dizzariot

I stumbled upon a post on Instagram of a guy based in Japan that has access to Auction Reports. He had an Instagram Story about Japanese Classics up, and I started a conversation with him a few days ago.

I guess his IG Story gained some traction, and now a ton of customers are asking for their Auction Reports. The dealerships have full access to these reports, mind you, but more often than not try to take advantage of young buyers or say "can't get because Japan, bro" so they can cover their asses.

Most people replying are also sharing their horror stories of cars that they purchased from Japanese Classics, regardless of what their Auction Reports turned up recently.

Anyways, I thought this might be something people could post about. There's a very fine between separating hypebeast from their money for old plastic/metal and full-bore lying about the mileage, damage, and functionality of a car.

Follow team_free_spirit on Instagram for a bunch of other stories, or share yours here. My only motivation is that these cunts are driving up prices in the US and Japan by selling their 'junk cars' for a fucking premium.

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merlz

So happy when I saw this. They looked dodgy from the get-go. Hopefully they can redeem themselves.

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bigs

Have any of the people in the IG post contacted Japanese Classics after the purchase? What did Japanese Classics say?

Before cancel culture kicks in...Looks like a good combination of buyer negligence and dealer ambiguity.

Lot of information missing here to jump to any conclusion.

dizzariot

^^^ Go check the guy's account out. There are multiple stories of people claiming that they did, in fact, reach out to JC and were not assisted.

...this does not change the fact that they do these fancy write-ups that are contrary to the actual condition of the car.

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deolio

Just sounds like any other low-rent used car dealership to me. Not sure why people are surprised that they’d buy a cheap car, slap fresh paint and wheels on it and sell it for a nice profit - that’s car flipping 101.

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DRIFTER-M

Who is trustworthy? I wonder at times. I have been in a car from Duncan. It was overheating the day they bought it, but that ended up actually being a super simple fix. Overall it was a decent shape Pao, not sure what they paid.

Who has the best deals? Fed legal import has decent prices, but they tend to be a little rough in the condition. probably overpriced for the condition they get, but less overpriced than the majority of other places currently. I am just curious what the best deal is. I kind of what to grab a RHD car for drifting while my s14 is down, doesn't have to be clean or anything, but I don't want to spend 15k on a beat up 20 year old car either. Any better prices these days?

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I Love Drifting Thread > Drifting is Stupid thread

inferno s14

we drive pieces of shit, however everybody wants our pieces of shit.
supply/demand 101, soon there will be half of the s chassis in existance and prices for the piece of shit is even going to get uglier.

time for us to fuck up the 350z like we did the 240.

DRIFTER-M

IMO the 86 (FRS/BRZ) is closer to the s-chassis than the bubble z. But that?s just IMO of course.

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I Love Drifting Thread > Drifting is Stupid thread

Whitey13

The supply of enthusiast cars has to run out sooner than later for these dealers in the US, right?

The quality they are bringing over can only get worse and they may already be scraping the bottom of the barrel.

I can't imagine any of them have a 5 year plan at this point.

JrDarknes

+1

I think the ZN6 GT86 has been the only car to capture the aura that was lost after the 90's. Just kind of sucks the majority of people do not really mod them well in my in my opinion.

I would say the new supra captures it exterior wise but interior not really.

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dizzariot

It's more than 'car-flipping-101' now. Lying about mileage, rust, accidents, and all the other shit. If you consider 'flipping' making a profit on a vehicle you've purchased for less, then I guess I've done it as well. The difference? I'm forthcoming about all of the maintenance and repairs I've made to the car and I don't lie about the history that's there. To equate that to what these importers are doing is super disingenuous to ANYONE that's owned an SChassis and made a few hundred after keeping it for a while and addressing any issues.

If you consider buying a total piece of shit, covering up all problems, and flat-out lying to be 'car-flipping-101' then I don't know what to tell you, man.

*I'm sure you don't, but please don't make excuses for these dudes.

