My future is looking BRIGHT again!

I think there are rules about the right hand drive thing. you'll want to investigate that the motor vehicles department. Also it will cost a ton of money to have it shipped from Japan.

3:45am post on a school night?? haha

 

Well I can't answer all your questions, but I can answer one of them.

It is perfectly legal to drive a right-hand-drive car in the US. It's tricky if you have to go through tolls where you have to hand the money out the left-side window, and it takes some getting used to driving from the 'wrong' side of the car.

You do have to be careful of any regulations regarding importing of a car not built for the US market - there may be emissions and safety items that have to be altered before you can get a valid title/registration from your state. Many years ago there was a story about a man who won a Lamborghini in a contest, but the import and conversion fees were more than he anticipated, so he wound up not getting it at all...

 

Pretty neat find, but not too practical...

Some years back I had worked with a company that imported non-US cars for sale here.

The deal was that:

a) all emissions and safety features (especially glass and bumpers) must be brought into compliance with US specs of that model year.

b) the importer was fully responsible to implement the above within 1 year from date of import.

c) if a & b aren't satisfied, the vehicle, after 1 year, must be returned to country of origin, removed trom the road or destroyed.

That's the way things were in NJ as of about 10 years ago. As this is subject to Federal, not just state, laws, there may not be a lot of difference state to state.

Add to this the probably stupid-expensive shipping costs, not to mention the Customs paperwork..........

Sounds like more trouble and expense than it's worth, but I'm sure that you can find a local importer to give you the specifics.

So far as the right hand drive part: check out your local mail trucks

Good Luck!

 

As I recall it's not a simple matter of "passing emissions", but a list of safety and emissions equipment that the vehicle has to have to make it match the US-specifications for crash-worthiness, etc. You might get some information from the following link
motivemagazine.com - Motive Drivers Ed: Amazing Greys - Importing Those Rare Cars You Always Wanted

or other links you can get by googling for importing non-US cars.

If you pursue it you will surely learn a lot, which is also worth something.

 

I think looking at the classic tuner-world unicorn as an example is useful in your case. This 'unicorn' car is the Nissan Skyline GT-R. If you look at the massive effort people have put into importing JDM Nissan Skyline GT-R (R32, R33, and R34 models) you'll find that importing JDM cars into the US is no small feat. The first company that did it, Motorex, ended pretty much going down in flames. Kaizo, to my knowledge, has gone a similar route. The storylines are very interesting, however, if only to see the amount of passion people put into these cars.


There's More Than One Way To Get a Classic Nissan Skyline GT-R in America

eBay Guides - How to Legally Import Register Nissan Skyline

Importation and Certification FAQ's Directory--Appendix

That said: If any of you knows how to hook me up with a street-drivable R34 V-Spec (any type) that isn't going to get confiscated, I'm interested.

 

This may or may not help you in the US, but there's a company here called Japanoid that specialises in importing older Japanese vehicles and certifying them for use here. I've seen quite a few driving around town.

 

I don't know how things work where you are, but I rather doubt bribing is even worth thinking about. I thought maybe the people at Japanoid could give you some advice on importing. But, there should be plenty of used Prius in the US to choose from. If you're *that* desperate, you'll just have to find a boyfriend with the car you want.

 

Canada has a 15-year rule which allows JDM vehicle older than that to be imported without restriction (as I understand it). The rules are different in the US.

 

Here are the official rules from the US gvt concerning importing a car:

Vehicle Importation and Certification Requirements

The cheapest shipping cost that I've found is $1800 from Japan to Los Angeles.
Your extra costs would be transport from wherever the car is in Japan to the port of shipping, the US Customs fees, and cost of transport from Los Angeles to your location (it can't be driven as it's not a legal vehicle).
After all this, you still have to meet all of the US standards of pollution control (no real problem there) bumper, crash, lighting and safety standards for the model year of the car.

BTW Looking at the guide on the above website, the Prius is not on the initial list of "importable" cars....

 

If you had money to burn and your heart set on some unobtainable foreign exotic, then importing a car might be feasible. But to spend more than the car is worth on shipping and modifications that may not be approved, for a car that's already available here, simply doesn't make sense.

 

I guess that the only thing left is to actually start to contact the involved parties and gather the needed information and costs, as none of us here (so far) is an expert on this subject. Otherwise it's only out-of-left-field speculation on our (collective) part.

Once you get all of the info, please post back here with it. I'd be very interested in the specifics, especially the shipping and federalization (if needed) costs.:thumb:

Good Luck!