Tsunamis, Monsoons, and Earthquakes, Oh MY! - A journey to Canada from Japan for my little CR-X EF8

After receiving pictures from two different people trying to sell me the same car, my first reaction was that someone was trying to play a cruel joke on me. I called Dieter and he told me that his contact in Japan was the same guy that Allan uses to import his cars as well. He also assured me that the car was his, and if I didn’t want it he was still bringing it to Canada and would sell it when it got here. I called and confirmed his story with Allan who offered me some other CR-Xs that would be coming up at auction later in the week, but I said I didn’t want them. That was the CR-X I wanted, even if it ended up costing more money.


The next day I put a deposit down on the CR-X. And then I started to worry...


My mind raced with all the terrible possibilities and scenarios. Earthquakes, tsunamis, monsoons, boats sinking, trains de-railing! I was a nervous wreck. Then I heard on the news March 20th, 2005, there had, in fact, been an earthquake in Fukuoka Japan. I looked up Fukuoka Japan on the atlas to see how far away it was from Nagoya where my car was patiently waiting for the next boat to Canada. Luckily they looked far enough apart, so I was somewhat relieved but still a little shaken. I wanted that car out of Japan and in my driveway ASAP!

Nagoya, Japan

To try and take my mind off of worrying, I began planning my build. I started by examining the few pictures I had, trying to decide what parts I could keep and what parts I could sell, calculating how much money I could get for them so I could afford other pieces, etc.

I was lucky enough to find a set of unused Mugen Pro.2 "CR-X" door decals at auction in Japan. I was considering keeping the Mugen sides that were coming with the car, and I already had a rear spoiler for Project 88 (which I fell in love with back in 1996 when I saw my very first one). 

But, I think what sealed the deal on making the new CR-X project into "Project PRO.2" was finding a set of used 15" Mugen MR5 wheels on the Yahoo Japan auction site. I made arrangements with Dieter that for $100 he would have his contact in Japan place the wheels inside a car (mine or another) that he was sending over, and I could pick them up locally. That saved me about $300 in shipping. (I had the decals sent directly to me from my own contact overseas via EMS) 

The car was scheduled to leave the middle of March, but there were some problems with finding a boat leaving Japan with space on it for my car. Apparently they had to ship it about 400kms from Nagoya to Yokohama by truck in order to get it out on the boat to Canada by the end of the month.

More delays kept it leaving Japan until the beginning of April when she finally set sail on the vehicle carrier ship "Pacific Explorer".

Remember, this blog was written in chronological order so, you will need to click OLDER POSTS to move forward in time, and click NEWER POSTS to go backwards.