I also had them run the reports on three cars for me:

BN5 S15: Exactly as advertised by the dealer. Pleasantly surprised.

AJ4 S15: Purchased from some swanky, 'niche' car Japanese dealership (self-described) as a perfect car. They are kind of high on their own farts about how 'niche' they are...gimme a break. I've suspected a panel was resprayed on the passenger's side, and when I got the car it was misfiring and I had to replace the coilpacks. They said it was perfect, the auction sheet listed the suspected respray AND an issue with the motor. 8/10 cunts, but I've had no problems since.

1K4 S13: Bought from a dealership that has a less-than-stellar reputation here, but what they told me about the car and what was on the auction sheet add up: one owner, some repairs to the front end, original paint on the undamaged panels. I guess they're honest, at least.


My point: Out of 3 VINs this guy ran for me, only 1 Japanese seller was not 100% honest about the car. These sellers in the US could STILL ask for a reasonable mark-up for the efforts to import the car and just let the buyers know what issues are present, but they ask batshit crazy mark-ups and then lie. I, for one, would still pay a mark-up on something that was less than perfect if the seller just let me know what to watch out for.

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BryanSayWhat

The FRS/ BRZ/ GT86 is probably the closet to the S-Chassis, but IMO came up short in the SR20DET "bolt-on" performance aspect.

Even when the FRS/ BRZ/ GT86 gets to be sub $10K, you're still going to run into the issues of costly FA20/ FA20 turbo builds, or the now $$$ engine swap route.

As for Japanese Classics... I definitely saw the cars getting more and more suspect as the years went on (especially for what they were asking). Part of the reason why I abandoned the idea of getting a JDM 25+ y/o car.

crzsteveo

on topic, being a local and have seen and worked on MULTIPLE cars from Japanese classics, stories of them buying auction cars and slapping some paint on them is true. I have painted and fixed rust/body work on multiple cars and the owners themselves swear to god that their JDM tight car is original paint, body etc. I have to some times slap them across the face for them to wake up and see the overspray on the carpet. Also cars that have been in accidents were not disclosed to the buyer. Again, buyer neglect, but lets face it, most of the buyers dont really know what questions to ask and what to look for in a 25 year old car unfortunately.

dizzariot

Semantics, I guess.

I know I'm an 'asshole' here to new, and often times dumb, people but I have never taken advantage of some newbie because they didn't ask the right questions. I guess we're arguing morals at this point.

Buyer:
"Oh hey I'm 17yrs old and buying my firs Japanese car!" Is this a good car?"

*Seller thinks, well he didn't ask if there were any accidents, and it starts and has AC, the floor is covered in rust but I mean, did this kid ask about that specifically?

Seller:
"Oh yeah. This car is totally a good car."


If you go to the dude's IG he talks about how this community has been infiltrated by greedy fucks. If you are a greedy fuck (not saying you, crzsteveo) then you can 100% support parting kids from their cash. I think that if you really thought about it, and if it were you selling said car, you'd disclose the bad information even if the seller didn't ask.

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mechanicalmoron

So like, you wanna do business with scammers, as long as they only scam within what they have the means to hide?

Corbic

I heard stories about them years ago. They polish up auction turds and list them for a premium.

Most buyers don't even see the car in person.

Most buyers see fancy body kit, a list of mods and think they found a Japanese Diamond and don't realize irs a beat to shit drift missile with a respray and buff job.

DRIFTER-M

Yep. I am not against natural inflation or traditional flipping, but the current trend of absolute MAD spending and price gouging, people hiding stuff, etc. has really turned this scene on it's head from what many of us started with.

I miss when drifting and the s-chassis community was mostly about helping each other and community. Now... more people out to do the opposite. So many of these kids take huge loans, wait a year, sell or flip, instagram $$$ pictures, get 1k likes, rinse repeat. It's crazy and has killed the market. Same with what a lot of these importers did with the cars, we destroyed not only our market, but the Japanese one as well. Complete greed. Sucks it has gotten to this point.

