Alright, I figured this would be the best place to find an answer to my question. I have a friend that moved to Japan last year. He really loves Subaru so he bought a 1997 WRX STi V-Limited. Well now he's coming back to the U.S. next Summer and he's trying to figure out how to bring his car over here because he dosen't want to sell it (I don't blame him). He found some company called Japan Express that ships cars over for about 2000$ but that fell through because they said it's not on their D.O.T. certified list. I remember seeing a couple of members with Japanese WRX's driving them in the U.S., so can anyone please help me regarding this matter. I don't think he even cares if it's street legal or not. I told him I would let him use my Momo airbag steering wheel when he gets inspected if he needs it. Please help!

How did he manage to buy a STi V-Limited 2 years before they were made?

Take it apart and ship it over as spare parts..?

seriously the only way possible is for him to ship it to mexico, then swap the, brake clinder, dash, pedals, steering rack.

Then casually drive over the border into US.

Then after that,
He'll need to spend more money finding a 93 impreza 1.8 and take the vin number off that.


only way


don't ask how I know

Have him just ship the engine, ECU, wiring harnass and tranny over. Then put it in an RS. I'll give you my address to ship it too. :lol:

There is no way to ship it in whole that I know of except as a track car or for a race team. Even then I think you have to provide certain info indicating that is what it would be used for. If he does get it in through mexico and it is ever discovered that it isn't a US spec car, into the crusher she goes.

Good luck, but there would be a lot more of us driving STI's and 22b's if it were relatively easy.

Dave

couldn't you have it shipped over for "race use only"? then switch the vin? i mean as long as the 2 cars are pretty much the same color, and they run the tag, as long as it shows up as an impreza, you should be OK, no?

why couldn't you ship it??.. there's a race shop near my house.. where they shipped over 3 skylines.. R32/33/34.. and the steering is on the right side and everything, don't know if it's street legal.. but they drive it and show it off like it is :p :p

I envision it is a V-Limited, not a Version 5 Limited... that would make sense ;). The STi's that are brought into the country are not street-legal. They are for "race use only" and have no VIN's or registrations from what I know. He could ship the car over and do a swap into an AWD Impreza as others have suggested and have a VIN and be legal.

Brian
http://www.ravensblade-impreza.com
http://www.imprezamods.com
http://www.scoobymods.com
Is that a chicken up there? Nope, just the way he's holding the grapefruit!

Hmmmm.... Not too good for him... Does anyone have any contacts? I know he won't leave without his car so if anyone knows ANYTHING about how he can bring the whole car in, it will help. There was a guy in New Jersey, if I remember, that had an imported wrx and driving it around, does anyone know him??

Legally, for street use? It wont happen. He doesn't have the resources or money to jump through the hoops necessary. WRXwannbe's idea sounds like the best I've heard to date (though I don't condone any activity which might be construed as less the legal).

This might or might not help...
Give MotoRex a call...They import cars all the time. Now they do make them D.O.T approved, but they might be able to give you a guided "tour" of what is needed in order to bring a car over.
The guys there are really cool, and their always willing to help.

MotoRex...(310) 523-2233

Just ship it over anyway you can.

Then take an old license plate from another subaru and slap it on..

I know people with two stroke motorcycles that aren't road legal, and they don't even bother to slap a baby plate of the same brand on (ie, suzuki GSX-R750 plate on an aprilia rs250). *** is the cop going to know? And if he was smart enough to give you a ticket, he probably wouldn't as long as you gave him your address and told him he could take it out for a spin..

Well, it could happen... I don't know about not having the money, he probably does, but the resources are what we need. And the problem with shipping it over any way we can is... we can't! We need a shipping company that either dosen't ask questions or will figure out how to make it D.O.T. legal. We cant just dumbo-drop it over here! I think one big problem will be clearing it with customs if we get it here, he could try to convince them it is for race use only, but I don't know how to go about doing that. The plan might be to get it over here and re-title a salvaged impreza and switch the vins. If we didn't have all of the legal B.S. with being DOT this and that it would be nice. If JDM cars are safe enough for Japan, they are safe enough for the U.S.. Anyone have any more ideas??

