How did I come to own a Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) car? 

How in the world did Dave come to own a JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) car?  To be honest, until a few years ago I had never even heard that term.  Maybe in passing, but it didn’t register.   I was never into the Grand Turismo video games which featured a lot of the most famous ones for racing.  Or that entire Fast and the Furious franchise which was all Japan all the time.  I went down the JDM rabbit hole by sheer accident.

Jaclyn was a student at MSU in Bozeman, MT.  During a parent weekend one October (2016 or 2017), Nancy and I got an Airbnb in some random residential area.  It was a loft over someone’s garage.  Not a lot of options in Bozeman.

I got up one morning and looked at the view from the second floor of a well-built pole shed.  First I panned all the homes in the neighborhood, most circa 1905 to post WW1. Then sipped my coffee and looked at all the cars parked bumper to bumper along the street.  Total college town.  Suddenly, there it was.  Directly across from us, I see what looks like a roller skate for the Jolly Green Giant.

I had to know what it was.  Walked out, snapped some pictures, and then teamed up with my friend Google and his pal Mr. Internet.  A Subaru Sambar.  What the hell?  A mini little 4×4 van that looked like a bunch of Shriners would pop out of it and start pitching candy.

After a little more digging, I found these have been in production since 1961, and are currently in their 8th generation.  Better yet, in Japan, some owners like to customize them to look like mini vintage VW vans from the 1960s.

I started to get very interested.  But only if it is something I could find parts for in the US.  Then I discovered it is powered by a MASSIVE 660cc (actually, 663) inline four-cylinder engine.  One which you access by folding down the back bumper.  Yeah, right.  A motorcycle engine in a car.  No way I’m finding anything for this in the US.

However, the JMD van thing kind of caught my interest.  Especially after a couple of beers.  So when I was thumbing thru ‘weird Japanese vans’ (that was my actual Google search), something called a Mitsubishi Delica popped up.  Equally as weird as the Sambra, but bigger and boxier (at least in the 1990s).

Now, this is something I can sink my teeth into.  All the parts are common in the US from other Mitsubishi models sold here, AND there were huge clubs in Canada building all kinds of aftermarket and replacement parts for them (in the US you can only import a vehicle after 25 years, in CAN the 15 fifteen-year rule).  Bonus,  the bulletproof 2.5 Turbo Diesel 4D56 engine is a workhorse and was a very common option.

So I find an importer that has a free database you can register to access, and start causally looking at what’s coming up for auction in Japan.  Nippon has something like 50 auto auction houses that EXPORTS 1.7  million used cars a year from their tiny little island country.

Ever since I let the 1966 Mustang go in 2003, I always knew I’d be into a fun retirement auto project.  Just didn’t know what that would be.  Why not JDM?  So I brought up the subject to Nancy about having a cool little go anywhere-at-anytime 4×4 right-hand steering van parked in the garage.  The response was kind of ‘Go to hell and enjoy driving it alone.’  I can’t have a single-driver vehicle in my stable to feed and care for.  So the van idea was dead.

Sometimes I like to watch the Barrett-Jackson auto auctions to see some of the high-priced classic American muscle cars roll across the bidding block.  The old Thunderbirds, Barracudas, Camaros, all the Pontiacs, and of course Mustangs.  Most popular post-WWII car EVER.

It was a weekend night and I stayed up one whiskey longer than I normally do.  That’s when I heard the announcer say ‘Here is something we don’t see each day.  We have a JDM offering out of Florida.’  JDM?  With all of this classic American metal?  I got closer to the TV.

They wheeled out this glossy black Nissan Figaro.  A one-year production vehicle, fixed pillar convertible, powered by a 1.0-liter turbo.  It went for some absurd amount, but I had already fallen in love.

After causally looking at current auctions in Japan thru that database I had used for vans, I showed it to Nancy and asked what she thought about this stupid little pregnant-jelly-bean-looking thing on four 12-inch tires.  The response was kind of ‘Sure, I’d drive that.’  Suddenly my Spidey senses were tingling.  This might happen.

There is no way I can ever buy something this weird without at least touching and sitting in a physical example of one.  At the time (and even now), they are pretty few and far between in the state of WA.  But there was one import shop in Seattle that had one cleared from customs and up for sale.  May as well give a little shoutout to SODO Motors. 

Nancy and I had a work trip and we would be in Seattle in a couple of weeks.  I arranged a test drive provided it was still available when we were in town.  It was.  Now not to hate on SODO motors, but this Figaro was a real beater.  High miles, torn top, torn seats, inside trashed, engine had a miss, and big holes of rust coming thru both back quarter panels and the rocker plates at the door sills.  Ugh. 

But we got to drive it up and down Airport Way some, and the die was cast.  Yes, this would fit the Wing garage very well, all 12×5.5 feet of it.  They were asking 10k for it, which is kinda sorta right.  I knew from auction research they paid about $1,500 for one in this condition.  Add a few grand for transport/customs/port/title/reg.  Then double that total for your profit.  Makes sense. Everybody has to eat, and you need high margins if you aren’t moving volume (which they don’t).  But if you have a car no one has seen before, the sky could be the limit. With anything this unusual, you have to do your research and remember Caveat Emptor is the word to live by.

Then came the search.  No waiting ten years until I retire to find one.  20,000 of these were made 25 years ago.  A lot of rust in Japan and many have been exported to countries without the 25-year rule.  When/if I find a clean one, the time to buy in now.  I can always store it until I can get to it.

So I found myself looking at the upcoming auctions for the week every Monday.  Applied my search criteria and kept my eye on sales.  When I found something I thought would work, I’d tell my broker in Japan the max I would bid. If you are bored, take a look thru the Database. You can just borrow my username: davwin01 and password: 1966ford.

Then in late September 2018, I bid on a Figaro and won.  Click here for the full YouTube post action walk around. The first week of December some really big Russian guy who worked for the auto carrier I contracted with rolled it off the flatbed in the driveway.  And the rest, as they say, is history.  On the whole, I have been very pleased.  Makes me smile every time I look at it.