Land Rovers imported to U.S. are crushed by customs.

Back about six years ago we had a guy come down from Mass with two Defenders that he was trying to sell. They were both black market cars that had been reVINed as 1997 Defenders.

They obviously were not 1997 Defenders as they were Diesels station wagon models identical to the one above. I think they were actually 2002 or 2003 MY Five door station wagon versions.

Only a year out though, the 1998 model (Td5 era) went right through to 2007 with only a few minor changes (they upgraded the dashboard a bit).
 
I remember reading about Oklahomans importing Japanese kei trucks into the country as farm equipment and registering them (All perfectly legal, under Oklahoma law.). Any Okies out there - is that still a thing?

There is an exception in the Federal law for vehicles imported as agricultural machinery. The kei trucks are allowed in because of the prior existence of these:
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That's a Cushman Truckster. There was also their John Deere competition, etc., and they are very useful on farms.

Federal law does distinguish between farm implements like the above and off-highway (highway meaning any public road in this sense) use vehicles. However, the Skyline guys tried importing their cars as farm machinery as well and got shot down. Pretty hard to demonstrate agricultural utility with a Skyline.

One sick part about how the law is written and implemented is that once you have declared a category and been allowed to import it, it's almost impossible to change it and the penalty is always 'ship it back out or crush it.' You can't say it is farm equipment and then register it as a normal road vehicle (save in states that license farm machinery to drive on the roads as a special class.) So, while it might have been possible to import the Defenders as farm equipment (have to have a PTO, I think), they would have had to have been openly imported as such at the time.

You can import foreign bulldozers, tractors, forklifts, combines, harvesters, etc., all day long. After all, who cares if those are safe? :roll:

Only a year out though, the 1998 model (Td5 era) went right through to 2007 with only a few minor changes (they upgraded the dashboard a bit).

The diesels were never legally imported to the US officially or unofficially.
 
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These are old Land Rovers you're talking about. That price in your head for buying one? Double it. Then double it again. That's the real figure you're looking at.

$140+k would be insane to pay for a used Defender. Sure, there are people trying to get $55-75k for them, but you can also find them in the $35-40k range pretty regularly. If you want to scrape the bottom end of the market, there are 2 currently for sale for $20k.
 
a car without airbags?? how unresponsible can you be???
oh, you drive your bike without a helmet? no problem...

wtf...
 
a car without airbags?? how unresponsible can you be???
oh, you drive your bike without a helmet? no problem...

wtf...

One reason why there is no Federal helmet law is because a huge number of those guys on Harleys who demand that they be allowed to ride without a helmet... are lawyers.

Personally, I don't have a problem with the lack of such a law.
1. When is 'more dead lawyers' ever a bad thing?
2. If they want to commit suicide, that's their right - they should be allowed to do so.
 
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Not to mention 'safe' cars that have never had a safety inspection in all the years they've been on the road and have had Joe Yokel 'maintaining' them.

$140+k would be insane to pay for a used Defender. Sure, there are people trying to get $55-75k for them, but you can also find them in the $35-40k range pretty regularly. If you want to scrape the bottom end of the market, there are 2 currently for sale for $20k.

Those $20k Defenders can easily balloon up to $50k or more to get them to the same condition as the expensive ones. From my experience with Land Rover parts in the US, you really need to budget about twice what you would for the same part on a domestic car. Autozone quotes $55-90 for a starter for a 1997 Jeep Wrangler vs $157 for a same year Defender. It adds up quick.
 
Is there a history of grassroots opposition to this rather silly law? 'Save the manuals' received quite a swell of support, so why don't we try to start a 'let us import' movement? I'd really like an MK1 TVR Tuscan...
 
One reason why there is no Federal helmet law is because a huge number of those guys on Harleys who demand that they be allowed to ride without a helmet... are lawyers.

Personally, I don't have a problem with the lack of such a law.
1. When is 'more dead lawyers' ever a bad thing?
2. If they want to commit suicide, that's their right - they should be allowed to do so.

don't disagree with that, just as someone who has no problem with a LR steeringwheel cracking his skull should be allowed to have it happen...
it's not like not having an airbag makes it more dangerous for people outside the car...
 
One reason why there is no Federal helmet law is because a huge number of those guys on Harleys who demand that they be allowed to ride without a helmet... are lawyers.

Personally, I don't have a problem with the lack of such a law.
1. When is 'more dead lawyers' ever a bad thing?
2. If they want to commit suicide, that's their right - they should be allowed to do so.

That's why there are no seat belt laws for adults here in New Hampshire.

I personally wear mine, because I don't want my head to explode if I'm in an accident and the airbag deploys, but it's not a legal requirement.
 
Is there a history of grassroots opposition to this rather silly law? 'Save the manuals' received quite a swell of support, so why don't we try to start a 'let us import' movement? I'd really like an MK1 TVR Tuscan...

Yup, there's a history of opposition. But even Bill Gates and all his money have not sufficed to make this go away. No, really, he's been opposed to it in the past because he has a Porsche 959 that he couldn't actually drive like he wanted; he's had the thing since new and has poured money into trying to get the law modified or repealed. The best even his money and connections was able to do was get the Show and Display exemption passed - 13 years after he got the car and ran afoul of the Mercedes Law that had been passed the prior year.

Getting politicians to pass laws to 'improve safety' is relatively easy. Getting them to repeal so-called 'safety' laws is next to impossible.
 
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don't disagree with that, just as someone who has no problem with a LR steeringwheel cracking his skull should be allowed to have it happen...
it's not like not having an airbag makes it more dangerous for people outside the car...

You do realize people were driving and crashing cars long before airbags were invented right? Some even survived :p

Personally I feel all steering wheels should have a huge metal spike in the middle of them, that should weed out the idiots.
 
I don't trust the 20 year old airbags in mine anyway, I'm planning to remove them. If anyone wants them to fit to a Defender you can make me an offer. :p
 
Defenders (the ones sold by Land Rover) are hideously expensive here on account of yuppies. I'd rather buy a new Wrangler for half, or even a third of the price.

The only difference I know between the U.S. spec and Ukanian spec ones were the engine (U.S. was only offered V8).
 
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Only a year out though, the 1998 model (Td5 era) went right through to 2007 with only a few minor changes (they upgraded the dashboard a bit).

As aratoga said all USDM spec Defenders were V8s so the diesel is an instant give away. Even if they weren't diesels all 1997s were two door hardtops. The only four door hard top ever officially imported into the US was in 1993 and those were all white except for two black ones. They only imported in 155ish or so and I have seen top notch ones sell for just over 100k.

Everyone on on the Cape or Hamptons with deep money wants a Defender to park there which makes the prices ridic. Even rusted out 1994 models fetch 20k or more.
 
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