The 2007 Tahoe finally reached the end of it’s life. It had a good life, reaching 300,000 miles and having towed an Airstream around the country for a year.
When I went shopping for a new car, something practical and reliable, I obviously opted for 1996 Land Cruiser located on the other side of the world in Kobe, Japan.
I first encountered the diesel, right-hand drive 80 series on a 4-wheeling trip a couple years ago with friends. To my knowledge, these versions were never sold in the US. Turns out, my friend knew a vintage car dealer & mechanic in Durham, NC who specialized in buying and importing Land Cruisers from Japan.
The dealer, Speed House: https://www.speed.house/
Working with Speed House, we watched the auctions of these vintage vehicles taking place in Japan. We set a budget, and we started bidding on vehicles as they came up for auction. While these auctions are available to anyone who pays for the online access, the real advantage of the dealer was that he had boots on the ground in Kobe. We had someone inspect the vehicle, start it, and send us pictures that weren’t available online. This gave me confidence in the buying process from on the side of the world.
After passing on a couple of vehicles, we won the auction on one, a 1996 24 valve diesel with only ~80,000 miles.
Shipping the Land Cruiser from Japan to America
This was a hands-off experience for me. I was just the buyer. The dealer handled all of the importation process, including the paperwork and logistics.
A couple weeks after the auction, the vehicle was loaded on a Norwegian vehicle carrier called the Temesis. It’s my understanding my used car hitched a ride on a vehicle carrier that was carrying thousands of new vehicles headed for dealerships.
I could track the ship on the at https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:307446/mmsi:257565000/imo:9191307/vessel:TAMESIS
I watched for a couple months as the ship made its way from Japan, across the Pacific, to the West side of North America, through the Panama Canal, to Norfolk, Virginia, where we planned to get the vehicle. The ship made many stops along the way to drop off or pick up other vehicles.
I was amazed how many ships are on the ocean at any given time, and I better understand that shipping channels are well-defined as there is a steady stream of ships all the time on the world’s oceans.
Ship Arrival in Norfolk
There are a several options for where to get the car dropped on the east coast of America. Since we are in North Carolina, the best option for us was Norfolk, Virginia.
I was not able to go to the port to get the vehicle, which had been unloaded ship-side. The deal had security passes to get the vehicle from the port, and they went and got it for me, driving it back to Durham, NC.
Getting the Land Cruiser Ready in Durham, NC
The deal brought the Land Cruiser to his shop in Durham, NC. After thorough inspection, they performed some maintenance and improvements. After swapping the tires, it was ready for detailing.
The dealer handled the titling and registration for me, which appeared to be a relatively straight forward process. Even getting the vehicle insured was straightforward. I did not experience any unusual issues for registering a foreign, right-hand drive vehicle.
Ready to go:
Getting it Muddy
I bought it to drive it. Splashed in the mud at the deer camp with the kids the weekend after it arrived. Even let them drive it.
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