The Motorex Story....

[punk138]

'MotoRex and the North American Skyline Fiasco"

click the link: the Skyline GT-R wiki: 'MotoRex and the North American Skyline Fiasco" (http://skylinegt-r.wikidot.com/0-60mrex)

pretty interesting....

[chibo]

Cool article, I'd read a condensed version a long time ago but this is pretty decent.

[punk138]

ive only heard the rumors floating around and always wondered what really happened.

now we know...

[shishcabobers]

ive only heard the rumors floating around and always wondered what really happened.

now we know...

I was wondering also, thanks.

[Matej]

That's a fascinating story, it could be made into a good movie.

Scarface 2.

[ESmorz]

Haha what fucking idiots.

They could have easily made that into a VERY profitable business, if they had a good head on their shoulders...

[punk138]

i was thinking the same thing....Hollywood here we come. lol

[ho0dlumka13]

is that the same hiro from jdm insider?

[Mister.E]

awesome article, really interesting read

[S14DB]

is that the same hiro from jdm insider?

Yep ...

[PITCH]

is that the same hiro from jdm insider?

Dont think so. But the Guy Hsu I belive is a main fabricator from XS Engineering

[S14DB]

Dont think so. But the Guy Hsu I belive is a main fabricator from XS Engineering
No, it's Hiro Nanahoshi.


0-60 Magazine article on Motorex - FreshAlloy.com Forums (http://forums.freshalloy.com/showthread.php?t=184900)

tyndago - Motorex Story (http://tyndago.googlepages.com/motorexstory)

[luisgonz]

Great read. It shows what sometimes things are great but need to be checked on from time to time.

[sinji]

good write up so that people know what the real story was.

[drift925]

So I guess my friend wasnt lying when he said there was a bunch of GTRs in Gardena just sitting in an empty warehouse with no security.....

[UfoZ8myCow]

Who wants to write a screenplay with me??

Just goes to show how a few people fucking around can ruin it for everybody... Now if you want to import a Skyline the DOT is going to be waaay less compliant about it following this clusterfuck.

[qwikspool]

good article
that explains it all.

[SimpleSexy180]

seriously just make it a movie.

[tattoo131313]

Thanks for posting the link.
It answers a few questions I've had.

[s13poop]

very interesting!

+1 on making this a movie :bigok:

[chrisa]

yes movie!!! very interesting read...to bad they could have made a lot of money

[drift freaq]

Who wants to write a screenplay with me??

Just goes to show how a few people fucking around can ruin it for everybody... Now if you want to import a Skyline the DOT is going to be waaay less compliant about it following this clusterfuck.

give me a shout I am down. That was a good read and indeed has the makings of a screenplay.

[azndoc]

LOL I remember contacting them when I was in Oki to see how much to ship my R32 back.

They were going to give me like $1000 off for military discount.

[punk138]

give me a shout I am down. That was a good read and indeed has the makings of a screenplay.

i am also down for this!

lmk

[Flicktitty]

Good read, I too think it would be a great movie.

[exitspeed]

Very interesting. It's funny how in like 2002 Motorex was so rad for importing Skylines.

Anyone know any of these guys personally?

[drift freaq]

Very interesting. It's funny how in like 2002 Motorex was so rad for importing Skylines.

Anyone know any of these guys personally?

Wow, I hesitate to say I know most of those guys. LOL Tom Fukamoto is a fat little scum bag, never liked the guy and he was not to be trusted. Hiro well he is just Hiro, its hard to explain.Sean Morris, knew him from Motorex. Met him after my friend Ken (yes another ken) went to work for them. I remember Hiro being all hung up on having the latest and greatest shit. New cell phone would come out he would be all over ebay trying to buy one.
I remember running into Hiro in like 2006 in the post office in Gardena. It was like oh wow there's Hiro and he is smiling and waving and saying hi all nonchalantly. This was after the extortion indictment and his stay in jail.
Ken Takaheshi was a very cool person and pretty straight up. I used to buy stuff from Motorex, this was all before it unraveled. When the place actually looked like a normal place of business. Back when they were the Cwest reps for the U.S.

