Jump to content
SAU Community

Iron Chef

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    3,318

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    2

  • Feedback

    100%

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Iron Chef

    R32 Gt-r's Advertised For Sale At Their Lowest Levels.

    in RB Series - R31, R32, R33, R34 (1986-2002)

    Posted

    I think most of it has already been mentioned.

    At the moment the US is relatively undeveloped as a market, so they're buying the kind of cars that we would generally reject - heavy accident, tampered odometers, rusty etc. Plenty of JDM wood-ducks for the exporters to burn before they start to wise up over there. With the exchange rate taking a dive, cars ex-Aus are looking more and more attractive, but the US would rather buy crap and keep prices landed in the US under $20K there than worry about quality.

    The market will start to develop though, and as time goes on, buyers will be looking for clean cars globally, and paying big dollars for them.

    It's the same phenomenon that has seen virtually every 240K coupe disappear from Australia, mostly to the UAE.

    Most collectible sports cars go through a depreciation cycle, then rise again. In Japan, prices of clean 32s started climbing about 7-8 years ago. Clean series 3 R33s have also been rising for a while, and R34s hit the bottom of their cycle about 5 years ago too.

    Australia's cycle is a little longer, so we're only starting to see the rises occurring now (although demand from the US is speeding that process up). If you're buying locally, look for clean late model R33s and clean, genuine km R34s as they're money in the bank as far as I'm concerned.

    I'm hoping to send my N1 to the US in 2026, in the hope it will fund my retirement ;)

    • Like 2

    Engine Serial Number Matching Vin

    in Importing Vehicles

    Posted

    The short answer is, to the best of my knowledge, you can't - there's nothing on FAST or anywhere else that keeps a record of the engine number matching the VIN.

    You'll find the engine number listed on the Japanese export certificate, but the manufacturers also sell new, completely unstamped blocks, so there have been occasions where we've received cars with no engine number whatsoever and have had to stamp new numbers on there.

    How Long Did It Take You To Find The One?

    in Importing Vehicles

    Posted

    Funnily enough, we find we're often fussier than our customers are. There have been times when we've had customers begging us to buy cars that we're standing in front of and know they're shit (and say so to the customers). In that situation, the answer is always no. I'd rather refund the customer their broker fee - because you know damn well that when the car arrives, they will then turn around and complain about the quality. With buying cars at auction, you have to treat the journey as being as important as the destination :)

    • Like 1

    Buying A R34 Gtr M-Spec

    in Importing Vehicles

    Posted

    Dodgyimports I will post this in the "beware r34 gtr..." soon. I've confronted the seller in regards to the fake mileage and will give him a chance to respond first. For all we know he could have been a victim despite his story. Hopefully he will confront his importer and also update his carsales ad to reflect the new finding.

    It's a shame really because the refresh technique is not something well known by the general populace or even most people on forums like this. They see a certificate with a few numbers and automatically think it's legit.

    Equinox, the mileage would definitely have been tempered by the exporter and the fact that FC Autosource is clearly on the export certificate point all evidence to them. Has anyone heard of them? Hopefully our brokers down here in Aus aren't affliated with them or use their service...

    A lot of agents use FC Autosource in Japan to buy their cars, and we're one of them. They buy cars in a whole variety of price ranges, including a grade 5A R32 GT-R V-Spec II 17,000km and another grade 5A Nur with under 10,000km on it, both for our customers. They also sell a lot of rare exotics to Europe. They also buy high km stuff because it's popular with dealers here, but if you go on their site, you'll see the original kms are always advertised in the sold section. Many of their cars are also wholesaled within Japan. Don't be too quick to blame them.

    http://fcautosource.com

    Opinions On Import Moster Wanted

    in Importing Vehicles

    Posted

    I do laugh a bit when people complain that they but a $20 item off Yahoo and complain that it costs $50 by the time it gets here. Sure shipping costs vary depending on size and value, but you still have to pay for someone's time to pack your item, put it in a container, unpack it and post it off to you, even if it's a 20c washer. I've happily used Import Monster, and will do so again when the need arises.

×
×
  • Create New...