Take the car apart, ship the chassis, then bumpers, then engine, put it back together, and register it as a kit car....

First of all, you'll need to seal the whole underside of the car. Basically make this beast waterproof. Next, buy some monster truck tires and put them in place of the stockers. Hang an outboard motor from the big spoiler and just boat your way over. With dedication like that, there's no way customs would deny the car clearance into the country...:lol:

OK, I'll just shut up now...

The RHD Impreza 22B running around in NJ is actually a Subaru of America demo car. It is street legal because it has dealer plates. Have your friend talk to local Subaru dealers to see if they will give him a dealer plate in exchange for "advertising" the fact that Subaru is a high performance company. If you find a local dealer who is into rallying enough, they may even help you out with shipping.

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Customs are the least of your problems. You could get the car through customs, but passing it through the DOT and the EPA is the hard part. Mororex crash tested their Skylines to get them here. That covers the DOT. Even harder is the EPA, they may require an OBII system installed on the car (if it doesn't have it). The EPA also takes their time processing info (many months). Even if you want to bring the car over for race purposes only, it could take up to six months for the EPA to approve it.

I would be making tons of cash right now (due to a lucky connection that gives me access to all the cars you guys dream of, right here on american shores) if it didn't cost tons o' cash to start. Crash testing a car isn't cheap, and neither is OBII systems, hence why Motorex charges $80,000 for R34 Skyline (you guys don't think that's what the Japanese pay, do ya?).

Your best bet to drive the car on American shores would be to get it taken apart overseas and have all the needed parts shipped over here. Have an old impreza ready, and begin swapping! It would be expensive, and a pain in the ass, but your only 'real' option. Good luck.:)

PS, the problem with swapping vin#'s is if you were to ever get into an accident and the insurance company gets a hold of your car, you could be charged with ton's of fines; starting with insurance fraud (a felony). Not a very safe/smart thing to do.

Yes, you can ship a non DOT certified vehicle here as long as its for "Off Road Use Only" or Race Use Only. There is a guy around here who shipped in a Elise for track use. The car is not registered with DMV.
He mainly uses it for Track events, but he does sneak it out in public every once in a while.

I'm not sure who he used to ship it though.

Hrm I recall seeing a titanium grey Lotus Elise at the Houston auto-x in June, and it had Texas plates on it. Is that car legal or did he just put on a plate from some other car in order to drive it to/from the track?

I don't believe what they are saying is true.

While it's true that if you are gonna import a car that it is next to impossible and you have to jump through hoops like they are saying...

If you are a US citizen living overseas and have a car there, then want to bring the car back I believe you are allowed to, but have to jump through a slightly different set of hoops :)

I remember reading the government rules and regulations about it. Just can't remember where. Probably motorex has more experience in this.

He trailers the Elise to events.

1. If you can prove the historical significance of the car, it can be imported. That is how Bill Gates got his 959 into the states. There was an article in Autoweek around 6-12 months ago on how to do this. People are importing ford rs-200's, lancia stratos's, and XJ-220's through this loophole.
2. There is a shop in Charolette NC that imports the Lotus Elise, and is able to grey market it, however it has a VTEC out of the Integra type-r in the engine bay. I out performs the standard elise, due to the extra power of the Hon-duh powerplANT.

I do not know if this is still available?
However back in the 80s a friend of mine imported a european 930 from Germany. Every person ie: social security number is granted 1 (one) EPA waiver to be able to import a vehicle. Better look into it. It might be a big enough loop hole to drive a 97 STi through.:D :lol: :devil:

Well, it's EXTREMELY HARD to make the car legal to N-America. The anti-pollution laws are WAY more restrictive here than in Japan or Aus.

