PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

When I was in 8th grade through 10th grade (this was in Northern Virginia, where I saw the silver Benz van), there was this girl named Gertrude who I had a crush on in many of my classes; She was from Ghana and her father was a diplomat. The Ghanaian embassy issued Gertrude's father a 1998-2000ish Mercedes C280; This was in 2002-2005, so the car wasn't THAT old, but it definitely gave the appearance of having been used and abused. There was a huge dent in the left quarter panel that Gertrude told me had been there when her dad got the car; I'm guessing it was hit on the streets of DC and the embassy didn't feel like paying to fix it. That Benz (an American-spec model) had normal Virginia plates, not Diplomat/Department of State plates; Their other car, which Gertrude's parents actually owned, was a 2004 Chrysler Pacifica (I believe this had Diplomat plates).

 

Yeah, but the GMC Safari we had at the time was roughly the same size and had 190hp...

Though I've read a lot of early 1980s truck brochures, and the horsepower ratings of even the V8s made me laugh!

 

My 1984 Camaro with the V8 (305) made 160-170HP off the assembly line. I am sure mine was more b/c it was a DEA undercover car though.

My 2010 Tacoma with a 4 banger a tad more than half the size is 160HP. Haha

 

See the last quote for pictures of a JDM 1991 FJ80 I saw in Doylestown close to three years ago; This was a Japanese-market LC, and even though it clearly has RHD and also had the speedometer only in kilometers (among other things), it had the same engine as a North American model and was easy to import into this country...

This gray 1991 model was brought into America through a specialty company in Florida, and already had a Florida title when the guy I talked to bought it; He had no problem registered it in Pennsylvania, and as you can see it has a Pennsylvania emissions sticker (first sticker from left A-pillar). I think these Cruisers could legally be brought into the country at newer than 25 years old because they are virtually identical to a model that was sold stateside and meets federal emissions and safety standards; A fairly new (at the time) Mercedes van that was never sold in America? Not so much!

 

I think I may have mentioned it on here before but I was driving next to a strange vehicle one day with County Plates on it. It reminded me of a larger scale Honda Element with FJ Cruiser Tail lights.

 

In Japan, cars are actually taxed based on engine size; Don't know about Europe...

 

Didn't I tell you about those? I remember when you posted the picture; That was a purpose-built wheelchair-accessible taxicab, and the county plates tells me it was being used to transport disabled people as part of government services rather than being used as a taxi...

 

Yeah thats right, you did help decode that vehicle!

 

Also, this guy I know had a father who was a diplomat; Among other places, he lived in India for his job...

The father was from South Dakota, but spent much of his adult life living abroad due to his profession; He bought a brand new 1978 or 1979 Ford Bronco from a dealership in South Dakota, but soon after brought it with him to India when he was sent there. He drove it sometimes (as did his son), but most of the time he had a driver provided for him by the embassy; He left India sometime in the 1980s, but was forced to leave the Bronco there due to some sort of law in that country prohibiting vehicles from being brought out. He sold the Bronco locally, and as of about four years ago it is apparently still alive and well!

My aunt works for the CDC and lived in Kenya for a couple of years (2016-2019ish); Kenya has stricter laws than the US about bringing vehicles in from outside the country. For starters, all vehicles must be RHD; No vehicles older than about a decade may be brought into the country, either!

Once a vehicle is in the country, it is effectively grandfathered in and it can be driven until it falls apart; However, you are highly unlikely to see any "classic" vehicles in Kenya that weren't sold there new. My aunt bought a late model (2012?) Toyota RAV4 from a specialty dealer in Japan and had it shipped to Kenya, then sold it locally when she left.

The CDC had my aunt living in Zimbabwe from 2001 to 2006, and when she moved there she bought a 1996 Honda Ballade (also a JDM car that she had shipped to Africa). She paid a local shop to install a CD player, and had absolutely no problems with the car during the five years she had it; She sold it when she moved back to the states...

