The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk advice on buying US truck with title for export

hi guys,

im toying with the idea of importing a truck from the US to japan and am concerned about the title as for legal reasons in japan i need the trucks title to show its original manufacturing date and gvw


if someone does a frame swap will the title reflect the age of the new frame or the original truck?

if someone does an engine swap is the year of the engine included in the title?

thanks guys

You're going to be out of luck if they want the manufacture date other than the model year, that's not recorded on the titles as far as I know. Closest you're gong to get is maybe to look for date codes from the engine serial number and/or casting numbers, provided that it is original to the truck. GVW shouldn't be an issue, as that will be on the title.
Same for a frame swap, that generally isn't going to be noted on the title either, nor will the year of the engine if it has been swapped. The titles generally go off whatever year the body is supposed to be.

The short answer to both questions is no and no.

Contact one of the car clubs in that country

...Internet search...

There are a few AD's over there , mostly low-riders


A few trucks like mine are titled and registered by door post numbers.
Probably the majority are titled by engine number.

A truck titled by door post or assigned will probably be the least hassle.

These trucks can be a bear to transfer over here, just make sure the title number can be verified by an inspector.

It is easy to send an OLD (pre-1977) vehicle TO Japan. Anything newer is very, very difficult, as their emissions standards are MORE stringent than the US or Canada are. What is the vehicle titled as? Is it the frame donor or the body, and which numbers are on the registration docs? Since you are in Japan, it's gonna be far easier to get with a Japanese agent and have him help work the issues for you. He's gonna know the rules for bringing a vehicle into the country.

I do not know about other states, but in Arizona if you take a body from one vehicle and a chassis from another you are to take the vehicle to DMV for a marriage title (the legal type).
The title will reflect all serial number data related to the vehicles that parts came from.
You will have to show proper ownership of both donor vehicles and get inspected to insure VINs for both are correct before inclusion in the new title.