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Mini Cooper crushed in the name of the law

16 December, 2014

In a bid to crush the illegal trade of vehicles between the UK and the US, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has been doing some crushing of their own.

The images doing the rounds online are of a Mini Cooper — illegally imported and unsafe — being crushed after it was seized by CBP.

The seizure was for what appears to be a fraudulent vehicle identification number (VIN), where the vehicle was manufactured in the 2000s, but sold as a 1988 model, which would have met the 25-year rule. In the US, vehicles over 25 years of age are exempt from EPA emissions standards and DOT safety ratings, but newer vehicles that do not comply must be brought to compliance, exported, or destroyed. Check out the destruction of the Mini Cooper below.

A fraudulent VIN is a pretty common occurrence, where the vehicle is represented on import entry documentation as being 25 years or older, but may be newer, illegally reconfigured, or even reconstructed from the parts of older vehicles.

Over the past year CBP has increased targeting and inspections of suspect imported vehicles, primarily Minis and Land Rover Defenders, as part of Operation Atlantic — a new trans-Atlantic partnership between US and UK regulatory and law enforcement officials. Following inspections of more than 500 vehicles, the operation has led to several criminal investigations in both countries.

We’re pretty fond of complaining about how difficult the import and VIN process is over in our corner of the globe, but somebody somewhere has always got it worse!

NZ Classic Car magazine, July/August 2026 issue 406, on sale now

21 June, 2026

Rebirth of a brilliant Grand Tourer –1973 Datsun 240Z
How often do we long for that ultimate dream sports car, and that dream comes true? This is about one of the most influential Japanese cars of all time, a car that changed the sports car market.
This is about much more than the restoration of an iconic classic sports car, the 240Z. It’s about the culmination of a dream over many years and the friendships made. It’s about the people who helped and the professionals whose approach ensured that the dream became a reality, an attitude typical of the industry we call ‘classic restoration experts’.
It is no surprise that the outcome after a lengthy search by Conrad Van der Geest for the right Datsun 240Z culminated in a trophy for the best Japanese car at this year’s Caroline Bay Beach, Rock N’ Hop at Timaru.
Originally a roadworthy car in running order, it was left-hand-drive and had been driven for several years by its Timaru owner, as Conrad explains.
“A neighbour, Dave Barron, knew I was looking for one and introduced me to the owner. I had seen the car being driven around Timaru. It was unusual for one of these coming originally from California, so it was a really clean car instead of rusty, as they are prone to rust. The story goes that the grandfather passed it onto his grandson, who decided to sell it, and that’s when it came over here.”
Every issue comes with our FREE huge wall poster; this issue, it’s our cover car for this edition, a 1973 Datsun 240Z

The butterfly effect

18 June, 2026

The man on the mountain bike pedalled over, taking it all in. Gazing in wonderment at this small Japanese coupe with butterfly doors, he said, “Wow, I have never seen one of these before. What is it?” When I told him it was a Toyota, he nearly fell off his bike.
The Toyota Sera is unique amongst ’90s Japanese coupes. The Sera, which is Italian for ‘evening’, can trace its roots back to Toyota’s AXV-II concept car. Launched as part of a trio of Toyota concept cars at the 1987 Tokyo Motor Show, it shared its underpinnings with the P70 Toyota Starlet. The similarities ended there, thanks to the AXV-II’s low-slung and rounded coupe styling with butterfly doors. These doors were held upright by gas struts when fully open. Glass covered the upper section of the doors and the rear hatchback.
These features, much to everyone’s surprise, were carried over to the production Sera in 1990. Toyota marketed the Sera, which means ‘will be’ in Spanish and ‘princess’ in Hebrew, as a funky alternative to the much-loved MR2.