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Soon to be a newbie...


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Hi guys

 

I'm currently on the hunt for a manual Supra RZ and am already a Toyota owner in the form of a Celica ST202. Its been bullet proof and the epitome of reliability but its time to move on and upgrade! :)

 

I'm moving to the States in January for at least a couple of years and sadly the Celica cannot come with, as my particular engine was not domestically sold there. However, from research made so far i am in with a strong chance of registering a Supra due to the commonality of the US and UK spec engines (and i believe JDM too). So with this in mind i am now actively combing the ads across the various websites to find a few that match the above criteria.

 

A friend of mine from the Celica Club UK (now a Supra TT owner himself and active member on here) recommended that i post my scenario in case anyone has any information or experience with taking a UK/JDM spec car out to the States, so if anyone does I'd welcome any advice concerning pitfalls, costs etc.

 

If i could possibly ask for another pointer at this stage with regard to value. What would you - as current Supra owners - say a 1994/5 RZ Manual (standard spec/no mods between 50k and 70k miles) is worth in good condition in todays market, being what it is? I would prefer to buy from an established member on here where the car is well known as opposed to a fresh import that has never seen UK roads... is this a fair discrimination or unfounded concern?? Has anyone on here had serious problems with imports being good on the outside but buckets underneath?

 

Apologies for all the questions from a newbie but I've loved Supras for years and this is my chance to live the dream, so to speak! :D

 

Cheers

 

 

(Just incase anyone wonders why i don't just buy as USDM, its because of their current market value - you will find similar spec examples as that mentioned above ranging between $40k-$65k typically! :blink: )

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i looked into it briefly, i belive it was expensive to get the car to the usa and get everything done. For some reason i have 5k in my head but could be very wrong!

You might have more luck asking Supraforums.com as thats where the US guys hang out. I know there are some jap spec cars over there.

Good look in the search.

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Welcome to the dark side Oli ;)

 

:D

 

Cheers for the welcome guys. I've already learnt a bucket load within one day here. The 'Supra Guide and Model Differences Chart' and 'What to check when buying a Supra' guide are genius! :D

 

The export to US is looking promising, there are a few JDM models already out there and there's talk on supraforums.com of getting UK TT's into the country too so fingers crossed. Went out to Walsall on Saturday to view my first one having been assured it would be there the night before, sadly the owner of the establishment didn't feel the need to update me that it was sold 6hrs before i got there at the agreed time... nice. However I'm going to look at one this weekend, so i'm very much looking forward to that! :D Its a 1994 RZ manual - lets hope i know what to look out for.

 

Cheers

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to be honest importing into the US is a nightmare, my buddy wanted me to source him skylines but the customs bullsh@t is just too strict, BUT if you import them to Canada its almost as easy as importing them here, then its a little jolly over the border and Bob's your uncle etc etc

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to be honest importing into the US is a nightmare, my buddy wanted me to source him skylines but the customs bullsh@t is just too strict, BUT if you import them to Canada its almost as easy as importing them here, then its a little jolly over the border and Bob's your uncle etc etc

 

Thanks again for the welcome guys. Its interesting, bigcol, there are an awful lot of contradictory points of view (not an astounding amount of fact) banded about on Supraforums.com about importing a RHD car into the country. Some say its pretty easy now, and others say its very hard and waffle on about how unsafe RHD cars are - much to my annoyance! :D But, like you say there seem to be almost weekly success stories getting them into Canada, and as that's only a 2hr drive from my location i will be exploring that further. The only problem i can see there is that you still eventually have to register it in the US, surely?

 

There is one other option i have found when deliberating TVR Cerbera ownership that may be of interest to some people. If you are going to the US on a Visa (any type) and are therefore not a US citizen/greencard holder, you may import ANY vehicle you wish on a one year temporary HS7 Visa then it must be exported again back to country of origin. One Cerbera owner has done this twice now in San Francisco but the trail does cold as to whether he managed to register it there or not for longer in the end.

 

I'll be looking into N/A's too now if the N/A T conversions are any cop in the States.

 

Thanks again

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