As a licensed Florida Motor vehicle Dealer let me shed some light on this on why lots have been coming through florida. Florida has The tax collectors offices (aka dmv) that is responsible for registering/titling cars. Previously they did not care at all on registering any vehicle as long as a dealer or officer verifies the vin/serial number. Nowadays they have learned whats needed etc and every imported vehicle must get inspected via a compliance officer that just makes sure the car has the proper customs paperwork and is 25 years old and so on. The problem is there are private Tag agencies all over florida that are allowed by the state to handle titles and so on as well. And pretty much all the titles are coming in through those places now. Places like Title King in miami etc are a huge hot spot for these fraudulent titles.
Just wanted to say, that the private tag agencies are definitely the largest source of these. I've been able to register (fully legal and compliant cars) through them without even a VIN inspection, so I'm certain that these guys can have plates and paperwork ready to go for cars that aren't even at the port.
@@coffeecool5190 ironic isnt it. Fighting crime in an illegally imported r34. I wonder if they made him put it through emissions or wether he got a pass on that too
Germany crushed it's cars for not meeting safety regulations. Years later they're looking for classics to bring back home. Crushing cars is like burning books,worse. More like when museums burn. Self driving cars are the beginning of the end.
At the very least, it's a non-GTR R34, which are much more common. Still not good as I actually prefer the rear wheel drive GTS-t models for their simplicity, lighter weight, and RWD over AWD, but at least it wasn't destruction of a fairly rare model.
Anyone would be sad when a desirable vehicle is wasted cause someone got impatient and greedy. I wouldn't be surprised if more GTRs were crushed by government agencies worldwide than crashed or destroyed in fires.
@@nunyabusiness896 They made a roughly equal number of two-door GTTs (or GTS-t as you put it) as they did GTRs, so they're actually about as rare as each other. There were only around 12,000 of each made, out of a total of around 64,000 R34s.
I've been fortunate enough to go through many experiences and walked among giants in this industry. Unfortunately, not everyone has been on the up and up.
Last time I was in SoCal a friend of mine told me about his cousin who ran a car shop near by. A client of his abandoned an R34 (not sure if GTR by the photo he showed me) It’s been in his shop for almost a year and he can’t contact the owner. He apparently knows it’s an illegal import but has no idea what to do with it besides hiding it.
@Lassi Kinnunen 81 "Mechanic's Lein" is the name of the mechanism you're referring to. And yeah, that's likely the best move - take title themselves and then just hand it over to the feds to get rid of it.
RevHard Motors is legit, and legal. Josh has not worked with any illegal deals or cars. All sales are done thoroughly and with all legal cars and paperwork.
Dustin Williams is literally the only TH-camr that is doing this the right way lol fly to see the car, have it modified in Japan, have it sit until it’s fully legal and he’ll never have an issue with the car ever 😭😭😭 Nissan literally created the devil’s fruit when they designed the R34 GTR
Adam LZ did this also, TJ Hunt the same Not a lot of ppl know that he actually bough a R34 and just waits till he can import it, it was said in one of his vlogs in japan while he was looking for the 458 widebody
Adam can probably afford to get a street legal r34 gtr like there’s a guy in California who has a legal midnight purple 2 gtr and there’s another guy with a legal r34 that was in a speed hunters article
Take a look at our vehicle lighting laws, much of it dates back to post WW2. Something else, Ben Jones, the actor that played Cooter Davenport on The Dukes of Hazzard, was elected to congress in the late 80’s and was immediately placed on the transportation subcommittee, when he asked why since he wasn’t somebody who knew much on the topic, they told him that because of his TV character, they automatically assumed that he did!
Me sitting here eating popcorn reading all these comments while my midnight purple r33 gtr sits in my garage perfectly legal because I took the time to do it right.
crazy. I live in central Florida and I've been seeing R34's and R33's in the street since 2001. i think they just slap on a tag from a similar color 240SX and drive them around lol. The only time they inspect a car in Florida is when it comes from out of state, the DMV just checks the VIN to make sure it matches the title....
If the car hasn’t been US titled before, they do inspect, or at least now they do. Inspection for my R33 was just verification that the chassis numbers matched on all the paperwork, on the chassis plate and on the firewall
There are issues with bringing in a JDM ( or any right hand drive ) car that has not been adapted. Headlights. On any car the high beams are brighter and point straight ahead. Low beams are dimmer and point away from oncoming traffic. This means a RH drive cars headlights will point towards oncoming traffic causing a hazard. Right hand drive. This is dangerous when mixed with US traffic ( yes I'm aware that postal vehicles are RHD and a consumer can buy them if they have a job delivering mail. ) Speedometer / odo not marked in miles. Various other safety / emission related standards that differ between the US and other markets.
@@JohnDoe-ji5wg The items like headlights still need to be addressed. As for the other safety issues, it is assumed that a car over 25 years old will be driven sparingly and not a daily driver.
@@bobroberts2371 1) these are all bullshit reasons, and are all moot as any 25+ year vehicle can be imported with all of these "issues" 2) headlights are adjustable, why did you even include that stupid reason? Every car I've ever owned or knew of can be adjusted to point all the way down to the ground or all the way up to the sky. They have to be that way to account for manufacturing variances that require fine tuning.
