While just about anyone can sell a used car, selling a used car to enthusiasts is hard. They know their stuff, are aware of what to look for, and will not hesitate to call out any obvious major issues. It’s best to meet these knowledgable consumers where they are, but that doesn’t always happen. Sometimes a seller ends up being less-than-forthcoming and disrespectful. Case in point: A 2001 Toyota Altezza, the JDM equivalent of the Lexus IS 300, was up for auction on Cars & Bids and it went very poorly.
Right off the rip, there seems to be an obvious problem here, namely that passenger vehicles that don’t comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards are only eligible to sail into the country once they turn 25, at least for the time being. While this Altezza’s 2001 date of manufacture was a while ago, it’s not quite a quarter-century ago. Decoding the chassis plate, all signs point toward this thing rolling off the line in April of 2001, meaning it’s still eight months away from being eligible for U.S. import under the 25-year rule.
For a vehicle less than 25 years old that someone’s seeking to bring to America, its eligibility must be petitioned to the U.S. government by a registered importer, and that petition is then published to the federal register. Once that happens, importation with modifications for federal compliance would have to be approved by NHTSA, and if that happens, the year, make and model would be listed in a publicly-available NHTSA spreadsheet. Currently, the Toyota Altezza doesn’t appear on the most recently published version of that spreadsheet, so it’s understandable that some Cars & Bids commenters questioned how the vehicle reached America. As one commenter asked:
Alright seller please explain how you got it here legally under the 25 year law. Was it brought into compliance with US laws? If so, what modifications did you make and where’s the paperwork for that? It’s certainly not on the show and display exemption list.
While it should’ve been theoretically easy to provide an explanation as that’s a fairly reasonable ask, the seller simply said that a state title is proof of legality:
The 25-year rule does apply, but that is only one pathway. Vehicles newer than 25 years can still be legally imported if brought into compliance through the proper process. That’s exactly what was done here. If the car were not in compliance, CBP [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] would not have cleared it, and the DMV would not have issued a valid U.S. title.
I don’t release my importer’s information — that’s proprietary — but I can provide proof of the U.S. title in my name. That is the only document you need in order to register and drive this vehicle in any state.
RoRo was just the shipping method, not a loophole. The fact that the car cleared Customs and was titled in the U.S. is the proof of its legality.
Here’s the thing: Plenty of vehicles under 25 years of age are imported under Show and Display, the Substantially Similar Clause that allows cars virtually identical to U.S.-spec models in both construction and powertrain in (such as those from Canada), or through a registered importer making genuine compliance modifications illegally end up in America — but a state title doesn’t guarantee you’ll be able to retitle a car in a different state. Add in how this Altezza is being sold from Florida with a Virginia title and Virginia plates, and plenty of questions still abound.
It feels reasonable to expect that if this Toyota were imported legally through a registered importer with the gauntlet of modifications needed to make a right-hand-drive chassis and a never-sold-in-America 1G-FE straight-six both NHTSA-legal and EPA-legal, there would be a paper trail the seller could be forthcoming about and post. If that happened, it would only help the value of the car, but the only document the seller was willing to share on the platform was the state title.
Then, they decided to reply rather rudely in the comments. In a now-deleted comment, the seller responded to a commenter asking for proof of the Altezza’s legality with “you’re still here i see lmao you’re boyfriend just broke up with me i suggest you do the same” which seems both vaguely homophobic and in syntax only previously seen from edgy 12-year-olds in “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare” Xbox Live chats.
While the above comments were removed, reasonable pressure on the seller continued, and this individual seemed really easy to rile up just by asking for the sort of proof a sensible buyer expects to be posted. When a commenter who offered to bid on the car contingent on proof of legality shared the list of sub-25-year-old cars that can be imported and modified to be legal, and pointed out that the Altezza wasn’t on it, the seller responded with “just stick around and hack everyones bidding up you’re good at this my guy,” followed by “keep that strong 4 figure bid in hand lol you know what you doing ????”
