TokyoRich

I had exactly the same thing. Some joker who had a 20 year old 5 series slammed his brakes on in front of me. I stopped but our cars touched there was not damage to his car. His tax disc was 6 months out of date but he still claimed whiplash, 500 quid damage to his car complete cowboy but that is life It seems.. I even had an independant witness who was standing by the side of the road come over and tell me that he would vouch for me in court, he gave a statement to the insurance companies but these personal injury guys are so pushy that insurance companies seem to prefer just to settle with them.. My premium is not 500 quid more than it was last year.. and I have been insured for 17 years and this is my first claim.. makes you sick...

Are you an importer then? No, I was an exporter (Japan based) for 8 years, we sold to the auctions and dealers in the UK, Oz, S. Africa etc not really to end users. I moved back in 2007 but still have the infrastructure in place (and still have my auction licences). I have been sending cars to Japan more recently as the exchange rate works better that way these days.. I will be back in Japan for a month later this year so if there is a shopping list happy to do what I can. I will be buying some cars to bring back anyway, probably an RX, couple of EVO's...

If anyone really wants it I can get one of my guys to go over and have a look and get it to the port....

Its a 1999 car so over 10 years old so just needs an MOT (+foglight) for registration. Registration fee is around £55 and you need to buy a tax disc. Shipping is around US$900 plus insurance at 2% of the car value. Import duty is 10% and VAT on the compunded amount of 20%. Japan side woudl be de-registration, transport to port, Japanese customs and the dealer would also charge a fee and probably try for Japan sales tax 5% even though it is being exported. Then its just a matter of speaking to the dealer in Japanese and finding a Japanese customs agent and shipper.

I guess its a fresh import. Thats what SVA do. Try to get a copy of the Japanese auction report and I can translate it for you if you want.

Yes of course! For a start get the breathing right and a good manifold, lighter flywheel, better clutch and with the right suspension it will feel much better.

So here she is. Terrible picture but thats all I have.. Went for a drive today and realised I really want a manual.. damn...

Ah, would be interested to hear. Give me a shout if you are over this way and I can see what my car should be looking like!

Sounds good, will try to get there.

Thats a good question. Will have to wait and see for now. I may try to pick up a TT in Japan later in the year as doing both the turbo(s) and the gearbox would probably be a bit excessive.. and I dont want a TT auto. It is goign to be a project but as its auto probaly best to make it either justa nice clean car or a drifter.. TBD....

Hi, Long time since I have been here but nice to be back. I recently picked up an old Supra from an old friend and thought I would find out what you guys had to say.. So, I had my first Supra back in 1997, I had just started my business "Rexis" which started as an import business. In 1999 I moved to Japan where I stayed for 8 years. Most of you probably know a lot of the old importers but not many of the exporters. Some guys like Neweira were pretty plugged into the UK market but their business model was different. We were doing the B2B side and sold to the auctions and UK traders (we were their "Man in Japan" - that everyone seemed to have). Just before the music stopped and the yen got so expensive that it did not make sense anymore we were one of the big 3 exporters doing at least 500 cars a year. Anyway, thats me. I have a soft spot for Supras and thats why I am here. I moved back to London with my family (Well with my wife then, have had a family since) in 2006 and this is where we plan to stay. I still have my Japanese auction licences but Rexis is not exporting on a regular basis anymore. More the opposite really, with the yen where it is I have been doin some bespoke cars back to Japan, this year I have done an E Class, Land Rover Defender and a DB9.. So I am still having fun. Going back for a month late summer though so will be pickign up a few cars then, let me know if anyone wants anything.. So a couple of weeks ago an old customer gave me a call and said that he was taking a 94 n/a in in p/x and asked if I was interested. So it is now parked in my drive. Not the cleanest car but it was brought over fairly late and sold first in the UK by Jemca in 2007. Bodywork is pretty clean and there is no real rot to speak of. Interior needs some work so I will be looking for some parts here. The most unusual thing is that it is totally normal and has no modifications whatsoever... Will try to upload a photo when I figure out how to / take some. In the mean time things I will be lookign for in the short term are: - New auto shifter mech - a lot of play side to side, will take it apart but guess something is broken.. (yes its auto.. how depressing) - New seats for the front and rear (rear top part only, as it is splitting but could buy the whole set if someone has it) - passenger side grab handle - Steering wheel, ideally standard (no air bag) or will need a boss as well.. - Some interesting alloys (used with tyres) - Muffler - Induction kit (cannot remember where the airflow sensor sits but I am sure you guys know anyway) - Think I may be needing rear shocks, will check on the weekend, will get these new though. - Someone to tint the rear windows Guess I will be doing some eBay trawling this weekend! I am in Wapping, London (E1W) so anyone local is great! I also go to Maidenhead a lot so that area could also work.