- Joined
- 14 November 2005
- Messages
- 3,447
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
- Age
- 40
- Location
- Stockholm, Sweden
- Website
- www.s15oc.com
- Country
-
Hello!
One cold winter day last winter (2005/2006) I was thinking of getting a better car compared to my 90hp Golf.
I looked at the 200SX S14a when I decided to see what Japan had to offer.
Looked at some Skyline models and the R34GT-T seemed like a good buy. Back then I would be the first with a R34GT-T in Sweden too.
And then came the Silvia S15.
It was love at first sight. So the target was altered to a S15 Spec-R.
Buying a S15 in Japan involves sending large amounts of money to a guy you have probobly never met.
I didn't feel comfortable with this for starters, but I registered at the Swedish Skyline forum where people who had imported cars pointed me to what dealers they had used.
It was either J-garage.com or GBautotrader.
The final decision fell on GBautotrader.
They were cheaper and I got more feedback on them.
First step was to sign up a membership with GBautotrader. http://www.gcar.co.jp/gbtrader/howtobuy.htm
I got a personal log in to the USS auction webpage and started the search.
GBautotrader attends personally at the Tokyo and Yokohama auctions. So they recommended to buy from them to get more accurate info about the cars.
If you want to buy a car from an auction you've got to be fast.
The cars are uploaded to the database the day before the auction date.
So there isn't alot of time.
Don't worry though. There are heaps of S15s for sale everyday.
I browsed through the Silvias and when I found a car which matched my criterias. I e-mailed Hideo who had a look on the car at the auction house and told me what he thought of it and what he thought it was worth.
The first object I found he dissaproved with. stating it had rust on it (grade 4
)
So the search went on.
Finally found a good black one with Aero package and Nismo LM-GT4 rims (grade 5 38000km).
Hideo got back to me and said that he thought the car looked good but it should be a grade 4, not 5.
He also said what price he thought it was worth.
The bidding roof was set to Hideos price and that night I couldn't sleep.
Saw the e-mail next day.... I missed the car by about 20000 JPY
So I started to browse the auction site again.
My criterias was black or blue manual Spec-R (Grade 4-5 interior B with about 50000km)
And there it was. A black S15 with SSR wheels and 43000km on the odo, Grade 4 interior B.
I e-mailed Hideo and told him to get the car checked.
It looked fine he said. So I set the bidding roof up (a little higher than Hideos recommendation)
And guess how much sleep I got that night.
Got to work the next morning and checked my e-mails.
Bidding successfull
So now I had a new car.
I was planning on getting the car sent directly to Sweden and do the import procedure here.
Hideo set up freight to "Trelleborg" and I started to look for the paperwork which I at the time didn't think was a problem.
I found out that there was no known way to get the car roadlegal directly from Japan. So I used my backup plan.
with only days to spare I told Hideo to cancel the freight to Sweden and get it to Bristol instead.
Close call. phew.
I had already spoken to Kent Terry of Jap-City who would take care of the UK registration and then meet me with the car in Gothenburg where I would pick it up and take care of the Swedish registration.
The car arrived at Bristol harbour about 6 weeks later, where it waited a couple of days before the ESVA (BMS ltd) company picked it up for ESVA modding and approval.
Both me and Kent thought that the ESVA company would have parts in stock to do the mods. They hadn't said anything else.
a week passed and my car was next in line.
Then Kent got a call from BMS.
The exhaust and rims would have to be changed for the ESVA and we now found out that they didn't have any parts in stock.
So now I needed a S15 exhaust and stock sized rims and tires.
There aren't to many S15s in the UK so I though I was going to have to wait for parts from Japan
I decided to write a thread on the SXOC to try my luck and found Kieran and Greg who was kind enough to lend me a stock exhaust and some stock wheels :notworthy:
So now the ESVA test could be done.
Kent took care of the MOT and stuff, so I now had a UK registered S15.
I set up a meeting with Kent in Gothenburg and took a flight down there.
Got picked up at the Airport by two guys called Jens and Anders in a Skyline R33 GTS25T. They were going to get the car roadlegal in Sweden.
I was going to do it myself first. But Jens and Anders was so cheap that I thought I could let them do it. They had got a pretty big bunch of Skylines through the Swedish registration process and came highly recommended.
We waited at a local Shell and then it came.
