We’re in the golden age of JDM imports with Skylines, Chasers, Autozams, and Delicas now flooding not only into American garages, but also into our rental fleets.
Your dreams are troubled by the whispers of a Suzuki Cappuccino. Your waking thoughts are haunted by a Hakosuka Skyline. These JDM ghosts—when will they leave you to find some peace?
Your time is now. Las Vegas-based Rent JDM is getting in on the JDM wave, a new wrinkle in the scene that is mostly full of full-on dealers, like Japanese Classics or Duncan Imports. The idea of a JDM rental operation is more than a little convenient for anyone who has always wanted to know what it’s like to drive slices of the forbidden JDM fruit we never got here. Also it lets you try a right-hand-drive car for a hot second before committing to buying one. (It’s really not that bad.)
This isn’t the only JDM rental fleet in the world. I can think of another one right off the top of my head, though the only complication is you have to fly to Japan to use that one.
Thanks to the pesky 25-year import rule, we missed out on a lot of key Japanese enthusiast specialty and performance cars when they were first released.
The company’s current inventory, according to its website, includes:
- 1972 Nissan Skyline Hakosuka
- 1993 Toyota Supra JDM
- 1992 Nissan Skyline GT-R
- 1993 Suzuki Cappuccino
- 1990 Nissan Pulsar GTI-R
- 1993 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution II
- 1992 Mazda RX-7 JDM
- 1992 Nissan Skyline GTS-t (automatic)
- 1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R
That last Skyline is particularly interesting, as you’ll notice it’s the R34-generation and therefore not yet legal to import. A Rent JDM company blog post from Jan. 31, however, claims that it is actually one of the very few MotoRex R34 GT-Rs that were imported and legalized in the United States.
“This white R34 GT-R was imported by MotoRex in 1999, and it was a one owner car. It is one of approximately 15 cars imported and legalized by MotoRex in the early 2000s,” the blog reads. That alone is worth stopping by for a look.
Rent JDM officially opens in April 2020. If you need an excuse to pay Vegas a visit, this is it.
via Grassroots Motorsports and Road & Track