[Chrysler kid]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

So import the 15 year old ones to Canada and then import them to the US. I have bought 2 cars from Canada and it was very simple, just a local law enforcement vin check once in the US, nothing from customs or border patrol.

Correct. However once you register it to your name they now know your location and that according to federal law you are not driving a vehicle deemed for road use. So you could wake up a few weeks later to customs officers seizing your car. Or worse you could face smuggling charges because the vehicle is illegal to own and operate in the states and you knowingly transported an illegal item across an international line.

The last story was a guy who bought an s15 Silvia and did the same thing. He was sentenced to 15 years for smuggling, falsifying documents, international trafficking and a few other smaller offenses.

If you must know the by far easiest way to own and drive a skyline illegally is to buy a 240sx as a rolling shell, and register that car to your name and put the plates and stickers on your skyline. If you just shave the words skyline off of the back panel no one would be the wiser. At least that's how the dozen or so people who have had their skylines as gray market cars usually do it.

The problem then becomes that the car attracts attention and you basically use the car on Sundays to get groceries because you're paranoid about taking it to a car meet because you never know who is in the crowd.

Originally Posted by bentring

For one, I should have went into more detail in my other post because what I previously posted only is the case if everything else regarding an imported car must be up to US standards. If not, then the 25 year rule everyone else is quoting applies.

Secondly, I'm not familiar with the seizing you mention, but a quick google search gave me this: In this case, the cars were imported by Kaizo under a special exemption for automotive parts. They brought over the shells and drivetrains separately and then reassembled them. They were then, apparently, registered under the law as SB 100, which is for kit/show cars. This exemption allows vehicles not driven frequently to be registered without smog checks.

That would be how the last group of skylines were crushed. Since they are using chassis that were made by a manufacturer for road use that did not comply to federal standards the cars can not be classified as kit cars.

Even shipping a shell over seas you are classifying the shipment as automotive parts. The shell can only be used as "automotive parts" once assembled it violates customs policies because it becomes a motor vehicle. The "car parts" are to be used only as such.

There are basically two laws you are violating by having a skyline in the united states, you or some one else has falsified documents to import the car (I.e. smuggling) and you and the shipping company face heavy fines and loss of your customs license. And of course operating a motor vehicle that is unsafe for public use and is a danger to others on the road