I’m not quite sure why I bought this particular car, but I have always wanted to import a Japanese car. Ideally something unusual that is not sold here. Maybe a cute Kei class vehicle to bomb around town in? Obviously what I bought meets none of the previous criteria but follow along on this purchasing adventure.
In the beginning my target was a Suzuki Cappuccino with some thought around a Honda Beat as a backup choice. I have always been a fan of small cars as well as sports cars and the Cappuccino was both. Like a modern day MG Midget or Triumph Spitfire with a trick three position roof. Unfortunately for me Cappuccino values seem to have shot up lately probably due to their ability to be imported to the United States. I bid on quite a few and they all went for more than I was willing to pay even in less than ideal condition.
The Beat was more affordable but has extremely short gearing which would have made it a rather poor road trip car and overall is considered to be a lesser car than the Suzuki. After a few months of looking, lowering my standard and still being outbid constantly I began to get frustrated.
Eventually I widened my horizons including thinking about Nissan Zs. I remember seeing them new in the showroom when we bought my wife her Nissan Quest. I recall wanting to buy one instead of the boring minivan as they were close in price. I have always pegged them to be a Japanese Corvette of sorts. Big engine, long hood, decent chassis. I figured with less parts supply issues I could reasonably make one my daily driver. For me color choice came down to orange or blue as I ruled out any non colors like silver or white as too boring. An orange example with matching colored seats pushed me over the edge. I hated the chrome rims on it but those can be changed easily enough.
I bought the car through an importer who would handle the purchase (from a Japanese dealership rather than auction), shipping, and importing processes. The plan was to pick it up in June when we visited Vancouver, British Columbia where it would come off the boat. A wonderful drive back home through the mountains over a few days was planned. Unfortunately for some reason the shipping took an extraordinary long time and it did not arrive until mid-September. A new job meant I could not get time off so I had it shipped to nearby Calgary robbing me of the planned mountain road trip home. There I got it booked for its “out of province” inspection which is quite strict. Then after that it was the usual paperwork/registration hassle.
I coordinated with the shop remotely for the inspection while sourcing insurance and a license plate locally. When it was ready a good friend offered to drive up to Calgary with me. We took his automotive unicorn, a 2005 Subaru Legacy GT turbo, which was only offered with a manual transmission in the year 2005 making it rather uncommon.
This Toyota Corolla GTS was parked out front of the shop so I knew I was in the right place. They did a great job with inspection and brought the car out for me to lay eyes on for the first time.
The shipping folks had painted various markings on the windshield including the words “Heritage Leader” which was the boat it travelled over on. I was able to find a few details of this boat here but looker it is not. I had to scrape it off the paint with a razor blade which the shop was good enough to provide me with.
There were also all sorts stickers on windshield. I assume these folks were involved in the shipping process.
http://www.ancc.or.jp/english/about/goaisatsu.htm
Inspection or dealership sticker? My Japanese is not great. Actually so not great as to be non-existent.
Upon export the odometer gets verified; I also have a corresponding paper certificate.
Under the dashboard is this Panasonic CY-ET909KDZ device which is for the Japanese toll roads. When you start the car a lady says something … I am not sure what in Japanese. Likely a nag to insert an identity card. It did not take long for me to disconnect it.
A Japanese air freshener was found under passenger seat but otherwise the car was very clean and devoid of any signs of the previous owner.
A quick once over showed the car to be in very good condition. The front license plate frame immediately came off as it is not required here, but unfortunately someone had drilled a couple large holes behind it. I am unsure on how to repair those yet. I discovered the rims were an extremely large 20″ which is realistically a size or two too large. Seeing them in person confirmed that I do not care for the chrome finish or the size. Hopefully I can trade them for something more appropriate at a later date. On the plus side the rubber was practically brand new.
Before leaving I had to borrow a drill to make an additional hole in my plate as the license plate mounting holes are different for the Japanese market plates. I had come with some tools but not any I actually needed. Again the shop came to my rescue.
