THE DAY IS FINALLY HERE TOMORROW!!!!!!!, Time to rebuild and revive the Okinawa Samurai!!!!! Options

[Lil-Joe101]

For those of you who have known me and and have helped me along the way, you know how long, stressful, painful, and irritating this process has been. For those who Don't I will recap for you.

My name is Joe, I lived in Okinawa Japan for four years. It was there that I bought my first car and first Celica. Before I started this journey I had already set a goal, which was to own a RHD Celica and bring it back to the states. After Buying her I was approached by 6gc.net through a member here known as stetsonaw. It was because of him that I have (online) made good friends and met an amazing community. From presure2's mechanical knowledge, to playr158's constructive criticizim(still dont forgive you, btw). But it has been a great time and ride. Well through the middle of this journey, I purposed to 6gc that I was in the process of shipping her back. I had not only picked everyone's brain but prolly pissed a few off with my questions. Its seemed as if noone quite knew how to ship a JDM celi back without a load of money. Well take that into consideration I went for it. I hooked up with a company and spent (to most) way to muchand had her shipped.

Though some will argue I believe this was a good decision given the fact that unlike most import processes, NOTHING had to be changed, so she is 100% JDM. The Down side to this was that the process was only supposed to take 6 months which in turn came out to two years. Everything on my end ad been done as planned, but poor operationals skills by the company dragged the process out this long.

But finally after all this time and effort it pleases me to say that tomorrow at exactly 4am I will be leaving the States of Texas to Virginia to finally reunite with my Celica once again. And those of you who have known me, know that my project has not ended, it will only get better and there is much more building to come.









This post has been edited by Lil-Joe101: Feb 20, 2011 - 8:45 PM

[block]

congrats! take some good pictures

[Lil-Joe101]

You know it bro, lol

[schmooot]

ok so you got it imported into the country. Do you have a game plan for actually legally driving it? or is that all taken care of already?

[Lil-Joe101]

State of Texas just register it as a regular usdm vehicle. Got all the customs paper work and everything already. Been researchin this for 4 years, know the procedure like the back of my hand................almost

[schmooot]

sweet. Looks beautiful. Very sexy color....I'm diggin it

One question though...why the hood gap? is it supposed to be there or is the bumper designed for a regular hood or what?

Speaking from past experience......don't jizz in your pants just yet until you actually have papers in the glovebox and plates on the car.......and keys in your hand and a gt4 in your driveway. Beaurocracy can be a bitch, I thought I had all my papers in order when I went to pull mine out for the first summer last year and ended up in 2 month long sea of paperwork and crap before I could actually drive it. I hope you're situation comes out better

This post has been edited by schmooot: Feb 18, 2011 - 2:00 PM

[Ted95]

thats sick bro, happy the day is here!

just hope the car is ok tho

[FORGMANN]

Congrats on finally getting home.

I know 7 yrs ago once i cleared border crossing in remote
Montana with my ST205 I was screaming like a someone
who had just won a million dollars. Im sure site of 30yr man
in a truck pumping his fist and screaming was hilarious.

7yrs later and hopefully be doing that again soon.

[easternpiro1]

CONGRATULATONS BRO!!!!

SOOOOOO Youre going to VA to pick it up are you? youre no doubt going to be headed down interstate 85 On the way back? may i extend an invitation? that and an opportunity to drool on your car? charlotte nc is on the way to texas! i literally live right on the way!

This post has been edited by easternpiro1: Feb 19, 2011 - 5:44 AM

[Lil-Joe101]

Thanks bro, sorry we couldnt make it, on our way back already. Half way thru tennesse

[easternpiro1]

ah dang! almost! lol get home safe! post vids of the drive!

[njccmd2002]

should have stop and say hello

[D-Man]

I would like to say...

IT'S ABOUT FCUKING TIME!!

And you know you're laughing, Because it's true! Glad to see it finaly come to pass bro!!

[Lil-Joe101]

Sorry I couldnt stop by and said hello, but Im sure everyone understands. Im on a mission, with my eye on the prize and I cant let anything divert me from that, lol

[malpaso]

That is absolutely unbelievable... great story. Lets hope with good ending

btw.: amazing pictures!

[Lil-Joe101]

Well here is here status. Dirtier than hell, dents n dings all over the place, ripped tint, smells old inside, chipped paint, cracked siude skirts, rear bumber, rusty flywheel, and thats just wut I found in the the first 15mins of looking at her.

[SwissFerdi]

...oh.

[Keiri]

Well here is here status. Dirtier than hell, dents n dings all over the place, ripped tint, smells old inside, chipped paint, cracked siude skirts, rear bumber, rusty flywheel, and thats just wut I found in the the first 15mins of looking at her.

