I joined up here to ask a q I did not seem to find the answer to by searching.

In the past (01) I was a Motorex customer and experienced the joy of having a car (r33) brought into the U.S., which I later regrettably sold. Many years later, motorex has vanished and I have an itch again. I have looked into importing a skyline but the cost (and risk depending on how you do it) is too prohibitive. I will forever regret selling the 33 when I had it, I just never thought motorex would go under like it did. So I began thinking, and decided to give up on the idea of bringing anything in..but just for fun, I was thinking, and wanted to share the idea with you guys. Again, I scrapped the idea, but wanted to know what you guys think just a mental excercise.

Anyways, heres the idea. Now from the get go, I admit, this is just a hypothetical, nothing I would ever do, but I was hoping you guys could just chime in, and maybe enjoy discussing it - ALthough, I really think this topic has already been covered before, but I couldn't find it in your archive. So forgive me if this has been talked about before, I can't find the thread, if you lead me to it, I would appreciate it.

now, this hypothetical imagines a illegal scenario:

You buy a 1999 silvia in Japan, remove its engine drivetrain, diff, maybe some body panels and headlights or more if you need to. Declare the thing as 'parts' and send it in a container to the U.S. Send the remaining parts also via freight. You have all the parts now in the U.S. at your house. Shipments were separate.

You buy a lower cost 240 sx, swap over all the vins that you can, eliminate any other discrepancies. Put your plates on. And drive the thing. Tell your insurance company that the car has been modified, and reinsure it for the added value of say your engine, which you produce some reciept for etc.

Now...what are the pitfalls? Clearly theres alot of fraud going on here, but really, how would anyone know? Yes you could get a expert to look at the actual vins and say, these were swapped I suppose...but how would it ever get to that in the first place. Imagine you just drive this car to work and dinner etc, you are older, and don't frequent car meets etc.

Additionally, There are street legal s15's running around that kaizo has created as 'kit cars'. Paul, maybe you're on here, a fellow gtr owner i met a few times, has bought one I heard.

regardless..besides this being illegal, what exactly are any other pitfalls or flaws in this evil idea? I don't forsee any police pulling you over, after recognizing the car...a gtr, sure they might recognize. But this car seems less recognizable...
Imagine you do a left hand drive conversion as well, if that exists? it seems it does. you get pulled over, you have papers.. Even in a really bad accident, I have trouble seeing an adjuster figuring out the car is not a modified 240 sx as your policy indicates...

Again, this is just a hypothetical, I have no intention of doing this, please don't flame me if I somehow offended anyone in my little blurb, I know car forums can get very serious on the internet. Additionally, thanks to anyone who chimes in, I look forward to your responses, as Im sure you gents have thought of this method before.

TIA

 

here is someone who was thinking of the same thing a few years ago. Do you see any additional flaws?http://forums.clubsi.com/ubbthreads....275974/fpart/1

 

i thought of doing this awhile ago since i have 2 crashed 240s in my yard with vins lol.
but ok here are the problems.

what state do you live in? if Cali your effed anyway you think about it.

if your like me and your in a state that has no emmisions or inspections then you may just get away with it like most people do down here.

another problem is how will you get rid of the Donor 240sx? no junk yard will take a car with out a vin or title. if you push it in a river, lake or ocean and police find it they will trace it back to you its owner and you will be charged with fraud (there are vin numbers engraved on the chassis of the car in places most people dont know about)

also another problem is getting the car here getting a car through customs in parts isnt as easy as u may think especially if the chassis isn't cut up.

thats the main problems that i saw when thinking of this. also to make a right hand drive legal your car has to be claimed as a rebuilt title. like when these young ricers do right hand drive conversion on a 240sx they have to claimed rebuilt title.

 

salvage yards will scrap the car if it is cut into pieces. cut it into quarters and bring a quarter of it a week.

 

To import a car, a friend of mine got his GTR here by removing the engine and driveline, and shipping the body and running gear seperated, then re-assembling. It is labeled as a "Kit Car" and not a production vehicle.

 

well you could just keep the cars on your lot couldn't you? keep em around. thats funny you have 2 at your place, I wish I had enough space for that.

 

Yeah this seems like the best method. You wouldn't be losing sleep at night for doing something illegal.

I've looked around for fun, and it seems that CA of course, by far has the strictest kit car laws, but nearby in UT is much more lax.

Anyone here bring in an s15 and successfully use the kit car method to get a title and vin, without using Kaizo? You could theoretically do all that kaizo does yourself, if you had a shop tinker with the shell for you in japan, then use the same method of parts in bound, then jump through all the hoops. Is there a thread somewhere about someone who did this? Or is kaizo the only one? TIA guys, interesting stuff.