jadu

iTrader: (42)

^^^ sounds as rare as the 99-00 SC's.

jadu

iTrader: (42)

Here's another that sold. MY1992 1JZ 5 Speed sold in TX on 6/1/17. 60K miles. didn't state the list price, but should be north of $10K at least. I really like the stock bodied look, the manual digital dash, and that simple lip spoiler.

tomr51

i believe only the UZZ31 option had air bag suspension and EMV (UZZ52 had EMV)

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

I like the stock bodied look, myself. The early bumpers always needed the spoiler. It's telling that Soarer 1JZ's most often got that chin spoiler but of the exported Lexus models it was only the export SC400 that got it from the factory and not SC300's.

BLK13X

Wow, it's been a while since I've been on the boards

The photo of the strut top cover that was shown is from a 31, not a 32. The 30's and 31's with TEMS have script on the strut covers whereas the 32 does not.

When it comes to the original suspension set up on Soarers you'll need to be looking at the model code as opposed to just looking for a turbo or V8, as only some options were available across the board whereas other features are grade-specific, which includes suspension set up - air suspension was only available on the 31, active suspension on the 32, electric TEMS soft/hard conventional struts on the 30 turbo L-Package. Options that I'm aware of that were available across the board were the front lip, rear boot lid spoiler and rear wiper (came as a package from what I can tell), sunroof (although there was word that the 32's were never available with a sunroof) and stereo options for the lower grade models.

My previous 93 turbo L-Package had a sunroof, velour interior with adjustable rear headrests, front/rear spoilers and wiper and standard non amplified six-speaker stereo system; my 91 31 is a hardtop with the EMV screen (adjustable headrests are standard, as are the driver's position memory and electric steering column adjustment) and my 97 VVTi turbo L-Package is a hardtop with rear spoiler and wiper, velour interior with fixed headrests (as per US SC's) and Premium seven-speaker stereo with in-dash CD player (obviously ripped out now though haha). My old mate's UZZ30 was like my turbo models with no sunroof and a velour interior.

If you're after a 32 best checking the frame number on the firewall, that would be your best bet (or turning the steering wheel to around full lock to see if the rear wheels are slightly turned in?).

Below is an excerpt from the Planetsoarer website.
Jose

jadu

iTrader: (42)

^^^ those are some awesome options and accessories. I feel we are late again to the party, much like how we got the newly televised dubbed English version of the DragonBallZ in the mid 90s (if any of you guys still remember)-we were many years behind!

BLK13X

You guys have it easy for modding up though which is always a plus. Plentiful parts at much reduced prices compared to Australia.

Other things to look for if you're thinking of importing a Soarer are oddball bits and pieces such as the factory air purifier (it sits under the rear parcel shelf and is identified with different rear speaker covers) and bumper mounted parking poles (the days before parking sensors) etc. Very 90's gear.

I myself am after the service decal that they fit on the vehicles. My 97 Soarer was originally from Kobe (judging by the imprint on the rear bumper of a Kobe Toyopet dealer decal.

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

+1 Jadu for referencing DBZ I saw many of those episodes when they aired. There were too many to keep up with and the stations always played them out of order. That was the era of entertainingly bad American dubbing and I loved that about DBZ and its insane dramatics ;D

Geek history moment: there was SO much anime back then that we were behind on in the U.S. I sent quite a lot of blank VHS and SVHS tapes to fair-use fansub groups in the 1990's (fyi, they made no money and only fan subtitled shows or films that had no current U.S. distribution; you sent in tapes, prepaid for return shipping only and you got back rare or nearly current shows, films and OVAs well before they ever officially got released in the US by AnimEigo, US Manga Corps, Manga Entertainment, Viz Entertainment, etc.). A lot of these titles were out on Laserdisc or VHS in Japan well before we ever got them in the States. Remember that DVDs didn't begin to become available until 1998. The rule always was (and still is today) that the moment a title is announced to have U.S. distribution the fansub group pulls it and no longer distributes their version. A lot of titles got traction for official American release this way in the 90's. It was a fun niche to grow up with.

In the 90's if you liked the latest that only Japan had access to it always helped to have a friend overseas who lived there with whom you'd make regular exchanges for things you both wanted from one country or the other. We were all on the internet then but international commerce online the way we know it today hadn't yet hit. These days you can get almost anything from Japan directly online.

It's just the 25 year import ban that holds us up with cool cars in the States. I recall in the middle and late 90's how the expensive 240SX we got just seemed too underpowered for the asking price ($28k sticker in 1998 at one dealer as I recall. For a 155hp automatic with no LSD) when you'd hear about the SR20DET versions you could get in Japan. The late 90's Celicas similarly had better engines in Japan whereas the pricey U.S. market versions got just a 135hp Camry engine. Woo. And of course by then we gearheads all learned about all the turbo versions of Nissan Skylines and were perplexed as to why the 300ZX TT died after 1996 and why that amazing Skyline series was never released here (but to be fair, Ford Europe and Ford Australia also had some cool cars that we never got).

