Help sourcing S124 from Japan

[mooshimi]

Hello all,

I'm not entirely sure where to best post this, so went for General Gassing.

I am looking for a company that will help me source a LHD pre-facelift 320TE from Japan, and possibly assist in shipping and importing it to Germany, where I currently live. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Please note that recommendations for companies that do this to the UK, rather than mainland Europe, are also welcome.

Many thanks in advance.

[mygoldfishbowl]

You could try phoning https://www.carseurope.net/ they ship cars all over the world. If they can't help they probably know a firm that can.

[Kyfoon]

JM Imports, HJA Autos and Torque GT all based in the UK are pretty reputable Japanese importers. I know HJA Autos often ship cars to Austria for a customer, can't comment on the other two shipping them to Europe.

[samoht]

I imported a 180SX successfully with https://japaneseusedcars.com/ (Autospecs). They basically handle the export from Japan, you then pay a customs agent in the destination country to clear customs on import, and go down to pick it up. So I have a feeling they could send a car to Germany. Only thing to be aware of is, you pay them a deposit before they start searching, and you're then committed to importing with them or losing the deposit. But I had no probs and got a car in very good condition.

You may already know about goo-net which you can use to browse what sort of things are available at auction. An S124 is pretty old for Japan, but I guess there will be a few still knocking around. At least any you find will most likely be LHD.

Good luck, and keep up posted on your progress!

[AndrewEH1]

I'm currently importing into the UK using Torque GT, going okay so far - car is on a boat now.

They do sometimes 'export' onto other countries like USA so Germany should be simple enough I would have thought!

[bolide]

Japanese market W124s are tempting but are subject to the same failings as UK or German cars. Once you've imported one you have to do all the same repair jobs as a local car, but have paid substantially more for the car in the first place

I've seen, and replaced looms on, customer cars imported from Japan. Caveat Emptor

I used Algy's Autos to import a 190E 2.6 back in 2014. They were super-helpful

Nick Froome

[mooshimi]

Thanks to all of you for the recommendations - it's much appreciated.

@samoht - I didn't know about Goonet, so thank you. Are there any other such websites that you know of?

@bolide - thanks for the input. Unfortunately, there are very few pre-facelift 320TEs in Germany, so this is really about increasing the odds of finding one, or rather, finding the right one.