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I Love Drifting Thread > Drifting is Stupid thread

Corbic

Lies.

These shenanigans have gone on for decades. God help you if you had ever been into classic muscle cars.

Craigslist was always a mine field of liars and scammers.

Hell, Fast and Furious is still the most accurate car movie ever - scene full of bullshiting liars pretending to know what their talking about while either steal, spending dad's money or trying to bang your sister while ratting you out...

deolio

I do. Buy wrecked car at auction/fb/tow yard/craigslist/etc that hasn't been reported to insurance -> fix damage -> sell at shady car lot in sketchy part of town for "too good to be true" price so people don't ask too many questions. I suppose having my shop next door to shops that do these things I am more privy to these practices than the average car shopper, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to knock on a quarter panel and know it's caked with filler. Used car dealers are sketchy 69% of the time. Best way to make profit.

I'm not making excuses, I'm just saying things be how they do. Sucks that they do, but the story checks out.

Selling private party is a different story. Not at all what I was talking about.

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DRIFTER-M

I don't consider it a lie, you have been around for a bit too.

15 years ago, the large majority of drift guys and s-chassis owners were good dudes. That's my argument, not muscle or the general "car scene", but as it relates to this bubble we are in.

There is always crappy people, then too. But generally speaking, I think the percentages have flipped mightily today. I tend not to trust anyone in this scene at first pass anymore, and 15 years ago I would have had no issues with it %99 of the time.

Just my .02 of course. Not really a measurable way to prove or disprove that.

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I Love Drifting Thread > Drifting is Stupid thread

Corbic

Exactly.

Some helpful videos for people as these cars move into the collectors market.

https://youtu.be/WpOFRRsEv34

https://youtu.be/OQ9tdAv2E8o

Classic Japanese is basically the Gateway Classic Cars of the JDM Imports.

Corbic

No, it's valid. 15 years ago you were also younger, dumber and there wasn't as much money to be made, so things seemed more innocent.

I do remember the mass influx of bandwagon jumpers, drift missiles, ratchet spec and drift-tax that was going on back in 2008.

My reference to Muscle Cars is that we're experiencing what that community had to deal with in the 90's and 00's.

Back in thr 80's a classic piece of iron was dirt cheap and easy to grab from some Granny in original condition. Suddenly Mid-life hit the boomers and Barret Jackson became a thing.

Prices skyrocketed and those fun trade-meets became a vipers pit as prices as everyone thought they where sitting on a retirement fund. eBay only expanded the buyer pool as everyone tried to cash in further driving prices.

We're also cursed since JDM cars have significantly lower production numbers, thinner sheet metal (rust) and higher plastic content (crack, rot). The market is a lot smaller and we won't be seeing huge companies jumping into to start making repops of every imaginable part.

Corbic

Some serious BS.

Whitey13

Every used car dealer/auction site provides some sort of carfax or autocheck for free these days.

The fact that they will provide the auction sheet when asked certainly doesn't make them altruistic, its the absolute bare minimum they should be doing.

dizzariot

I'm talking with this guy still. For the record, he didn't give me free services or anything. I paid for three auction reports. Before I paid, he ran a cursory check to see if there was even a record to pay for.

Japanese Classics is reporting his IG posts in an effort to shut him up. When this guy can post a screenshot of the sniff-my-own-farts-novel description that JC puts on all the cars SIDE-BY-SIDE with the auction sheet that directly counters their claims, I fail to see how JC has a pot to piss in.

Please share your stories here as well. The $25 he charges for an auction report is money well spent, and he really believes in what he's doing to help out the community.

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crzsteveo

Ive also been noticing lately a lot of the more desirable RWD jdm cars are coming with no carpet. Is that a sign of an abandoned car or flood car? (specifically from JC)

Corbic

Yup, shit boxes with moldy carpet. Juster tear it out and those idiot Yankees will thing it's a real Toegay Mountain Racer!