 

Wow, very interesting. I remember reading something about Safety Inspections on vehicles in Japan (l think), they were super involved and expensive to perform.

 

When my dad was deployed to Japan in the 1980s, he bought a Toyopet from another Navy guy and used it get around during the six months he was there; It was a basic 4-door sedan, but it had an automatic transmission and air-conditioning! My dad bought it for next to nothing, and then sold it to another Navy guy who'd come there on deployment...

My dad bought most of our electronics at the Navy Exchange on base in Japan, tax and duty-free! These items included at least one 27-inch color TV, a $500 VCR, and a $750 JVC video camera (which I still have, and which was still working last time I tried it)!

 

I heard that engines have to be replaced at like 50K miles in Japan because of some crazy law, and as a result it's possible to buy JDM Honda and Subaru engines cheap and ship them here!

 

Maybe that was part of what l was reading too, the inspections sounded pretty intense.

 

When we lived in England’64-66(RAF Lakenheath)my folks ordered a Cortina w/lh drive and had it shipped back along with the family Chevyll wagon. Definetly under powered but it survived 3 teen age boy drivers and ten more years after that (25 total). Don’t underestimate the power of under power.

 

But unlike some other countries that are predominantly right hand drive, left hand drive vehicles are legal in Japan; When ordering a new German car, Japanese customers are given the option of getting LHD or RHD (apparently, being from Germany, the cars were engineered to be LHD and handle better in this configuration). It also legal to bring an LHD car from another country into Japan; All new vehicles in the UK and Ireland are RHD, but it is legal to to bring LHD cars from North America and other parts of Europe.

China is LHD, but the Hong Kong SAR (Special Administrative Region) is RHD. It is legal (but somewhat difficult and involved) to drive an LHD car from mainland China into Hong Kong (and vice versa), but it is not legal to keep an LHD vehicle in Hong Kong permanently. Obviously, this because Hong Kong was under British control from the 19th century until 1997; As a result, Hong Kong adopted the UK's traffic laws.

I believe every African country is RHD as well and prohibits LHD vehicles from being imported; Going back to Europe, it is totally legal to bring a vehicle from the UK into mainland Europe (and vice versa) and drive it around on the plates its home country.

 

So they were actually able order in in LHD? Also, the government started to get involved in vehicle emissions in about 1968 and really clamped down after about 1971; It was legal to bring vehicles from pretty much every country in the world to America in the 1960s! Elvis Presley bought a BMW roadster while in the Army stationed in Germany and brought it back to Tennessee; I am guessing this was a Euro-spec model and not an early example of one of those European delivery programs...

So, your dad was an American airman who was stationed in England?

 

@shakerhood

My parents went to Europe for vacation in the summer of 2003 (didn't bring me), specifically France and Germany; One of the pictures my dad took in Germany clearly shows a black 2002-2003 Cadillac Escalade (brand new or no more than a year old at the time) parked in a parking lot in the background! The picture was clear enough to show that the Escalade had European plates, so I'm guessing it either belonged to a diplomat or someone in the military; Considering the high cost of gasoline in Europe, I would not want to be driving an Escalade there!

 

Wow that must have looked really out of place, my gosh I bet the fuel bill was expensive af for it!

 

My dad believes that the Toyopet was a stick shift, but it did in fact have A/C and a radio! My dad believes it was a 1978, and he paid only $300 for it!

 

Yeah, Air Force MD(Anesthesiologist). Other than the pedals and steering it was like any other GT model except it in also had the Tudor Webasto slide away sunroof. 90 cubic inches and 0-60 someday though you could red line the tac at 6k to pop 100(so he claimed). Pops went to Snetterton to watch Jimmy Clark race in the Lotus version. Being not yet knee high to a soda I missed that one. Had my 7th Bday on the SS United States coming home though. If anyone has the disc of Speed Racer check out Spritels tour in the special features. When he goes to the trophy room there’s a Cortina Tail light lens on the shelf with no plack which I believe is a tribute to JC.