Why a JDM car? Well, the cost is less than the equivalent Canadian market car, the mileage lower and underside is literally like new. As a bonus all Japanese market Fairlady Zs are equipped with a limited slip differential as opposed to an open one which is common on the North American cars.
The interior was luckily smoke free, which from what I understand is not always the case as many Japanese enjoy smoking. The seats are an orange leather which ties in nicely with the exterior LeMans Sunset color.
How to open hatch was a bit of a puzzler for us initially. There were no buttons or handles inside the car or on the remote/key. After a quick search we found a button outside, above the license plate. Again, inside the car looked a couple years old, not seventeen.
The engine fills its compartment pretty well and is a VQ35DE 3.5 L (210 cu in) V6 producing 287 hp (214 kW; 291 PS) at 6,200 rpm 274 lb⋅ft (371 N⋅m) at 4,800 rpm. The engine appears to have an aftermarket intake tube to a factory intake box. We did a quick check of fluids before heading out for lunch. The oil and coolant had been changed before leaving Japan and it had a brand new looking air filter.
A quick car wash knocked off the shipping related dust and grime.
The Z got its first fill up on the North American continent. My slightly off centre plate is likely to trigger anyone with even a mild case of OCD. The tank is a fairly large with an 80L (21 gallons) capacity so it should have decent range.
Note that the numerical speed markings only go up 180 km/h for the Japanese market. The Canadian market ones go to 260 km/h and have miles per hour in smaller markings. This might be more practical however as how many times to you actually use the far right of the speedometer?
A quick stop for a photo before hitting the highway.
It is just over a 220 km (140 miles) drive to home but mostly just flat plains.
The trip home was relatively smooth and speaking of smooth I was shocked that the ride was fairly reasonable despite the big, stupid wheels.
The top trio of gauges are inspired by the original Z series. The stereo has both a tape and CD player but radio frequencies are different in Japan than North America.
The one on the far right has a select-able function but switches to temperature and displays an icy warning when at or below about 3C (37F).
Luckily the radio selection is not great around here so I added a Bluetooth transmitter to stream music from a phone instead. Interestingly there are a couple smaller storage compartments as well as one bigger compartment. The largest one has a hidden tray under the carpet for hiding documents.
The fuse box is, of course, in Japanese. Fortunately there are folks in the United Kingdom who have done the translation already which I printed out and stored in the car.
Here is another interesting tidbit. I knew the Z had an aftermarket exhaust but did not know which brand. The tips do not say anything but on the muffler it says Jasma 047. Jasma is not a brand but rather stands for Japan Automotive Sports Muffler Association. JASMA set rules and regulations on exhausts for Japan. Looking up the code of 47 I get Akiyure Inc.
Here is the engine start up video in which you can hear a bit of the exhaust note. I am not sure what a stock one sounds like but in person this one is meaty but not too loud or annoying at cruising.
While the Fairlady was supposed to be my summer ride but it arrived right before winter, so it saw limited use in 2019. I did manage to properly fix the offset license plate at the rear by drilling a few new holes in the mounting bracket. The Fairlady is by far the fastest, more powerful car I have owned with fantastically high levels of grip combined with a powerful yet flexible engine. The gearbox can sometimes be a little clunky and notchy when cold but my other car is an Acura TSX which is famous for its sublime gearbox action. The transition to RHD is not that bad especially since I owned a Toyota Hilux years ago. The one thing that does catch me once in a while is turning on the wipers instead of signaling, as their positions are reversed. As spring and summer approach around I plan to do a substantial road trip in the summer 2020. It just remains to be seen if I take the Z or the motorbike.
