What to look for when buying for an SC300? Import a Soarer?
09-27-17, 08:55 PM
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What to look for when buying for an SC300? Import a Soarer?
Hi, I’m new here, please don’t flame me, I’m sure that there have been a million people before me that have posted questions about buying an SC300/Soarer.
I know these cars are getting older by the day, but am trying to find a low mileage, good condition car and am thinking to aim for the models released in ‘99 or ‘00. I’m sure that those are quite the unicorns. I currently live in Boston, (used to live in Tokyo for 10 years) and am considering trying to pick one up from a sunnier drier area and drive it back here (and enjoy the sights in a classic US road trip at the same time). I am concerned about this idea though since buying a car sight unseen, flying out to pick it up and hoping it will not break down on the 1000+ miles it is to get back gives me some concern.
I have seen a few for sale, one with a 2JZ-GTE Twin Turbo which claims to be low mileage and in great condition. They all seem to cost around the $8-12k Mark which would be ok, but I would expect it to be looking and running excellently (especially since I would be doing this road trip).
My first question is; “is this an insane idea?”
Idea #2 is a little different but in the same theme. I Worked at a Japanese car auction export company personally selling over 300 cars a month handling all the export and vanning. I still have access to purchase in the auction houses As such, I thought about the idea of waiting for a nice Soarer and importing it myself (since I can purchase and handle the export side easily). I would then pickup from LA and drive it back up here.
If I go that route, what roadblocks am I going to face when importing and registering it for driving on the roads here? Has anyone been through that process?
Thanks in advance for any advice, and don’t hold back if you think my idea is totally insane. The way I see it, if I can spend 2 weeks driving across the states, on this trip it’ll be a vacation, I get a chance to see a lot of the USA that I wouldn’t normally get to do and will hopefully be more fun than going to a beach resort in Thailand or Bali for a week or so which I would probably spend $2-3000 doing.
I know these cars are getting older by the day, but am trying to find a low mileage, good condition car and am thinking to aim for the models released in ‘99 or ‘00. I’m sure that those are quite the unicorns. I currently live in Boston, (used to live in Tokyo for 10 years) and am considering trying to pick one up from a sunnier drier area and drive it back here (and enjoy the sights in a classic US road trip at the same time). I am concerned about this idea though since buying a car sight unseen, flying out to pick it up and hoping it will not break down on the 1000+ miles it is to get back gives me some concern.
I have seen a few for sale, one with a 2JZ-GTE Twin Turbo which claims to be low mileage and in great condition. They all seem to cost around the $8-12k Mark which would be ok, but I would expect it to be looking and running excellently (especially since I would be doing this road trip).
My first question is; “is this an insane idea?”
Idea #2 is a little different but in the same theme. I Worked at a Japanese car auction export company personally selling over 300 cars a month handling all the export and vanning. I still have access to purchase in the auction houses As such, I thought about the idea of waiting for a nice Soarer and importing it myself (since I can purchase and handle the export side easily). I would then pickup from LA and drive it back up here.
If I go that route, what roadblocks am I going to face when importing and registering it for driving on the roads here? Has anyone been through that process?
Thanks in advance for any advice, and don’t hold back if you think my idea is totally insane. The way I see it, if I can spend 2 weeks driving across the states, on this trip it’ll be a vacation, I get a chance to see a lot of the USA that I wouldn’t normally get to do and will hopefully be more fun than going to a beach resort in Thailand or Bali for a week or so which I would probably spend $2-3000 doing.
Last edited by Vivalo; 09-28-17 at 03:53 AM.
09-27-17, 11:18 PM
#2
First, it's not a crazy idea but the older any car is the more you should give it a close look as to cosmetic and mechanical condition, title history/status, maintenance history, restoration history and any known details about modifications the car has had.
Later models usually fetch a little more but for *stock* SC's it's the 1998-2000 SC400's, 1997 SC300 5-speed M/T's, some rare desirable original colors (ie: RSP's) and generally 1992-1996 5-speed M/T's that fetch more money than usual. And very low mileage near perfect condition cars.