A bit more back-and-forth with that same commenter later, and the seller started attacking the commenter’s credibility. A comment like “you are in EVERY auction trolling and bidding on absolutely NOTHING! you have 0 wins please remove yourself” is not constructive, but evidence of paperwork would be.
Then, when that commenter shared a link to a story about illegally imported cars receiving state titles and why a state title isn’t proof alone that a car is legal, the seller replied “OMG please go !” What kind of a response is that?
Understandably, after a day or so of bidding, Cars & Bids noticed that things were getting ugly and decided to cancel the auction, providing the following response in the comment section:
Hello all! In order to ensure a smooth and positive auction experience, we have decided to cancel this auction.
We have asked the seller to provide the import paperwork and/or other evidence of this Altezza’s build date; if they are able to and this Altezza is legally in the U.S., we will work with them to relist the auction.
Thank you for your understanding. As always, we appreciate all of the engagement, feedback, and perspectives.
While this debacle may be over for now, that statement doesn’t answer questions on how an imported car that doesn’t appear to be at least 25 years old and therefore may not be legal in America ended up on the auction platform. We reached out to Cars & Bids founder and friend-of-The Autopian Doug DeMuro for a statement on the whole situation, and here it is:
The Cars & Bids community rocks! We love our people, and they identified some possible issues here — which is a huge benefit of having an auction comment section. Although we were working with the seller to try and determine the car’s legal status, that became irrelevant as the seller’s attitude progressed. Whether the car is legal or not, bad behavior has no place on Cars & Bids!
I do have to wonder: Why list it in the first place if there’s any ambiguity about the car’s status? When you build a community on the premise of offering a better way to buy and sell used cars, you’d think safeguards should be in place to offer a better experience than the normal used car classifieds. Between the unclear legality of the car and the seller’s behavior, this whole thing was a “train wreck,” as commenter bforbesut — who took the brunt of the seller’s rudeness — put it. To Cars & Bids’ credit, at least it listened and shut the whole thing down before things got worse.
Top graphic image: Cars & Bids
Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.
Out of interest, does the US have a ‘personal import’ law of any kind? Australia has a thing where if you own a car for enough time overseas, you can bring it home with you. There are still a few hoops to jump through (such as proof of ownership and time in country of ownership), but it is significantly less than a ‘private import’ or ‘grey import’ car.
Not that I am aware of
Not generally but military, state department employees and some other agencies employees / agents that have been stationed out of the country generally can bring in their private cars purchased outside the country. Though I believe some have threatened to get rid of that “perk” in the past.
Reality is there are LOTS of cars in the US that technically shouldn’t be. One way that I am familiar with is that Maine (and probably other border states) will recognize a Canadian title just fine. And Canada lets you import *15yo* cars. So you do that, and drive the thing to Maine where you sell it to somebody, and they register it in Maine. The Feds have no idea the car exists, and nobody really cares (Maine historically just wanted the excise and sales tax money). But the LAST thing I would ever do is list such a car on a very public auction and get in a pissing contest with somebody over it.
This guys seems like such a douche that I hope someone from customs sees this action and gets a bug up their butt to look into it.
“Why list it in the first place if there’s any ambiguity about the car’s status? “
Because the seller is trying to sell an illegally imported vehicle and they are full of shit about its legality (most likely)
Reminds me of another full-of-shit guy years ago trying to sell a Mazda RX7 that was “in mint condition… just needs a seal”
The ‘seal’ in question was an Apex Seal… which is to say, it needed an engine rebuild.
Possibly the seller bought it off someone else without checking, and now they’ve found they’ve got something that’s at best grey-legal, they’re trying to offload it.
That’s possible… but then listing it on a place with a discussion forum and knowledgeable people was not a smart move.
And the end result is the same… he’s trying to sell an illegally imported vehicle and he’s full of shit about the vehicle’s legality.
Any damage to C&B appears self-inflicted.
If your company lacks the staff (or your staff lacks the knowledge) to properly vet the cars you’re auctioning, maybe don’t be in business. Or run your auctions as 100% “as is, where is”.
THIS, is a sketchy ass Toyota some guy snuck in from Mexico, and today we’re going to sell it on, Cars and Bids.