I think the only way your friend could have an equivalent is :

1- SELL his car in Japan (I know that's not what he wants, but money-wise it's the best solution)

2- One back here, buy a used 2.5RS

3- Just find yourself a STi, Jap spec engine and make the swap. In Japan, by law, a car is declared invalid (and sent to the scrapyard) when it reaches 60 000Km (±35000 miles). Hard to beleive, but it's true. So you just ORDER a STi engine and put it in the used RS.

Like some other said, one other way would be to dismantle the Japanese car and ship-it in pieces, than put those parts back in a US 2.5RS.

It would cost way too much to bring a Japanese car to US certification.


Hope I helped.........

Ok... Selling/ parting out/ floating/ swapping the car over here is not an option at all. The goal here is to get the whole car over here, in it's entirety. It dosen't really have to be street legal, he dosen't care. He just loves the car and put lots of money and care into it so he WILL NOT leave it, it's even being featured in a magazine! I like the idea about a person being able to bring one car from abroad. I've heard this is true with military personell stationed overseas, but I didn't know about it being true for all US citizens. He is a U.S. citizen. We really need the name of a shipping company. I know of a local shop that imported an S15, I've sat in it. I will try talking to them, but I think they were able to do it because it was wrecked. (no, we will not wreck his car, so don't suggest it). Any loopholes, phone numbers or email addresses that anyone has would be the most benificial to us and thanks for all the response, I-clubbers!

Originally posted by PsychO
Just find yourself a STi, Jap spec engine and make the swap. In Japan, by law, a car is declared invalid (and sent to the scrapyard) when it reaches 60 000Km (±35000 miles). Hard to beleive, but it's true.

Where did you get this info from? My Cefiro had well over 80K km and nobody ever told me to take it to the junk yard. I got a fresh JCI (Bi-Yearly "Inspection" that costs like $800) with 77K km on it. My girlfriend's 89 Levin has like 102K km...:monkey:

Blugin, if it doesn't matter that he can't drive it, then just start contacting import/export agencies and find out who is capable of doing it. Remember what I said though, to legally bring it for 'race purposes only', you still have to get EPA permission, which isn't easy (for those who don't believe me, do some real research and call the DOT and EPA). Call them for details...they could also direct you to 'check in' agencies (the people that inspect imported cars)...those guys could probably give you the name of a capable exporting company.

As for bringing over the rare and unusual cars like Bill Gates did...from what I hear, it's not that hard. I haven't tried it yet though, but what I do know is that you have a limit to how many miles you could drive in a year, and they give sparatic checks. The limit is some insanely low number like 250miles.:rolleyes:

EDIT:

www.ibcjapan.co.jp They can import the car (but they are located in FL). Check them out.

oi oi, fuzakennayo... / this is Blugin`s friend, the guy in Japan... / like he said, takin` my car apart is not an option, sellin` my car is not an option, and my car may fly but it does not swim... / I am talking to a few companies now but nothin` final yet... (I was quoted at around $2,000 by boat & $3,000 by air) so far... but you guys are kinda right about it being difficult about the <DOT & EPA thing> but I think that there will be a way through that somehow... / and to whoever that guy was at the beggining (don`t confuse the letter V for the Roman Numeral 5)... / thanx for the advice guys... if anyone has anymore info just leave a message... laterz` *STi Version 3 limited-v (Blue of course)*

Search the links at my site www.subaruplanet.com and you'd find

http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/imp-exp2/informal/car.htm

and

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import/ (includes a list of importers)

and

http://www.soothill.com/dvi.asp

and there might be a few others listed...

Larry

In the so-cal forum, we are/were talking about RHD EVO VIs in the US and the fact that there are two in the pacific northwest that are street legal. They said the government let these people bring the cars in for three years (when they moved here from overseas) and then they have to take 'em back out. I'm not sure how valid this is, but look into that too.

-s

hey...if u guys have any free tyme please check out my new site...
u can see some things around japan and get links to some part makers and other stuff...check it out...laterz_ STiRyan

www.geocities.com/stiryan

yeah, it's a geocities thing...