@@nunyabusiness896 Do some research on headlights before you resort to childish language. Low beams move the bright spot lower and to one side relative to the high beams. This is accomplished through optical design not physical manual adjustment you suggest. Park your car 25 ft away from a wall, turn the high beams on and note where the bright spot is. Switch to low beams and note that the bright spot drops and moves away from on coming traffic. I'm guessing you are OK with blinding on coming traffic. . .as long as it isn't you being blinded.
Our import laws are so silly. They were created to protect the American car manufacturers selling sub par vehicles. We should advocate to remove laws like these. Federal government should be putting their attention towards human trafficking and other major crimes.
Mercedes Benz was the originator of the 25 year law, cause while the US got a sub-par model, everyone else got a much better model. So began the importation of the better model, which cut into Mercedes-Benz profits in the US.
From their POV, a citizen spending 40k to 200k on a privately imported vehicle that doesn't meet regulations is anti-competition and takes food out of domestic vendors mouths along with their cut in taxes and tariffs. They'll care even more about pinching pennies and diverting car buyers now that they've burned up trillions on illegal wars and other bureaucratic nonsense.
I work for DHL in Canada in the brokerage department so I find it funny that you had chosen to mention DHL as we are not known well in north america but you are right that we as a broker are not responsible for the contents and the receiver gets busted when they do an audit.
Some R34 owners have their cars registered in Canada aka Mo who has that Blue R34 that was on Smoking Tire. His car is registered in Canada and he runs it without the plate in Cali and Washington state.
Such a ridiculous law, I wonder how many were lost due to jealous people snitching... on the other hand I cannot wait for 2028 so my 03 Limited will shoot up in value thanks to this ridiculous law.
Bringing cars as "car parts" from Japan was also popular in Russia 10-15 years ago. Nowadays all the loopholes were closed, we can't import JDM classics anymore :(
@Lassi Kinnunen 81 same worked with Japanese cars and yes, it's because of the tax. A lot of those poorly wielded back together cars killed their drivers over the years.
What about when TopRank held their MNP2 R34 in their California warehouse until it no longer required the EPA clean air compliance (21 years). They held is for at least a year or more. Was that legal? I remember seeing the car in person and they said they were “working on getting compliance”. BS. They just waited it out. How was that car allowed to leave port? EPA website: shipping a nonconforming vehicle or engine to the United States, importers MUST either: * make arrangements with an ICI for modifications, testing, and certification, or * obtain EPA pre-approval for the exemptions (21 years or older)
They need to scrap the 25 year rule anyway with local manufacturers closing their doors, I mean heck, FORD aren't producing passenger sedans anymore, only SUV's and Trucks and GM are probably in dire straits too.. Theres nothing left to PROTECT from competiton
@@jameswayland2339 and gun laws adhere to safety laws ? giving guns or making them available with only a background check, and not a psychological test, along with other tests to validate that the weapon will not go to a psycho or just an idiot, of sorts? MERICUH!
@@TheKitt12 yea I’m not going to argue politics with you . If you don’t like guns, don’t buy one . I’m just saying that car not made for the American market , can’t be sold her because we have higher emissions , gas mileage , and safety laws other country don’t have . I don’t have a use for a gun , so I don’t own any . I don’t know why you are jumping on me with your lefty b.s.
The biggest thing about Florida is 1 there is no state or annual inspection meaning your car won't need to be inspected ever and 2 Florida is one of 3 states where you can go online and register a car, you won't have to go to a dmv and just pay a fee to the company.
Feds been doing this for decades and people still think they can get away with it. Pretty crazy. I personally known two people who got their GTRs seized for bringing them as kit cars.
Blame Mercedes, they lobbied hard for this....Why we allowed non American company's to lobby in this country is beyond me. Also Either buy it in Japan AND WAIT or Just WAIT till it is 25 years old here...either way it HAS to be 25 years old to be legal or not jump through federal hoops and pray.
I'm not saying I know anyone that is doing this but what if someone brought one into the country (legally) and it ended up on one of those lists but is in an undisclosed storage unit in the Midwest and is still loved and enjoyed by it's owners but was legally purchased and is now illegal for some reason? Is there any way to get the car off that list of 500 cars?
I bought a car from Montu last year it was 1 of 1300 R32 vSpec II. Car looked fine but was miss represented. On arrival i saw acceptable rust that could be remedied. The second day my body guy came buy and there was foam and silicone molded to replace who pieces of rusted away quarter panels and body. My body guy said the car needed somewhere in the range of 15k in labor to get it right and that was just what could be seen.. Montu was willing to come out of pocket 10k in parts plus cash back for me to keep the car. I threated with litigation and they took the car back without a real fight. I would have love to keep the car but they hid the true damage of the vehicle. I'm just another story. I'm not the guy in this video.
From what I read it’s because Florida dmv’s are private owned, you can go to dales tackle shop and dmv spot dale an extra 100 bucks, and he prints you a title.
Why does it happen in Florida? Because in several counties, they privatized the DMV (including Miami-Dade, where I live) and as such the incentive to follow the law is replaced by the incentive to increase revenue (fees) by titling and registering more cars.
Still holding out for a Motorex movie. I am glad to have the 15 yr rule in Canada where I have enjoyed R32 GTR and MK4 Supra TT while they were cheap. Florida is the Wild West of JDM cars. Enjoyed this video thanks Craig.
