How on Earth is that one Porsche 962C street-legal in Japan?

"MegaSuper" (megasuper) 05/22/2015 at 07:31 • Filed to: None

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Does Japan have extremely lax vehicle equipment/emissions standards laws or something?

I remember Jalopnik did that article about a man in Japan who had a street-legal Porsche 962C…how could you bring the original engine within an acceptable range for emissions? (Or does Japan not even have such laws? I recall reading somewhere that a lot of Japan-only cars have very high NOx emissions compared to NA/EU cars.)

What about crash testing? (If they even have that too, that is.) Wouldn’t it automatically fail because it’s so low that in a head-on collision, the oncoming car would either A) Ramp off into the air or B) Literally drive right over the driver’s forehead?

And what’s the deal with the occasional car documentary that comes out of Japan that will show something like a pink Lamborghini with pink LED rope lights on the doors, and flashing pink underglows? Or Bosozoku cars? Are underglows and exhaust pipes taller than your trunk seriously legal in Japan, or are these guys purposely behaving illegally on camera?

If so, then that would actually explain quite a bit about Japan having so many cars that are only sold in Japan (of course, there are other reasons like Kei regulations, expensive fuel, people who live out of cars, etc). The rest of the world must seem so strict to Japanese automakers haha

(Also, does anyone recall a story about a man who had a streetable race car that he was allowed to register in Alabama, USA, on the condition that he was to never drive it in that state? I remember reading this somewhere but can’t seem to find anything about it online.)

spanfucker retire bitch > MegaSuper 05/22/2015 at 07:44

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Does Japan have extremely lax vehicle equipment/emissions standards laws or something?

When have you ever known Japan to be lax with anything? They take everything far too seriously. Even when it comes to being...unusual, they take it way too seriously.

Flavien Vidal > MegaSuper 05/22/2015 at 07:50

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Most of what you hear about cars in Japan are legends.

Taxes on engine size are not that bad at all, owning a car is only expensive if you live in Tokyo, Osaka or Kyoto and the “shaken” is not that bad, especially for old cars, for which emissions are quite a bit more lenient than for newer car. Also, it costs about 800$ to license and partially insure a car with a 5.7L engine for 2 years. Really not bad...

As for Bosozoku or other people with highly cosmetically modified cars, their cars are not legal, but they are kind of part of the “folklore” so cops don’t really bother stopping them as long as they are not becoming too annoying/causing troubles to others.

Gas in Japan is also a lot cheaper than in Europe and prices are about equal to what you would pay in Canada (Gas price in Montreal right now is 1.25CAD on average and it’s about 1.32CAD where I am right now. To compare it’s a bit over 2CAD in France right now)

Crash tests are apparently not much of a concern here or most kei-cars would not exist. Kei-trucks are even worse and borderline suicidal.

Oh yes, radar detectors, radar jammers and laser jammers are perfectly legal here.

What is expensive though: You NEED to have a registered paking spot to own a car. 100$ a month on average. If you live in Tokyo expect to pay 200 to 300$ a month.

Freeways are VERY expensive. To go from Nagoya to Tokyo (216 miles), expect to pay about 7500yen in tolls if you use the freeway (65USD).

Other than that, you can import pretty much anything you want and drive anything you want (as long as it’s not a diesel).

GREAT country :)

TheStigFarmer > MegaSuper 05/22/2015 at 07:56

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This one? http://www.speedhunters.com/2012/11/porsch…

that one isn’t an actual 962.

spanfucker retire bitch > Flavien Vidal 05/22/2015 at 08:00

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Freeways are VERY expensive. To go from Nagoya to Tokyo (216 miles), expect to pay about 7500yen in tolls if you use the freeway (65USD).

Jesus christ...

MegaSuper > Flavien Vidal 05/22/2015 at 08:00

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Wow, mindblowing! Thank you for the detailed response.

I’m guessing you speak from experience? Are you from there originally, or did you spend a few years there working or something?

