Spotted in Tokushima/ Japan a Discovery 1

China requires you to get local plates and even a local drivers license (including a local guide, you pay for... mandatory)

Japan does not require such things, see the grizzly n bear episode: https://youtu.be/Wt4_z7n9jps't=471

That indeed leaves two possibilities, it is a local car and they spend a lot to have/keep it there :) It could be original or a rebadged Honda (which had nothing Honda in or on it except the logo) to look like a landrover again.

In any case, good find! Those things must be rare as hens teeth.

Cheers,
-P

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Saitch

Preferable to 'Laddies'.

---

You know 'er indoors better than me.[biggrin]

The following is about the Discovery 1 in Japan:

The Story Behind the Honda Crossroad: A Rebranded Land Rover Discovery - JGS4x4 Land Rover Parts

That aside, the Jap spec was unique in some regards, mostly electrical. (lighting, alarm system and such small things).

At one time all cars in Japan were limited to, I recall, to 5 years, after which they either had to be scrapped, or undergo expensive reconditioning. While I lived in Thailand there were a lot of them imported there after whatever the allowed life period was. The problem with importing them was that they had to be dismantled and bought in as parts to avoid most of the import duties.

I cannot find it now, but I have a photo somewhere of a P38 Range Rover cut in half! The car had about 20k kms on the clock! We removed the valve rocker covers and it was obvious that the milage was correct, it was spotless. One of the dealers had a workshop in Japan and used to have them prepared to order for shipment. The bodies were cut just behind the "A" pillar, so there was not a great loss of panels as the doors were removed before hand and the roof removed. The wiring was removed complete without damage, and had the same plugs and connectors, just a few different switches and functions.

Apart from the wiring, which could be a trap, most of the rest of the car was standard factory spec. There used to be, maybe still is, different specs for different markets in the same production year. I had a D1 ES, and it had the similar specs to those built for the Middle East market.

Not sure if you could do that with an EV! :twisted:

I know of at least one 110 in Tokushima prefecture, a lightly restomodded one that was delivered in the last year.

YES, the tax there (called 'shakken') is VERY expensive and designed to support the Japanese auto industry by making it cost prohibitive to keep classics road worthy.

Shakken creates a bit of a cottage industry where people (including all foreign residents I know who buy vehicles) get 'new to them' used cars every few years at a low price, as people dump them to avoid having the legal responsibility of disposal once Shakken permits run out.

Many also end up getting a 'free vacation' at the end...... as there are boats in Hokkaido that will buy them for enough to cover the road trip up to deliver them, then the train ride back. Once loaded on those boats, they end up all over mainland Asia - Russia, China, Vietnam, even Afghanistan, etc.

.... were sold there from the start - I had a look at a D1 in one of the Tokyo dealerships around 1993. I've posted a few times about the very low ks examples on sale in Japan. Also about the D4s that were on sale over there not having low range.

As examples of D1s:

Search for used - Japanese used cars. | Goo-net Exchange

Low ks:

LAND ROVER DISCOVERY Other | 1994 |
L GREEN | 25565 km | details.- Japanese used cars.Goo-net Exchange

Defenders:

Search for used - Japanese used cars. | Goo-net Exchange

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Old Farang

The following is about the Discovery 1 in Japan:

The Story Behind the Honda Crossroad: A Rebranded Land Rover Discovery - JGS4x4 Land Rover Parts

That aside, the Jap spec was unique in some regards, mostly electrical. (lighting, alarm system and such small things).

At one time all cars in Japan were limited to, I recall, to 5 years, after which they either had to be scrapped, or undergo expensive reconditioning. While I lived in Thailand there were a lot of them imported there after whatever the allowed life period was. The problem with importing them was that they had to be dismantled and bought in as parts to avoid most of the import duties.

I cannot find it now, but I have a photo somewhere of a P38 Range Rover cut in half! The car had about 20k kms on the clock! We removed the valve rocker covers and it was obvious that the milage was correct, it was spotless. One of the dealers had a workshop in Japan and used to have them prepared to order for shipment. The bodies were cut just behind the "A" pillar, so there was not a great loss of panels as the doors were removed before hand and the roof removed. The wiring was removed complete without damage, and had the same plugs and connectors, just a few different switches and functions.

Apart from the wiring, which could be a trap, most of the rest of the car was standard factory spec. There used to be, maybe still is, different specs for different markets in the same production year. I had a D1 ES, and it had the similar specs to those built for the Middle East market.

Not sure if you could do that with an EV! :twisted:

---

Shaken is a strict roadworthy test. Of course, if your car keeps getting broken speedos and never gets over the cut-off ks then it never comes up ....

We looked at buying a grey market Nissan El Grand here a couple of years ago - EVERY vehicle we saw had had its speedo wound back by up to a 100,000 kms and the Japanese registration docs altered to match.

How did we know? Because the scam artists here in Australia knew how to alter the registration docs but they didn't know what the other documents were saying, and a lot of those docs had the actual kms on them. Why wasn't it obvious to them? Because the Japanese don't use all roman numerals, they use a mixture of roman numerals and kanji - 10万 means 100,000, which the scammers obviously didn't know.