[ramman434]

great read

[SoguRacing]

My car was done at motorex about 4 years back. Heard about this a while back and never knew what ended up happening.

[bloodie73]

Always wondered what really happened... great article.



Was it just me... or did anyone else read the article in the picture, only to find out at the end that it was rewritten in text as well?:duh:

[exitspeed]

Always wondered what really happened... great article.



Was it just me... or did anyone else read the article in the picture, only to find out at the end that it was rewritten in text as well?:duh:

I started, and then saw the text at the bottom.

[DrftKingIII]

Great read. But yeah, it should totally be a movie.

[Pho Man]

Always wondered what really happened... great article.



Was it just me... or did anyone else read the article in the picture, only to find out at the end that it was rewritten in text as well?:duh:

+1 on that did the same thing!:bash:



Also it's good to know what actually happened to them and the whole situation on the skylines.

[zilvia_brothers]

yea i heard different stories about them but the whole article is interesting

[punk138]

man i wish i was filthy rich so i could have bought one of these cars back then.

imagine what it would be like to own a skyline....http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:vyyyn1HRDiFTQM:http://www.markwebtest.netfirms.com/teachRDE/C02/c2comments/Thought_Bubble_1.GIF

[mRclARK1]

Very interesting. It's funny how in like 2002 Motorex was so rad for importing Skylines.

Anyone know any of these guys personally?

Friend of mine dealt with them a bit back in the day IIRC, I'm not sure if he knew any of them on a personal level. I was barely out of high school, and had my hands full and wasn't much into cars due to time etc... I still had an idea of what went down but that was a very informative and interesting read still. *shakes head

Now I live in Canada. Land of 1,000 R32 and R33 skylines per square mile. haha.

There's two on the same block I work on.

So glad I never bought one. Such a bandwagon car here. lolz... Worse than the S-Chassis.

[HyperTek]

would be a cool movie.. go on craigslist los angeles and look in the gigs section, tons of people looking for scripts.

So what point of view would the movie be from, the investigating detective trying to crack a case of illegaly imported cars? or the fast life of a young 20 year old involved in importing illegal cars and clubs and drugs til he gets caught?? would be awesome!!!

A lil off topic, but i heard RB Motoring was started by someone who used to be from motorex? was it that sean morris guy??

From that article i gather, only mods where to add more cats *3* and lower the crash bar in the doors? take pics and send to DOT for approval? im sure theres more to it, that sounds easy

[HyperTek]

wait.. they already made simular movies.. scareface, american gangster etc .. lol

[Mi Beardo es Loco]

Friend of mine dealt with them a bit back in the day IIRC, I'm not sure if he knew any of them on a personal level. I was barely out of high school, and had my hands full and wasn't much into cars due to time etc... I still had an idea of what went down but that was a very informative and interesting read still. *shakes head

Now I live in Canada. Land of 1,000 R32 and R33 skylines per square mile. haha.

There's two on the same block I work on.

So glad I never bought one. Such a bandwagon car here. lolz... Worse than the S-Chassis.

so how much are they in Canada? I heard something about registering the car in Florida or Washington to make it legal. Not sure if true but sounds interesting. Might have to make another trip up to Victoria, BC to skope a couple out. lol.

[mRclARK1]

so how much are they in Canada? I heard something about registering the car in Florida or Washington to make it legal. Not sure if true but sounds interesting. Might have to make another trip up to Victoria, BC to skope a couple out. lol.

I've known of people who've paid as little as 3k for an R32 GTS-T in good shape, to as high as 15k+ for an R32 GTR in good shape. I would say a GTR averages in the 10k range depending on mods, and a GTS a little lower, again dependent on mods.

The only time I've ever even seriously thought about getting a skyline was recently near the begininning of the year when I was car shopping. Glad I didn't get one. haha

Maybe if I was still in the US I'd do it. But back when I was, and a place like Motorex was up and running, I wasn't interested really. Which is probably a good thing.

