MotoRex owner in jail!
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Motorex owner jailed, R32 and R34 legalization rescinded
Monday, March 13, 2006
According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the owner of Motorex, Nanahoshi Hiroaki, 33, was arrested Thursday and booked into the L.A. County Jail. He is being held on $1 Million bail.
Booking Details
Hiroaki's initial appearance is scheduled for Wednesday of this week.
Hiroaki and Motorex came to the recognition of Nissan enthusiasts in the US as they became the only Registered Importer legally authorized to legalize Skylines for US use. As Motorex was able to comply with stringent US crash-testing requirements, they petitioned the courts to protect their interest in the Skyline market by "locking out" other would-be importers from the list of necessary modifications.
Not only did this give Motorex a corner on the market for legal Skylines, it also allowed them to command a premium price for each legalized car. Motorex-prepped Skylines can fetch upwards of $50,000. While making loads of money, Motorex also made loads of enemies.
According to sources, the lease to the Motorex facility has been overdue for months, and is now locked out by the landlord.
The US Department of Transportation has offically rescinded importation eligibility for both the R32 and R34 Skylines, only 96-98 R33 Skylines are still eligible to be imported.
Serves that crook right. Let him burn for being a greedy sumbitch and creating a monopoly off of people's aspirations to own a piece of Japanese culture.
-Peter
1991 240SX
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Check this out. Ahhhhh, the power of the internet.
http://app4.lasd.org/iic/details.cfm?qwert=%27%2E2%24%5ES%3F%3FDQ%40%20%20%0A -
Ok, just talked to my friend (Sean) again, and here's what he said:
The charges against Hiro have NOTHING to do with MotoRex's shady business. The NHTSA dropped those charges. What he's going up for is extortion/attempted kiddnapping. His initial court date was today.
Now, back to what we care about, legalized R-chassis cars:
He told me that MotoRex's initial RI (registered importer), JKT Engineering, now holds the R-33 federalization trade secrets. These are also the people that Sean has been importing his 'off road' R/S-chassis Nissans and Toyota Chasers through. The cars clear customs through them.
Apparently, 4 cars (of same chassis) have to be supplied to the NHTSA, as well as a hefty fee. Each car will recieve one of each types of impact; sides, front, and rear, and they must be modified to include dual airbags, and other safety items such as proper passenger restraints, etc. Also, R-chassis cars are required to have a 3 star crash rating by NHTSA standards.
As stated earlier, I believe, the only CURRENT legal R-chassis is the R-33, specifically, 96-98 models. However. They are required to be OBDII, which is not a standard on those cars, which puts them in limbo (to an extent).
From the looks of it, we might be able to get them here after all, if all goes well.
-Peter
1991 240SX
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1,000,000 bail...holy shit...
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PSiedTSi wrote:
the guy i talked to at the NHTSA said that there would be a better chance of getting R32s because of the dual airbag thing and since its old there are less restrictions...i know i contradicted myself but i wasnt thinking when i was talkin about R33s...Also, think about it from this viewpoint:
They are cheaper, which makes it less strain on the seller, and also attracts more buyers. I honestly don't understand why MotoRex didn't START with the R-32s. If they sold, that would've created a good customer base, and they might have actually suceeded without feeling the need to cut corners.
-Peter
1991 240SX
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