Feds Seize Illegal Nissan Skyline GT-Rs In Cali [Illegal Imports]
 

10-01-2009 08:30 AM

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/image...ine_Seized.jpgAfter warning letters were sent to owners 60 days ago (below), teams of Kevlar-armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers are seizing grey market Nissan Skyline GT-Rs imported by Kaizo according to GTR USA Blog. Below, why it happened.

Last August the letter below was sent from the Southern California United States Attorney's office stating that "the referenced Nissan Skyline automobile... is not in compliance with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Transportation requirements." The letter goes on to state that the vehicles can't be operated and the feds are coming for them within 60 days. They weren't lying.

According to GTR USA, two R34s and an R32 have already been seized and, if the letter above is an indication, an R33 is on the list.

Importing vehicles without the appropriate credentialing from the appropriate U.S. agencies almost always ends up with cars being seized by the government, especially Skylines, and people getting fined or jail time. In this case, the cars were imported by Kaizo under a special exemption for automotive parts. They brought over the shells and drivetrains separately and then reassembled them. They were then, apparently, registered under the law as SB 100, which is for kit/show cars. This exemption allows vehicles not driven frequently to be registered without smog checks.

We have a feeling these cars are being driven frequently.

The U.S. Attorney ended his letter "Very Truly Yours" but it looks like those Nissans are now "Very Truly His."

http://cache.gawker.com/assets/image...kyline_DOJ.jpg

[Document Credit: GTR USA Blog, GTR USA Blog]



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Good,

Let them go and buy a MKIV supra...R34 Are heavy s hell and under powered on stock RB26CRAPCRAP. And moding these Small lag producing engine will cost you and arm and a leg and your youngest kid,

Go MKIV Supra :snoop:

WTF??
What does a MKIV have anything to do with this article? the point in this is that even if you had a JDM MKIV supra and it was imported properly you wouldnt be able to keep it either.
shut your pie hole.
with all your 2JZCRAPCRAP, HAHA yeah cuz supra parts are sooo much cheaper.

who cares, really. its a skyline. Big woop. I see 5 a day.

Fuckin government. Don't they have anything better to do, like fix the massively fucked up California budget? I'm sure these seizures are costing taxpayers money.

Why would the feds care about California's State budget?

Customs under Homeland Security has plenty of money post Sept. 11th to protect us from illegal imports. Everybody crys about protecting our borders...

Waiting on the Kaizo fanboys to chime in. Letters aren't so fake now huh?

Whoops, misread the letterhead. In either case, still stupid of them to waste resources on this.

Your in Canada and we don't see R34's or S15's which are :wackit:

Special Agent Jeffery Eastman> your GTR sneakiness..




:rofl::rofl:

You also live in Canada

Well that's a bust I know a few people with skylines locally who are going to be sad =/

damn that sucks, i know a couple guys with skylines that drive them on the streets hope theirs doesn't get seized.

these guys are getting paid pretty good to hunt down all teh skylines.. id say a few hundred thousand probably being invested in this hunt.. =(

I'd probably cry myself to sleep for the next few years.

They are going after Kaizo cars...basically, they had a warrant and seized Kaizo's computers and records, which they are now using to track all these cars. So unless you went thru Kaizo to get your car into the country, you should still be good for the mean time. Shitty part is, I know a couple military folks who went thru them who are about to get fucked royally.

dammit. always in cali!

damn, that sucks.

just another reason for you guys to leave cali...

If I had a Kaizo skyline and I got word of this, I'd spend a day pulling the engine, gutting the interior, and putting it up on jacks in my garage. That way when they came, what can they do? I was building a race car.

^^^^ most agreed with this above statement

fk CA and the gov't

Better be ready for more anal reamings from the governments "feeling" probe.

Just a noob ? is it just the Kaizo or Motorex and others as well...just wondering cuz...if they go after one they'll go after all of them. no?

i believe motorex was done years ago they got shut down.

OH so does that mean there wont be anymore LEGAL skylines?? Just wondering cuz this sucks azz...

True. Tons of shady stuff there. But didn't they actually go through the process of having their converted R33's crash tested?

The cars that were at the shop were seized by the gov. if I remember correctly.

How ever most of the cars that had already been sold got grandfathered in because the Dot/Epa had already deemed them legal.

Wont make a difference, these are the Feds going after the Kaizo cars. People in TX, CA, NV, NM, NC, SC, WA and FL has been hit up. They searched and seized all computers from Kaizo that had a list of all their clients. Needless to say, they have a fucking shopping list of cars to go after.

Like I stated above, they are going by the list they obtained from Kaizo...so if you have a Skyline and you didnt go thru Kaizo, you are kinda safe for now. But it wouldnt take much for them to go thru every states DMV and search up Skylines and JDM vins listed to go after you.

As far as Motorex, all Motorex cars were grandfathered in. Basically if you have your car already and you went thru Motorex and they actually went thru all the process of making it legal...its legal to have in the states.

Kaizo is getting hit up because they imported the cars as Chassis only. Feds are not playing dumb, they know that these cars were brought in, reassembled and driven on the roads with illegal engines. Guess thats what got their panties in a bunch. I bet if you have an R34 and you stuffed an LSx in there, you'd be golden.

I was wondering how Paul Walker got to choose 3 Skyline's from the secret government computer in "Fast and Furious," - guess they were Kaizo cars...

shut up what does supras have to do with the article...


funny there no point of doing this im sure they will end up on a fed auction somewhere and some rich fucker going to buy it. still ends up in the US. fucking wasting my tax dollars, how about cutting us a break here in CA

Actually, they will get crushed...