supercharged 850 wrote:
First of all, a majority of these front cuts do not come from wrecked vehicles. Most are perfectly good, rust and dent free, early/mid 90's minis that need to be chopped up before they get containered. If they didnt get chopped up you would be paying more, because a whole car takes up 4x more space for almost no more selling value. And the whole cars cant get complianced here, so why bother filling the container with the bits that wont sell.
Secondly, demand for Rover front cuts is SO high, that Steve basically sells them for a few hundred dollars less than what he can get if he split em all up into seperate pieces. Most of his frontcuts are sold from pictures, before they leave Japan.
They are sold for what they are worth....... which is why Starlets are so cheap - theyre not worth anything, and nobody wants em. You try advertising a Starlet brake booster and see how many people are waiting at your door.
Shop around all you want, or try to import one yourself if you think you can do better. You'll soon find out how many people you NEED to pay before it gets onto your trailer. Dont forget that you need to FIND the car in Japan too....
Its not just imports that are expensive. a completely stuffed BMC or Leyland 1275 still sells for $500 to $1000. Commodore engines sell for maybe 1 or 2 hundred. Why? Cos theyre not worth anything and nobody wants em.
Nobody is forcing you to buy one, but other people are more than willing to take your place in the queue.
The reason that they are cut is twofold
1 they do not need to get approval to bring the bits in( if its a car you need an import approval)
2 freight costs, you can fit a dozen front cuts in a 20ft container and the freight cost stays the same its on the size of cantainer not whats in it
no one said they came from wrecks it just Japan do not want old cars on there roads and they make it hard and expensive to keep them there.
Afraid demand for Rover front cuts is not as high as you think Steve is about the only importer bringing them in, good for him but if there was great demand one of the bigger Jap importers would still be doing it and they all stopped,good for Steve but doesn't mean they are soild for what they are worth, they are sold for what some people will pay for them, big difference
If you want to import one give me a PM as thats what I do and for Ausmini people I help for free and just for example the midas cost $3500 landed all costs paid for on the dock in Sydney so I do know what I am talking about, I do it every second week
Jon
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Roundies and Clubbies(except vans) are both ugly that is why I have Midas and a van
1293 Mini Midas Bronze,1275 Clubman van
I reckon Brickworx may be making a bigger mark up that he should be, but that's his decision and it's a consumers decision whether or not to buy it.
I called and spoke in person with Steve many times about front cuts and almost put a deposit on one but decided it wasn't for me. I got quote 5.5 K for 1.3i, air-con, walnut dash w/gauges, H4 headlights, and with a good front as I was going to make a bar-fridge from it, which would have been cool. But he eventually said he'd take 5 K for it, went to put a deposit but that one got sold earlier that day 
, doesn't matter though I'm happy with what I have. If you were refering to the 4EFTE price... I went and checked, I was wrong, it would be about 1200 for the engine setup without all the front end extras. Not Adelaide jap tho, a sydney company but can't find their web page again!!