I bought a Toyota Soarer from Karuma imports in Florida. Had it shipped to me in Arizona and it arrived with a bent subframe. Karuma then stopped returning my calls. Avoid Karuma imports.
Theres a guy in my state that has a r34 all he did was take the vin from a old nissan he had and put it in the 34 he drives it daily...funny part is hes been pulled over and they never even done shit or noticed
@@jordancouch8371 yes totally but the argument is the legality of it, and considering how much the 34 cost right now not having that entitlement to that much asset is a huge risk to some
@@chenyuliu7838 ya its definately a big risk but i guess to some people the risk is worth it just to have one but with the money you would be out if caught i wouldnt be out risking it
Many FL state titles are easily transferrable to another state that assumes the FL title was legit. But theres likely a trail connecting newly titled nonFL state titles to that original FL one so the Feds can easily draw a line
I don't know how this certain rule works over there in the US, but in Australia, you can import a car legally from another country if you have lived in that country and had the car registered for at least 12 months, so it's a Personal Import. Do you guys have the same rule over here? I apologise if it's a stupid question but I'm genuinely curious
If it is done correctly is it still ok to drive in Florida? Or are they just going after all of them? Only asking because there's one in Cali I'm looking at. Unfortunately just moved to Florida and didn't know they were cracking down this bad
My car was one of the 14 FULLY FEDERALLY LEGAL GTR's that MotoRex brought to the USA in the early 2000's. I don't buy illegal cars - never have, never will.
Craig, great video. Why is the 1990 GTR one of the 3 show and display cars allowed here? It's older than 25 years old, can't it be brought in and titled and registered as a normal vehicle?
@@craiglieberman thanks Craig. Now that the car is 25+ years old, why would it need to remain on any list? To me, it seems it would drop off the list now...
@@TheWizzyWizard it’s because it was imported illegally in the first place. So it will always be on the list and never be allowed here ever no matter what. it’s kind of like, one strike you’re out.
yes, if you have a car registered in Canada you can drive it across on canadian plates for a certain amount of time before it needs to return to canadian soil. i think the limit if 60 days. not all insurance covers it though, so in the event of an accident you would be screwed
They seemed to be more concerned about exported cars from Japan than other things they should be worry about like drugs or bombs exporting or something lol
I bought my R32 from Montu, and it came with zero rust, very good condition, and only 20k miles on the clock. Everyone that sees it says it's one of the cleanest R32's they've ever seen. Interior was pretty much flawless as well. Paperwork was all good, and I was even able to get it relicensed in Colorado, as well as passing emissions. I don't know how or why they missed something like that, and sure it's embarassing, but they even went out of their way to help me out, replaced one of the backup light housings for free, along with passing on some free parts at their own cost, because mine was missing the driver's side sunvisor (because of an augmented reality heads up display mod that had been previously installed by the Japanese owner). Honestly can't say enough about them. They did everything right, got all the proper paperwork needed, gave me all the copies. Maybe things have changed since then, (and I assume the quality of the cars still remaining in Japan, as only the best models would have sold at first).
I’ve had an argument with frank on Facebook regarding importing R34’s into Florida and he incriminated himself so much in the comment section of an R34 being sold in Orlando Florida that he had the OP remove the post. He posted pictures of a bunch of black market R34’s that he likes to have stored sometimes at MT Fabrications out of Orlando Florida, I’ve personally seen a few and even have pictures of it. The argument started over the costs of “legally” importing an R34 which I argued there’s no “legal” way to bring just any R34 gtr and not only that but he was over pricing and lying about how “difficult” it is to get a state title in Florida.
🙋♂️ I live in south Florida and saw a white R34 with black wheels a few weeks ago, pretty sure it's not one of the motorex GTR's. Totally rad to see one in person and yes I followed it for a few miles lol 😁
Admiral: My Lord, we've begone to import JDM cars as scheduled, however the GT-R's are being targeted and we simply cannot..... Darth Vader: Customs do not concern me Admiral, I want those GT-R's on U.S. shores., not excuses Admiral: Yes my Lord
Hey Craig since there's all this illegal activity going around importing jdm cars. Is it even worth it to import a r34 gtr or even a gtr (r33/r32) in 2024. I have a strong feeling that the government is come down with even stricter law not for just gtr's but any jdm car.
If it’s 25 years or older you’re good. But the R 34s are going to be 100 grand or more I’m sure. I do love skylines but I think I’d rather buy a Ferrari at that price. Good luck.
What if the feds would just go help the Boarder Patrol to keep all the hard drugs and bad people off the streets of America. And let you register these ("Black Market") cars in the new owners respective States? So that would make more money locally from registration, tag, insurance, and other fees. Just saying.....
Harumph! That would just make too much sense, and the last thing we would want is for a government entity to do something that makes sense! What is wrong with you? You just ain't making no sense❓🤔🤷♀️
I understand that the import process is a nightmare, and the feds are picking and choosing what they want to enforce. However the silver lining on the cloud is this If you go through reliable importer, You know your money is well spent. I could not imagine how it would feel to spend Good money on a car, through a shady importer and finding out it's either rusted out or has chassis damage. Even if you sue the importer, There's no such thing as debtors prison. The person will just file bankruptcy and disappear.
Imported cars should not be a priority for bureaucrats.
Why are the feds so hellbent over this car? Go out and solve real crimes dammit lol.
