Current R34 Market?
#1
08-20-2009, 07:23 AM
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Doylestown, PA
Posts: 155
Rep Power: 26 
Current R34 Market?
I'm coming into the market for a new car either in the next month or next two and saw a lot more R34 stuff on the forum about half a year ago (few more posts in here about them and in the classifieds) I was just wondering with the whole ICE thing if A) it's still safe to buy a R34 and B) Where to get one from. Also whats the going price for them? Thanks for the help guys.
#3
08-20-2009, 05:17 PM
^^Which are not compliant for USA road use. NHTSA revoked import eligibility for the R34 and R32 on March 1, 2006 during the Motorex investigation. Only cars in process at that time were issued bond release paperwork, and none are legally able to be brought in anymore. The dual-airbag variants of the R33 are still on the list, but there is no vendor providing OBD-II conversion, so they are eligible but not possible to import at this time.
The vehicles that went through the Motorex corporation have federal bond release paperwork which show that they were imported (or endeavored to be imported) into our country legally and meet NHTSA, DOT, and EPA regulations. These are the only vehicles that are not subject to some sort of seizure in the USA. Of all the different methods employed to import them to the USA, all have examples of seizures, but no Motorex bond released car has ever been affected. The paperwork on them specifically refers to them as grandfathered cars, and trust me, a federal government issued document that says your car is bond released is the golden ticket.
Motorex brought in around 100 cars during their reign, mostly R33s. Some have been totaled or are otherwise no longer road-worthy. There are only about 14 R34s with federal level compliance paperwork here, and no more are coming in. About 70 of those federal cars are still in circulation. These are the 'safe' cars. Kaizo, who the ICE investigation is targeting, was selling shells as parts only for people to assemble the car and register it as a kit vehicle -- these are the sort of tactics you want to stay away from.
When a market has that few federalized cars, and the net is littered with mostly true stories of seizures and forced export of non-legal cars, the market is a bit weird. At any given moment, who's willing to give up a car, and who wants it and how bad, swing the market every which way. R34s with federal paperwork trade in the $100,000 range plus or minus based on condition and mods. Most mods lower the value of the vehicle if they've misplaced expensive stock parts and those parts are missing or if the quality of the mod is poor. (This mirrors the japanese market where original cars are surging in value over modified ones). A lot of that US value is driven by rarity. R33s are signficantly less (half-ish) and R32s are very slightly less than the R33. As is expected, any capped/limited population of exceptional cars tends to bring an upward trend.
I've seen R34s without paperwork trade for much less, I was offered one for $60,000 that was quite beautiful in every way, except for the fact that I wouldn't be able to sleep at night once I registered it and put the number into the computers where it could be searched and I could have it seized.
http://forums.freshalloy.com/showthr...ghlight=SEIZED
Ownership of a Skyline in the US is not for the faint of heart. You need to be a enthusiast, an insurance expert, a DOT/NHTSA/EPA legal expert, and you need a tolerance for part pricing that puts the Italians to shame. An exceptional BS meter helps too. Being bilingual helps.
I am always available through the forum to speak to anyone who has considering taking the plunge. I have had phone conversations with several people who have considered getting into it to help them understand the legal issues and sort out the rumors they have heard. I'm always available to anyone who wants to talk about what they might be getting into.
The vehicles that went through the Motorex corporation have federal bond release paperwork which show that they were imported (or endeavored to be imported) into our country legally and meet NHTSA, DOT, and EPA regulations. These are the only vehicles that are not subject to some sort of seizure in the USA. Of all the different methods employed to import them to the USA, all have examples of seizures, but no Motorex bond released car has ever been affected. The paperwork on them specifically refers to them as grandfathered cars, and trust me, a federal government issued document that says your car is bond released is the golden ticket.
