Update: GT-R Blog is reporting that two more R34 GT-Rs were seized today by ICE officials, along with an R32, and is warning Kaizo-imported GT-R owners living in Southern California to keep an eye on their cars.
It would seem the U.S. Justice Department has a bee in its bonnet over R34 Nissan Skylines imported by Kaizo Industries. The GT-R USA blog is reporting that another R34 GT-R has been seized by Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, who evidently showed up at the owner's home and took the vehicle.
Kaizo Skylines are shipped over from Japan as DOT-compliant body shells, but without their drivetrain components -- thus making them legal to import as "automotive components" under U.S. law. Kaizo, which has a presence on both sides of the Pacific, then reinstalls those drivetrain bits in California. It's a business, and a legal way of acquiring an R34 GT-R to own and drive in the U.S.
GT-R Blog is speculating that the car's SB 100 registration status might have stacked the decks against the owner and car. SB 100 is an exemption for kit cars (that aren't going to be driven much) that allows them to be registered without a smog test; only 500 cars statewide per year can be registered this way.
inlinesix says:
03:32 PM, 09/30/09
That blows.
firstwagon says:
04:15 PM, 09/30/09
Well I guess you have to expect a few setbacks when you build your business entirely on exploiting a loophole in the law.
icecubefosho says:
06:15 PM, 09/30/09
California can go to hell. I love being a Texan.
All those environmental regulations hurt the common man. Go look at third world countries and see what we drive over there. Pure Dirty Bulletproof Diesels are mostly in South Asia.
Sad day to be an R34 in Cali
slickersdrip says:
06:49 PM, 09/30/09
icecubefosho,
I love being in Texas as well. I'm in Austin, in fact (the blue dot in the political map that is Texas to the casual observer), and there's a white R33 GT-R running around the Bergstrom airport area I've seen several times.
Environmental regulations to a great extent, to me, are important, however. It makes my blood boil when I have my windows open I'll need to close them at a red light, as I know the douche in the Ram 3500 with an open exhaust will decide to peg the throttle from a red light and blast a bunch of black soot onto my car and into my cabin otherwise.
A balance would be nice.
estreka says:
08:51 PM, 09/30/09
What's the basis for the DA's office in repoing these cars, anyway? Was the loophole closed?
jimveta says:
09:05 PM, 09/30/09
Actually I looked into SB100 quit a bit myself and spoke with a smog referee actually handling such registrations and it *should* have protected him from this kind of incident, unless he registered it as a modern vehicle. It is not a loophole. There's a reason why the law intentionally limits SB100 registrations to only 500 cars a year.
It's not entirely true that you can bypass smog testing with SB 100. You can only bypass smog testing if your vehicle is smog classified as a 1973 year or older vehicle. You get to choose how you want your car to be registered in terms of emissions classification: by body or by engine.
If by body, then the CARB/smog referee will try to match it with a production vehicle if there's a close match. If by engine, likewise he'll try to match it with a production engine if there's a close match or by markings on the block.
Most kit car people, even those with replicas of *modern cars* will choose to register by engine provided they have a completely custom engine with custom block. In such a scenario, the referee will simply class the car as 1950 year and you're done.
The problem is if these Skylines get registered as modern Nissans or modern year (post 1973) vehicle.
tyndago says:
10:33 PM, 09/30/09
The first car was seized this morning. I found out later that three cars had been seized today. Two R34's and an R32. I hear that more cars are going to be seized soon.
I do not think that the federal government has jurisdiction over these cars. If they are imported with no engine and no transmission, then they are legal to import as parts. Once its come in though the border, it is past federal jurisdiction, and it should be passed to the individual states. If the state allows the registration of the vehicle, then it should be allowed.
tyndago says:
10:39 PM, 09/30/09
Well if you do SB100, you do your best to get smog exemption. That is most of the whole point of the thing.
If it would pass smog normally, you would just register it "normally".