Wheel shopping proved to be more tricky than I expected because while the bolt pattern is very common the rear wheel drive Z needs a low offset and most of the available wheels have a high offset more suited to front drivers. Over the winter I managed to obtain an aftermarket set of 18″, less ugly, aftermarket rims with good front rubber. My dream rims? No, but they were very cheap and if my COAL tells you anything it is probably that I enjoy a good deal. It does mean I can run a staggered wheel configuration in the stock sizes. I plan to paint the inside of the rim paint black while leaving the barrel/lip alone as well as replacing the rear tires. They were previously on an Infiniti G35 coupe which is, of course, the Z’s fancier dressed sibling.
That concludes my COAL series (for now). You can read the whole thing at the link below.
An unexpected, but very cool, turn in your cars of a lifetime. Enjoy! The Seattle area has several dealers of cars imported under the 25 year rule so it is not uncommon to see RHD vehicles on the road from the fire trucks based on forward control pickups, Cappicuios, Delicias and other forbidden fruit.
Nice rig. I have always wondered what it would be like to drive a RHD vehicle. Never have. Personally I think the chrome wheels look great on it. They go great with the color in my useless opinion.
Right hand drive is not really a big deal. At least in this small city.
Have really enjoyed your COAL series David, along with all of your posts. Thank you!
A friend owned a Nissan 350z here in in Ottawa, and he described it as one of the least suitable cars he’s owned for winter driving. I’d consider it too nice to waste on winter driving.
Thank you for following along. I have not driven it in the snow but I can see how it would be a poor winter driver.
With the right tires is might be just fine. My 996 was excellent in the snow and ice with a set of Blizzaks. Of course the extra weight on the back helped and the stability control helped even more but it was completely a non-issue from a control standpoint. The biggest issue in fact was ground clearance, as in not always enough for every road.
very cool. i’m tempted by the whole jdm import thing. love the color. i’ve been daydreaming about a honda beat but in reality, it won’t happen in the next 8 to 10 years for me. i am wondering how you will deal with the parts & serviceability of the thing. how close is it to a canadian spec mechanicals? i imagine you would need to order everything online and do most stuff yourself.
Parts for the unusual stuff can be found online with some digging. Obviously one would need to accept some potential down time waiting for parts.
The Fairlady shares almost everything with the 350Z so parts are at least easier.
Nice car, apart from the chrome oversize rims. Didn’t realise the 350Z was introduced so long ago.
Worried about that aftermarket intake pipe though – the air cleaner is usually bolted to the body, and the pipe has to be flexible to accommodate the movement of the engine.
What a nice looking car and thank you for writing up its story with you. Looking forward to reading more adventures with this car. I don’t know which looks better, an empty plate bracket or holes in the bumper, but since I live in a two plate state I don’t have to worry about that. Sometimes I wish the United States had a 15 year import law instead of 25.
Yeah I am not sure what looks best. I could get a novelty plate of some kind as well I guess.
David, this is a somewhat unexpected addition to your prolific COALs, as it’s in decidedly better condition than most! You didn’t have to spend days cleaning the interior of animal detritus and human waste. 🙂
I rather liked the looks of these when they came out, and it’s held up quite well that way. Looks like a fun fair-weather toy!
I am still not sure how to feel about it. I think I rather enjoy polishing a turd to a large extent …
Me too! I get to do it quite regularly with my rentals. 🙂
It’s eminently satisfying bringing something abused and neglected back into good shape.
Wow, this IS unexpected but very nice, congratulations, it’s great to have something like this while you can still enjoy it and can afford it. I’ve toyed with the idea of an import myself, you have the major advantage that they only need to be 15 years old in your country as opposed to 25 down here. I hope it serves you well!
Looks like you’ve used that same license plate on your last few cars.
In Alberta you can transfer it from one car to the next (assuming the old one is sold or unregistered). The plate stays with the owner rather than the car.
Like others have said, this is quite a surprise, and a good one at that. I absolutely get the appeal of JDM cars; I find myself checking JDM dealers and importers often, and if I were in the position to buy a Fun Car, JDM cars would be at the top of my list.
As far as I know, the round windshield sticker is the Japanese Shaken sticker; the “32” indicates the year, it’s in the 32nd year of the current emperor’s reign. I’ve seen these stickers on other cars and eventually found out what it is.