Damn Joe...that sucks. That's a bunch of stuff that will take extra time and money to fix but at least she's in your hands. Best of luck.



This post has been edited by Keiri: Feb 20, 2011 - 12:29 PM

[njccmd2002]

Well here is here status. Dirtier than hell, dents n dings all over the place, ripped tint, smells old inside, chipped paint, cracked siude skirts, rear bumber, rusty flywheel, and thats just wut I found in the the first 15mins of looking at her.

who brought it in for you, seems like they owe you money...

[Mycurse180]

All that effort, time and money and it's not a GT-four?

:[

[njccmd2002]

All that effort, time and money and it's not a GT-four?

:[

meaning?

[Keiri]

Probably doesn't think it was worth it for a non-GT4.

[95CelicaST]

All that effort, time and money and it's not a GT-four?

:[

Excuse me...


Who the hell are you to determine what is worth doing? Kindly f*ck off, sir.


Joe,

Was it the Military that brought it in, or was it a third party? Seems like you need to go after someone for damages.

Oh, and tittywop.

[Spider77]

All that effort, time and money and it's not a GT-four?

:[

Wow, I think everything was said already, but its about a man and his car...there is some history there.
Joe, that sucks that shes all dinged up, hopefully you can get some compensation for all of that!

[schmooot]

I assumed it was a GT4 as well, that's why I was so interested in how he got it legally registered in the states.

Definitely a story of passion and motivation though

[3WayStunna]

Not to beat a dead horse silly, but Joe loves his car. I too once thought "why is he taking a non-GT4 over there"? but hey, its his business and his money, and wow, he actually did something that alot of us only hope and dream for. Besides, if he wanted to make it a GT4 all he would need is the parts.

Dont care what you think you know about celica's, but the japanese ones share the exact same chassis as the GT4's. All he would have to do is buy the parts to convert it. I mean, he practically did take one over.

GOOD WORK JOE>>>>NOW PAINT THE DAMN THING AND SHOW IT OFF SOME MORE FOR US, lol

[Lil-Joe101]

For all of you who got my back with the rude dude, thanx very much. Most of you know the history me and my car share. For the *Rude Dude* if you would have read the f___kin thread insteadin of jumpin straight to the pics you would understood why I did it. As far as compensation there wont be any cuz the company is no longer running, Im honestly not to mad, just a lil bumbed out that I have to rebuild her, but I also look at it this way. Its the perfect oppertunity to fix all the lil things that irritated me before in Oki that I was to lazy to attend to, and change up alot of them as well.

[96stgreendemon]

Sorry to hear about the damages bro, but the way i have always looked at it is when something is broken or damages its a great excuse to get better parts lol, good luck with the car happy to hear that she is in your possession.... and rude dude, you obviously do not share the bond that others have with their cars, granted it may not be what you think is "worthy" but its not your car, there is a special attachment between a man and his car, you need to respect this

[easternpiro1]

come on guys, i dont think "rude dude" was trying to be nasty to anyone. i suppose he was "assuming" that it was a gtfour and was disappointed. oh well.

anywho... glad youre back safe man! i cant see the pix (because my job blocks most of the pictures on this site from some barracuda software)

what condition was he car in before you left? how did the tint get ripped? i know that its too late now, and the company is out of business, but jeez, you would expect a company to handle with care

look forward to seeing the pics when i get home in the morn!

[Mycurse180]

woah woah...I wasn't trying to be a dick. If you love your car, then that's great and I admire your dedication with it. All I'm saying is if I was going to spend this type of money and time, I would make sure I imported a sick GT4, or another crazy JDM car, not something readily availabe in the US.

As long as you're happy with what you did, why are you getting mad about my opinion? It shouldn't matter to you, unless deep down you have some regret.

Sounds like you have lots of work to do, that's very unfortunate that you can't get any compensation.

[block]

That sucks. Hope everything else went well joe.

[Lil-Joe101]

woah woah...I wasn't trying to be a dick. If you love your car, then that's great and I admire your dedication with it. All I'm saying is if I was going to spend this type of money and time, I would make sure I imported a sick GT4, or another crazy JDM car, not something readily availabe in the US.

As long as you're happy with what you did, why are you getting mad about my opinion? It shouldn't matter to you, unless deep down you have some regret.

Sounds like you have lots of work to do, that's very unfortunate that you can't get any compensation.

My bad for jumpin the gun on u. Though the Celica is readily available I wanted a rhd, I wasnt concerned with wut version I had, just the fact that I had a rhd celica without the costly mods Id have ta do states-side was fine by me. Especially since I havent had to change a single thing on it already. Even the windshield is jdm go figure.