any FTO owners out there? anyone know how to aquire one in the states and what the law says about right hand drive in the US. also, i am a right hand drive "virgin", and was curious as to the pedal order on a righthand drive car, on a manual, is the pedal order clutch-brake-gas from left to right, as on a left hand drive car, or is it reversed on a righthand drive car? just curious, because im seriously considering getting one shipped over if i can find amanual '97 or '98FTO GPX in black or silver for a reasonable price (between $10&amp;20G). get back to me, if anyone out there knows anything about this...</P>

 

The Pedal order on a right hand drive car is
Clutch-Brake-Gas from left to right.

 

<FONT color=black>Unless you've got deep pockets, don't even bother looking for prices on legalizing an fto over here. $10-$12k? Add another $200k to that. US DOT and import laws are "very" strict. Unless the car has a comparable US counterpart that has undergone crash testing and emissions, *you* will need to pay for it to have all these things done on the car you're importing. You can't fool the DOT either and say it's related to an eclipse or mirage, They do thorough research with manufacturers and the EPA and double check everything. This isn't as easy as the grey market vehicles in europe. You can get a car shipped over here for cheap, about $500 USD, but then if you go with a legit transporter(and the US port authorities only allow legit transporter) you'll have to pay roll-on roll-off taxes. The taxes aren't like 8% either, it goes upwards of 200% of the value of imported goods. As you can see, RHD might seem likethe only problemto you, but it means nothing to the DOT. They have to worry about other things. Did you realize that if the DOT allows you to drive a vehicle that wasn't crashed approved and you get into an accident with another person, you can both sue the DOT for quite a bit of money. Just to give you a break down, You buy an fto and get it shipped over here. You pay taxes which more than double the price you originally wanted to spend. Then the DOT puts a hold on the car for 6-8 months while they research the car. They disassemble the entire car and check for drugs or stolen parts, or to see if the car is stolen in japan or europe and then sold to a US buyer. They then release the car. But before you can drive it or even register it, you need to provide proof of crash testing and emmisions testings. If you're wondering how they perform crash testing, have you ever those those tv commercials with the crash test dummies? Now picture them in your fto. You will need a fleet of cars or some very deep pockets to repair damages. Once they've crashed your car several times from several different angles and several different speeds, they give you the results and tell you what you need to add or change on the car to be DOT approved. You then take take the car to DOT approved shop and show them the results. They add braces andparts on the car. Now take your fto back to crash testing and repeat the proccess. They'll crash it again and give results and then you get it braced again. When it finally is approved, you need to get it emissions tested. A mivec equipped fto may pass, but no one knows. No one has ever tried. When you do get it able to pass emissions, you take the pass papers from crash and emmisions testing back to the DOT and they ask a bunch of questions. If you don't answer the questions to their specifications, you'll be issued a special registration that is equal to a collectors car oroff-road car. Then you can't drive the car more than 1,000 miles per year oron public roads. If you do get a normal registration, then you're good to go. But you've just spent enough money to buy a brand new 360 stradale. Also, if you don't complete the testings within a certain period of time, usually less than 6 months, the government will seize the car and auction it off for export only. And you won't get a refund. Just buy a ferrari.</FONT></P>