Throughout history some of the best cars haven't been sold in the United States and the draconian 25-year import ban has made bringing them here a legally questionable endeavor. Here are Jalopnik readers' picks for the ten best cars exempt from regulations you can import right now. Do it. Right this second.
Welcome back to Answers of the Day — our daily Jalopnik feature where we take the best ten responses from the previous day's Question of the Day and shine it up to show off. It's by you and for you, the Jalopnik readers. Enjoy!
Photo Credit: Asen Todorov
10.) Ford Sierra RS Cosworth
Suggested By: SennaMP4
Why it deserves residency: We saw Ford of Europe's regular Sierra over here rebadged as the Merkur XR4Ti, but we completely missed out on this beast. The Sierra is an essential link in a near-unbroken chain of production racers connecting the Cortinas of the Sixties to today's WRC Fiestas. It's a kick-ass car in is own right, too, with a Cossie-tuned turbo four that can be boosted to power levels that were ridiculous in the Eighties and still pretty good today.
Photo Credit: focusnige
9.) Alfa Romeo Montreal
Suggested By: Drachen
Why it deserves residency: While Americans were getting the funk on with land yachts like the Lincoln Mark IV, Alfa's take on Seventies style involved a street-tuned version of the 33's V8 installed in a Bertone show-car body. While not quite as fierce as that combination promises, the Montreal is still a great smallish GT car wrapped in more pre-disco signifiers than George Clinton could fit onstage.
Photo Credit: pyntofmyld
8.) Volkswagen SP2
Suggested By: JackTrade
Why it deserves residency: Not only do we miss out on some of Volkswagen's home-market delights, their South American division holds out on us, too. The SP2 is essentially a stylish body on a Type 3 (Fastback) pan, but that shape does total justice to a nation with the world's greatest beach-body culture.
Photo Credit: Rogelio Jiménez
7.) Ford Falcon XD ute
Suggested By: CobraJoe
Why it deserves residency: Because "hoon" is an Australian word, after all. When muscle cars did the dinosaur act in America, traits of the species were preserved in quarantine Down Under along with an appreciation for the car-based pickups that we generally call El Caminos and they call utes. A perennially brilliant idea that needs to be brought back here, one way or another.
Photo Credit: Ben.H
6.) Nissan C110 Skyline GT-R
Suggested By: Spiegel Con Queso
Why it deserves residency: The revered father figure of a ferocious clan, the Kenmari GT-R lived an unfortunately short life — only 197 rolled out of the NISMO shops before the project was shelved because of the oil crisis. Today real ones are among the most valuable and cherished Japanese cars on the classic market.
Photo Credit: MIKI Yoshihito
5.) Honda City Turbo II
Suggested By: tofuman001
Why it deserves residency: Kei cars are an idiosyncratically Japanese thing, but like a lot of idiosyncrasies they can be intensely lovable. The City Turbo promises more delinquent fun in a smaller package than any car since the original Mini Cooper. Should you require a change of pace, some came with a folding mini-scooter in back.
Photo Credit: Tennen-Gas
4.) ZIL 114
Suggested By: Drachen
Why it deserves residency: Even the dictatorship of the proletariat isn't immune to the charms of a big decadent limousine. Peculiarly grainy images of these big blocks of Soviet steel rolling through Red Square are still tucked back in the long-term memory of every Cold War kid. Driving one of these would be among the great radical-chic gestures of all time.
Photo Credit: denizen24
3.) BMW E30 Touring
Suggested By: DasWauto - Disregard politics, acquire cars
Why it deserves residency: In the great Venn diagram of all things automotive, the overlap for the circles marked "fun", "station wagon", and "rear-wheel-drive" is painfully small, especially when you filter it through American availability. These quick little estates may not have seemed like the right kind of car to American yuppie-scum BMW buyers in the '80s, but they still make all kinds of practical-yet-hoonworthy sense today.
Photo Credit: Dominic McDowell
2.) Lancia Delta S4
Suggested By: ThatDamnDrunk
Why it deserves residency: This awkward upright hatch — it looks like a Fiat Ritmo that was subjected to a bad fiberglass prank — is one of the most fearsome machines ever assembled. In race form it would have gridded with contemporary Formula 1 cars, until the track ended and it left everything behind in a haze of dust. Not for amateurs or poseurs, which only adds to the allure.
Photo Credit: Pietro Zoccola
1.) Ferrari 288 GTO
Suggested By: tonyola
Why it deserves residency: The GTO was supposed to mark Ferrari's return to production-based (Group B, in this case) racing. Instead, what was left after the collapse of that series were 272 of the finest sports cars anyone has ever built. A good number were brought over via the gray market in the Eighties, but with the restrictions waived we can now have them as built. If we could have one, it would be this.
Photo Credit: Varin Tsai