Motorex brought in around 100 cars during their reign, mostly R33s. Some have been totaled or are otherwise no longer road-worthy. There are only about 14 R34s with federal level compliance paperwork here, and no more are coming in. About 70 of those federal cars are still in circulation. These are the 'safe' cars. Kaizo, who the ICE investigation is targeting, was selling shells as parts only for people to assemble the car and register it as a kit vehicle -- these are the sort of tactics you want to stay away from.
When a market has that few federalized cars, and the net is littered with mostly true stories of seizures and forced export of non-legal cars, the market is a bit weird. At any given moment, who's willing to give up a car, and who wants it and how bad, swing the market every which way. R34s with federal paperwork trade in the $100,000 range plus or minus based on condition and mods. Most mods lower the value of the vehicle if they've misplaced expensive stock parts and those parts are missing or if the quality of the mod is poor. (This mirrors the japanese market where original cars are surging in value over modified ones). A lot of that US value is driven by rarity. R33s are signficantly less (half-ish) and R32s are very slightly less than the R33. As is expected, any capped/limited population of exceptional cars tends to bring an upward trend.
I've seen R34s without paperwork trade for much less, I was offered one for $60,000 that was quite beautiful in every way, except for the fact that I wouldn't be able to sleep at night once I registered it and put the number into the computers where it could be searched and I could have it seized.
http://forums.freshalloy.com/showthr...ghlight=SEIZED
Ownership of a Skyline in the US is not for the faint of heart. You need to be a enthusiast, an insurance expert, a DOT/NHTSA/EPA legal expert, and you need a tolerance for part pricing that puts the Italians to shame. An exceptional BS meter helps too. Being bilingual helps.
I am always available through the forum to speak to anyone who has considering taking the plunge. I have had phone conversations with several people who have considered getting into it to help them understand the legal issues and sort out the rumors they have heard. I'm always available to anyone who wants to talk about what they might be getting into.
#5
09-05-2009, 03:24 PM
so Danox547,, my big question is are r34's able to be legalized in the us still? ive heard so many stories and most of them say its not possible because of the whole motorex deal.. but are there other ways to legalize it besides motorex? thanks for any info
#6
09-05-2009, 06:10 PM
No sir. Originally, when Motorex crashed tested the Skylines and got them legalized, they crash tested an R33. They sought a substantially similar clause with the NHTSA that said that because of the relatively identical construction of the R32, R33, and R34 that the crash testing of the R33 should cover all the cars. For a while, that was the case.
After Motorex was closed down and had their registered importer license revoked, the NHTSA studied deeper all of the documentation that they had collected while Motorex was operating, and decided that the substantially similar clause did not apply. When they did this, the R32 and R34 were removed from the non-compliant but eligible list. This means that no registered importer can import and bring into compliance anything but an R33.
Although R33 remains on the list, but the current law (one not in place when Motorex was operating) requires OBD-II conversion for cars in that year range (newer than '95, I believe). The dual airbag '96-'98 GTR fits the list, but no registered importer has a OBD-II system for the car. To do that compliance, you'd need to design a true OBD-II system, not just duplicate the missing outputs and connector, and have it approved. An expensive undertaking, without doubt.
So, R32 and R34 are off the list unless someone wants to get into the business of crash testing and modifying the vehicle to meet US standards, and the R33 is off the list unless someone wants to put the development time into creating an OBD-II compliant system for it.
There are no other ways to get federal compliance and be federally legal, sadly. You must bring in cars through registered importers (NHTSA has a list of them on their website) and those are the requirements they must meet. People have brought cars in other ways, masked them with kit registrations, built cars from shells imported as parts, etc., but every type of car brought in, except Motorex cars, has been seized or force-exported at some point by the feds. There is no valid loophole, although many people claim to have one.
After Motorex was closed down and had their registered importer license revoked, the NHTSA studied deeper all of the documentation that they had collected while Motorex was operating, and decided that the substantially similar clause did not apply. When they did this, the R32 and R34 were removed from the non-compliant but eligible list. This means that no registered importer can import and bring into compliance anything but an R33.
