J-Spec Imports turns 25 years old!

June 27, 2024

Happy birthday us! This year J-Spec Imports is celebrating it's 25th year, I'd like to thank all of our many customers over this time for their support and custom.

I keep pretty meticulous records and stats, and so I wracked my brain a little to think what interesting facts I could share about our journey over this time without giving away too many secrets to the competition. Without sharing exact numbers I thought I might share the five most popular imports (by number) we've brought in over this 25 years.

In no particular order they are:

Nissan Skyline (R32): this is not a model we deal with any more as they are so difficult to find up to our standard now, but in the early days of importing this was the absolute staple of the industry. We've imported everything from GTR's (the one everybody knows) down to the most basic GXi with a single point fuel injected CA18i engine putting out measly 90hp / 67kW (the one nobody has ever heard of!). These were great cars, it's a shame most are so trashed and rusty today. R33's and R34's aren't far behind, but the R32 being the cheapest of the bunch has been the most popular. Many people think of these as expensive and rare sports cars now, but decades ago they were cheap enough that they were popular for young people on or just off their P-plates.

Nissan Skyline (V35): there was a point in time when these were amazing value to import around the late 2000's, particularly when they dropped below the $20k mark for what was back then a very high spec car. You couldn't find much in Australia that was as well equipped and with this level of performance at such a bargain price, and at the time finding them in very nice condition and with very low mileage was a piece of cake.

Nissan Elgrand (E51): these are no longer importable but were a very popular import throughout the 2010's, being a family van they had a far broader appeal than the niche market that can be sports cars, and there simply wasn't a luxury people mover equivalent on sale in the Australian market at the time.

Toyota Crown (S200): still a popular import today, the S200 Crowns have been a great car for us, the combination of luxury and performance is excellent and these cars now cost just a fraction of what they were when brand new, making them great value for money.

Daihatsu Hijet (S500): another popular import today (we're still importing brand new ones right now), once again these fill a gap in the market that locally available cars do not cater to. These mini trucks are popular for all sorts of uses... we've brought them in for people using them as farm vehicles as a superior (and road registerable) alternative to a side-by-side ATV, they are used by tradies, as commercial vehicles for shops, delivery vehicles, even people modifying them into show cars!

If you'd like to see a history of J-Spec's online presence for the last 25 year, you can click here to see what the web used to look like back in the day.

Here's to another 25 years of importing!