It was the first time I've ever seen a S15 IRL and I've felt like a little kid on christmas.
Couldn't stop smiling.
We set up the paperwork and chatted a bit and off I went with my new car
I had tried my mate's right hand drive Pulsar GTI-R so it wasn't my first time driving a RHD.
It was pretty awkward at first.
But after about 15-20 min it felt natural sitting on the wrong side of the car.
It was only the shifting which needed some training.
But the drive home (500km) was more than enough.
Later in the summer I returned to Jens in Gothenburg for registration.
I stayed at his place during the modification where taken place.
Things needed modifying for Swedish rules where all the lights (should be e-marked and headlight must be converted to right hand traffic) and getting a stock looking exhaust.
Kent was told (from a well know inport company in the UK) that a Skyline R33 GTT exhaust would fit.
Both me and Kent though about that for a while. R33 GTT??? They must have meant an R33 GTS25T?
So Jens borrowed a R33 GTS25T exhaust to fit to my car.
It lined up properly with the fittings and all........ But it was to long. We could have remove the rear bumper and have the exhaust poking out about 0.3m in the back
but it wouldn't look very stock.
We decided to try with the Greddy exhaust and without e-marked lights to (as there isn't any) If the car would fail. Jens and Anders would custom build lights using items from other vehicles.
The day before our registration apointment the server at "v?gverket" chrashed. So I had to wait another week for it to be back up.
So my stay at Jens's place was extended.
Thank you Jens for the hospitality :notworthy:
I was kinda nervous when we finally got to the Swedish "bilprovningen" (Swedish SVA and MOT center).
The technichian who was going to inspect my car turned out to be a good chap.
Even though it said Greddy all over the exhaust. he passed it.
We had temporarliy switched the stock HID with some regular halogen lights.
But something was not properly connected
When the parking lights where on. One of the low-beams where on to.
The technichian asked if it wa supposed to be like that. And we played dumb just saying. we don't know. We just bought the car.
It all worked out good and there it was. Swedens first road legal S15.
Here are a couple of links.
GBautotrader
http://www.gcar.co.jp/gbtrader/
Jap-City
www.japcity.com
I think this is by far the cheapest importing method available. If you're not doing everything by yourself.
I might have missed some stuff.
Any questions??
One cold winter day last winter (2005/2006) I was thinking of getting a better car compared to my 90hp Golf.
I looked at the 200SX S14a when I decided to see what Japan had to offer.
Looked at some Skyline models and the R34GT-T seemed like a good buy. Back then I would be the first with a R34GT-T in Sweden too.
And then came the Silvia S15.
It was love at first sight. So the target was altered to a S15 Spec-R.
Buying a S15 in Japan involves sending large amounts of money to a guy you have probobly never met.
I didn't feel comfortable with this for starters, but I registered at the Swedish Skyline forum where people who had imported cars pointed me to what dealers they had used.
It was either J-garage.com or GBautotrader.
The final decision fell on GBautotrader.
They were cheaper and I got more feedback on them.
First step was to sign up a membership with GBautotrader. http://www.gcar.co.jp/gbtrader/howtobuy.htm
I got a personal log in to the USS auction webpage and started the search.
GBautotrader attends personally at the Tokyo and Yokohama auctions. So they recommended to buy from them to get more accurate info about the cars.
If you want to buy a car from an auction you've got to be fast.
The cars are uploaded to the database the day before the auction date.
So there isn't alot of time.
Don't worry though. There are heaps of S15s for sale everyday.
I browsed through the Silvias and when I found a car which matched my criterias. I e-mailed Hideo who had a look on the car at the auction house and told me what he thought of it and what he thought it was worth.
The first object I found he dissaproved with. stating it had rust on it (grade 4
) So the search went on.
Finally found a good black one with Aero package and Nismo LM-GT4 rims (grade 5 38000km).
Hideo got back to me and said that he thought the car looked good but it should be a grade 4, not 5.
He also said what price he thought it was worth.
The bidding roof was set to Hideos price and that night I couldn't sleep.
Saw the e-mail next day.... I missed the car by about 20000 JPY
So I started to browse the auction site again.
My criterias was black or blue manual Spec-R (Grade 4-5 interior B with about 50000km)
And there it was. A black S15 with SSR wheels and 43000km on the odo, Grade 4 interior B.