MegaSuper > TheStigFarmer 05/22/2015 at 08:02

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Thanks for that. So it looks like it’s not a Porsche 962, but something built by an Australian racing team.

The point still stands however; such a car would not be easily registerable in other developed nations, right? What makes it so easy in Japan?

CalzoneGolem > MegaSuper 05/22/2015 at 08:13

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If you have enough money you can get whatever you want wherever you want.

Flavien Vidal > MegaSuper 05/22/2015 at 08:18

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I live here right now :)

My wife is Japanese. I live in Aichi prefecture near Nagoya.

Forgot to mention, the engine size related tax is payable every 2 years, not every year.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > MegaSuper 05/22/2015 at 08:22

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True, they are pretty cool outside Tokyo, I’m there now. My wife is also Japanese, I used to live here. That Porsche is a factory street legal homologation I think. I’ve seen it. Maybe a different one. There is a dull on street legal Lemans car here some where and he DDS it.

Flavien Vidal > MegaSuper 05/22/2015 at 08:22

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It depends on the year it was built. Pre-1973 cars are very very easy to import and license, whatever they can be. The only thing they need is to have have turn signals and pass emissions that are very lenient for cars this age.

If it’s all that at once, they you can hance a license plate for it, whatever the car.

Cars younger than 1973 are also licensable but requires a lot more work and usually some sort of crash test done somewhere in the world at one point.

Matvei > MegaSuper 05/22/2015 at 08:23

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Japan didn’t even do their own crash testing until very recently. Technically everything has to meet the emissions test during shaken, but as far as safety standards is concerned you can register anything.

MultiplaOrgasms > MegaSuper 05/22/2015 at 08:25

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Thing is, it is apparently not extremely difficult to make full-on Le Mans prototypes road legal, otherwise cars like the Dauer 962 LM, Toyota TS020 as well as those road legal 917s wouldn’t exist.

MegaSuper > Flavien Vidal 05/22/2015 at 08:33

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Heh, I don’t want to sound too nosy, but how was that as a process? I’ve heard some countries are so slow/reluctant about issuing a residence permit/citizenship when marrying one of their nationals that it becomes impossible to actually get settled permanently. (I’ve read this about Finland; the law allows for someone marrying a Finn to obtain Finnish citizenship, but in practice it rarely happens.)

Do you speak or read the language now? Did you have to pick a Japanese name?

I think it’s amazing that you know all this if you’re not a native speaker! I wouldn’t even know where to begin looking this stuff up in Japanese.

(How did you figure out that laser jammers of all things are legal, haha? Do they just sell them at auto parts chain stores?)

Flavien Vidal > MegaSuper 05/22/2015 at 08:41

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My japanese sucks really... I can somewhat understand what’s being talked about around me, but as far as talking myself, it’s not there yet :)

But I’m fairly good at figuring out how things works and finding the informations I need. I’m also importing 2 cars in Japan next month (I’ll write about that later on), which is why I had to learn about a few things :)

As far as being married to a Japanese, we had to prove that we were together for a while but it was fairly easy to do for us (together for about 10 years, despite being only 30 years old) and that was it basically. Right now I have a visa, renwable every year for 3 or 4 years, then I’ll be given a permanent residentship.

And I’m french, not chinese, so I don’t change my name when I change country :)

I’ll never become japanese though as it would involve dropping my french nationality. I know Kat Callahan, resident jalopnik writer and ex-weekend goddess is right now following the process to fully drop her US citizenship and become Japanese. I think she’s been here for like 8 years or so.

As for the radar jammer/detector and laser jammer, Japan is known for that worldwide and is the last developped country on earth to allow all of those. Let’s say that it’s fairly common to get passed by 911s and Ferraris doing 150mph on the freeway here :)

MegaSuper > Flavien Vidal 05/22/2015 at 09:29

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Merci pour votre réponse, c’est superbe! Je m’intéresserais à lire vos posts à sujet des deux voitures que vous importerez! Bonne chance au Japon!

