1970's Japanese cars

Cmar-Ireland

I am concidering buying an 1970's Celica. It would be an import from Japan. Do any of you guys know what the condition of a car from that era from Japan would be like. I know more modern stuff generally come over here rust free, but what about something 30 years old?

And while I'm asking about rust, I recall seeing an ad somewhere for an electronic box that you attach to your car to prevent it from rusting (or at least slow it down!) Anyone know what it is?

Thanks

Cmar-Ireland

Anyone?

bo-bo

if you go through a reputable auction handler, ibc for example, they apply the same grading matrix to all cars regardless of age, so you would have a good idea if the car was any good

Max_Damage

Cmar-Ireland wrote:

I am concidering buying an 1970's Celica. It would be an import from Japan. Do any of you guys know what the condition of a car from that era from Japan would be like. I know more modern stuff generally come over here rust free, but what about something 30 years old?

Thanks

You'll have your work cut out trying to find a 70's car in Japan. Due to the strict and expensive NCT-like test they have over there, most cars of that vintage would have been long since exported out of Japan.

However, I occasionally see RHD Celica's of that age in America on eBay. You should take a look there.

Cmar-Ireland

Max_Damage wrote:

You'll have your work cut out trying to find a 70's car in Japan. Due to the strict and expensive NCT-like test they have over there, most cars of that vintage would have been long since exported out of Japan.

However, I occasionally see RHD Celica's of that age in America on eBay. You should take a look there.

Usually you will see a 5 - 10 a week, just finding the right one is the tricky bit. Would a car that age from Japan be relatively rust free of falling to bits?

bo-bo

i usually keep an eye out for old datsuns on the auction sites and the condition can vary, but if there is rust it is marked on the grading sheet. from what ive seen a grade 3.5 for example will have no rust or at most very little superficial scabbing. id be wary of the lower grades however

Cmar-Ireland

I just had a look at some auction sheet guides. So the codes for rust are
E1 - Few dimples rust
S1 - Rust
S2 - Heavy rust

From that, a grade 3.5 plus car with E1 codes should be fine.

TigerTim

Is this link of any use?

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C11019

Cmar-Ireland

TigerTim wrote:

Is this link of any use?

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C11019

See lots of pics of that. It has fairly substantial rust. Lots of metal replacment needed on that one. The same guy has a nice white ra28 for sale too. Big money though at around £7k

1275gt

One of the lads posted this on Miniresource this morning. Not a celica i know, but its flippin gorgeous!!!


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1977-TOYOTA-COROLLA-WHITE_W0QQitemZ140095987286QQihZ004QQcategoryZ122151QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

G Luxel

I was in Japan about 2 years ago. There is a huge classic car scene over there but many of the classics are recent imports from Europe or America.
There are a few magazines, one of which is Nostalgic Hero. These are crammed with pages of cars for sale including some from the seventies such as Crowns, Mark 2s, Starlets etc. However finding a classic car on the streets of Tokyo is well very hard to find. I did spot a Sunny I200 similiar to the ones sold here in around I974.... Even finding a I993 starlet is more of a challenge as nearly everything has been exported or scraped due to the very expensive equivalent of the NCT at I500 euros every two to three years.

Blue850

On Carzone today
click

Cmar-Ireland

I'll give that one a call, thanks for the link!

TigerTim

Just registered & took a look at IBC’s Japanese auction site. Seems to be a few ‘70’s/80’s cars on it. Saw 2 nice Datsun Z cars (think they were the Fairlady in Japan), a nice mid 70’s Ford Capri, a BMW 2002 & a 1991 Merc 190. I remember reading in a Classic car magazine about a guy who imported an Opel GT from America to the UK and was exempt from customs duty/excise etc because the Opel had been originally manufactured in the EU (i.e. Germany). If one imported say the BMW 2002 or the Capri to Ireland, could you prove that the car was in fact European and so exempt. Anyone know if this applies to Ireland?.


http://img.jcarinfo.net/gi.php?op=Im1FImhvdakq45Kq7aeq8vAN2YTv2fk62XVIibVWWOgKMFVBQOSx4YMYcvItV6q

http://img.jcarinfo.net/gi.php?op=Im1FI*eXWaYq45Kq7aeqdfIXM6PpAn0QhAnWY1nHi3VoMAAbCF4WdS2pgXdcM*0KA5H.Ib082ndf4*6

Cmar-Ireland

Not 100% on this Tim, but I reckon the cars would have been sold less vat. So vat would probably still be due on them.