It didn’t take long before enterprising individuals began threading the legal loopholes lurking in the Federal Register in a bid to make Skyline importation possible for enthusiasts willing to pony up the cash. You see, at that time, it was theoretically possible for Godzilla to make American landfall, provided all the proper crash testing, emissions, and inspection paperwork were filed with the Department of Transportation. The key phrase being “at that time,” because the illegal actions of the owner of a very high-profile Skyline importer shortly thereafter terminated the R34’s pathway to being legally plated—and in the process, sentenced a generation of Nissan enthusiasts to an insurmountable 25-year barrier to owning this specific model.

As someone who was just getting involved in the import scene right around the time that Motorex was importing Skylines into the United States, I remember how big a deal it was when the company imploded and the DOT came down hard on gray market cars. I didn’t have all the details until I talked to Sean Morris, who worked at Motorex in the thick of it all, for this inside look at what happened there in the early 2000s, and how it affected the R34 market moving forward. Check it out here at Hagerty.