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I may have a way to actually get a Legacy B4 RSK through an importer friend.

It's a 2000, BE chassis, genuine JDM right-hand-drive twin-turbo Legacy B4 RSK, black, 5spd, with 47k kilometers on it. Runs and drives great from what I understand, but will need repainting. If Wikipedia is right, it's an EJ208 engine (I don't know JDM engine codes very well).

I'd be gettting a major hookup, so the price is very, very enticing considering what it is.

In order to come up with the money, though, I'd have to sell the Fit pronto, and if I get this, I'd strongly consider getting rid of my Legacy as well. I don't want to at all, but I need the space.

The Fit is nothing more than an appliance to me, so I won't really miss it. But it has performed absolutely flawlessly for 3 years, and I'm aware that I'm trading a perfectly reliable car, that I know everything about, for another car 8 years older that I know hardly anything about.

However, I've been on constant rotation with press cars for the Examiner column, and from what I understand, that will continue. So transportation isn't a huge issue.

So... a couple questions. What USDM parts can I use for maintenance stuff, like a timing belt? Could I use an EJ25D or EJ205 timing belt? I'm presuming USDM body parts will work, like fenders and doors and stuff like that (I can use a Baja Turbo hood, right?). I'm also concerned about stuff like ignition coils, clutch stuff, axles, stuff like that.

Thoughts? Comments? Should I or shouldn't I?

Doug, you've worked with these engines before haven't you? Anything I should know?

I don't believe the car can be easily legalized

More details coming soon!

did you get it?

As APEX said, you might not be able to get the car legalized. Other than that it is a very good find, but I do not believe that JDM cars come with emissions reduction stuff, so if you want to get everything registered and whatnot, you might have to get some emissions controlling stuff like a catalytic converter and other stuff. Also, because it is JDM, there might be some parts on the car that aren't street legal in the US. When you go to take it through inspection, because it is JDM, they will probably go through your car pretty well and be very nit-picky about it. That is my thought, other than that it is a very nice car and if it is possible, I hope you get it on the road soon.

i would ask for the legal papers of it coming from japan.

You will not be able to legalize it. It is not one of the approved cars that can be "converted" nor is it more than 25 years old. So you will have to cut it in half to get it here.

unless you petition it as a celector car, but that will not work since it does meet the criteria.

He can bring it here for a year as a kind of experimental/display vehicle, but when that's up, he'll have to show the NHTSA proof of destruction or export. How it's registered in the mean time or exactly what happens when the time is up (does the NHTSA send agents to hunt you down and what can they do to you?), I don't know, but he can bring it here intact. There may be another way, too, but that's all I found on the NHTSA site. I know Bill Gates had trouble with having a Porsche 959 here before someone federalized them. I THINK he imported it under the experimental/display deal as a collector car, but he couldn't drive it and he may have had to send it in and out of the country every year or so. Easy solution for him, though: just keep it in your house in another country. Preferably one by the Nurburgring.

I can't picture gates driving anything but a Prius.

I'm fairly positive it can be registered as a track car as well with no problem, but obviously you can't drive in on the street if you do that.

You MIGHT be able to register it, if it's deemed similar enough to our Legacy, like how you can get the Canadian Civics that are badged Acura, but that might be a stretch. There's also something about getting a letter from the manufacturer saying it meets the US requirements, but I'm not entirely clear on that one, I think that might be before it gets on the approved list, which would leave a lot of things to do to make it legal still.

^that's for him getting busted in a 911.
He has a thing for Porsches, and I'm pretty sure I've seen him driving around on the 405 (how many other 959's are there in this area?).

There are at least a couple 959's in WA, I've seen a silver one in Redmond. Paul Allen has one too.

Getting a B4 RSK registered in the US would be an accomplishment, maybe you could fake it with a VIN from a USDM BE?

I used to be a Customs border officer who handled imports daily. Trust me when I say: don't even try. I know the rules and the requirements. If you want to drive it on the road, there will be no way to do it, short of trying something illegal. And I don't recommend that, as if you get caught, they sieze the car and crush it. Even Canada will not allow it in for another 5 years.

It needs a lot of cosmetic work... a complete paint job for sure, and there's also minor damage from shipping.

But it's in one piece, it runs and drives perfectly, it's already tagged and registered, it will be insured next week, and I'll get the title in about two weeks.

How? The car was already here. I bought it from someone who already went through customs and all the red tape.

Even still, the shipping and titling process has taken nearly a month and cost a ridiculous amount of money.

But it is here and it is now mine.

Pretty sure there's only 2 in Washington, and Gates lives in Bellevue(well, Medina technically) which isn't too far from Redmond.

OP that's awesome though, so you don't know exactly what the PO did to get it registered?

i would like to see the papers, and the story behind how it got here.

Well all jokes aside, if you didn't have papers.... a vin swap would have been my suggestion.....

I'd think a vin swap could get you in serious trouble. Doesn't seem worth it to me.

Oh it'll get you in ALOT of trouble....

Oh yea, definitely, but how many times has a police officer checked your vin when you were pulled over? And if they did in fact, how many looked close to see if it was somehow swapped? And even if they looked how would they tell? It's one thing on a Skyline, it's another on a car that looks just like a common car they sell here.

Not to say you should try it, just saying it's probably the least risky of the illegal ways with the proper car.

In a right hand drive car, you'd be stupid to bother as you're just one cop who's angry because his spurned gay lover has gone to his wife with the truth and looking to take it out on someone (which seems to be most of them, most of the time) away from a big problem. Especially considering the legal car you could build or buy in lieu of the lawyer fees, fines, and direct and indirect lost work.

congratulations! looks great!

are you planning on getting the body work/paint taken care of?

Dude. Awesome. Awesome!

Do you have a dog? If not, babysit a friend's dog. Then go for a ride with the dog in the passenger seat and freak people out.

There are various ways to import gray-market cars to the States. Many of the loopholes have been eliminated since then, but when I was a kid we had a German-spec Mercedes 300D. At the time, if you lived in the US as an employee of certain international NGOs and were not a US citizen, it was possible to import cars like that without any modification.

Didn't they have to be made to pass emissions? I know back then there were businesses that would federalize non-US market cars (like Ferrari BB512s, for example) by adding, often badly, emissions equipment.