Classics from Japan

[jay28]

Wow that is a stunning car Alan, I'm always drooling over them on the rockyauto site.

 

[Albrecht]

Apologies for my late reply to this....

I wonder if what may colour some people's views is the nature of the more modern Japanese import industry, i.e. the comparative economy of so many JDM performance cars (although many of the same caveats apply, given the volume of tat coming in sourced through auctions). Maybe that fuels the "I'm not paying that much for an import/project car" attitude. The fact that the Japanese classic market is in a different ballpark financially is lost on them and is not directly comparable to how much Japanese classics are worth in the UK.

I think you've pretty much hit the nail on the head there. There's a huge difference between the seemingly endless supply of 'newish' Japanese cars sourced from dealers and auctions, and the more specific 'classic' car market in Japan. It's hard for people to tell the difference between the two, and the default mindset is that 'used cars are cheap in Japan'. You might be lucky, but generally speaking good classic cars ( ie - the ones worth importing ) are not normally 'cheap'....