I 100% read that in Doug’s voice
And I 100% just read your comment in Duffman’s voice!
“Duffman rules!”
Questionable legal status is just a quirk and/or feature.
Best comment today! 😀
I wonder what the build date will be on the Elio I bought years ago.
They named a car after the taillights? 😉
Second best comment today! 😀
So what happened with the seller’s boyfriend? Enquiring minds want to know.
He got tired of their bullshit!
THIS…was a sketchy auction. Kudos to the C&B community for flagging the shenanigans and C&B for pulling it.
C&B only pulled it because it got ugly. Kudos to them would only be deserved if they had insisted on legal documentation before listing it.
There is going to be no exception for an Altezza, which is essentially the same as the IS300 that we got in the US.
I would go so far as to say that there is no reason to import an Altezza until there are no IS300s remaining on US soil.
On the one hand I’m on the side of the people calling out the seller for his BS, but I also don’t feel too obligated to save anyone from overspending on what is readily and cheaply available in the US (unless you’re looking for a manual wagon).
Do not ever buy a vehicle imported through Miami. I feel bad for the legitimate cargo passing through that port, because every other importer working through there is about one thorough customs official away from being branded a smuggler.
P.S. Watch Cocaine Cowboys (2006)
People tend to overlook condition as a huge reason for importing – I get that JDM and USDM Altezzas/IS’ are basically the same cars, but good luck finding a decent IS300 in the states. Cars in Japan tend to have lower miles and be a little bit better maintained. If you really want that platform it’s not a bad way to go.
100%.
There are two IS300s near me.
They are the jankiest things that have ever janked. They make the nastiest, scuzziest DSM seem like it could win the Pebble Beach concours.
I have about as near to mint is300 wagon as you can have with 180K miles, but I have to agree. It’s probably one of 17 left in this country that don’t have PTSD from what their owners have done to them.
Good to hear!
What I have been seeing around me recently are Acura RSX Type Ses that people seem very intent on saving and restoring. Been talking to the owners and wishing them well on the journey.
Eh, there are good ones out there.
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/4e0d0aa8-d59c-442e-9815-c1abe617cb4c/
Ebay has/had lots of RHD vehicles newer than 25 years being sold – with plates and titles – out of Florida. One can only imagine the headaches that the buyers went through trying to register them at their local DMV.
Florida is full of prisons. Anybody can make you a license plate.
To be fair, some JDM Altezzas got the excellent BEAMS 3S-GE engine. This one on the other hand has an engine whose design dates back to the late 70s…
Theory: based on my experiences in the military, this sounds like just the sort of bro that imported a car back on PCS orders from Japan (or the UK, lots of JDM cars in the UK) and managed to slip it through the processing center. Its not unheard of. Shipping my usdm car was about 15 minutes at the vehicle processing center and they just looked for dirt and 10 minutes in Dallas to pick it up. Could have passed it off as a modified IS at the VPC. You don’t have to show a title either. I knew people that shipped cars in parts in their household goods and may know of a few people that anecdotally shipped newer cars back with vin swaps (minis, defenders, etc and lots of bikes)
Plus, lots of navy and Air Force bases in Florida and Virginia.
Had the same thought, but I don’t want him to be associated with our military so I’m hoping not. The out of state registration does lend credibility to that though.
It’s pretty par for the course for a decent chunk of the military. Not everyone, and I would say not a majority, but enough of a proportion to make the rest of us roll our eyes.
You weren’t the BForbes catching the brunt of the stupidity were you?
That would indeed be me. It was a good time.
I thought it might be haha
I promise I really tried to stay nice and be civil, but there are too many bad actors trying to ruin the import scene for the rest of us and I wasn’t about to let him pull that. If someone wanted to buy it knowing it was illegal, that’s on them, but no way was I going to let him pretend it was legal. Then he resorted to teenage insults and I got mean. My bad.
