Start A Relationship With A 25 Year Old!

1995 Honda Integra R

Dear USA Car Fanatics,

You might have noticed that all of the cars on the planet Earth come in two flavors, chocolate and vanilla. I mean, cars that are sold in our country, and cars that are NOT sold in the USA. You can pretty much just look around outside, or watch some TV commercials, and read some magazines (remember those?) to see what cars are sold here. Most of the cars sold here are trucks, and SUVs, but for now we'll just say cars. Of course, if you're in the military, there is a three letter acronym for the three letter word car: POV. Your POV is your Personally Owned Vehicle, so please don't get confused by this Point of View (POV).

Anyway, so there's all these trucks/suvs/cars sold here and then there are the cars made just for other countries. Shoot, some of them would be illegal to import here, because they may not be built to meet the US mandated safety standards or whatever our MPG and pollution requirements are right now. For all I know they still have Fred Flintstone cars with brake-by-foot or coal-powered cars somewhere. However...

There is this little law that allows cars that are at least 25 years old to be imported, regardless of the safety and pollution controls. This has created a bit of a cottage cheese, I mean, cottage industry of folks that import these gray market autos. So, if you're looking for the latest 25 year old cars to import now that it's 2020, here's a couple of cool cars to consider. Lucky for you, you can read this article in Motor Trend that lays out their picks: MotorTrend25YearOlds

You might have heard of the Acura Integra R, which came to the USA in 1997, but, two years earlier in Japan there was the Honda Integra R. Hey, my math isn't the greatest, but I bet 1995 is at least 25 years ago, so why not get a cool (acronym warning) JDM Honda Integra R? (JDM=Japanese Domestic Market)

Or if you need an Italian auto that wasn't sold here way back in 1995, how about the Alfa Romeo 146? They weren't selling any Alfas here in 95, and this car certainly isn't a Ferrari or anything like that, but you'd likely be the only one on your block to be driving one. Only one in your county or state more likely!

Way back in 1995, before we formed NMS, Brian and I moved to Germany, so, if you're looking for a cool German auto from that year to import, how about a BMW Alpina B8? The Motor Trend folks say it's based on a 3 series, but wait a minute. Way back then the biggest motor in the 3 was a 6 cylinder, but this Alpina B8 has an 8 cylinder. Again, using math, that's at least like 2 more cylinders!!

BMW Alpina B8

All the cars mentioned here make GREAT Father's Day gifts!