Although R33 remains on the list, but the current law (one not in place when Motorex was operating) requires OBD-II conversion for cars in that year range (newer than '95, I believe). The dual airbag '96-'98 GTR fits the list, but no registered importer has a OBD-II system for the car. To do that compliance, you'd need to design a true OBD-II system, not just duplicate the missing outputs and connector, and have it approved. An expensive undertaking, without doubt.
So, R32 and R34 are off the list unless someone wants to get into the business of crash testing and modifying the vehicle to meet US standards, and the R33 is off the list unless someone wants to put the development time into creating an OBD-II compliant system for it.
There are no other ways to get federal compliance and be federally legal, sadly. You must bring in cars through registered importers (NHTSA has a list of them on their website) and those are the requirements they must meet. People have brought cars in other ways, masked them with kit registrations, built cars from shells imported as parts, etc., but every type of car brought in, except Motorex cars, has been seized or force-exported at some point by the feds. There is no valid loophole, although many people claim to have one.
Last edited by danox574; 09-05-2009 at 09:36 PM.
#7
09-06-2009, 05:26 PM
thanks danox for clearing that up..I read about one guy named Daryl Allison who imports r34's he was an ex cop and theres videos of him at willow springs track driving an r34 with paul walker so he seems kinda legit but do u think it cant be 100% legal?
Trending Topics
#8
09-06-2009, 07:22 PM
Daryl owns/operates Kaizo, who was raided last month. These are the letters going out to Kaizo owners:
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...r-letters.html
The website is gone and he is not answering his phone. The 60-70 owners who bought Kaizo shells or complete cars are currently losing them.
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...r-letters.html
The website is gone and he is not answering his phone. The 60-70 owners who bought Kaizo shells or complete cars are currently losing them.
#9
09-06-2009, 09:49 PM
Daryl owns/operates Kaizo, who was raided last month. These are the letters going out to Kaizo owners:
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...r-letters.html
The website is gone and he is not answering his phone. The 60-70 owners who bought Kaizo shells or complete cars are currently losing them.
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...r-letters.html
The website is gone and he is not answering his phone. The 60-70 owners who bought Kaizo shells or complete cars are currently losing them.
#11
09-16-2009, 10:29 PM
I know of one R34 that is legal and for sale and its 150 grand, I'm glad i found my 95' R33 GT-R which is OBD-I 
which was imported by Motorex back in 2000, I would freak if I invested xxx,xxx dollars into a car just to lose it months later!
which was imported by Motorex back in 2000, I would freak if I invested xxx,xxx dollars into a car just to lose it months later!
#13
09-17-2009, 10:31 PM
Here is their website: http://rbmotorsports.blogspot.com/
They also have a couple Skylines for sale right now (posted, might be old). I think they have been trying to sell them for awhile though. Back in the day they were huge. They had imported many skylines. Now they are the primary RB engine shop in SoCal. Last time I was there I saw a handful of R34's and R33's, along with a Nismo race crate with a RB26DETT inside it. They also did a bunch of stuff for the FF movies I believe.
-Will
#14
09-19-2009, 10:12 AM
The shell that was at RB, that was an ex-Falken Super Taikyu chassis. One of twelve that Nismo built for Super Taikyu. That chassis was sold to Australia.
RB is still storing Automotive Forums R34 race car, and spare chassis. Igor has been living and racing in Japan since 2007.
http://rbmotorsports.blogspot.com/20...challenge.html
As was said earlier, only about 14 federal paperwork R34's though Motorex. Each changes hands for around the $100k mark.
RB has a couple of federal R33's and R32's, but everyone always wants an R34. RB also has their R32.4.
RB is still storing Automotive Forums R34 race car, and spare chassis. Igor has been living and racing in Japan since 2007.
http://rbmotorsports.blogspot.com/20...challenge.html
As was said earlier, only about 14 federal paperwork R34's though Motorex. Each changes hands for around the $100k mark.
RB has a couple of federal R33's and R32's, but everyone always wants an R34. RB also has their R32.4.