I can’t wait to hear updates as you’re able to drive it more frequently.
Thanks for that insight as it makes sense.
Well, count me as surprised as well. Something that runs and doesn’t need a massive cleanup.
You should carry a spare steering wheel around to hand to people riding in the left front seat. I know the first time I went to the UK is sure felt weird to sit there and not hold a wheel 🙂
Looking forward to hearing about your road trips this year
The reactions are even better when the youngest boy (12) gets into the normal “driver’s side” and we drive away.
When I visited the UK in 1991, my friend picked me up at Heathrow, and we headed for his flat. I had a couple of “Arrghhh–car coming at us on the right!” moments.
Great story, David! I admire your courage in importing a JDM car; I will pay attention to your commentary about the whole experience.
One question: what do you do about headlights? On a North American (LHD) car the low beams are canted slightly to the right. I assume on a Japanese (RHD) car they are similarly canted slightly to the left. Is there any adjustment you needed to make? Different lenses or bulbs? How does one drive a JDM car in North America without causing oncoming drivers to flash brights when you are driving with low beams at night? Please advise.
You can”t adjust them to work properly. what you can do, in this case, is buy a set of lights from a LHD car since this car was available in that spec.
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The proper answer is to swap to the LHD units. For vehicles that were not sold in a LHD configuration you can modify them internally to adjust the reflectors inside. An example here – https://irc-galleria.net/user/Zygi/picture/97777571
Depends if your inspector insists on a DOT marking.
At the end of the day you are more likely to blind someone with a jacked up pickup …
In some cases you can successfully modify certain varieties of one type of low beam (the projector type) to convert its beam from left- to right-hand traffic*. Many projectors, though, and all reflector-type low beams, can’t be effectively converted. Glare to oncoming drivers is real with wrong-side-traffic headlamps, but the bigger safety hazard is that you have severely inadequate seeing distance down your own side of the road on low beam. It can’t be re-aimed or adjusted out; the headlights really have to be for the right side of the road.
DOT-marked headlamps aren’t actually required; Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108 and 108.1 also permit UN (ECE, “E-code”, rest-of-world) headlamps as long as they are for right-hand traffic. This sometimes opens up the options for headlamps appropriate for use in Canadian right-hand traffic, where a Japan-market vehicle was offered in a right-traffic country somewhere in the world. But you can run into problems with provincial inspectors who insist, without basis (or on the basis of poorly-written provincial regs) that all lights have to have a DOT marking. And on the other side of the equation, the Japanese-used-car sales industry in Canada is infested with cheaters (scroll down).
Other lighting-related things often bungled/missed in inspections:
• Most Japan-spec cars don’t have amber front and red rear side marker lights and reflectors. Those are worth adding; they are highly effective at preventing certain kinds of crashes, and cars without them are at elevated risk for those kinds of crashes in North American traffic where virtually all vehicles have them
• Daytime running lights. Same deal (except read “Canadian traffic”), and although it’s not difficult or costly to add them properly, some of the attempts one sees on the road are shoddy or worse.
Even with proper lights, do drive your keen Fairlady Z extra-carefully. Wrong-hand-drive vehicles are significantly more likely to be involved in a crash than comparable correct-hand-drive vehicles.
* Technically there’s nothing such as an RHD or LHD headlamp; those terms refer to the position of the driver within the car, which doesn’t matter, as many countries permit other-hand-drive vehicles. What matters is the position of the vehicle on the road: LH-traffic or RH-traffic.
RHD would be no worse than LHD here a workmate musr like his LHD vehicles he has a Nissan ute ex US and a Chevy pickup with the same disease of course he also has an old Audi A6 with regular steering placement as well.
i hate hate hate driving on the right side… it’s just plain wrong. if the italians and germans didn’t do it… no one should.
If someone will please retrieve my comment out of the trash where it landed, I’ll be grateful.
The painted wheels to close this off.