As a licensed Florida Motor vehicle Dealer let me shed some light on this on why lots have been coming through florida. Florida has The tax collectors offices (aka dmv) that is responsible for registering/titling cars. Previously they did not care at all on registering any vehicle as long as a dealer or officer verifies the vin/serial number. Nowadays they have learned whats needed etc and every imported vehicle must get inspected via a compliance officer that just makes sure the car has the proper customs paperwork and is 25 years old and so on. The problem is there are private Tag agencies all over florida that are allowed by the state to handle titles and so on as well. And pretty much all the titles are coming in through those places now. Places like Title King in miami etc are a huge hot spot for these fraudulent titles.
Great info,. Thanks for sharing.
Just wanted to say, that the private tag agencies are definitely the largest source of these. I've been able to register (fully legal and compliant cars) through them without even a VIN inspection, so I'm certain that these guys can have plates and paperwork ready to go for cars that aren't even at the port.
Imagine dom and his crew robbing the wrong container 20 years ago and just being like "ah fuck its just a skyline"
That would be weird
didn't Brian took all the confiscated gtr's to built his own car to race Dom again
🤣
@@coffeecool5190 ironic isnt it. Fighting crime in an illegally imported r34. I wonder if they made him put it through emissions or wether he got a pass on that too
@@muirfam7818 I think unless its a display car, it has to pass emissions in Cali no matter what.
I'm a very strict Cadillac man but seeing a R34 getting crushed is terrible very sad
Germany crushed it's cars for not meeting safety regulations. Years later they're looking for classics to bring back home.
Crushing cars is like burning books,worse.
More like when museums burn.
Self driving cars are the beginning of the end.
At the very least, it's a non-GTR R34, which are much more common. Still not good as I actually prefer the rear wheel drive GTS-t models for their simplicity, lighter weight, and RWD over AWD, but at least it wasn't destruction of a fairly rare model.
Love my 14 CTS-V coupe.
Anyone would be sad when a desirable vehicle is wasted cause someone got impatient and greedy. I wouldn't be surprised if more GTRs were crushed by government agencies worldwide than crashed or destroyed in fires.
@@nunyabusiness896 They made a roughly equal number of two-door GTTs (or GTS-t as you put it) as they did GTRs, so they're actually about as rare as each other. There were only around 12,000 of each made, out of a total of around 64,000 R34s.
I'm always amazed by the knowledge that Craig has about all the different spheres of the car hobby
I've been fortunate enough to go through many experiences and walked among giants in this industry. Unfortunately, not everyone has been on the up and up.
Last time I was in SoCal a friend of mine told me about his cousin who ran a car shop near by.
A client of his abandoned an R34 (not sure if GTR by the photo he showed me)
It’s been in his shop for almost a year and he can’t contact the owner. He apparently knows it’s an illegal import but has no idea what to do with it besides hiding it.
I can help your friend. PM me.
@Lassi Kinnunen 81 "Mechanic's Lein" is the name of the mechanism you're referring to. And yeah, that's likely the best move - take title themselves and then just hand it over to the feds to get rid of it.
i would get a mechanics lein after its legal
Turn it into a race only shop car!
@@jadefalcon001 hand it over to the feds , that's the last thing in the world i'd ever do xD. How about sell or part it out ?
It's funny how cars like these are being hunted down instead of crazy people with guns😕
RevHard Motors is legit, and legal. Josh has not worked with any illegal deals or cars. All sales are done thoroughly and with all legal cars and paperwork.
I can back this up I have visited their shop.
This video is about the R34 RevHard doesn’t even have any of those for sale nor do they even have one in there sold cars list. 🤷♂️
Dustin Williams is literally the only TH-camr that is doing this the right way lol fly to see the car, have it modified in Japan, have it sit until it’s fully legal and he’ll never have an issue with the car ever 😭😭😭 Nissan literally created the devil’s fruit when they designed the R34 GTR
Adam LZ did this also, TJ Hunt the same
Not a lot of ppl know that he actually bough a R34 and just waits till he can import it, it was said in one of his vlogs in japan while he was looking for the 458 widebody
And TJ Hunt 🤫
I wonder how legal Adam LZ's R34 is 🤔
Is he in America? I never knew
@@kyleramsumar5377 Florida
Adam can probably afford to get a street legal r34 gtr like there’s a guy in California who has a legal midnight purple 2 gtr and there’s another guy with a legal r34 that was in a speed hunters article
Show and display
@@morbiusgaming1488 no he has a midnight purple 3 not a 2
Sorry Officer, I lost my Skyline GTR in a boating accident
💀
I’m actually surprised some illegally imported cars are actually banned from coming back to the US, even after they turn 25 yrs old.
What, you thought America was a place of logic?
It's considered smuggled goods. They view it the same as asking to bring back your cocaine that was caught at the border and denied entry.
Once you realize the American judicial system isn't based on logic, you won't be so surprised anymore.
Take a look at our vehicle lighting laws, much of it dates back to post WW2. Something else, Ben Jones, the actor that played Cooter Davenport on The Dukes of Hazzard, was elected to congress in the late 80’s and was immediately placed on the transportation subcommittee, when he asked why since he wasn’t somebody who knew much on the topic, they told him that because of his TV character, they automatically assumed that he did!
Feds should be chasing politicians and their families for embezzlement. But no the peasants need to be taught a lesson.
