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Foreign-market Automobile Importer


POS VETT

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Lately I started a search for a few kinds of vehicles that were never officially marketed in the US. While there is a possibility of picking a car overseas and importing it under the 25-year rule, I would like to start with LHD inventory that's already on US soil. This rules out vehicles from most of Asian (including Japanese) and British and Australian markets. I found one such purveyor based in NJ, but I need more to expand selection. Does anyone know such an outfit?

 

PS: I have reached out to Doc and he has been nothing but very helpful.

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The Farkas fam I believe has done this as well.

 

I was a little confused on your post through are you wanting say a rhd FD or similar that had a lhd USA model ?? If so there are tons of importers all across the nation that do this

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I'll reach out to the Farkas.

 

Not FD (as in Mazda), what I'm searching is somewhat unusual. They're turbo diesel Daihatsu Rocky-Rugger (F70 series chassis, not the smaller F300 Rocky that was sold in the US for a few years decades ago) and turbo diesel (preferably 6cyl) medium wheelbase Land Cruiser (70-series, usually 73 or 74). I'm also keeping an eye for an Isuzu Trooper RS or Opel Monterey RS (short wheelbase for this line) with the 3.1l turbo diesel.

 

The usual importers usually specialized in JDM cars meaning RHD. I'm sure a number of them are reputable, but I'm looking for a LHD.

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There’s a couple places here in Denver that pop up on Facebook that import cars to sell. I think that’s all they do. I think they regularly have what you’re looking for that are nice. I’ll see if I can find it.

 

Thanks.

 

I would suggest talking to Doc too.

 

I talked to him last night and he suggested Duncan.

 

Duncan Imports in Virginia?

 

They get all sorts of weird stuff, have a massive inventory, and generally are priced high for the market. But perhaps worth a look?

 

I went there and checked out their inventory. It's a nice collection, but the ones for sale are RHD. The Land Cruisers are 80- and 100-series which have a long wheel base.

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I usually see at least a couple daihatsu but none right now. I’d call them because they go through a decent amount of cars. I look just to see what kind of weird stuff they have. They have some Mitsubishi’s similar to what you are looking for.

 

https://jdmsportclassics.com/1-best-jdm-imports-in-colorado/

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  • 3 weeks later...

So far, I have not found another State-side purveyor that deals with foreign-market LHD vehicles. Communication with the dealer in NJ has proven to be not easy and the latest hurricane postponed the PPI for a week. PPI was performed yesterday and I'm still waiting for the official report.

 

While talking on the phone, the inspector noted that the dealer owner was "snippy" which was consistent with my experience over emails. From the phone conversation, I don't like a few things that the inspector discovered but I might be able to come to term pending the official report.

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There may not be many, and I assume you've already looked but I've seen a few vehicles on BaT.

You may just want to peruse the site, you can do a search for something specific.

 

Seems like he wants something very specific that may not show up on BAT if ever.

 

Is it just me I clicked on the Duncan site seems like rare cars are not really that rare ? but they are pricing them high.

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I was looking around the link I posted and they have a dealership in Michigan. They have completely different inventory now too.

 

Brent, they have RHD cars. I think their inventory is sourced only from Japan.

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I believe the seller owns Limerence Motor. In my understanding, the collection is small, but nicely picked. Last year, Limerence sold a RHD 1993 Daihatsu Rugger SE (F78) with very low mileage and, previously, an '85 Daihatsu Rugger (F70). Currently they have a RHD '86 Toyota Blizzard (LD21) which is basically a Rugger with a Toyota 2LT engine.

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