Always dreamed of owning a Japanese supercar?

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Afraid that you may have missed the boat (or all of them?)

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Worry not, we can find what you’re looking for at the price you can afford.

Granted, it’s not as easy as it used to be. The days of snapping up a 1998 Toyota Supra for £10,000 all in are now long gone. This is largely because, having only made so many, eventual scarcity of popular models drove the price up. And also a law passed in the US in 1988 banned the import of any car younger than 25 years old. This put the 1990s supercars of Japan’s boy racer heyday out of their reach – until just recently. Now our star-spangled cousins can snap up anything from the golden age of Japanese drift, and the Fast & Furious franchise just served as free advertising for cars like the Supra and the Nissan Skyline GTR R34.

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Americans, along with the Brits and Australians, have been emptying Japan of its supercars at such a rate that the local race scene has protested about its high-octane heritage leaching away. But worry not: the cars pictured above – the Mitsubishi Evolution VII, the Toyota Supra, the Honda S2000 and all incarnations of the Nissan Skyline ARE still available at auction in reasonable numbers, it’s just that the competition for them is now very fierce. To be in with a shot you need a good agent who can constantly scan the auction lists (which change hourly), and pick the right auction house at the right time of year. And we can do that!

Remember, too, that there’s  a whole raft of JDM supercars that remain relatively unknown or that have passed their prime here The Japan-spec Nissan 300ZX Z32 can just about match the Toyota Supra for looks and performance but goes for a fraction of the price. A late 90s Toyota Celica GT-Four is an all-wheel-drive beast, and for relative pennies. A UK-marketed early-noughties Toyota MR2 will usually be a bit of a rustbucket, even if you can find one that's mechanically sound. But you can ship one from Japan with its original sills and arches still gleaming thanks to the gentle climate. Or how about the Skyline’s muscly cousin from the early 90s, the Nissan Gloria Gran Turismo Ultima V6? These are beautiful motors that have taken over from the Skyline in the US because you can buy them completely unmolested. These four options are pictured below.

 

Sometimes the disparity makes little sense, at least to us. The seventh-gen 1990s Toyota Chaser fetches megabucks today, whereas a 2014 Crown Athlete will pack the same attitude for a fifth of the cost.

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Tell us what you’re searching for and we’ll let you know how much you can reasonably expect to pay for it, along with lead times and procedures. Once you’re happy we’ll take a downpayment and begin the search for some likely candidates. This is typically 20 per cent of the estimate. We cannot take any less than that as, once the item is won, we own the car and it won’t be as easy to sell on as a family MPV.

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You will of course be informed at every step of the way, with pictures and descriptions. We won’t bid on anything you haven’t okayed.

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There are generally more questions on this process that we can hope to answer with an online FAQ so, if you’re thinking of bringing in a JDM model – either a supercar or something else that’s rare / unusual / awesome from the land of cherry blossom – give us a call on the number at the bottom of the page, email info@devonjdm.com or fill out our SEARCH FORM.

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We'd love to hear from you!