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Motorex - The Sh*t Show - EP.35
Motorex - The Sh*t Show - EP.35
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About this episode
The episode dives deep into the story of MotorX, the first company to import and federalize Nissan Skylines in the U.S. Hosts Bobby and Aaron recount the rise and fall of MotorX, detailing how founder Hero Saki's ambition led to a series of missteps, including financial mismanagement and legal troubles. They discuss the impact of MotorX on the car community, the challenges of federal regulations, and how one man's actions shaped the market for imported cars for years to come. The episode is rich with anecdotes and insights into the automotive import scene.
Topics:
motorx history
import regulations
nissan skylines
financial mismanagement
legal troubles
car community impact
founder stories
federalization process
In this episode we talk about the Sh*t show we called Motorex.
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Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
Car
G-Class G Wagon
"...bying and car companies and whatnot. And it was a G wagon specifically is why I see. And that that happened..."
Car
Chevrolet C10
"...ll of them, not just 32s and 33s, 34s, right? The C10s and the C110s. He also was bringing in and went."
Select text to request an explanation
Hey, and welcome back.
I'm Bobby.
This is Aaron.
Yo.
And this is episode 35.
And we were talking about it and we figured, hey, why not just elaborate on the MotorX thing.
Right.
Yeah.
MotorX.
Yeah, just because a lot of people may be listening to the last episode or like, well,what's MotorX and instead of having you go somewhere else to find out about it, themind will just hear it straight from us.
Yeah.
Why not, right?
Well, just kind of give the brief little overview for anyone who has no idea like what'sMotorX.
Right.
Where did you first come across MotorX?
It was like back in the early, not early days of the internet, but the early days ofme cruising car stuff on the internet.
And I mean, it was, was it even like maybe my space?
Like a dude posting about how you could import.
Was it?
Probably.
I honestly can't remember.
But I do remember when you asked me if I remember going to the website, I definitely rememberreading the about on the website, for sure.
What about you?
When did you hear about it?
I'm not sure exactly where I heard about it.
It was probably one of those magazines, you know, back in the day.
I probably saw it on a car or something.
Yeah.
Google that maybe, but I remember going, I remember just typing in motorX.com and it
taken me to this oil website, motorX oil.
You're like, where the scaling?
Yeah, yeah, cool, but like, skylines, where they had.
I'm going to check those.
But yeah, I mean, I do remember finding the website eventually and it was just like, Idon't know, I just, from what I can remember, it was just picture of these cars.
Like, you could tell they parked super tight together in some warehouse and they alwaysseemed dusty or something weird.
So pretty much anywhere else in Japan where they're keeping cars?
Yeah, probably, I mean, who knows?
Yeah, they were probably still in Japan at that point, but they were like selling them,they had them for sale.
They are more of the prices on them than everything.
I'm like, that's pretty wild.
But like, didn't understand, obviously.
And people thought that that was a really high price back then?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, for an R34, definitely.
That's still $125,000 a car.
So like, back then, it's still kind of new and on top of that, it's kind of wild.
They haven't really depreciated at all.
Yeah, because you can still go out and get one for $125,000.
Yeah, for sure.
So yeah, I mean, those didn't really sell that often, I don't imagine, but they did sell,all the lower models as well.
So, but what is MotorX?
You know, before we get into the models and all that, like, what is it?
So MotorX was supposed to be this company that imported these Skylines and got them federalizedby doing crash testing and modifying things like the door bars and glass and things like that.
And pretty much getting it up to the standards.
Yeah, yeah, for the US highways pretty much.
It was, it had to go through that to get it up to spec because they were never sold here.
Yeah, so DOT, EPA, all that.
Yeah, yeah, and the NITSA and all that.
And so--And emissions for California as well.
So like, that's a whole different thing on top of, you know, doing the federal crash test.
Right, right, especially if they were selling it in California.
Yeah, which yeah, we're based out of.
Which makes sense.
Where yeah, they were in Gardini, California in a little industrial park next to anotherperformance shop.
Blast racing, I think it was.
Yeah, something like that.
Yeah, and so there-- basically, there was a guy, a hero, Saki, and Nanoshie.
And he was working as an exporter to what was he exporting out of the US.
So he was exporting astrovans.
Wow.
What the heck?
Yeah.
To Japan.
To Japan, they were like super popular over there.
They were like, considered a maxi van.
So like, they're a big car for Japan.
You know, if you're used to seeing these little caveans.
Right, we're in small stuff.
