help ease peoples minds.

These numbers are a little off man. I get the point you're trying to make, and it's valid, but from what I can tell these figures aren't really close. The most expensive trade stand (12x6 or 9x9 + 2 car spaces) is $600. Comes with 5 staff passes, and you can buy extras for $20 and extra car spots for $40. Correct me if this information is wrong. Spectator passes at the gate are actually $30, but $15 if you're under 18. So on average you may be right. 2,000 people through the gate for such a car-specific event feels ambitious, I don't know why. Anyone know what the numbers were last year? I may be way off on that assumption. One thing I will give you that you haven't accounted for are drag race entries. Early bird $90, after May 1st $120, on the day $150. I doubt there will be enough of them to make a dent but its extra $ nonetheless. So anyway if they get 20 trade stands like you've assumed, it's more like $12,000 at the absolute maximum (as opposed to $60,000), if everyone buys the largest stand at $600. They start at $250 and go to $350, $400 and $600. I'm skeptical about the idea of this event being a major money maker. I know for fact some people have done their a$$ trying to run events at SMSP.

If you want to keep up to date with this, I suggest following the Facebook page for (and titled as) the ''Australian Imported Motor Vehicle Industry Association''. I believe they're the ones spearheading the whole ordeal, correct me if I'm wrong (I'm out of the loop at the moment). There is some useful information on their page.

I dug a little deeper and can't seem to find a definitive answer. There are some with grey interiors, and some with black. It's very strange. The only thing I can think of is if you bought one post October 2000, you were able to choose?

V Spec II's were made from October 2000 onward, so that might be what you're seeing. You may have been able to option the black interior into a standard GTR, I'm not sure. As far as I know the grey interior was standard in regular R34's regardless of the year. Just like the leather interior was exclusive to the M-Spec, the black interior represented the V-Spec II.

No the darker interior applies to the V-Spec II or V-Spec II nur variation, not the model year. There were regular (ie, base model non-vspec, m-spec, nur etc) 34 GTR's built all the way through the 1999 - 2002 period.

3-4 months is a bit ridiculous, I remember my car taking about 6-8 weeks for the plate and I was quite annoyed with that lol. Admin fees and other charges would be dependent on the shop you're using. I'd say everyone is different.

Sounds like a water pump

Sorry to open the can of worms, but I guess the point of relevance is that NRMA is probably very accurate with their R32 valuations. The 34's are way off, I mean find me a vspec that's sold for $100k. There were 2 N1's listed recently for just over that. It's a fun and interesting discussion.

I think if supply is drying up anywhere, it's in Japan. You are correct, people have to pay if they want them. However the people buying them now wouldn't buy them if they had to pay "collector money". I hear about people giving up their search in Japan all the time because they just don't have the budget to keep up with what's going on. So basically they're eventually going to appeal to a very very very narrow market. R34 GTR market is case in point, supply is low but so is demand at these prices, hence a wave of price drops. I've sold one myself this year and I know what the phenomenon is like first hand. Seeing Japanese examples going for 50% more than my asking price (in landed and complied terms) yet I'm taking less than my ask (and yes it was a spectacular car that another SAU member now owns). I think the Yen is a much bigger issue than the AUD right now. It's in such high demand. If the Boj stopped disappointing we could turn the ship around pretty quickly.

This is all a bit misleading IMO. They're not selling for anywhere near that locally, which means the cars you're seeing go through auction probably aren't coming to Australia. Here in Aus the landed and complied cost increases are ridiculous simply because our taxes and all other associated BS is calculated based on the cost of the car after its converted to AUD from JPY. If you get a bad Aussie $ year like 2016 has been, we're paying 20% more for the car, 20% more in tax, stamp duty etc. and in many cases it's pushing cars into LCT territory. To understand what I'm saying you only have to look at the R34 GTR market. Whilst they're skyrocketing in landed and complied terms, local sellers are slashing prices. There are a couple going around on SAU and Carsales which I'm sure will sell for less than the owners wanted. A fairly low km bayside blue example was listed recently for 95k, then reduced to 85, 75 and after that who knows what he took. Similar examples out of Japan have gone for close to 100k and in some cases over. My only conclusion is they're going to places other than Australia because nobody would pay that sort of money for a Vspec or less here. Even vspec2's have sold here for way less this year. Hell, a white (grade 5A at time of import) vspec2 sold locally for 85k a few months ago. I think it's best to ignore the prices seen in Japan in AUD/landed terms until we're on a more level playing field re exchange rate and tax.

Another point you should consider... If you ever need to sell this car, the wind back would scare a lot of people away. Even if you advertise that you knew about it, the car has been tampered with plain and simple. To be honest I'd move on regardless how good you think it is.

It also had an R35 Nissan badge on the boot. Couldn't work this car out, a few strange little mods for sure.

Yep, you definitely bought an Evo.

Not my car no... Although life is much simpler/cheaper when on your P's Dan your car is awesome just the way it is. Did someone in here really buy an Evo?

Wat?

I've been watching this thread and I think we're both happy to report the car made 160-165 per cylinder today at Croydon Racing Developments. We still have no clue what method was used for the first test to get 120 and to be frank, I don't think I want to know lol. I'm glad it is now put to bed!

Sold! Thanks everyone for the calls and messages.

I think you'd save a bit more than that lol. 9.6 mill yen is like $120k at today's exchange rate. Landed and complied you'd be looking at $145-150k max. That's probably overestimated. Brand new here is $187k for the premium and $201k for the black edition (2016 models).

This is pretty amazing, found mine as well. So good!

Regarding the exchange rates, if you've got a good importer you won't get ripped too badly. I used OzForex when I imported my car who converted the money for me and paid for the car. They generally exchange at 1.5 yen less than the spot rate which is excellent. Last year I imported my 34 for a spot rate of around 96 yen per Aussie $ which meant I paid around 94.5 yen. Right now the spot rate is 85.5 so it's improving, and Japan just intro'd negative interest rates so prepare for it to get even better IMO.