How about NO! This is an often discussed to death topic on D-90, of which you can find every out of the box concept discussed. There are 3 different kind of market classifications: white, grey and black. White means it was built to meet US spec and legally imported as a production vehicle. Grey means it wasn't, but was made to be after the fact, and legally inspected and authorized by the BIG 2 federal agencies: EPA and DOT. Black means it was slipped in, not federally compliant and a big risk. Taking a series frame, and swapping everything to include the vin plates, is illegal. federal offense. I can see in this picture that his "defender" has coil springs, not leaf as originally. My guess is he either coiled the series spring, or swapped the vin (marginally wrong and federal offense wrong respectively). DOT strictly prohibits the importation of RHD vehicles-period. So this was most likely built from parts, or brought in technically illegally. States may or may not comply with all or some of EPA and DOT regulations. If you bought a black market vehicle, which this is, and you try to register it in another state other than the state he successfully bamboozled, then you face the risk of having the state DOT give you the finger on inspection for registration.
Don't get me wrong, it makes me sick that there aren't more defenders here, and I can TOTALLY empathize with anyone wanting to roll the dice and buy a black market defender that got a US state title. But be clear, you are rolling the dice. If you don't ever plan on moving, and the title is in the state you are already living in, and you never plan to sell it, ever, then I say go for it. Also, if you are ok with risking $50-$100k on a purchase that may get denied for registration post-purchase, again go for it. But consider this, if the EPA or DOT find out, what normally happens is they seize the vehicle and crush it. And no amount of But, But, but... will stop it.
I have learned all this from many others (1st hand and 2nd hand info) in my enormous research prior to buying my 110. After all that, in the end, I ponied up and bought an NAS 110 with a legal vin.
Btw, the 15 year rule is for Canada; we have a 25 year rule...again, sucks for us. good news is we are only a year or 2 away from the first production years for defenders.
got to east coast rovers website, as they are the SME's on defenders in the US, and spell it out quite significantly on their website.
http://www.eastcoastrover.com/
Given all that, it is a nice 110. break my heart to see it crushed. If you live in NC (I do!) then go for it, and don't publicly bragg about your vehicle. If you go NAS like I did, then bragg on, cause you're legit.
. I thought that was some sort of exeption deal since it is always government vehicles. Where I live (the wilds of n. Illinois) the mail lady sits on the passenger seat of her civic. I suppose I'll take this this moment to thank all the good folks of the US Postal service.. tuff job and like Newman says "The mail never stops."