[S14Dorikin]

They won't be "Legal" as in federalized, only state registered. You can still get your car seized. A friend on mines got his R32 taken away, after that all my friend's sold their skylines, this is all in Miami, FL btw. Turns out a lot of people have been getting their "State registered" skylines seized by DOT. I read a few other forums where people were repo'd the same way. Supposedly, DOT and NTHSA had enough of all the skylines being "Legalized" Illegally, so it's round-up time!
Motorex really screwed it up for all of us by bringing skylines into the DOT/NTHSA view in a negative way with what they did. So now they can't be legalized period. Maybe if your in the Armed Forces or have a connection you can swing something, but neither applies to me so I don't know.
There's tons of threads about these subjects.

[Matej]

If those select few people didn't run Motorex into the ground in the manner that they did and if only they kept going in the direction they were when they started, I wonder if today it would be possible to legalize other popular Japanese cars, such as S15's for example.

[mRclARK1]

FWIW a lot of the skylines running around in Canada aren't legal either, so don't get to happy about importing one from here. I would bet probably half the people who own them here aren't aware at all of regulations on vehicles here etc. Any 93 or older is legal under the 15yr. or older, import rule, but a lot of them are still illegal in other ways, or were just blatantly imported without proper paperwork etc.

Police here usually don't catch it, or even know what they're looking at most of the time, and insurance usually never asks questions. So it goes unnoticed and unenforced pretty often.

[luvsr20]

This was a great article but what a huge disaster....No more skylines:wtc::wtc:

[drift freaq]

They won't be "Legal" as in federalized, only state registered. You can still get your car seized. A friend on mines got his R32 taken away, after that all my friend's sold their skylines, this is all in Miami, FL btw. Turns out a lot of people have been getting their "State registered" skylines seized by DOT. I read a few other forums where people were repo'd the same way. Supposedly, DOT and NTHSA had enough of all the skylines being "Legalized" Illegally, so it's round-up time!
Motorex really screwed it up for all of us by bringing skylines into the DOT/NTHSA view in a negative way with what they did. So now they can't be legalized period. Maybe if your in the Armed Forces or have a connection you can swing something, but neither applies to me so I don't know.
There's tons of threads about these subjects.

What you don't know is, When Motorex was still on the up and up they looked into S15's and whatnot. It would have cost way to much money to not only try and federalize the car.To sell it at any kind of markup that would have made it worthwhile, it would have been just as expensive as the cheaper R32GTR's.
Fact is the only true legalized Skyline was the R33GTST as that was the only model actually crash tested. Everything else was fudged paperwork i.e. R34's and R32's and 33GTR's converted but technically not legal federally. If you think it would have opened the door to more legal imports your wrong.
Most of you are not old enough to have been around in the Grey Market days of the mid to late 80's. I actually got a friend of mine a 89 E30 M3 European version Grey Market. Car manufacturers like Porsche, Ferrari,Mercedes,BMW all cried foul big time to the Fed.
The Feds jumped all over that shit because a lot of car brokers were doing it. They shut that shit down fast. Bill Gates actually had a Porsche RSR stuck in warehouse in Oakland for like 10 years trying to get it legalized.
Fact is it was only a matter of time before the Feds changed their mind about the whole Motorex thing to begin with. I am sure if they were still around today Nissan North America would have cried foul due to the advent of the GTR.

Stop dreaming boys it is what it is. Get on with your life and buy something you can own.

[mRclARK1]

I should start jacking Skylines and black market running them across the border. Swap some VIN #'s, sell them, and count the cash. :keke:

I kid of course.

A Skyline is a fun car, but it's not the epitome of automotive engineering by any means. Take if from someone who's, like I've said, surronded by them. lol

Motorex could have been a successful business possibley, but I don't think it would have been the cash factory some think it could have been.

