I am seriously considering buying a EVOVIII from EI with the TI turbo and the 6 spd.

I am in CA. Did they ever get these things street legal?

Thanks,

Andy

 

I think your best move is to call and talk to EI directly to see what's the current status. It would a lot more clear that way.

 

They never give you a clear answer anyways, I wouldn't go that route... Just my opinion...

 

I think the J-Spec 8's they bring in will be considered equals, with the USDM versions, thus EI will not have to do their own crash tests to be considered completely street legal. I'm not sure how it works with the Evo VII, because of the body structure difference, but know that we have the Evo 8, I don't forsee any problems with the import J-Specs being street legal. Of course, I'm no expert on this, just my opinion

 

well..... i did research bringing in a german (monte carlo blue) S2000. They said it would cost about $6-10k to make it USA legal. That would tell me that EI probably has not done their research (like they have not actually made any of the EVO VII's legal, so why would the Evo VIII's be any different).

I personally think EI is a total scam. They ask for $ up front so they have nothing invested in their business (other than they did advertise on this board as a sponsor, and put an advertisement in Dupont Registry.

The guy sounds like a sincere person on the phone, but what kind of business makes people pay in advance to get a car, then ship it to them when it is not even legally registered? What kind of jackass buys a car like that? Round em up and destroy them.

 

Well, EI seems to have imported and certified many EVO's and other JDM cars so don't think their a scam.. However there are enough differences between the JDM 8 and the USDM 8 that they would have to get the car certified.. Also RHD cars are apparently more difficult to get 'legally certified' in the USA.. The key is the DOT and other agencies need to recognize the vehical as being certified... Otherwise you'd never get a Certificate of Origin, which is what you need to register the car in the USA.. The truth is depending on how big the company is (from what I hear its a fairly small shop) they need to lay out cash to get the cars over here, then it takes about $4000 or so to get it USA Legal.. I would assume they'd need at least a legal binder and 50% down (which is typical for Kit cars too)

I did some research on importing a Holden Monaro into the USA.. That was even worse because there was no equivalant car in the US to even compare it to.. Once the GTO is available, and there is crash test data, then it will be easier for me to import it. However before it can even be registered, it would have to get at least the American smog legal exhaust system, and inner bumper structure.. And even that would be iffy... There are other tricks to importing and registering grey market cars.. usually you can have the cars shipped over for race only, or show only.. and then you can try to grease a few palms to get a federal exemption for the car (usually only issued to government agencies, foreign dignataries, and auto manufacturers) once you get the federal exemption, you can get a certificate of origin and register the car.

 

Lets see one that has been "certified". So far, there are zero that have been certified. They have skated the rules and somehow got them into the country, but lots of people have done that.....then the big bad custom man shows up and takes it back.

 

Same here
I'm not saying they are scammers but no way in hell am I gonna send $40,000 to total strangers, wait 3-5 months to hopefully get the car
Too damn risky if you ask me
If this was Mitsu, Toyota or Honda then I would have no problems fronting all of the money up front but I ain't taking no chances with a startup

 

Yeah, getting them into the country isn't really as big a deal as it seems.. Its getting them registered that seems to be the problem.. But there are millions of grey market cars out there that are registered.. I wonder what happens when they sell the cars to someone else and they have to in turn get it registered again.. If you REALLY want to know how to do it, contact a custom car builder who fabricates from scratch.. He would have the SAME issues with registering a one-off custom with no equivalant, as someone importing a car. Of course, there's the old buy a wreck for the vin#, put the vin# on the car, get a 'salvaged VIN#' assigned and register the car.. I see that alot but thats REALLY risky..

 

http://www.jeffchan.com/cars/nckcc98/ca-register.html

http://www.cobratrader.com/registration.html


alot of this is documentation on how to register a kit car, get a title for a kit car, or specialty vehical.. You may have luck using one of the 'Title Agencies' to verify and assign paperwork to you.. I'm sure there are other ways too.. but the kit car industry has the most experience.

 

http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/homemade.htm

Ya know, it actually looks to be fairly easy to do in NY because it clearly states HomeMade vehical or Unique.. Unique is a pretty broad term and could be used for anything you can drive... if you look at the information you need, it looks like it may be something that can be done. I never saw this information before when I was looking to bring my car over from australia.

 

IT definitely looks like as an individual you would have better luck importing and registering the car if you knew the loopholes and procedures.. As a company importing vehicles, their dealers.. and they have other rules like DOT Crash tests, Emissions, Safety, etc.. Which may not apply in the same way to an individual..