[B Love]

Originally Posted by 2FortynSoCal

I looked heavily into purchasing an R33 several months ago and spoke with several of the individuals that pretitioned for the first of the Skyline conversions for the US. To give you the "reader's digest version," Motorex put money into crash testing several R33s. Once they discovered that the cars could receive minor (well, mostly minor) modifications and pass US DOT and EPA standards, they petitioned to be allowed to import all 90-99 Skylines into the country. The petition was accepted and Motorex begain importing/converting cars. Several years in, DOT got wind that Motorex wasn't actually doing all the required conversions to the cars. Once they opened the investigation, they also discovered that the R32 and R34 models Motorex had been importing were significantly different from the R33 they petitioned for with the crash test results. At that point, the company had their import license revoked and once the investigation was completed (~1-2yrs later), the owner was fined and given jail time.

Any car that was imported and "converted" (actually converted or not) by Motorex before they were under investigation is full legal by DOT and EPA standards (with the exception of a few that were tied up in the investigation and received the DOT waiver only).

It is still possible to import R33s into the country. To do so, you need to speak with a Registered Imported (list can be found on the DOT website). Unfortunately, there are only about 3 people (although I've only spoken to 1 that actually knows the process well enough to pull it off) in the country qualified to import the car for you and do the conversions. They will have to go through the same petition process that Motorex went through initially, but they can now use the R33 crash test data on record at DOT. R32s, R34s, and any year Silvia are illegal to import (with or without conversions) and drive onthe streets. Importation for racing or show purposes is another store.


Hope that helps....spent a LOT of time on the phone/computer collecting that info.

Finally a person who researches.