Hi all,

I am interesting in buying a classic Mini which I read quite a bunch of articles on the net and found we can import Minis with assistance of RAWs (Registered Approved Workshop for Specialist and Enthusiast Motor Vehicle Scheme in the terms of our Federal government). I am primarily after the late Rover Minis which has air-conditioning (for the sake of my family) and probably auto (yeah I am lazy). I further went to some UK second car sites and found cheap Minis (but much more expensive compared with our strong currency days) and Japan (which sells lots of late Rover models).

Could anyone give me any opinion on the pros and cons for UK second hand and Japanese second hand? Price range is quite different so I couldn't make up the budget for TCO (total cost of ownership). Very puzzled...

I have brought quite a bit of stuff from Japan, I buy air and oil filters for my Suzuki Swifts from Monter Sport in Japan price wise they work out only slightly dearer then genuine Suzuki parts but are far superior in quality, I have also brought other larger consignments as well using Jessie Streeter to organise shipping, he is very good and I would recommend using his services.
Basically troll the Japanise auction houses and Internet sites, using Google translate or Microsoft translate, be careful here as translation are not the best and sometimes things sound a lot worse then they are. As most site will not export outside of Japan, forward details of car or items you want to Jessie, he will ask for money to be deposited into his Australian bank account to cover cost of purchase and shipping to his warehouse in Japan. he will give you an estimate of costs of shipping etc to you in Australia.
Once he has received goods he will pack and prepare goods for shipping and then give you a final account to to pay. once paid he ships.

Things to note fluids, air-bags, explosives are not allowed unless the seats are still in the car, so when getting a nice set of recaros the air-bags will be removed
Also freight cost on wheels means tires are usually removed as cost with tires is much higher, Jessie will take car of that for you

Jessie can be found at http://jessestreeter.com/

and here is a link to one of the Japanise websites I use http://www.importmonster.com.au/yahoo?c ... 2084048192
This one is about $2700 Australian to buy and looks pretty good to me

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I know j spec are pretty good, plenty of cars on a regular basis if you browse the auction section

http://www.j-spec.com.au/featured/Rover/Mini

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1969 Morris Mini K- 1380cc for driving
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1971 Morris Mini K Panel Van- Still in the barn
2000 Rover Mayfair- Luxury

Thanks Cruiza.

Looks like if we buy/ bid from Yahoo Japan/ Import Monster and get it shipped by Jesse, we still need to find the authorised workshop to get it compliant and roadworthy. Am I right?

Thanks Simon. I visited their workshop yesterday and the gentlemen asked me to talk to their expert Chris and off I go. Just I have no idea on which car to choose (Kensignton, Mayfair, Paul Smith etc.) and I cannot figure out the price.

like anything, buy the best condition and lowest mileage you can afford.

Cars in Japan can still have a lot of rust, not as much as England, but more than here. That red one above looks rusty under the headlights and the bottoms of the doors and just have a look at the big hole at the left hand end of the bonnet shut panel...



it's a front-cut candidate and that's about it I reckon, same deal with this one, it's rooted



those sites are offering to purchase from yahoo auctions on your behalf, but aren't validating that it's a good car. They'd arrive here on a boat, roll in to the workshop, then get pushed right out again and your money is gone.

But then this one here looks sensible (and auto) - it's shown at a mini workshop, it has some tasteful mods (10" wheels, painted roof) and actually has a price tag that you'd expect, rather than looking like a bargain

http://www.importmonster.com.au/view?ur ... 0amp%20com

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Thanks Simon. My favorite site is the following which shows the cars FOB cost at Japan. Unfortunately not cheap though like this one.

http://www.goo-net-exchange.com/usedcar ... index.html

Also when you read USD price you would forget to mark 25% up for AUD...

I like the look of that one, and I would consider that reasonably cheap for a limited edition (though realistically it's nothing flasher than purple paint)... this picture tells a lot, not scrubbed clean or freshly painted, but no signs of surface rust or otherwise.

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this one is really cranky.... because it's an auto

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look at this one - had so much work done to make it look really nice and classic



but the engine bay looks like sh*t

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Oh...you are so picky...

But I reckon engine bay mess is fixable and someone would love to clean it up.

Where did you get the car pic from?

I'm just picking on whoever did the work on it, spend a lot of time and effort on the outside, but completely ignore under the bonnet.... it's the opposite to my approach

Both pics came from the site you linked, I was trawling for cars near where my wife's family live

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