Je n’ai jamais vu aucun post sur Oppo à sujet de la culture de voitures en France…à votre avis, est-ce que c’est mieux/plus développée au Japon? Est-ce qu’il y a une région/un département en France ce qui est considérée la/le meilleur(e) pour un fanatique de voitures? (Si je devais deviner…la région Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur semble d’être très célèbre pour ça. Les corniches, près de Monaco, beau temps, etc.)

Flavien Vidal > MegaSuper 05/22/2015 at 09:41

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Tout dépends vraiment de ce que tu veux acheter comme voiture (et ne me vouvoie pas j’ai passé trop de temps a l’etranger le vousvoiement est vraiment bizarre pour moi haha).

Il y a beaucoup de classique un peu partout en France et pas forcément de zones mieux fournies que d’autres. La principale différence avec le Japon vient du fait que pour les japonais un voiture de + de 6 ans ne vaut plus rien. Il faut vraiment que ce soit des modeles très spécifiques pour que ça ait un peu de valeur a leurs yeux. Il a fallu que j’explique a mon beau-pere par exemple que oui, une SA22C Turbo avec 70000km comme celle que j’achete ça vaut assez cher et qu’à 5000€ (le prix que je la paye) c’est vraiment un putain de deal! Pour lui c’est une bagnole a 300$.

En France la moyenne du parc automobile est de 8 ans, au Japon je crois que c’est 4ans... Pour ici tout ce qui est vieux est pourri, alors qu’en France tout le monde a conscience du potentiel de valeur d’une voiture ancienne.

Mais pour faire simple, si tu veux des voitures sympas en France des années 80/90, tu les trouveras principalement dans les villes de campagnes à de bons prix (Peugeot 205 ou 305 GTI, BMW E30 318is, une Austin mini...etc). Pour ce qui est de plus luxueux et rares, il faut taper dans les grandes villes, type Paris ou Lyon, meme si bien evidement tu peux en trouver partout quand meme... T’as juste plus de choix dans les etablissements renommés specialisés dans ce genre de bagnoles... Sinon il faut fouiller :)

Tu viens d’ou?

MegaSuper > Flavien Vidal 05/22/2015 at 10:00

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Du Danemark (et donc, désolé si j’ai écrit des fautes…le français n’est pas ma langue maternelle haha)

Tu viens de quelle ville/région en France? Est-ce qu’elle te manque?

Flavien Vidal > MegaSuper 05/22/2015 at 10:09

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Je suis breton :)

Et non ça ne manque pas... je n’habite plus en France depuis plus de 10 ans maintenant donc bon..

J’ai habité 4 ans aux US et presque 7 ans au Canada. Ça ne fait que depuis septembre que j’habite au Japon même si j’y allais régulièrement avant.

Ton français est excellent en tout cas! Vraiment impressionnant :)

J’aime bien le Danemark, mais c’est pas facile d’avoir une voiture je crois non? Cher en tout cas...

MegaSuper > Flavien Vidal 05/22/2015 at 10:27

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Merci!

Oui, tu as raison; les voitures sont très très chères ici, je crois que c’est 25% impôt de valeur et après, un impôt d’importation.

Porsche Cayenne en France? 70 000 euro

Au Danemark? 180 000 euro hahahahahahahahaha!

La Bretagne! Les crêpes au sarrasin! kouign amman! Je les adore haha

Quelles sont vos pensées sur les États-Unis et le Canada concernant les voitures? As-tu apprécié le temps que tu as passé dans ces deux pays?

Flavien Vidal > MegaSuper 05/22/2015 at 10:47

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Oui je me suis bien amusé labas... J’avais une mustang aux US et une Corvette au Canada haha

Les voitures sont pas cheres, il y a bcp de choix... Rien a redire, j’ai vraiment apprécié. Je suis parti en en ayant un peu marre des américains cela dit. Faut vraiment éviter de disctuer politique avec beaucoup d’entre eux :)