I confess I actually did not know about the existence of Z30 Soarers in the 90's. I think I knew about Lexus SC300/400's and maybe that one model was available with a 5-speed manual but I had a lot to learn at that time. I was looking at Supra MKIII Turbos back then.

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

Parts for Soarers are actually harder to come by and are more expensive in Australia? As far as modification goes I know just a little bit about the "anti-hooning" laws there but I thought that was mostly limited to V8 RWD cars being denied to new teen drivers such as the many Holden RWD's in circulation... or any V8 rear wheel drive car that new/teen drivers would otherwise have access to. As I understand it, this is partly what has driven the popularity of 4cyl and 6cyl turbo RWD and AWD cars in Australia.

And very weirdly an episode of Mighty Car Mods went into how they could import an MX83 style Mark II Chaser but for some legal reason had to turn it into a front cut (!!) and then use all those parts to convert an Australian market Cressida. Unlike the restrictive import laws in the U.S. I though it was much easier to import a used Japanese grey market car into Australia. But is this not actually the case?

A factory air purifier? Is this operated by an air pump or is it a passive system? That's some hardware I'd like to know more about!

BLK13X

Hey Kahn,

Parts for personal imports aren't as bad as it used to be when I first started playing with them (around 2002 or so). The internet and online shopping has really opened up the market here however it can still be a pig to get things delivered. For example I see a ton of complete Aristo V300 swaps for sale on US and Canadian-based wreckers going for a decent price, whereas in Australia it could easily cost ~$1500 more for less parts. To add more salt to the wound, things like manual gearbox swaps and the like are much more commonplace in the US, where you guys can just rip it out of any MkIII or MkIV Supra for a song whereas here people are charging up to $2500 for a gearbox (hence why mine is still an automatic haha).

Over here our driver's license system goes from Learners, to Provisional (2 stages) and Full. The following is taken from the straight from the RMS (similar to DMV) in regards to what is and what's not legal for P-plate drivers:

• Vehicles with a power-to-mass ratios above 130 kilowatts per tonne (based on tare mass)
• Vehicles with significantly modified engines
• Other vehicles that are classified as high performance because they have characteristics like fast acceleration

So for younger drivers looking to drive an import without too much hassles would be of your non-forced induction variety (Soarers, Supras, earlier Skylines etc). It also means cars like the S2000 are also banned but Golf GTis are allowed.

In regards to the importing of vehicles into Australia they (supposedly) have to match or exceed certain criteria (in a nutshell meaning that to get approval they need to have a unique feature or never offered locally). Parallel imports (cars from overseas that are too similar to locally sold vehicles) are banned and risk either exportation for a huge fee or being destroyed once it lands, hence why cars like the S16 Aristo V300s are incredibly thin on the ground here as we were offered *only* the GS300 of the same shape. It was supposed to protect the local car industry but I don't see how it would to affect local distributors of car companies since all these cars are coming in secondhand. This law in itself doesn't make any sense since vehicles that were never offered here, such as the Toyota Alphard/Vellfire vans all had to be brought into the country as Welcab specs (i.e. a vehicle that is specifically for the disabled) whereas cars like the S15 Silvia and Mitsubishi Airtrek (which is a Mitsu Outlander in a different skin and essentially Evo 7 running gear) were allowed. You can import parts such as half cuts (like what MCM did) to transplant into locally delivered cars.

In regards to the Airpuri system I'm not so versed as I don't have it, all I know is that in working condition it's operated by a switch by the steering column on the dash. Also forgot, if you guys are after the full digital dash (with the bottom half showing up in Japanese) you'd be after an L-Package turbo. Full digital dashes were standard across all V8s.

Jose

jadu

iTrader: (42)

another one... 147K km 1JZ Auto. price not posted yet

jadu

iTrader: (42)

and since its almost 2018, the 93s are coming and so are the supras


White 1993 JDM Supra RZ, 85K Miles, NA 2JZ 5 Speed, RHD, new paint $25,000

plex

iTrader: (11)

^^^Nice Supra and a HardTop. Pricepoint is where I expected too a lot of people believe there will be a flood of 6spd TT JDM Supras coming 2018 for under $30K that will bring down USDM prices ha ha.

I'm curious what percentage of Soarers came Hardtop also. Saw a few pics in this thread and many didn't have sunroof. A HardTop Soarer with cloth seats would make me curious lol.

jadu

iTrader: (42)

yes, i definitely agree, the 2018 market is going to be loaded with 93 JDM supras, modified and unmodified. Montu Motors has a couple jdm supras posted for about $50K. But, I, too, can't wait to see the price drop on USDM ones (finally) as some of the newly imported ones have such low mileage. It's been hard to track soarers as ads come down when they sell, however, I'm sure we'll start seeing more of them on social media #soarer

plex

iTrader: (11)

I personally believe the impact on USDM prices will be minimum. Unlike the Soarer/SC the US got a slightly more powerful MKIV Supra than Japan did. Some people don't want RHD either for street use. Time will tell how the prices of the JDM imports impact the USDM prices. In 2024 when the 1999 JDM Supras are legal I could see those possibly being more than USDM ones.