6G Celicas Forums

So my buddy, who's been telling me my planned 3s swap is a waste (since I have an ST and won't be trusting myself with doing the work) just found out you can register a GT-Four stateside with no limitations. Now the only problem might be getting a whole one through customs and not a clip...but we do know about custom vehicle registration, right?

Since I live in New York, I found this: http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/homemade.htm

But...there are no kit car registration limitations, no...well really anything except lots of fees and waiting on inspections.

Seriously, this is plausible to do, isn't it? Why aren't more of us doing it? Considering a GT-Four used is probably cheaper than a swap any day.

i dunno, gt-four = ~8k minus any fees and such, swap into an st ~5k with some goodies to boot

if you REALLY want awd go for a gt-four, if you just want a quick car, go with a 3s swap - you could probably learn enough to get by, source parts & do the swap with plenty of time to enjoy it before you can import a gt-four

i dont have time to read that since im going to work but i thought u can legally drive a kit car on the streets and if you can its only like maybe 3000 miles at most here in pa thats how it is 3k

If I'm swapping into an st, keep in mind I'm having a shop do it, likely at $80 an hour, I need to have the rear diff mounts fabricated, new engine mounts because I have a 7a-fe, new transmission mounts...I think it'd be a lot more than 5k.

And yes, I really realllly want awd. Would be killer in the winter here.


You can, but the difference here is that there's no mileage limitation. Street legal car with no limitations.

I've never actually looked into it for where I live but isn't there a few guys stateside that have legit GT4s not alot but isn't there a few? Kinda like the 30 skylines that are in the states. Idk how they did it but I know there's on on this forum with a red gt4 in Omaha Nb I believe so, I saw it the other day looking at Members rides section.

there are ways around it. just call a dmv, i think, and ask.

Cant you just go to Canada, buy one there, then drive it across the border, and register it in NY as a kit car? I'm probably missing something

or better yet...have a canadian buy it, pay him more to drive it to you. buy him a good meal & plane ticket back home. then you'd have a very good chance because he drove it across and all you have to say is he sold it to you. that's what i was gonna try but the seller backed out

Damn even better, too bad he backed out, i need to move closer to canada...

Thats a awesome idea, but what does the DMV do if that happens ? Can you still register it ?

Register it as a GT4? Absolutely not. You'd still have to do a VIN swap, which is VERY illegal. Maybe you could register it as a kit car, but not as a GT4 for another 9 years. Everything with a GT4 is risky. You can't insure it as a GT4, so simply driving the car is a risk. Insure it as a regular GT, and you'll never get the value of the car if it's wrecked. You'll be out tons of cash. Get caught with an 'illegal' car and it's going straight to the crusher, and you're out thousands of dollars. If you've got the money to play with, by all means do it. Otherwise we're pretty much stuck with hopes and dreams.

well when i called my dmv, they said i had to register it as a kit vehicle. i talked to my insurance agent (close friend) and he said there are ways to get it registered and insured. if these "guys" are able to register skylines in MN, there are ways to get GT4's. it's a hard path but you'd have to figure it out. ill talk to my insurance agent again. but he did say i was able to register it if it came from canada and sold it here.



see that's the thing. i didn't want to spend money and then at the end have it crushed. it's illegal to swap the vin and you could spend time in jail if caught.

Definition of a "kit car" does not imply that you can take a car that is not approved for importation and register it as kit car.

A kit car is something like a replica shelby cobra or a mopar replica rolling chassis for all the models they offer. A kit car IS NOT a 1994-1999 gt4 celica or any celica for that matter.

A kit car carries a special designation from a registered vin manufacturer.

Last time I checked NHDOT is in hot pursuit of illegally registered kit cars. They shut down a few companies that used that loophole to import cars into the states. Needless to say they are behind bars.

i dont know. not exactly sure if the lady i talked to knew what i was talking about. i know it's impossible besides the illegal ways.

*ahem*join military, go overseas, have it shipped to texas (one of the few things that i like about this state)

Motorex(or something like that) was importing skylines into America, and then making them meet emissions and safety standards. For some reason they got into legal troubles, someone should look into it more. I believe that the skylines were actually legal, but twice the cost of what the car is worth.

VIN swapping is a FELONY

I don't know that you will be able to pull off the wholekit car thing because of what Yarik said.

I have spent many hours thinking about how to pull it off and I have come up with a couple ideas I won't share, but I will say having my smog license helps:) I would love to see somebody have a GT-4 LEGALLY pull it off, they would be my hero!

Oh yes, Skylines are indeed legal in the United States. So are GT4's, for that matter. You just have to pay the right people to import it and make it legal. The Celica GT4 simply isn't in high enough demand for an importer to bother with one though.

Block, you referred to your insurance agent. I'm also an agent You could use the VIN from your USDM Celica and get insurance on the car with no problems. But if there's ever a claim, that's when you're screwed. That's when the insurance company will actually check your VIN, the body shop will check it, and so on and so forth.

Motorex was able to legally import the GTR33 Skyline b/c they performed DOT crash tests on them to prove that they were 'road safe' cars. This is why you can import an R33 legally.

Motorex got shut down b/c they were registering R32 and R34 Skylines as R33 to get around it. Unless someone wants to destroy a crap-ton of GT4s, Legally importing one involves more red tape than they are worth....

Important thing to keep in mind is that we are talking about 16-20 year old cars with 16-20 year old car problems that has been driven on the road for 16-20 years. Even if they have low mileage it is important to keep in mind that for 10 grand or so you can buy a completely street legal evo or sti that is better, faster, has 4 doors and will outperform a stock gt4 on all levels. But then of course no self respecting owner will be babying a evo or sti so you will be buying a used and abused sport car with used sport car problems. Life is full of difficult choices.

To all of you talking about kit car registrations, that's not what I'm referring to here. Kit cars can only be driven so many miles per year - if you look at the link I posted, the custom vehicle registration is an entirely different registration - the DMV assigns the car a vin, you have to get it put on the car, insurance for the car, etc. etc. and it has to pass inspection. We're not talking about importing a car and swapping vins or registering it as something else, but as what it actually is - a gt-four. Only, on your title, it'll say 1996 Toyota Custom Vehicle, not Celica.

@yarik: I believe only certain years of evos and stis are faster than a stock gt-four. And who needs four doors?