Yahoo Autos The U.S. Treasury Is Auctioning Off an Entire JDM Project Car Collection
Ever wonder what happens to all those Japanese domestic market cars seized for being imported before becoming legal under the the 25-year rule? Some are crushed, but others are sold in lots on state-approved auction sites. That will be the case for this lot of 20 Japan-only treasures of the late Nineties shipped over, seized, and listed for sale in bulk. All 20 of them can be yours, if you have somewhere outside of the U.S. to legally ship them immediately.
All of the cars in the auction, arranged by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, are deconstructed as if they had been parted out, although they seem to have been taken apart for shipping with the intent of being put back together upon arrival in the U.S. Crown jewel cars like the R34 GT-R are in below-average shape, but all of the cars in the lot appear to at least be at or near a project car level once the internals and bumpers are reattached. The lot contains a startling seven Silvia S15s, which should at least combine to create four good, drivable cars.
The lot does not list the cars in the listings, but the photo set shows that other highlights include a Toyota Chaser Touring V, a C34 Skyline-based Nissan Stagea wagon, and a Toyota Aristo V300. A Facebook post from Midori Parts Shop includes a full catalogue of the VINs shown in the images.
The biggest issue for any U.S.-based buyer is that the lot is sale-for-export only. Rather than just prove that they do not plan to register the cars in the country, a buyer who purchases this group must prove through a customs form that they plan to export every car in the lot directly from the towing yard in Sacramento to a location outside the U.S. and must know that any attempt to re-import the cars will lead to an identical seizure down the line. It severely limits the potential value of the lot, but that could be good news for a qualified buyer with the ability to move 20 valuable cars in pieces out of the country quickly.
The auction should end later this morning, although a re-bid rule will extend it every time someone bids a new high price in the final three minutes. At the current price of $111,000, a smart exporter could make their money back on the GT-R and Silvias alone.
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