Definitely a fafo moment on that dudes part. I’m well and truly past the point of being polite and taking high roads when people get rude. I would have done the same. It’s also good that you said something because, hopefully, nobody made the mistake of buying it without knowing, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility. And that hurts the market, Cars and Bids credibility, and the buyer.
Yeah Alex threw it in the discord or I likely wouldn’t have seen it, but yeah I feel a little bit bad, but only a little bit. I’m glad it caught Thomas’ attention too because I don’t think they were going to pull it until he reached out for a comment on it.
I’m glad they pulled it. That would not have looked good for C&B
Virginia is popular for registering cars because they will let people register cars there even if they don’t live in the state. So it may not be a military thing.
It’s become a huge problem for Maryland because people are doing it to save registration fees or because they have so many violations in Maryland that they can’t register a car here.
https://www.automotivepassion.co.uk/cars/toyota/altezza/rs200-z/1500987/
I know a guy who knows a guy at the Virginia DMV.
YOU DO THIS BEFORE YOU AGREE TO LIST THE STUPID THING YOU CLOWNS
I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt on that, not everyone is going to know the ins and outs of imports, so it was a new intern that allowed it to be listed (purely speculating, I don’t know that at all), but they let it go a long time before getting involved, and that was incredibly frustrating. I like to think that they were communicating with the seller behind the scenes trying to make sure that they knew what was happening before pulling it prematurely, but again I have no idea what they were up to
Having worked in this field for many years now, you absolutely do not ever agree to auction an imported car unless you know with 100% certainty that it’s here legally. That’s something that any decent auction house drills into its employees. I could understand if the seller pulled a fast one and presented the car as a ’00 model year or something when it was really an ’01, but for them to know it was an ’01 before letting it go live was a massive error. And this is the second time they’ve gotten widespread attention for listing an illegal car that I know of.
Yeah I’m trying to give them the benefit of the doubt but there’s not much of it to work with
When your job is selling cars, it is your job to know and check on the legality. Everyone at C&B should know about the 25 year rule and a car under that limit should raise all kinds of flags. This is purely a case of them trying to sell something that nobody else had and everything subsequent is just them trying to make themselves look better.
Are you referring to the Commodore ute that the seller VIN-swapped with a US market Caprice? That was a very bad look for C&B. Especially since it attracted enough attention that Doug himself was fanboi-ing over it to hype up the sale. Their community jumped all over it though to get it off the platform. Maybe C&B should hire a few of them to do the vetting…
But if the hire more employees, Doug can’t buy more super cars…
That’s the one. I truly feel like Doug Demuro is the reason C&B is struggling. Not to be too negative, but I just don’t think the man is that bright – he seems more concerned with garnering clicks and attention than actually doing the boring parts of running an auction house. I get that clicks are a part of business and I’m not saying he isn’t a successful pitchman, but something clearly needs to change.
you bet your ass if someone bought a car from cars and bids and it got crushed or confiscated by the feds they would lawyer up and want their money back from the website.
A car auction business gets no benefit of the doubt, they, of all people, should know the ins and outs of importing a car, especially since it isnt exactly complicated or arcane knowledge
say it louder for the folks in the back!
A question from the ill informed. If you import it as a show and tell car before 25 years can it be transferred to a daily road legal after it hits 25 years?
Nope! Has to be exported to a non-adjacent country, so you cant just cross the Canada or Mexico border twice, and then re-import it properly. Basically have to send it on a boat twice.
Or, you know, drive down to Guatemala or something!
I could be wrong, and I should double check to be sure, but I believe the wording of the law is such that it needs to effectively be put on a boat with a destination far enough away as to avoid it being an adjacent country, or at a minimum being shipped in from a country that isn’t Canada or Mexico. Might be wrong, but the law was drafted as a counter to that sort of creative thinking haha
I think it’s just not Canada/Mexico, but when I tried to research that to post a link on his ad I couldn’t find the law so I’m not sure
Yeah, the VIN sort of gets permanently branded as show and display only, just like sub-25 year old kei trucks that get imported as off road vehicles, they dont suddenly become road legal when they hit the magic age if they were already in the country to start with
A more sensible law would have allowed you to go through the import process (including all the fees/tariffs) without physically moving the car.
