Originally Posted by
derris
certainly did... It was more stock than stock when i got it... Was a japanese import originally, and in fact when i got it it had a rear seat, non powered windows and mirrors, and other weirdnesses about it.
Interesting story, when i bought it, unknown to me the car had actually been imported illegally by a couple of guys running a scam where they were importing cars that in japan would have exceeded the registration limits which make it feasible to keep cars on the roads, but were still in great condition. They were importing them as "wrecks" or "track vehicles only" and had an operation going where they were printing forged compliance plates, registering them, and then selling them for au prices... Probs making a killing. They'd done it with at least 40 cars by the time they got caught...
One day i'm chilling at home when there was a knock at my door, 2 plain clothed cops introduced themselves and informed me they were seizing the car because it was evidence in the case they were building against the dudes i bought it from. I was also informed that when i got the car back, it would not be allowed to be driven on australian roads.
Long story short, i got the car back, and my dad was so outraged by the situation that he kinda went to insane lengths bugging council, local authorities, members of parliament, today tonight etc etc until finally he came across information that was positive... At the time i think the laws were that if imported were over 15 (?) years old then they could be exempt from requiring compliance, and could be registered... But since that was still a few years off at the time and i wasn't willing to wait, then we found out about how i could have an engineers report done on the car, make any changes recommended, and apply for compliance, including a run thru regency park... Finding this info out was awesome as this was before all this information was easily accessible on the net, so nobody knew any useful information...
Skip forward about $4k for engineers report, removed back seat replaced with au glove box compartment, new seat belts (as japanese ones didn't have certification tags), new doors with intrusion bars (upgraded to power windows and mirrors), required mods to display english information in engine bay, and other locations, and a bunch of other annoying expensive things, i had a car ready for regency park.
Thankfully it passed inspection, i was granted a new "exempt from compliance" status with official documentation, and the car was legal after being off the road for about 18 months all up...
I was pretty attached to the car by this point, evidenced by how much effort i put in to keep it... So i decided to take out a loan and make it how i always wanted it... So i did.
Moral of the story... Don't be a young naive uninformed person before the internet existed.
