Importing A Road/drift Car

[danoz]

hi guys can any body help me 1 of my mates want to find an ex-drift car or street/drift car does any1 no any sites to find them or an importer that specialises in them.... i have check heaps of website only to find lighty modded car and if i can buy direct from japan.

any info would be great

[danoz]

s13/s14 or 180 or ceffy im any1 can help

[danoz]

any1??????????????????????????

[mad082]

not 100% sure, but pretty sure that for a car to be complied it has to be pretty much stock- that means exhaust, cooler, etc. so when you get it imported you may have to buy a heap of stock items to fit to the car, or if you go through an importer they may be able to sort that out for you.

[SKY031]

If the car is for track use, it's not subjected to all the same laws as importing for road use.

Have a look through some of the websites listed here

[drakan69]

i only really know about importing car's for race rally use.

to import a car thats not going to be RWC'd and street driven you need to have a level 3 cams license, (or a national license)

My advice is you have to be very serious about doing it, e.g. the cost of a license is around the $1200 to 1300 a year + medical checkup + log booking + something else that i can't remember + you have to be a member of a cams approved club.

Your car, should you choose to import a race rally vehicle, will have to fit your vehicle with a cam's approved roll cage and probably other safety stuff that i can't remember right now.

ummm sorry lost my train of thought, check out the CAMs website, i can't remember it now, but google is your friend.

SKY031, ahhahaha, Trogdor The Burninator, ahahah that brings back good memories.

[funkymonkey]

there really isn't such a thing as a level 3 license anymore... but the new equivalent is basically the national racing license.

In any case there's only two ways to bring in a "ex-drift" car:

find something made in or before 1988, or

bring one in as a race import (which means it can NEVER be road registered).

Now from my experience, 99.9% of people who ask for an ex-drift track car or a street drift car don't have the necessary licensing needed to bring in a race import... and most often they want to road register the car too once it arrives. If you fall into either of these stereotypes, then unfortunately your only solution is to buy a 1988 or older car. So this means signing with an importer and waiting till a S13 or cefiro, which has been thrashed to an inch of its life by a japanese dude with no respect for his $1500 beater (with dori dori mods) comes up for sale Or you could buy an older R31, FC RX7 etc that's moderately well maintained then thrash it to an inch of its life yourself Just keep in mind you'll be competing with about 100 other aussies who have the same notion in their noggins.

You are better off buying a car locally, and taking it to a workshop and having them set it up for you. If you're down in melbourne, come see us at Driftline (link) we get silvias, skylines etc traded in cheap pretty regularly, and we've converted em from scratch (from seam welding the chassis to setting up suspension to engine swaps). We've even got a couple of demo cars for sale if you can't wait

[drakan69]

there really isn't such a thing as a level 3 license anymore...

Yeah i just left the "level 3" name in there cause some importers are still calling it that, prestige motorsport use to call it that, not sure if they do.

But anyway yeah, funkyz got the goods.

[jetman]

what are the costs involved in importing a car (Freight, duty and any hidded costs) and where is the best place to find a modded r32 gtr for track use only!???

What price would i be looking at for the car and do i need any special licence to purchase it as i have been also told this before??

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Duncan]

costs involved in a race/rally import are exactly the same as any other import except that there is no compliance fee.

You still pay freight, duty and GST on the FOB.

You need a CAMS PC or PR license or higher to import, and a race history for the driver and planned events for the car.

As Shan said you can never get full rego on a race/rally car, you can get limited registration on a rally car that lets you drive it to and from CAMS events, practice days and workshops

[n_D]

www.king-buyer.co.jp

i think thats it. they seem to have plenty of drift cars some ex d1, they seem very pricey though. But the cars they sell look like quality

[funkymonkey]

what are the costs involved in importing a car (Freight, duty and any hidded costs) and where is the best place to find a modded r32 gtr for track use only!???

Freight's around $1800, duty depends on how much you spend on the car etc. There is no hidden costs, well, that depends on who you use. Sometimes during compliance you get stung with cost of new brake pads and tyres, but if you're gettin a race import then there's no such thing as compliance.

For an R32 GTR I'd suggest buying a regular lightly modded (that can get thru compliance) R32 GTR, and bringing it in under the SEVS scheme, and then modifying it yourself in Australia... its cheap enough here. The cost of modded R32's are still pretty high in japan, plus you have to compete with buyers from the UK New Zealand, most of Europe, the Middle East, Hong Kong and Canada. If you were to get one thru SEVS you can register it for road use whenever you want, which is great for the resale value. Race imports can NEVER be registered for road use.

What price would i be looking at for the car and do i need any special licence to purchase it as i have been also told this before?

Modded R32's range from as low as 10k landed for one that's been thrashed to within an inch of its life and will most probably need a new engine after you thrash it that extra inch.... and as high as 23k+ for highly modded ones (eg: this, this, and this). If you're asking what license you need to get, then you're a long way away from being able to bring in a race import (it takes about a couple of years to get all the necessary licenses that let you get a race import). Then you need to show active participation in official events, and a demonstration of why you NEED to have a special import to compete.

www.king-buyer.co.jp

i think thats it. they seem to have plenty of drift cars some ex d1, they seem very pricey though. But the cars they sell look like quality

king buyer also comes with really crappy service, a redundant website that lists cars weeks after they're sold etc... the list goes on and on.

basically they're a japanese dealership that's realised that if you show some whitey's from the US, UK, Australia etc some eyecandy they'll pay thru the nose for em (so they WILL milk you for all you've got). 90% of the time when you contact em the car's sold (long before they're listed), and they'll show you some "alternates" that are just as good... well in their eyes anyways. The cars you see on their site is just bait that's been prettied up

[n_D]

well as you can see kingbuyer sucked me in haha.

there was this other website with all skylines and a few g35's fairlady's etc... i cant remember the website though.

others may be able to remember it

[Beer Baron]

i have seen some cars in the past that were listed on king buyer for approx 2-3 years after they were sold...