North America Imports, Its Slowly Slipping Away, Spread the word, Discuss & Educate

**archaeic_bloke** · 03-20-2011, 03:57 PM

Many of you, are by now aware that SOMETHING is going on in North America in relation to the whole Skyline import, Right hand drive car fiasco... There are those of us who love what we do, and are very passionate about our cars, and there are others that are trying to take away our dreams from us.

Recently one of our Authors @ The SkyLife has been deeply involved in the U.S. scandal involving illegally registered skylines, which are now being seized by the government one by one, Sean (the Author) has been trying very hard to get the message out there that people need to be aware that this is happening.

whether they think their car is legal or not, it just makes sense to inform yourself, and learn how to protect yourself. Sean has been offering advice to those in need and doing his best to get the word out there, as to which steps to follow to protect your cars.

Anyways, with all that going on, I ended up having a discussion with him about why Skylines are illegal in the USA, which made me realize that, what the U.S. has done, is not so different then what we are now going through here in Canada.

The motives seem all too familiar to be coincidence, heres the link to my Response: http://www.skylife4ever.com/2011/03/...o-this-is.html

And heres the link to Sean's original post: http://www.gtrusablog.com/2011/03/th...kyline-is.html

Whether you think this will affect you or not is not the issue, a time may come when each one of us may come under fire for doing the things we love, when a small population of enthusiasts is under attack, I believe it is our duty as fellow enthusiasts to inform ourselves, spread the word, and most of all, EDUCATE the public who knows otherwise nothing of our passion, and show them that we are not the enemy, we are merely being cast in a negative light by those with vested interests in seeing our ability to continue doing what we love, diminished.

I'm posting this for all the reasons stated above, I'm not making any specific claims really, or judging anyone, I'm merely hoping that we can start the biggest discussion possible on this subject, get the word out there, and hopefully, by some miracle, influence public opinion on our cause.

For those of you in other parts of the world, I would REALLY like to hear what kind of grief if any you had to go through to register and plate your cars, and what sort of procedures you must follow to comply with regulation.

So, Post a response if you care and agree, but even more importantly post a response if you disagree, explain any perspective you may have, and if you can't be bothered to post for either for of those reasons. Then post to show your support for those who must stand in face of adversity, and pray that you are not one day in their position.

**Matty** · 03-20-2011, 05:13 PM

The events in the US have no bearing on us here. The Canadian import industry is fine. We pulled through what was arguably our toughest year (2010) since importing became popular and here we stand.

The US cars that were impounded were illegal, plain and simple. If you live in the US and the car isnt 25 years old, don't import it.

**archaeic_bloke** · 03-20-2011, 05:22 PM

Agreed! ...

But in quebec... we did follow the rules, and they changed them on us in the middle of the game...

I've heard rumor of manitoba being next, and with the $hit coming out of CADA... I'll be honest, I am starting to worry a little bit... the reason is because I find canada to often slowly follow US trends across a number of different issues, and with the US snatching up illegal cars recently, my concern is that provincial leaders may use that crackdown as fuel in their fight saying things like "The USA is very harshly against these vehicles, therefore we need to be too!" know what I mean?

**Matty** · 03-20-2011, 05:29 PM

Quebec is a case of its own though. They do not follow federal standards, they set their own. Im not bagging on Quebec either (my last name is Lacroix

).

The Manitoba rumors have been around for ages now, as have some in Ontario. BC, etc etc. At the end of they day, they remained rumors.

There were rumors when this industry blew up back in 2004 that bans would happen and there will still be rumors 10 years from now when we are importing R34's and other cars.

If Canada was going to follow US standards, our import laws would be 25 years. Is we do follow in their footsteps now then yes there may be crackdowns, but on illegal imports.

The US isnt being harsh on these vehicles, they are being harsh on the illegal ones. Look at how many classic rhd imports there are in the US (see japanesenostalgiccar.com) and they don't get hassle because they followed the rules.

(side note: These are not the opinions of RightDrive. These are the opinions of me, Matty)

**Nismo_line** · 03-20-2011, 05:39 PM

as stated above yes they were just rumors that have also been around for a long time. i think every province has there rumors about rhds

JZ · 03-20-2011, 05:40 PM

I agree with Matty, apples and oranges. Our cars are legal, Kaizo cars are not, plain and simple. Quebec rarely follows what the rest of the nation does and what happened there has no bearing on us. If rhd enthusiasts here are really worried, import a sh!t load of righties NOW and stockpile them for when they become 25 years old and sell them to our cousins down south lol. As well any rhd car imported when the law deemed them legal will not be taken away. The civil liberties lawyers will have a field day with that.

JZ

PS. Tyndago ftw.

**Matty** · 03-20-2011, 05:41 PM

^^ True
Ive heard a rumor for just about every province at one point in time. This year was especially tough with the CADA stuff and the insurance crack down on RHD's (in Ontario) but we pulled through and now the industry is rebounding.

**Phastwon** · 03-20-2011, 05:58 PM

I have to side with Matt and John right now too. There is always a rumor of RHD cars being banned, but nothing ever seems to happen. I think that the US situation is totally different than that in Canada. Regardless even if the rules do change, those of us with already registered cars will be grandfathered in anyways.

**leeaspin** · 03-20-2011, 06:16 PM

Why are these threads being repeated one after the other...I think that people understand what the government is trying to do to us car enthusiasts but seriously we need to keep all this talk in one thread. Not one after the other.

If people are really concerned about the 15 year rule chaning to the 25 year, then why get an R33 or even think about the R34 yet? Plain and simple if the car isnt legal then why do you have it? To say you have this car? And let it waste away for years in your garage? Or even get it taken away from you?

This is my opinion agree or disagree...everybody has their own i'm just trying to state mine!

**quadracer111** · 03-20-2011, 06:28 PM

Originally Posted by Matty

The events in the US have no bearing on us here. The Canadian import industry is fine. We pulled through what was arguably our toughest year (2010) since importing became popular and here we stand.

The US cars that were impounded were illegal, plain and simple. If you live in the US and the car isnt 25 years old, don't import it.

I came here to post this, the cars in the US are illegal, end of story. Its like if a drug smuggler got caught and got his drugs taken away, because its illegal (not the same thing we are talking about obviously, but same principle, it's illegal).