‘71 Skyline Hakosuka

Kevin and I started to schedule FaceTime calls to do a walk through of the exterior, interior, and engine bay of the Hako. Kevin being the care taker for nearly 15 years has taken great care of the car. He was able to check his bucket list of the things he wanted to experience with it and finally decided it was time to let it go to a new owner. He sent me videos of him driving it aggressively and it solidified that the car was in a strong running condition. I also found videos on YouTube of the car being featured on a few automotive channels and online articles. One article in particular that had me emotional was titled Farewelling a JDM Icon written on SpeedHunters by Kevin himself. He wrote about how the Hako was part of his daily routine, the unique driving experience behind the wheel, and his thoughts on selling it. Here are some gorgeous photos from the article.

I wanted to see the car in person and get a chance to test drive it but traveling to Sydney, Australia was out of the picture as I was working on a big video production job at that time. For now I could only imagined myself being in the driver’s seat and hearing the rumble of the motor. I was also extremely honored and blessed that Kevin and I connected and he decided that I was going to be the new caretaker of the JDM icon.

We agreed on the sale on September 9, 2022 and I was one step closer to obtaining the Hako. There were a few things we had to sort out with the logistics of exporting from Australia and importing into the port of Long Beach. After taking to my broker and the exporting company it seemed doable. We started filling out the documents and made the necessary payments for transportation but shortly found out that the exporting company couldn’t get the car into a vessel by RORO (roll on roll off) until the end of November 2022. So we waited…

In the meantime Kevin started to ship some extra goodies like the front spoiler, (to protect it from scraping and breaking while being loaded on and off transportation trucks and the vessel) two extra Watanabe wheels for the front, spare keys, and some books for eye candy.

On November 15, 2022 I sealed the deal and paid him the remaining balance. Timing was quite great because of the conversion rate from USD to AUD was stronger it practically paid for the shipping expenses.

At last the Hako was picked by a transport truck from Kevin’s house on November 22, 2022 to set sail overseas!

We had tracked it online and had us puzzled why it was heading to Kobe, Japan. We could have only guessed it was picking up more JDM cars. Lol. Then it went to Texas and then crossed the Panama Canal? Either way, Long Beach was going to be the Hako’s final destination.

My health and mental health started to decline in December due to a hectic schedule. My health kept plummeting in January and was finally admitted to a hospital in February 2023. During this time I was unaware that the Hako arrived to the port of Long Beach. All my plans of picking up the Skyline and registering it was thrown out the window. God willingly, my friend Sean who introduced me to my broker contacted my wife to pick the Hako up before occurring additional storage fees. And so on March 3, 2023 Kathrina and my mother headed to the port of Long Beach to receive the Hako.

With a dead battery, no fuel, registration or insurance the only way to get the car home was to tow it. Luckily our good friend Jose heard what was happening and arranged a tow truck to take it to my mother’s house since our garage wasn’t ready to fit two cars at that time. The Hako sat in my mothers garage for the next two and a half months until I saw it for the first time.