That way the paperwork is all done, the government get’s it’s cash, and the owner gets a fully legal car without having to ship it all over the place.
Show and display has a very specific list of cars that can be imported for that purpose, and if imported for that it stays under that rule forever, it doesn’t become fully legal once it hits 25.
If you mean just import it early but don’t drive it or attempt to register until it hits 25, it’s still no, the date of entry into the States is what it goes off.
No. If you want to do that, just smuggle it in and lie about the model. It will be years before anyone catches on. Let it be the next guy’s problem.
But there is really no direct path from show and display to passenger car.
Someone may never catch it! I know of a Smart Roadster in America that drove across the US-Mexico border with the license plates of a Ford F-150 on it. This was before the advent of license plate readers. It was never officially imported, just driven across the border like any tourist returning home would do. The border agents didn’t know it was impossible for an American to have a U.S. plated Smart Roadster.
I lost track of the car, but I am aware of around 11 Roadsters in America, and all but one of them have super sus stories like this. There’s another I know of that came to America through returning military, and then was sold to someone else.
But sometimes you do get caught. Here in Illinois, an immigrant brought over his Euro market Mercedes wagon. It sounds like he didn’t know that America had the 25 year rule, which isn’t surprising. Apparently, his importer fudged the paperwork, putting down information of a U.S. market car.
All was fine until he went to an emissions testing station. When they plugged in the OBD reader, the lie was revealed. The car was ordered to be crushed, but one of my local junkyards managed to save the car by selling it to a guy in Canada.
I owned a Yamaha MT-01 (could be a “holy grail” if it hasn’t been, at least for Americans) for a while. The bike was clearly a Canadian market model. It was a 2006, and I bought it in 2022, so well under the 25 year rule. I was in Texas, the bike was in Ohio, but the seller sent me pics of a clear Ohio title, along with photos of his DL and the bike’s VIN tag. Everything seemed legit/matched, so I made the road trip there to buy it and bring it home. I transferred the title to Texas and got a plate for it without any issue whatsoever. (the exact bike was featured in a couple videos on the Spite’s Corner youtube channel, I let him film with it for a day while I was trying to sell it).
I was a little curious how it was imported and had a clear title. The story I got from the seller was that he bought it from someone who was in the military and stationed in Canada. There seems to be an exemption for active/deployed military that they can bring a vehicle purchased abroad back to the US seemingly scot free. No 25 year rule, no FMVSS red tape, no import duties. I didn’t really dig any deeper than that, since I had no issues registering it, and apparently neither did the guy I eventually sold it to (someone in Kentucky iirc). So it’s VIN evidently isn’t blacklisted or anything, despite being a model never sold in the US.
If the car never leaves Florida, it will probably never be caught.
Haha I mean I may have taken the brunt of his ire, but to be fair, I intentionally antagonized him today. Yesterday I was trying to stay mostly civil, but after the boyfriend comment, I took the gloves off and stopped even pretending to be nice.
As for the comment about Alex being my boyfriend, that one made me laugh really hard and I had a response queued up before he deleted it to say something along the lines of “I should be so lucky” and was quite disappointed I didn’t get to use that one.
Just so we’re all clear, I have not had sexual relations with that Bforbesut, not that theres anything wrong with that, but just to set the record straight!
Glad you got to use that line haha
Conmen often use the offended belligerent attitude to fend off questions. It seldom works with a business or a crowded chat room.
Oh but man did he ever try
Look, this car should not have been on the platform at all. C&B lost a lot of staff due to layoffs and I feel like this one slipped through the cracks. Just because a car has a title does not make it necessarily legal to sell in the USA, and C&B did everyone a disservice by allowing a questionably imported car to slip by. No amount of disclaimer will keep that responsibility away from them. At the end of the day, they ask if you have title and want proof of said title, as a way to verify legal ownership. The same can be true of an imported car. If they really wanted to split hairs, it could have in large text at the top of the auction “NOT FOR SALE IN THE USA” since C&B does have an international audience.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time Cars & Bids allowed an allegedly illegal import to go live on the platform. There was also the time someone tried to sell a “2015 Chevrolet Caprice Ute Conversion” and, like this auction, it wasn’t canceled until the audience pointed out the flaws.
https://carsandbids.com/auctions/rJ2qzRXr/2015-chevrolet-caprice-ute-conversion
It’s becoming apparent to me that, no matter the size of their staff, BAT and C&B both don’t do adequate research, and more or less lean on the community to find the bad ones.