Yeah, yeah, they're like a big thing over there.
And they also exported, like, you know, custom low riders and things like that that.
Yeah.
They're also a big deal in Japan.
Yeah, so he was pretty much like the opposite of what everybody's trying to do now.
Right, right, right.
Except for Japan doesn't have like the 25 year law.
Right.
Like, the US does.
That's like a US-specific thing.
I see.
Is like the 25 year old.
Right.
Because what, like Mercedes and BMW and everybody was lobbying because the importation into Americaof all these different cars was hurting their sales in America.
Yeah, yeah, because people were buying these cars brand new and like brand new in their homecountries.
And they were exporting them to the United States and undercutting the dealerships.
So right, right, right.
So they're, yeah, they were, they got pissed and you know, went and they made a specificlaw for them to stop doing that.
Which is wild the power of lobbying and car companies and whatnot.
And it was a G wagon specifically is why I see.
And that that happened in like, I believe 88 it ended up passing.
So so basically he worked for this company and this is where he met like the higher upboss of this company that he worked for.
And when the stock market crashed, the higher up boss was looking for something to investhis money in.
And hero had always had the dream of importing skylines into America and you know, makingthem legal.
And so he convinced Mr. Soami who was a higher up boss to loan him a million dollars.
And so then he could import sky.
US, right?
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
And so he did that and you know, that's kind of how he started funding it.
Right.
Yeah.
And so I guess at that point, you know, he kind of just started importing like a bunch oflike the skyline models.
Yeah.
Yeah, like all of them, not just 32s and 33s, 34s, right?
The C10s and the C110s.
He also was bringing in and went.
Those that were already 25 years old, right?
So those were all good.
Those are all good.
Yeah.
But so that's pretty cool.
That is cool.
He never hear about those.
Right.
And that's what I was going to say was they don't talk about the 33s, the 32s or the C modelsthat he brought in.
They never talk about that.
They only talk about the R34s.
Weird.
Yeah, which is weird, right?
Because Sean Morris, who we've talked about in previous episodes, that owns Top Rank,he worked for MotorX.
He was one of the partners of Hero.
Right.
And he says that basically they were only selling one or two cars a month and a lot of times.
Those were 33s and 32s.
Right.
So the lower price models.
Right.
They were saying that you could get it done by MotorX for under 50 grand for 32 or 33.
At that point, what stood back then, that's still like, I mean, with all of the decent money.
Well, it is decent money, but that is like federalized, right?
Right.
Like, that's like after everything.
So if they're saying it's $16,000, so Sean Morris did say in here, it's 16 grand for theservice.
If you found your own car and they had to federalize it for you, it's $16,000.
Yeah.
That's great.
That's not much.
Really, if you, it is, but it's not.
Right.
It's not to have like one of these cars 10 years before you're supposed to be able to haveit.
Yeah.
And I don't know how much like that, the car testing cost.
Nowadays, because you still have to do that to get any of these imported cars into Californiaand to register them there.
Like I wonder how much that is nowadays comparatively to back then.
Yeah.
Because another thing that they were talking about was some of the modifications that theywould have to do beyond the door bars in the glass and whatever else were proprietary, twomotor X.
And they still don't have any even released what those things were that they were doing,which I'm sure were small little little things.
But like, you know, that's just interesting how that happens.
Yeah, the secret.
Yeah.
And so right now, right, the story that we're telling, it sounds awesome.
It sounds like what?
This guy like he did it.
He created a shop.
He's getting Skylines or Skylines wall to wall.
He's getting some orders.
Yeah.
They literally had them crash tested.
Right.
Yeah.
That's crazy in itself, dude.
Can you imagine going through all this trouble to get this car over here so you can sendit to a lab in Wisconsin so they can smash it?
Smash it.
That would be wild.
And that's so for those though they were using the lower models.
Right, right.
But still do like, that's just like a long piece of the process.
Yeah.
And like, dude, just imagine like, luckily they could do like use one car from multiple tests.
But just do it.
Just imagine just smash and Skylines.
And you'd probably actually be exciting because you're like making that progress to fulfillthe goal in that sense.
I mean, it's probably you're like, yeah, hurry up smash it.
Right.
Like, let's go.
You know, if that's what you were into, like who knows this dude hero who doesn't sound likehe was like in for the love of it, right?
He was in the form.
It seems like he was at the beginning.
Right.
But then he realized it was work.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sean obviously sounds like the one that has the love for it.
Right.
Yeah.