They have to do something and, since humans are like any other animal, they can eat low hanging fruit all fucking day.
Can't wait till we see a video from LZ "THE FEDS CONFISCATED MY S15'S, EVO'S, R34 ***EMOTIONAL***"
was just thinking the same thing lol
Except that won't happen.
@@theclicker Why?
@@theclicker except it will.
@@Shadow0fd3ath24 Yeah, because LZ puts out drama videos for clout and clicks, right?
Me sitting here eating popcorn reading all these comments while my midnight purple r33 gtr sits in my garage perfectly legal because I took the time to do it right.
Never really been too keen on the look of em
All dudes with illegal skylines about to leave their lives behind and live on the run with just a bag of clothes
Repeat-"What's a Skyline?" 🤣🤣
crazy. I live in central Florida and I've been seeing R34's and R33's in the street since 2001. i think they just slap on a tag from a similar color 240SX and drive them around lol. The only time they inspect a car in Florida is when it comes from out of state, the DMV just checks the VIN to make sure it matches the title....
If the car hasn’t been US titled before, they do inspect, or at least now they do. Inspection for my R33 was just verification that the chassis numbers matched on all the paperwork, on the chassis plate and on the firewall
@@sumdummy88 R33, fucking awesome! the boxiness of the R34 never looked good to me along with it's goofy-looking tail lights lol...
Do they really have nothing better to do with their time and our money? What the actual fuck
This is just wrong. People should be allowed to drive any car they want.
There are issues with bringing in a JDM ( or any right hand drive ) car that has not been adapted.
Headlights. On any car the high beams are brighter and point straight ahead. Low beams are dimmer and point away from oncoming traffic. This means a RH drive cars headlights will point towards oncoming traffic causing a hazard.
Right hand drive. This is dangerous when mixed with US traffic ( yes I'm aware that postal vehicles are RHD and a consumer can buy them if they have a job delivering mail. )
Speedometer / odo not marked in miles.
Various other safety / emission related standards that differ between the US and other markets.
@@bobroberts2371 But after 25 years all these issues are magically resolved? Seems as if... this isn't why the 25-year rule exists
@@JohnDoe-ji5wg The items like headlights still need to be addressed. As for the other safety issues, it is assumed that a car over 25 years old will be driven sparingly and not a daily driver.
@@bobroberts2371 1) these are all bullshit reasons, and are all moot as any 25+ year vehicle can be imported with all of these "issues"
2) headlights are adjustable, why did you even include that stupid reason? Every car I've ever owned or knew of can be adjusted to point all the way down to the ground or all the way up to the sky. They have to be that way to account for manufacturing variances that require fine tuning.
@@nunyabusiness896 Do some research on headlights before you resort to childish language. Low beams move the bright spot lower and to one side relative to the high beams. This is accomplished through optical design not physical manual adjustment you suggest.
Park your car 25 ft away from a wall, turn the high beams on and note where the bright spot is. Switch to low beams and note that the bright spot drops and moves away from on coming traffic.
I'm guessing you are OK with blinding on coming traffic. . .as long as it isn't you being blinded.
Our import laws are so silly. They were created to protect the American car manufacturers selling sub par vehicles. We should advocate to remove laws like these. Federal government should be putting their attention towards human trafficking and other major crimes.
Mercedes Benz was the originator of the 25 year law, cause while the US got a sub-par model, everyone else got a much better model. So began the importation of the better model, which cut into Mercedes-Benz profits in the US.
Why do they even care? Our damn government is going to run out of money and this is what they are focusing on?
From their POV, a citizen spending 40k to 200k on a privately imported vehicle that doesn't meet regulations is anti-competition and takes food out of domestic vendors mouths along with their cut in taxes and tariffs. They'll care even more about pinching pennies and diverting car buyers now that they've burned up trillions on illegal wars and other bureaucratic nonsense.
It's just government workers trying to make sure their job is justified so they don't get budget cuts.
Probably the younger Feds who grew up with these cars trying to fuck with them now lol
Awesome episode! Very informative and well researched. 👏
Can someone tell me what the difference is between this and, any other criminal cartels?
Florida is happy to collect that fee & move on. They don't care, as long as they get that $$$
I work for DHL in Canada in the brokerage department so I find it funny that you had chosen to mention DHL as we are not known well in north america but you are right that we as a broker are not responsible for the contents and the receiver gets busted when they do an audit.
DHL was in the states for a while but then vanished without a trace. It's hard to not notice a bright yellow boxy truck rolling around.
Some R34 owners have their cars registered in Canada aka Mo who has that Blue R34 that was on Smoking Tire. His car is registered in Canada and he runs it without the plate in Cali and Washington state.
I feel like that’s the only Loophole anyone can exploit if they want to own an R33 and/or R34 GTR in the US.
The rich do what they want. And usually get away with it.
Such a ridiculous law, I wonder how many were lost due to jealous people snitching... on the other hand I cannot wait for 2028 so my 03 Limited will shoot up in value thanks to this ridiculous law.
Bringing cars as "car parts" from Japan was also popular in Russia 10-15 years ago. Nowadays all the loopholes were closed, we can't import JDM classics anymore :(
They're vastly overrated anyway.
no wonder Ive seen some imports
@Lassi Kinnunen 81 same worked with Japanese cars and yes, it's because of the tax. A lot of those poorly wielded back together cars killed their drivers over the years.
