can any body help me on this issue on weather i can import a 2nd gen daihatsu materia to the states?

As a person that would love to have a Materia, I don't believe it would be an easy job at all. There is even the possibility that you would have to buy three of 'em so you could crash two to prove they were safe. :(

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import/

Take care,
Tom

Although some years back, there was a great difference between "Americanized" imported cars and true "grey markets" cars, that it not so true anymore.

In the past, grey market cars didn't have the federally mandated safety and pollution "crap" needed to make them American. Such as third brake lights, side impact beams, sealed beam headlights, and the list goes on.

Now days, most cars built are true "world cars", with not much difference, other than option levels, other than the side the steering wheel is on.

But the Fed's have made it virtually impossible to import a grey market car. Just ask Bill Gates, the richest man, as he could not import his Porsche 959.

All hope is not lost though. You COULD legally import your Materia. But it would have to be for show only. I think it would always have to be towed from point to point.

try japan-partner...i spoke with a guy that told me that to import a car from japan you would have to basically gut the car and rip the motor out; ship the motor in one container, the shell of the car in another, and parts in another and so on. It basically looks as if you are buying shipped parts for your own reasons you come up with. However you can receive all parts within a couple months and then assemble them as you desire. On the down side the cars are pricey and your f.o.b. containers will run a couple grand each or so I've heard. This is information that i did get a year or so ago getting shipment from Osaka to Houston. Check them out though and you will get all the answers you will need

my buddy imports skylines, silvia's and CTR's a few times a year from japan, he said if the car is over 10 years old its simple, just pull the distributor and take a few other parts off the motor send it and reassemble when its stateside and its good to go. he gets it legal over here doing about the same thing as a title bond (only costs about $100-$300)

if the car is newer than 10 years old its gonna be a lot harder, anything newer than 10 years old will have to go thru all the emissions tests and everything else. it will cost a couple grand to get it legal over here. thats why you see a ton of r32 skylines and s14 silvias rolling around and not so many r34's and s15's its because they cost an arm and a leg to get them legal over here.

Getting the car here is not the problem it is getting the car legally registered in your name and street legal that is the problem. The show option is for one year only and you can drive it on the street if I remember right.

what year the car is also makes it easier or harder. The pre 74 cars are no problem.

Daihatsu Tantos are f'in sick too.....

Big fan of the Daihatsu Materia with the proper Toyota bB badging.

Guess the law has changed. It is used to be that you were allowed to import one vehicle during your lifetime that did not meet the standards. In order to drive it around it would have to be upgraded to the standards.

Been a long while since I cared...

Guess the law has changed. It is used to be that you were allowed to import one vehicle during your lifetime that did not meet the standards. In order to drive it around it would have to be upgraded to the standards.

Been a long while since I cared...

guess they have in the 109 years you've been around. that law makes no sense whatsoever. can only import one vehicle in your entire life? what if you imported a precious car like a skyline that didn't meet US standards, and it gets stolen, or a fire consumes your garage? the US government just tells you "well, tough luck, we let you import your one and only one car into the country, and thats the breaks!"

when was the law "you can import one car that does not meet federal standards per lifetime"?

Came into effect in the 1980's.

Prior to that importers were selling grey market cars like Pantera's, LM001's (Lambo trucks), Defenders, TVRs that were all being brought over and slipping through.

So a law was put into effect that without any real headache you were able to bring in one grey market car per person per lifetime. Any others would be put through the governments scrutiny.

I have no idea as to the date it went into effect and no idea if it was ever changed. But as example, under the law, you could have brought in a Alfa from Italy and it would be ok.

This could have been just for the collectors set, but I was looking to grab a 1983 Delorean, which was the last year of the car and finally had the twin turbo put in (previous years did not). It was available overseas and this is how I came to find out about this law.

I'd say this was about 10-12 years ago.

always wanted a DMC-12, i will own one one day. i got my hands on a right hand drive glass-top crx Si-R 2 days ago its sexy sitting on mugen mr5's with a b16 and a clean wire tuck.

its a straight jdm car and is 20 years old so it was nothing getting it titled in the US, as far as the state of mississippi is concerned its a 2 door honda hatch.