$8k-$12k is generally the kind of price range for very well sorted 2JZGTE and R154 (or other strong manual) swapped SC's... which are very non-original so it very much depends on overall mechanical and cosmetic condition and the quality of its modifications and other equipment.
Z30 Soarers, on the other hand, have recently (as of this post in 2017) become eligible for Federally legal importation for 1991 and 1992 models (so long as the latest model year is EXACTLY 25 YEARS OLD OR OLDER DOWN TO THE DAY when it is brought into a U.S. port for customs inspection). Since you've had experience working at a Japanese automotive auction and export company you no doubt know the drill in regards to how complicated and paperwork laden a process that can be. That experience can only make this option easier should you choose it
Outside of California titling shouldn't be an issue but you may want to look into what type of insurance coverage you can get for a grey market imported car that should not be valued the same as a factory stock Lexus SC300 or SC400.
Beyond all of this you have to define what starting model you wish to get yourself, what you may or may not want to do to it in terms of modifications and how you intend to use the car. Also whether you are fine with an automatic or prefer a much rarer manual (or a manual conversion) and whether or not you want to end up with a turbocharged SC or Soarer.
There is still decent factory parts support for these cars although some cosmetic parts are no longer available new. Ebay and forums have a good amount of those parts at current time. Any parts very specific to the RHD models will be a bit harder to come by in the USA. The saving grace is that many Z30's imported directly from Japan tend to be in very good maintained condition.
No, it is not a crazy idea to own one of these cars. It is also not a crazy idea to use one as a daily driven vehicle either, even with a stock-ish turbo engine. Like other Lexus models of the era they tend to be very reliable into very high mileage if you look after them. Just bear in mind that these are now classic cars as the earliest ones from 1991 (Soarer only) and 1992 are 25-26 years old.
Later models usually fetch a little more but for *stock* SC's it's the 1998-2000 SC400's, 1997 SC300 5-speed M/T's, some rare desirable original colors (ie: RSP's) and generally 1992-1996 5-speed M/T's that fetch more money than usual. And very low mileage near perfect condition cars.
$8k-$12k is generally the kind of price range for very well sorted 2JZGTE and R154 (or other strong manual) swapped SC's... which are very non-original so it very much depends on overall mechanical and cosmetic condition and the quality of its modifications and other equipment.
Z30 Soarers, on the other hand, have recently (as of this post in 2017) become eligible for Federally legal importation for 1991 and 1992 models (so long as the latest model year is EXACTLY 25 YEARS OLD OR OLDER DOWN TO THE DAY when it is brought into a U.S. port for customs inspection). Since you've had experience working at a Japanese automotive auction and export company you no doubt know the drill in regards to how complicated and paperwork laden a process that can be. That experience can only make this option easier should you choose it
Outside of California titling shouldn't be an issue but you may want to look into what type of insurance coverage you can get for a grey market imported car that should not be valued the same as a factory stock Lexus SC300 or SC400.
Beyond all of this you have to define what starting model you wish to get yourself, what you may or may not want to do to it in terms of modifications and how you intend to use the car. Also whether you are fine with an automatic or prefer a much rarer manual (or a manual conversion) and whether or not you want to end up with a turbocharged SC or Soarer.
There is still decent factory parts support for these cars although some cosmetic parts are no longer available new. Ebay and forums have a good amount of those parts at current time. Any parts very specific to the RHD models will be a bit harder to come by in the USA. The saving grace is that many Z30's imported directly from Japan tend to be in very good maintained condition.
No, it is not a crazy idea to own one of these cars. It is also not a crazy idea to use one as a daily driven vehicle either, even with a stock-ish turbo engine. Like other Lexus models of the era they tend to be very reliable into very high mileage if you look after them. Just bear in mind that these are now classic cars as the earliest ones from 1991 (Soarer only) and 1992 are 25-26 years old.
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