@@senaya I don't wanna be rude to you I am here to say the cars don't kill people each year is the one who control cars behind the wheel in driver sit
What about when TopRank held their MNP2 R34 in their California warehouse until it no longer required the EPA clean air compliance (21 years). They held is for at least a year or more. Was that legal? I remember seeing the car in person and they said they were “working on getting compliance”. BS. They just waited it out. How was that car allowed to leave port? EPA website: shipping a nonconforming vehicle or engine to the United States, importers MUST either:
* make arrangements with an ICI for modifications, testing, and certification, or
* obtain EPA pre-approval for the exemptions (21 years or older)
They need to scrap the 25 year rule anyway with local manufacturers closing their doors, I mean heck, FORD aren't producing passenger sedans anymore, only SUV's and Trucks and GM are probably in dire straits too.. Theres nothing left to PROTECT from competiton
i can't believe my taxes are going towards this sht
If i had an illegal R34 i would put it inside a Shipping container and bury it on my grandmas Property lol
Same lol
Why can I legally have a gun that can kill someone but when I get a Japanese car it's the end of the world
Because America
Because these cars don’t adhere to our emissions , and safety laws .
That’s a apples and oranges comparison.
@@jameswayland2339 and gun laws adhere to safety laws ?
giving guns or making them available with only a background check, and not a psychological test, along with other tests to validate that the weapon will not go to a psycho or just an idiot, of sorts?
MERICUH!
@@TheKitt12 yea I’m not going to argue politics with you . If you don’t like guns, don’t buy one . I’m just saying that car not made for the American market , can’t be sold her because we have higher emissions , gas mileage , and safety laws other country don’t have . I don’t have a use for a gun , so I don’t own any . I don’t know why you are jumping on me with your lefty b.s.
How about the government stops worrying about vehicles and turns their focus to this incompetent administration
The biggest thing about Florida is 1 there is no state or annual inspection meaning your car won't need to be inspected ever and 2 Florida is one of 3 states where you can go online and register a car, you won't have to go to a dmv and just pay a fee to the company.
Han:Police cars are only Factory tuned. If you can do better than 180k they can't catch you. So they don't even try.
Feds been doing this for decades and people still think they can get away with it. Pretty crazy. I personally known two people who got their GTRs seized for bringing them as kit cars.
Yeah because they rather crush imported cars than catch terrorists
I hope some of you get where I got this from
Also, cars can’t vote, only illegal immigrants can
God forbid we import 20 year old cars
Gotta distract from the fact that the biggest criminals are those in charge 😂
Florida DMV “ What kind of car is it”
🤡” It’s a 2000 Nizzan GTR kit car” 🤫😉
Florida DMV “Sounds good to me” 🤷♂️🆗
Blame Mercedes, they lobbied hard for this....Why we allowed non American company's to lobby in this country is beyond me.
Also Either buy it in Japan AND WAIT or Just WAIT till it is 25 years old here...either way it HAS to be 25 years old to be legal or not jump through federal hoops and pray.
OR just use the body parts and make a car that LOOKS like one but IS NOT one using a USDM donor....
@@BlackTownie999 there is no USDM donors for R chassis Skylines
@@LouisSubearth Follow B is for Build they are doing it
Or you can blame your US politicians for bending over backwards and probably getting kickbacks from MB and BMW.
I'm not saying I know anyone that is doing this but what if someone brought one into the country (legally) and it ended up on one of those lists but is in an undisclosed storage unit in the Midwest and is still loved and enjoyed by it's owners but was legally purchased and is now illegal for some reason? Is there any way to get the car off that list of 500 cars?
Asking for someone who is not a friend that I have never heard of.
Craig, what do you think about the youtube channel B is for Build putting a R34 body on a R35 GTR frame? Will this get the titling issue?
Lmao if you paid attention in the beginning of the series.... you would know the answer.
He answered that himself literally in the first video of the build, the tittle of the car will be for an R35 GTR, so no
That dude is a hack and sooner or later will get somebody hurt.
@@theclicker man don't get butt hurt all at once.
@@lethalnate9461 what would I be butt hurt about lmao
Apparently Sc is another one of those “you can title anything” states. Saw a beautiful black R34 here recently
there’s at least 3 in the upstate
@@MikeOnAdderall I see them in Texas too.
Theyre literally cars, it shouldnt be the governments business unless it runs on leadded gas.
I bought a car from Montu last year it was 1 of 1300 R32 vSpec II. Car looked fine but was miss represented. On arrival i saw acceptable rust that could be remedied. The second day my body guy came buy and there was foam and silicone molded to replace who pieces of rusted away quarter panels and body. My body guy said the car needed somewhere in the range of 15k in labor to get it right and that was just what could be seen.. Montu was willing to come out of pocket 10k in parts plus cash back for me to keep the car. I threated with litigation and they took the car back without a real fight. I would have love to keep the car but they hid the true damage of the vehicle. I'm just another story. I'm not the guy in this video.
I get my weed from montu
Always underweight the dog
Wait, I'm confused. So the entire lot of cars and parts was sold for $148,000?
Yep, sometimes you just got to have the capital and being in position for an opportunity.
Man I love these but just not feasible on a beer budget! Thanks for sharing Craig! 🤘TEXAS!!!