I think it might be about time that enthusiasts adjusted their expectations about these websites. View them as being like buying from Facebook or eBay, where you have to do the fact-checking yourself.
Thanks for the reply and I agree with you. It’s too bad they lean on us “volunteers” to help people avoid catastrophic mistakes like buying a car impossible to title and drive. You’d think they’d do a little more work with their fees… I’m a multiple time seller and buyer and sometimes you wonder what you get for the money other than exposure to a wide audience.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve pointed out lazy copy/paste on listings such as on 2nd Gen 7P Touaregs when they post links to Car and Driver articles about the 1st Gen Touareg. Or the lack of proofing on options lists…
Gonna disagree a little bit. BaT seems to have their ducks in a row when it comes to imported vehicles at least, but C&B seems willing to list whatever. It’s not rocket surgery to determine when a car was built.
BaT allowed a VIN swapped mini the other day, and the seller was very open about it. That’s just as bad as this to me.
While BAT usually nails imported cars, it fails so hard in other ways. Like Brandon noted, BAT has allowed VIN-swapped cars on the platform (that Mini wasn’t the only one). They also have a knack for taking a seller’s word for it when the seller claims to have a rare car, only to end up editing the listing later on after the commenters point out that the 442 up for grabs is really a poorly done tribute car.
That doesn’t even mention BAT’s unfortunate record of sellers bidding in their own auctions to artificially pump up prices. Then there was our recent story about those two Kei trucks, where both the seller and BAT didn’t come out looking that great.
To be clear, I am a fan of both of these sites, but I see them as being not much different than eBay, where you might want to do your own research before placing a bid.
Pretty sure that was happening with the Altezza too, all but one bidder was a brand new account, from the same region of Florida.
I’ve bought and sold there before – they openly ban people for shill bidding and it says on the homepage that it’s against the rules. I’m sure people can try and be sneaky about it, but it’s hardly the fault of the platform if someone tries to be shithead.
VIN swaps aren’t even necessarily a deal-breaker in my view as long as the whole thing is documented. If it’s not known where the original VIN went or where the new VIN came from and nobody bothers to find out then that’s a problem.
I dunno. It shouldn’t be that hard to flag suspicious behavior. I can’t imagine it’s common for all but one bidder to be new accounts from the same region. Even easier to spot if multiple bids are coming from the same IP address. (And yeah, people can use VPNs to get around that, but at least try to keep it from happening)
I’ve always treated them as basically the same as ebay, but more targeted. That’s not snark though. Apparently I was just ignorant of both sites purporting to be more?
Good point, but after reading your articles, your definition of “adequate research” might be a tad more advanced than some peoples’. 🙂
The comments and the sellers replies seem consistent with on-line culture.
As for why the site would allow something sketchy…. I think we all really know why just some of us aren’t liking it.
The seller should also be banned from the platform.
I definitely subscribed to alerts in case he pops up again, but yeah I’m guessing he isn’t going to try to come back. Dude got torn to shreds and I bet he creates a new account if he tries to return.
Hope they will be, but it’s awfully easy to just sign up for a new account with a new email address, especially if you aren’t forsaking years of history and credibility.
And that’s the rub: people with years of history and credibility don’t do things like this.
Why wouldn’t one just purchase a LHD IS300?
I can understand importing something that was never sold here (i.e. Mercedes’s recent acquisitions), but….this? What the heck am I missing? Some sort of silly bragging rights at Cars and Coffee?
It doesn’t help that the seller is a total arse.