Farzam

I'd wager 9 out of 10 importers do this as well...or don't perform due diligence to make sure it's not being done to them. Imported cars are very sketchy and it's all luck of the draw. Unless you're personally inspecting the cars yourself in Japan you never really know what's gonna show up, even with an auction sheet.

Also, pretty convenient for that dude to be dickhard about JC, one of the most popular US importers, when he sells JDM CarFax reports lol. I understand he's spreading the word to assist people who lack critical thinking skills but it's also self serving.

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economix

I purchased a 1994 180SX from Japanese Classics last year... I'm 50/50 on how I feel. I did get the price I wanted, however, upon picking it up and getting to inspect it, I could tell it was damaged at one point (likely in a light accident).

The exhaust was pushed up into the lower body and had impact damage.
The pinch welds where you lift the vehicle were beat hard af - not uncommon imho however.
The rear end is either welded or the subframe has some wonkiness to it - I haven't had a chance to really get into that but plan to with a NISMO LSD that I have.
Motor mounts were junk (replaced w Polys)

Other things that bothered me was that it had some home made exhaust on the car. So they advertised an HKS exhaust but it was juuuust the muffler and the pipe itself was carbon steel and pretty much homemade or from 'other' vehicles.

Japanese Classics claims that Virginia State Police 'inspect' the car prior to sales. If this was the case, they did a SHIT ASS JOB. That exhaust mentioned above had just 1 hanger holding it up...and it was an OPEN ENDED TURNBUCKLE (WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK!?!?)

You can see some of the build in my profile...been a while since I updated it and will do so sometime soon.

When dealing with Japanese Classics, I recommend a few things...

1. Ask for more underbody pictures then what they show
2. Give them a price and stick to your guns...they don't wan tot negotiate and I can understand because they flip these constantly so they perceivable have the upperhand. If you obtain your own financing first, this helps with leverage - I got mine Out the door lower than what they were asking for so I was somewhat pleased.
3. Make sure everything is as you expect it and if not, ask them to fix it or bounce. They're not the only ones selling JDM cars.

Now, all that said, I fucking LOVE my car, but I've also put around $18K into it since then, so I've doubled down on my build basically although many of the things I disliked are still present like the pinch welds and exhaust damage - I did swap exhausts but the 'impression' to the underside is still there (oh well).

Lots more work to do for me, but otherwise, i really enjoy it. Shop around some if you're worried, again, they ain't the only ones in the game

All the best, everyone.

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89 240SX w S14 SR20; 95 JDM 180SX S13 SR20; 09 Acura TL SH; 18 Jaguar XE S

Corbic

Sounds like a typical JC Car- former Drift Missile / Wreck that was hauled out of a field and got a new coat of paint and sold for collector grade money.

Disagree. My R32 has spotless pinch welds and frame rails. Your car was a beat missile/wreck. Crushed Pinch Welds would be a "Walk-away" for me. Again, hardly worth the collector grade money JC asks.


See above. Most guys see some car with new paint, body kit and a list of JDM Parts and go "Hella yeah!!". These are all red-flags. This means this car was owned by some Japanese Fuck-Boi who beat the shit out of it and threw it away. Fresh Paint and Body-Kit means Rust, Accidents and Trashed Body.

Missing Carpet and Rear Seats? Race Car or is it a Flood Recovery?

Again, shows the dishonesty of JC. Should have been advertised as "custom exhaust or "pile of shit".

That's because JC is a bunch of lying shit-bags trying to pass off wrecked cars and deflect any blame.

State Police are going to check basic things - headlights, brake lights, turn signals, cracked windshield and Vin Match. They are not doing a pre-purchase inspection.

That's you boys at JC.

Fixed that for you. Plenty of other importers, in fact hundreds of them. It's only going to get worse with the barrel being scrapped clean overseas. JC has had a reputation of dishonesty and peddling junk for 15 years now - they won't be getting better anytime soon.