I e-mailed Hideo and told him to get the car checked.
It looked fine he said. So I set the bidding roof up (a little higher than Hideos recommendation)
And guess how much sleep I got that night.
Got to work the next morning and checked my e-mails.
Bidding successfull
So now I had a new car.
I was planning on getting the car sent directly to Sweden and do the import procedure here.
Hideo set up freight to "Trelleborg" and I started to look for the paperwork which I at the time didn't think was a problem.
I found out that there was no known way to get the car roadlegal directly from Japan. So I used my backup plan.
with only days to spare I told Hideo to cancel the freight to Sweden and get it to Bristol instead.
Close call. phew.
I had already spoken to Kent Terry of Jap-City who would take care of the UK registration and then meet me with the car in Gothenburg where I would pick it up and take care of the Swedish registration.
The car arrived at Bristol harbour about 6 weeks later, where it waited a couple of days before the ESVA (BMS ltd) company picked it up for ESVA modding and approval.
Both me and Kent thought that the ESVA company would have parts in stock to do the mods. They hadn't said anything else.
a week passed and my car was next in line.
Then Kent got a call from BMS.
The exhaust and rims would have to be changed for the ESVA and we now found out that they didn't have any parts in stock.
So now I needed a S15 exhaust and stock sized rims and tires.
There aren't to many S15s in the UK so I though I was going to have to wait for parts from Japan
I decided to write a thread on the SXOC to try my luck and found Kieran and Greg who was kind enough to lend me a stock exhaust and some stock wheels :notworthy:
So now the ESVA test could be done.
Kent took care of the MOT and stuff, so I now had a UK registered S15.
I set up a meeting with Kent in Gothenburg and took a flight down there.
Got picked up at the Airport by two guys called Jens and Anders in a Skyline R33 GTS25T. They were going to get the car roadlegal in Sweden.
I was going to do it myself first. But Jens and Anders was so cheap that I thought I could let them do it. They had got a pretty big bunch of Skylines through the Swedish registration process and came highly recommended.
We waited at a local Shell and then it came.
It was the first time I've ever seen a S15 IRL and I've felt like a little kid on christmas.
Couldn't stop smiling.
We set up the paperwork and chatted a bit and off I went with my new car
I had tried my mate's right hand drive Pulsar GTI-R so it wasn't my first time driving a RHD.
It was pretty awkward at first.
But after about 15-20 min it felt natural sitting on the wrong side of the car.
It was only the shifting which needed some training.
But the drive home (500km) was more than enough.
Later in the summer I returned to Jens in Gothenburg for registration.
I stayed at his place during the modification where taken place.
Things needed modifying for Swedish rules where all the lights (should be e-marked and headlight must be converted to right hand traffic) and getting a stock looking exhaust.
Kent was told (from a well know inport company in the UK) that a Skyline R33 GTT exhaust would fit.
Both me and Kent though about that for a while. R33 GTT??? They must have meant an R33 GTS25T?
So Jens borrowed a R33 GTS25T exhaust to fit to my car.
It lined up properly with the fittings and all........ But it was to long. We could have remove the rear bumper and have the exhaust poking out about 0.3m in the back
but it wouldn't look very stock.
We decided to try with the Greddy exhaust and without e-marked lights to (as there isn't any) If the car would fail. Jens and Anders would custom build lights using items from other vehicles.
The day before our registration apointment the server at "v?gverket" chrashed. So I had to wait another week for it to be back up.
So my stay at Jens's place was extended.
Thank you Jens for the hospitality :notworthy:
I was kinda nervous when we finally got to the Swedish "bilprovningen" (Swedish SVA and MOT center).
The technichian who was going to inspect my car turned out to be a good chap.
Even though it said Greddy all over the exhaust. he passed it.
We had temporarliy switched the stock HID with some regular halogen lights.
But something was not properly connected
When the parking lights where on. One of the low-beams where on to.
The technichian asked if it wa supposed to be like that. And we played dumb just saying. we don't know. We just bought the car.
It all worked out good and there it was. Swedens first road legal S15.
Here are a couple of links.
GBautotrader
http://www.gcar.co.jp/gbtrader/
Jap-City
www.japcity.com
I think this is by far the cheapest importing method available. If you're not doing everything by yourself.
I might have missed some stuff.
Any questions??