I can understand a RS200, BEAMS 3S-GE with about the same power as a 2JZ-GE, but more revvy and far less weight on the front axle, with the same 6-speed manual, which was JDM only, but a 1G Auto is just an incredibly boring experience with RHD downsides. Then again, clearly the sellers decision making was *flawed*
BUT IT’S RIGHT HAND DRIVE BRO
Yeah so I can back through the got-damned drive through like Demuro!
Svx got a show and display exemption for aws versions.
More important like 10 years ago as the entire production run is legal
Yeah, I don’t get it either. Then again, I also don’t get the TikToks and the Skibidi rizz and sus Ohio things the youths are into these days.
I recently saw a RHD late-90s Camry with a “for sale” sign in the back window. It was a completely normal Camry, but RHD with fender-mounted wing mirrors that the seller wanted $18k for. It seemed like a lot of time, effort, and money to import something that was neither special nor exciting, but also there were millions of in the country already.
Apparently my mind lacks imagination when it comes to importing cars, as I’d just get a car actually worth importing.
I’m guessing if they were asking $18k it was a Mark II and not a Camry. It’s a whole different deal.
https://revhardmotors.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/DH2A4942-scaled.jpg
Oh man I want a JZX90 Mark II! Careful with that dealer, they’re not terrible but man the car they sold me was poorly repainted and rusty as hell.
Nope, it was an XV10 Camry. Since it was nearly identical to the US models, I’m assuming it was an early Aussie model with aftermarket wing mirrors.
I have a Eunos Roadster, basically a JDM Miata, and for me the RHD is more fun, but more than anything, it has 60k miles and has no rust, came in a color not offered here with the 1.8 engine that I wanted, and it has a hardtop and was similarly priced to a beat up, higher mileage US car. For most people the Miata would make more sense, but I’m weird and this worked better for what I wanted
That sounds different (and fun) enough to justify importing.
Yeah and even this Altezza was an engine that wasn’t available here. It’s a terrible engine so that’s not a good thing, but it’s still not just a RHD IS300. This was fully grandma spec though so I don’t get why anyone would import this one, especially too early.
Genuinely curious: what makes RHD more fun? Picking up the mail? I’ve never driven one stateside but it just seems like it would be a pain.
Uniqueness is a huge selling point to me, so probably that. My kids also think it’s the most fun thing in the world to go to a drive thru because then it’s my 6 year old paying and getting the food and it always gives the workers a scare for a second.
Ok you got me. My 6 year old would also love that.
Because it’s an additional quantity of an increasingly difficult to find car. If you want an IS300 and you can’t find one, you go Altezza. Also, while this may not be the case with every model, often times there are options, features or powertrains not available on USDM versions.
Yeah, they sell old land cruisers here, but what if I wanted a diesel?
One of my guilty pleasures is finding auctions that are trainwrecks like this one.
Here’s another gem: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2023-ford-f-150-raptor-r-48/
Man, at least when C&B hides comments, you can still click to view. Those 6 comments in a row early on have me so curious. Thanks for sharing though! hilarious.
The real train wreck is risking jail time for an automatic 1G-FE that’s 24.25 years old when there’s tens of thousands of legally importable Altezza’s available, most of them with manuals, 3S-GE, or both.
So, are you the same Alexk98 he was finding pleasure in not engaging with on C&B? If so, did you find similar pleasure in pointing out the seller and car seemed shady?
Yep that’s me! I’m not creative enough to come up with varied fun usernames across platforms. Forbes and I have been spreading the news of this one in the Discord which prompted the article. I couldn’t let such a scummy seller get away with such a blatant scam, so seeing it reach even higher heights of attention is a total joy.
Very nice! Once again I wish we could insert .gif images here so I could use the one of Jack Nicholson grinning-while-nodding from The Departed to convey the satisfaction I am receiving from your efforts.
Dude, we had so much fun with this one, Alex and I were talking throughout it and yeah, I didn’t set out to piss him off or cause problems, but when he was antagonistic and insulting, I decided I didn’t need to be nice either and it got to be a lot more fun.
“Insert Leonardo DeCaprio clapping.gif”
Well done!