Lmao texas
@@theclicker 🤘✌
🤘🏼
This is the dumbest law ever . We need to fix this law
From what I read it’s because Florida dmv’s are private owned, you can go to dales tackle shop and dmv spot dale an extra 100 bucks, and he prints you a title.
Seeing those S15s breaks my heart.
Why does it happen in Florida? Because in several counties, they privatized the DMV (including Miami-Dade, where I live) and as such the incentive to follow the law is replaced by the incentive to increase revenue (fees) by titling and registering more cars.
Still holding out for a Motorex movie. I am glad to have the 15 yr rule in Canada where I have enjoyed R32 GTR and MK4 Supra TT while they were cheap. Florida is the Wild West of JDM cars. Enjoyed this video thanks Craig.
I did a video about MotoRex last year.
NGL. I’d love to see a movie based on/insoired by the Motorex Scandal. Definitely one of the most historic events in automotive history.
yeah haha Florida’s got the illegal JDM market and the Flocka face eating market.
Thank you for all the amazing content and information you bring to us Mr. Craig.
I bought a Toyota Soarer from Karuma imports in Florida. Had it shipped to me in Arizona and it arrived with a bent subframe. Karuma then stopped returning my calls. Avoid Karuma imports.
Good thing Soarers and SCs are the same otherwise that would have been a fun time tracking down a new one
They do business in florida because in the Dominican Republic which is fairly close, it's really easy to get JDM cars imported.
Theres a guy in my state that has a r34 all he did was take the vin from a old nissan he had and put it in the 34 he drives it daily...funny part is hes been pulled over and they never even done shit or noticed
Vin swap is highly illegal in all states
Ya true but for a r34 who cares fuck there laws gotta do what you gotta do
@@jordancouch8371 yes totally but the argument is the legality of it, and considering how much the 34 cost right now not having that entitlement to that much asset is a huge risk to some
@@chenyuliu7838 ya its definately a big risk but i guess to some people the risk is worth it just to have one but with the money you would be out if caught i wouldnt be out risking it
Yo, stop snitching, vin tampering is Hella illegal
Great video Craig. Unfortunately people will still think the 34s they see around are legal. In most cases, it probably isn't.
does this include the rhd supras that came in recently too?
prolly i almost bought one but walked away. seemed shadey
@@ryancuda45 i remember seeing some youtuber buying a bunch at once and was trying to sell them. seemed fishy.
If the Supra's are 96 or older they are fine at this point.
Good video & very informative. 👏🏼👏🏼
While Florida is the hotspot, I know there are other states where R34s are titled and registered.
For sure, including Montana, Colorado, Texas to name a few.
@@craiglieberman I personally know of one in even another state. Won't name it to try and protect, but the Feds are gonna Fed...
Many FL state titles are easily transferrable to another state that assumes the FL title was legit. But theres likely a trail connecting newly titled nonFL state titles to that original FL one so the Feds can easily draw a line
There's one in the Midwest that I see quite often.
I don't know how this certain rule works over there in the US, but in Australia, you can import a car legally from another country if you have lived in that country and had the car registered for at least 12 months, so it's a Personal Import. Do you guys have the same rule over here? I apologise if it's a stupid question but I'm genuinely curious
nope. if it isn't 25 years old cant come in, unless show and display
Now that you made this video. Could you make a video on good companies you would recommend or you know of that are trust worthy?
If it is done correctly is it still ok to drive in Florida? Or are they just going after all of them? Only asking because there's one in Cali I'm looking at. Unfortunately just moved to Florida and didn't know they were cracking down this bad
I feel lucky to have seen 2 midnight purple r34s in the US
There r 2 midnight purple, 1 is legal 1 is illegal. Ver 2 n 3 = 3 is illegal
enjoying your dry wit !! oh and the info too....
How did you have your 2f2f r34 if they are illegal to own in the us Craig?
Motorex car. Recognized as legal because Motorex pulled a quick scam on both the feds and the Skyline owners
@@sondernfy ah right. His was one of the motorex cars he referred to. Makes sense
My car was one of the 14 FULLY FEDERALLY LEGAL GTR's that MotoRex brought to the USA in the early 2000's. I don't buy illegal cars - never have, never will.
So happy you brought john scamnitta too light !
Craig, great video. Why is the 1990 GTR one of the 3 show and display cars allowed here? It's older than 25 years old, can't it be brought in and titled and registered as a normal vehicle?
The law probably came in pre-2016 before 1990 GT-R were legal imports.
Legacy exemption, meaning that the car made the list BEFORE it was 25 years old and is still on the list.
@@craiglieberman thanks Craig. Now that the car is 25+ years old, why would it need to remain on any list? To me, it seems it would drop off the list now...
@@TheWizzyWizard it’s because it was imported illegally in the first place. So it will always be on the list and never be allowed here ever no matter what. it’s kind of like, one strike you’re out.
You americans really have funny way when it comes to dealing with R34 and other cars...
Can you (not a US citizen) bring your R34 to USA for a short time( about two weeks to a month) drive it and take it back ?
yes, if you have a car registered in Canada you can drive it across on canadian plates for a certain amount of time before it needs to return to canadian soil. i think the limit if 60 days. not all insurance covers it though, so in the event of an accident you would be screwed
The federal TLA agencies have gone drunk with their own power. Is this really a constructive use of their time and OUR MONEY?