[S14Dorikin]

Never said "it would have opened the door to more legal imports". All I said was that after the Motorex fiasco, skylines were brought to the DOT's attention, and if people were planning on State registering them, they wouldn't have them for long. Before they started cracking down, state registered skylines went pretty unnoticed, by law enforcement, they still do, unless you pass by a DOT or maybe even the wrong state trooper that actually knows something. Everyone I've known that had their state registered have been pulled over by regular cops plenty of times, registration checks out, insurance checks out, they don't say much just, "Wow, the steering wheel's on the wrong side!"
I'm just saying, now there's absolutely no hope Federalized or not.
I know a few people driving state registered S15's and Soarer's as well, no they'll never be fully legal, but it's their risk...a very stupid one at that. Time will tell how long those will last before they get a knock on their door.

[drift freaq]

Never said "it would have opened the door to more legal imports". All I said was that after the Motorex fiasco, skylines were brought to the DOT's attention, and if people were planning on State registering them, they wouldn't have them for long. Before they started cracking down, state registered skylines went pretty unnoticed, by law enforcement, they still do, unless you pass by a DOT or maybe even the wrong state trooper that actually knows something. Everyone I've known that had their state registered have been pulled over by regular cops plenty of times, registration checks out, insurance checks out, they don't say much just, "Wow, the steering wheel's on the wrong side!"
I'm just saying, now there's absolutely no hope Federalized or not.
I know a few people driving state registered S15's and Soarer's as well, no they'll never be fully legal, but it's their risk...a very stupid one at that. Time will tell how long those will last before they get a knock on their door.

Though I quoted you for your statements there was a certain person who posted above that was dreaming of other possibilities, so I was answering that without quoting his statement.
Excuse me, as that was not directed at you directly.

I also feel that its rather lame to be driving a RHD car on a LHD drive road. Not only are there severe blind spots to overcome its just awkward in my opinion. while there may be a cool factor to owning one the praticality side far outweighs the coolness factor.

As much as I like R32GTR's and R34GTR's and S15's they are just not made for our country and that's they way it is.

[S14Dorikin]

Word.
RHD cars were fun and all, but I hated having to be the middle-man at the drive-thru, lmao!
I agree, it's a little weird driving them on our roads. Not to mention the headlight's pointing in the wrong direction, one reason I've never gone S13 front.
Parallel parking in a RHD is sweet though, haha.

[HyperTek]

i forgot, if hollywood wanted to do a movie about this, it probably wouldnt fly as roll asian male characters dont really get landed?? unless it was asian bad guy vs white guy detective as it always is and gets the asian girl sadly lol

[mRclARK1]

Word.
RHD cars were fun and all, but I hated having to be the middle-man at the drive-thru, lmao!
I agree, it's a little weird driving them on our roads. Not to mention the headlight's pointing in the wrong direction, one reason I've never gone S13 front.
Parallel parking in a RHD is sweet though, haha.

haha. You can parallel park like a champ in a RHD. If it wasn't for the price difference and generally better condition of RHD vehicles imported into Canada, I probably would have waited for LHD Z to my liking to pop up for sale, but that wasn't going to happen in a reasonable price range.

Just glad it's not my daily. Drive thru in reverse is kinda fun for awhile, but now I just suck it up and walk in. haha

[Farzam]

Motorex sounded kinda cool

Minus the sketchiness and stupidity.

[Vision Garage]

Okay say i get a skyline over here. Why would the FEDS and DOT try to come get it. Cant I register it as an off road vehicle and still keep it? I dont see how ppl say their skyline was taken from them when they could just make it a track only car.

[fromxtor]

^^If i owned any R chassis, S15, evo 5-6 etc, it would be a track only car.

[punk138]

would be a cool movie.. go on craigslist los angeles and look in the gigs section, tons of people looking for scripts.

So what point of view would the movie be from, the investigating detective trying to crack a case of illegaly imported cars? or the fast life of a young 20 year old involved in importing illegal cars and clubs and drugs til he gets caught?? would be awesome!!!

A lil off topic, but i heard RB Motoring was started by someone who used to be from motorex? was it that sean morris guy??

From that article i gather, only mods where to add more cats *3* and lower the crash bar in the doors? take pics and send to DOT for approval? im sure theres more to it, that sounds easy

i would want it to go back and forth between different characters so you see their point of views and then it all unravels and they meet in the middle, ya know? but fo sho a lot of hott model type girls & bad azz cars.