http://page7.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/g73948003

Is that price for real? Ie it's 300,000 yen or just over 4k CAD? Am I missing something?

Cheers,

Andrew

Yes, that GT is cheap... About 2500 euros.

Looks brilliant with the Watanabe's on...could do with a mild dumping though! Are GT's common on the Japanese market at this price? How much would a complete car cost to bring out to Australia?

Not that I've got the money to do it, but would be interesting to know...a guy in WA had a little Toyota Corona 1600GT5 for sale on eBay a while back, no bids at $1,500. With no reserve, I gather it didn't cost him much to get here.

Cheers,
Duane

There are a few issues, like shipping and handling. And most sellers, even car dealerships, in Japan will not accept a foreign credit card. You will have to arrange for payment, file the paperwork to export the car, transport the vehicle to a port, arrange either for container transport or if it runs put it on a drive-on-drive-off ship, file the appropriate paperwork with your government, and pay any fees.

I don't know the laws for Canada. There are several companies offering this service, at a cost of several thousand dollars or more. Once I figured out that US customs was going to be just as much a problem at the Canadian boarder as they are at a US shipyard, I dropped research in that area.

You might also want to keep in mind that Japanese maintenance is most concerned with exterior appearance, and anything that can be seen standing outside the car and from a distance of several yards. Rust holes in floor pans are commonly repaired by pop riveting sheets of aluminum into the gaps. I have had conversations with Australians and was informed in a strong tone that they don't even use body putty (filler) down there, and hammer out even the smallest dent...

JT,

Where did you import your car from? I saw a post that seemed to indicate that you imported yours from Japan. You seem to be indicating again that you've imported from Japan.

Did you end up with a nice looking car with riveted floor pan?

If I understand correctly, you're saying that the Australians are more meticulous with the condition of there cars?

I'm not looking to import one tomorrow.. but I've noticed in the past that you can easily locate and buy what appears to be a great example in Japan for far less than what you could buy one here, being if you could find one in the first place in a condition approaching the Japanese cars.

It looks like the Bellett situation in Canada is that they're all survivors in the truest sense.. in that they are still here and not much more than that.

I have a relative that goes to Japan fairly often, so if I had the funds available, I'd probably be able to get him to help out on that end.

Cheers,

Andrew

I've imported cars, parts, etc., from Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere. The one thing that has been uniform in all situations is that the purchase price of the item always ends up being a very small part of the total cost by the time it ends up being moved from wherever it came from to wherever you want it to be.

My observation and conversation about the aluminum sheet riveted into the floor pan was only to point out that the standards are different over there. I don't know how accurate the "panel beater" comment is about Australian paint and body work, but the people I was talking to had a much higher opinion of the work done in their country than the work done in Japan. I've seen lots of money paid for very poor quality work in the US. But I doubt anyone in Japan would consider tearing down a car, putting the shell on rollers, grit blasting to bare metal, and doing a really thorough job.

Parts and cars I try to buy un-rebuilt and un-repaired. It's easier to cut the original rust hole out and weld new metal in, than it is to cut out someone else's poor patch job and redo what has been thoroughly screwed up.

Back to import. Learn the laws and requirements for your country. You need to know all of those details before doing anything.

Down here dodgy back yarders do use body filler (bog) and do hacky jobs, but anyone who is serious about their car and doing it for the love of the car would not. I have not imported to Australia and Im sure Canada is different, but there may be specialist organisations that know what to do and do it often for commission, so you could try and find one of them and see what they can tell you, or how much they can do it for. In Australia there is this one http://prestigemotorsport.com.au/ and probably others. I have been on their mailing list for quite a while, its very interesting to see what they are bringing in and for how much.

I know it's not that difficult to import a car into Canada.

I have done it before.. it's got a certain pain in the ass factor.. but we're dealing with beaurocracy here.. so the sooner you accept that the better you are.

I'm guessing freight is running somewhere around 3k right now. JT might have a better handle on that than I do. I should look into getting a few recent quotes.

I haven't just discovered that Belletts are a good price over there.. I just haven't had the 10k sitting around burning a hole

In terms of importing Belletts from Japan to Australia, I'd contact J-Spec. They have 'cars for sale' which are cars that are actually for sale in Japan... they then calculate what their price would be including, obviously, their profit, any shipping, duties and compiance (if necessary - probably not needed for our old vehicles) and then they list them.

They've had several Bellett GTs for sale over the last 12 months; about 4-5 total I think, priced at between $10-20k landed in Australia.

I imagine that if you had a particular car in mind and you contacted them about it and were serious (SHOW ME THE MONEY!) then they could probably sort something out. It wouldn't be cheap, but it wouldn't be stupid money either. They've had some of those original SWB Mazda Cosmos for sale for $20-40 grand and people are talking $100k for a restored one here!

When I win the lottery I'm going to be contacting them for a Bellett GT Fastback and a Mazda Roadpacer. So yeah, that means never.

**update**!!!

This response was really to degruch, who is in Australia and to whom the comments were probably more relevant! J-spec can be contacted at: http://www.j-spec.com.au/

But if anyone is sending Belletts anywhere, then I bless them! Nigel got one out of Australia and back to the UK, so if that can be done, anything can be done (for a price!).

Do you have a website link at all Dave?

Dave,

That's precisely my argument as to why it doesn't make sense for me to buy a rotten, sun beaten GT here in North America for 2-3k and then spend around 1k to get it to my particular local. I'd be 4k into a car that needs everything. It looks like you can import a car for any where around 3-6+k depending on all the variables. You could save a lot of money if you had a contact at the other end and had an acquaintance or whatever help fill up a container with you.

If you could get enough liquid, it might even be possible to use someone like J-Spec to import 2 cars (or whatever a containers worth is) and selling the extra car(s), part(s) or what have you.

At any rate Degruch, here is J-spec Australias web site http://www.j-spec.com.au/

There is also a J-spec in Canada http://www.j-specimports.ca/ and dozens, if not hundreds of other car importation companies.

I should have read further down... Hudson answered everything anyway!

Thanks for the J-Spec link guys. Dare I say their pricing is, erm, enthusiastic. Not helped by the silly Yen at the moment...I'm gobsmacked it hasn't drawn level with the Aussie Dollar again! It must be hard going for J-Spec...$9.5k for a Nissan Be-1, when you can buy any number of them locally at around $5-6k. Amongst all the silliness though, the Lotus Cortina is actually reasonable value. Time to take out a lottery ticket.

Might be good if someone had two maple leaves to rub together.