They seemed to be more concerned about exported cars from Japan than other things they should be worry about like drugs or bombs exporting or something lol
I think it's pretty cool 2 Fast 2 Furious was made in Florida. & FL is still one of the hot spots for imports / JDM cars.
Damn, my buddy has V Spec he is restoring. 😬 He probably already heard.
I bought my R32 from Montu, and it came with zero rust, very good condition, and only 20k miles on the clock. Everyone that sees it says it's one of the cleanest R32's they've ever seen. Interior was pretty much flawless as well. Paperwork was all good, and I was even able to get it relicensed in Colorado, as well as passing emissions. I don't know how or why they missed something like that, and sure it's embarassing, but they even went out of their way to help me out, replaced one of the backup light housings for free, along with passing on some free parts at their own cost, because mine was missing the driver's side sunvisor (because of an augmented reality heads up display mod that had been previously installed by the Japanese owner). Honestly can't say enough about them. They did everything right, got all the proper paperwork needed, gave me all the copies. Maybe things have changed since then, (and I assume the quality of the cars still remaining in Japan, as only the best models would have sold at first).
R 32s have been legal in the USA for years now it’s the R34 they are talking about. They are not legal here till 2024
@@crujones4046 no duh, Captain obvious
I’ve had an argument with frank on Facebook regarding importing R34’s into Florida and he incriminated himself so much in the comment section of an R34 being sold in Orlando Florida that he had the OP remove the post. He posted pictures of a bunch of black market R34’s that he likes to have stored sometimes at MT Fabrications out of Orlando Florida, I’ve personally seen a few and even have pictures of it. The argument started over the costs of “legally” importing an R34 which I argued there’s no “legal” way to bring just any R34 gtr and not only that but he was over pricing and lying about how “difficult” it is to get a state title in Florida.
"Yeah, but our politicians don't say mean things on Twitter, so"
Seeing that gtr getting crushed makes my soul hurt😭.
🙋♂️ I live in south Florida and saw a white R34 with black wheels a few weeks ago, pretty sure it's not one of the motorex GTR's. Totally rad to see one in person and yes I followed it for a few miles lol 😁
Admiral: My Lord, we've begone to import JDM cars as scheduled, however the GT-R's are being targeted and we simply cannot.....
Darth Vader: Customs do not concern me Admiral, I want those GT-R's on U.S. shores., not excuses
Admiral: Yes my Lord
Obi Wan: These are not the GT-R's you are looking for!
FHP Trooper: These are not the GT-R's I am looking for!
@@theanomalous1401 lol
@@theanomalous1401 😂
Seeing that Skyline in the compactor made my stomach hurt 😞.
Same😢
How about the USA’s government take care of their gun control or their racist cops, instead of taking cars from importer
Government focusing on actual crime? Oh don’t be ridiculous
I'm very thankful to live in Canada with the 15 year import law
With a handgun ban
Next episode... feds crush Adam LZ‘s R34🤭
Hey Craig since there's all this illegal activity going around importing jdm cars. Is it even worth it to import a r34 gtr or even a gtr (r33/r32) in 2024.
I have a strong feeling that the government is come down with even stricter law not for just gtr's but any jdm car.
I don't foresee any changes to the 25 year law anytime soon, if at all.
If it’s 25 years or older you’re good. But the R 34s are going to be 100 grand or more I’m sure. I do love skylines but I think I’d rather buy a Ferrari at that price. Good luck.
I believe I saw the black ops guy at FD Orlando this year, pretty sure he still has an r34 gtt running around
No doubt through hustling somebody else.
such a good video ! That’s crazy how all of this sketchy stuff is going on hopefully people don’t have to return their GTRs
What if the feds would just go help the Boarder Patrol to keep all the hard drugs and bad people off the streets of America.
And let you register these ("Black Market") cars in the new owners respective States? So that would make more money locally from registration, tag, insurance, and other fees.
Just saying.....
Harumph! That would just make too much sense, and the last thing we would want is for a government entity to do something that makes sense! What is wrong with you? You just ain't making no sense❓🤔🤷♀️
Dude, I grew up in Woodland. Not surprised. Big car culture their.
200-300k for a 34 gtr christ.
Where do you get the painting or pictures behind you are they custom?
I understand that the import process is a nightmare, and the feds are picking and choosing what they want to enforce.
However the silver lining on the cloud is this If you go through reliable importer, You know your money is well spent.
I could not imagine how it would feel to spend Good money on a car, through a shady importer and finding out it's either rusted out or has chassis damage. Even if you sue the importer, There's no such thing as debtors prison. The person will just file bankruptcy and disappear.
There's a Midnight Purple 2 R34 near me here in the Bay Area.
Honestly so annoying that our government treats these cars like drug dealers... like dude cars are cars -_- it ain't gonna hurt anyone
Can those car legal in Malaysia as a used car.
I've seen 2 r34s in Maryland that I've never seen before. Maybe once in a blue moon I'll see a r32 but 2 r34s in one month that's crazy.
Someone in MD is legally importing Kei cars / trucks, I wonder if a few are slipping through.
What area? Ive seen an R32 in downtown Annapolis but never seen an R34.
@@anubis2076 southern MD around Leonardtown
As much as the UK has it's faults, thank god we don't have to deal with all of this shit. We can import and drive what we want, when we want.