Provide Cars

2010 Auctions Start

stephen — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:09:43 +0000

Happy new year from all of us here at Provide Cars! As you may have spotted, the auctions started up again on January 6th, Japan time, so if you haven’t checked out the latest cars at the auctions yet, make sure you do!

All of us here at Provide Cars would like to make sure that you have a really great 2010, so if there is anything we can do to help you to get the vehicles you want from the car auctions here in Japan, please do contact us as we will be happy to help.

New Year Break

stephen — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:40:33 +0000

I can’t believe we are coming up to Christmas and the end of 2009 already, but here we are - another year gone. We hope this has been a good year for you despite the difficult economic times we are all going through at the moment.

Now just so that you know what is happening, please write the following dates in your diaries:

2009 end of year closing

Office: The last day the office will be open in 2009 will be December 25th.
Bidding: The last day that we will be bidding on cars will be the following day, December 26th.

2010 new year opening

Office and Bidding: The first day the office will be open and also the first day we will be bidding in the auctions in 2010 will be January 6th.

Remember all of the dates above are Japan time. Please also be aware that all of our suppliers (transportation companies, shipping lines etc) will also be closing their offices over the new year period, so even if our offices were open, we would not be able to get anything done. So, make sure if you have any pressing issues that you contact us prior to the office closing so that we can get things sorted out for you before everything shuts down.

We hope you enjoy the break and we are looking forward to having a great year together with you in 2010.

USS Yokohama - November 30th

stephen — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:05:01 +0000

USS Yokohama will be held on Monday November 30th instead of its usual day, which is Tuesday.

Even if you do not usually check the auctions that take place on Monday in Japan due to the time difference, you may want to make the effort for this coming Monday’s auctions as USS Yokohama is a large auction with a good selection of vehicles.

Japan Car Exports Top Ten - August Winners and Losers

stephen — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:35:09 +0000

The results are in and we can see which of the top ten destinations for Japanese used car exports are up and which are heading down.

Winners in the top ten export destinations for Japanese used vehicles in August:

Thailand
Philippines
South Africa
Kenya
New Zealand

Losers from the top ten countries in the Japan used vehicle export market in August:

UAE
Russia
Chile
Bangladesh
Uganda

Frowning Monobrow - Ferrari 458 Italia Borrows From Nissan Silvia S15

stephen — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:23:06 +0000

Well, that is what I think at least. These pics don’t really show it so clearly, but take a look at an S15 Nissan Silvia in the flesh, and the front end / light cluster “frowning mono-brow” look is remarkably similar to the face of the new Ferrari 458 Italia.

The Ferrari looks meaner, as well it should costing many bucket-loads of pachinko winnings more than the Nissan, but the underlying concept is the same, surely? Take a look and see what you think:

Nissan Silvia S15

Wannabe Nissan Silvia

Auction Finds: Electric Porsche 356 Speedster

stephen — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:55:35 +0000

Want to combine the classy looks of the original Porsche Speedster with the efficiency and low-down torque of electric motors. Can’t wait for a Tesla Roadster, or looking for something cheaper and not as common? This might be the answer.

Click here to see all the details on the eBay auction page.

Auction Finds: BMW 2000 CS Coupe

stephen — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:04:42 +0000

This 2000CS BMW was in the auction last week, a grade 2 selling for almost 400,000 Yen. This model was made between 1965 and 1968. To my eyes the styling is pleasantly modern, although maybe not to everyone’s tastes. Apparently, the 2800CS is more popular, but if you want an affordable and classy classic, this could be the one for you.

(Click image to see more detail.)

Want to find out more about the Japanese car auctions? Click here.

Japanese License Plates / Regsitration Plates

stephen — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 06:40:29 +0000

For some reason I have had a couple of people ask me independently over the last few days whether we could help them get authentic Japanese license plates for their cars to give them that real JDM look. Anyway, I thought this would be of interest to others, so this is the story:

You can sometimes find real Japanese plates on sale on eBay. I would say that at best these are in a legal gray area, and at worst their sale is illegal. Basically, when a car is exported or (I believe) when it is recycled here, the original license plates have to be returned to the Rikuun Kyoku (the Department of Transportation). We have had some plates hanging around a few years ago, but that was when someone had sent them to us in error and we could not figure out who to return them to. Even with these, we passed them on to the Department of Transportation anyway as we knew that would be where they were supposed to end up.

So the only ways you could get your hands on authentic plates in Japan would be to either steal them from a parked car, or to remove them from an abandoned vehicle. The latter may or may not be technically illegal, but the former definitely would be.

If you want a sort-of authentic-looking plate, you can order one from this site. The thing is, any real Japanese person will immediately be able to spot it as a fake, as the kanji at the top are clearly supposed to be “Nagano”, but they are written in the reverse order.

Silver Week Vacation 2009

stephen — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 06:04:23 +0000

September 21 to 23rd (inclusive) is a new set of public holidays in Japan which is clumsily entitled “Silver Week“, for wont of a better name.

The “Golden Week” holiday right at the end of April and the start of May has been around for a number of decades now, but this new extended holiday in September is a new one. The idea is that by sticking a number of public holidays together it will encourage people to get out, travel and, most importantly, spend money to stimulate the economy.

If you are a Provide Cars’ customer or potential customer, this has the following significance for you:

Date	Day	Bidding	Office
Sept 19th	Saturday	Open as usual	Closed as usual
Sept 20th	Sunday	Closed as usual	Closed as usual
Sept 21st	Monday	Open as usual	Closed for holiday
Sept 22nd	Tuesday	Open as usual	Closed for holiday
Sept 23rd	Wednesday	Open as usual	Closed for holiday
Sept 24th	Thursday	Open as usual	Open as usual
Sept 25th	Friday	Open as usual	Open as usual

(All times are Japan time.)

So, as you can see, bidding will be running as usual and all the auctions will be operating the same as any other week. Of course, we will also try to respond to urgent communications as best as possible, but please note that many companies whose services we use will also be closed during the same period that our office will be closed, so it may not be possible to resolve some questions until everything re-opens again on September 24th.

Thank you for your patience during this time, and have a great Silver Week!

Auction Finds: Morgan Plus Four

stephen — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:15:24 +0000

Morgan is one of those quintessential English marques. Not only has it got a long and glorious history, but it let’s its classic heritage all hang out - even when creating an all new model with advanced materials, like the Aero 8.

From the 1.99 liter engine displacement mentioned for this particular Plus 4, we can guess it was made between 1953 and 1962, although all we know from the auction is that it was first registered in Japan in 1995. As for how much it will fetch, like the Mini Moke in my last post, it is one of those cars that is so rare that it is impossible to predict a market price.