Which shows he's still in it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Hasn't left.
Yeah.
So he has all these, he ends up getting these orders, right?
Once people find out you can get the RF34, he does end up getting orders.
But he's, this is when it all kind of starts to go downhill.
It sound like once he got overwhelmed.
Right.
Like it just like went downhill and then you have Sean who is in charge of all the modifications.
So you know, at this point, it's all on the Sean guy to get the modifications done withhis team.
Right.
Right.
And then this hero dude is like going to these bars and like running up crazy tabs andjust blowing all kinds of money.
Yeah.
He starts getting super heavy into drugs and just like, yeah, which not.
Not good stuff.
Right.
So it all happens over a period of like five years, not like at the beginning, but therebecame a point when it started pushing people away and then Sean quit.
Yeah.
And then two of his other like guys that started with him quit.
And now he has bills stacked up for the EPA for the testing labs.
All of these different spots, but the cars aren't done fully.
They're not DOT approved because that process is long also.
And so he has no money because he spent the million.
He isn't getting money coming in because the cars aren't being finished.
So then to get money starts releasing cars.
Yeah.
To people that whether or not ready yet.
Right.
Right.
But just to recoup that money and he's starting to get himself in a lot of trouble.
So what does he do?
There's no proof of it, but it leans to fraud as in like making his own cars disappear.
Yeah.
That was like a big thing five are not hard 34s, but five skylines got quote unquote stolenfrom motor X.
Right.
And they never really pursued it.
Yeah.
And then two months later, these two cars get stolen from blast, which is the next doorneighbor shop.
And hero goes and tries to make a deal with the owner of last saying, Hey, I've got I'vegot info on where your cars are.
If you want to pay me a couple thousand.
This dude is definitely on drugs.
Yeah, that's how it seems like.
Holy cow.
He's just trying to get his next hit.
Like he's like, Hey, give me a couple grand.
I'll tell you about this kid that stole your cars.
It's crazy.
So what happens though is when this guy reports these two cars stolen the same detective whocame when the motor X cars get stolen.
Yeah, he's talking to this, this, you know, Japanese native guy that has a interpreterthey're talking to the cop for him, right?
And so it's like telephone kind of of course.
Yeah.
And he tells him about how hero came over and offered him that money.
Right.
And so then they start investigating into a more and this starts getting deeper and deeperinto what he's involved in and what's going on.
So yeah, this guy was, he wasn't it.
He was wild, dude.
Yeah.
And that sucks so bad, right?
For the enthusiast in the US because had it been someone else that was on the same levelas Sean as far as the passion and like the vision goes like it would have been a completelydifferent story.
Like we would have been having these cars way sooner like we would have had these carsyears ago because it would have been someone doing the right thing and like the whole marketwould have been like do the entire market would have been different for Skylines, especiallylike in the US for sure.
I'm sure what it changed in Japan a little bit as well.
It's like it would have been different for sure because people wouldn't have been juststacking them up over there.
That's crazy to think about like one guy's actions, you know, back in 2006 or 2005 or wheneverit really stood for every, ruined it for us for, yeah, do 20, oh yeah, 15 years, right?
It's pretty crazy.
Yeah, you know, and it does just go to show how that stuff will happen.
You can think you can do stuff and mess it up and they'll just go away, but this like ruinedit for a million people, whatever.
Yeah, it's kind of crazy if you think about it like that.
Just like yeah, really, really is kind of crazy.
And so they do these cars.
It's about, you know, by the time the DOT tells him you know, you're being revoked is 2006.
Yeah.
So it's about seven years total that the whole thing goes on.
This dude's only 26 years old when he started.
Yeah.
Like he's only 26 and he gets a million dollar loan to import skylines.
That's like kind of young.
Yeah, like if you gave me a million, maybe at 26 and set import skylines, I, it's not likeI wouldn't want to blew it on Coke or chicks, but I would have had a hard time keepingup with everything for sure and organizing like all of this testing and all of these differentright.
Yeah.
And then not to mention paying the monthly bills and you know, it would have been tough.
So I don't know like, you know, I feel like the hero guy, yeah, he's sketchy and he getsa lot of hate, but like he took on way more than he can handle.
And that created his circumstance, right?
You know, and the little bars are called hostess bars and basically you go in and you get assigneda girl and she is like your maid/wife for the night and he was blowing.
He was blowing $65,000 a year of motor X money on that and then not to mention he boughtone of his hostess girls a car and through motor X money on that.
And so, you know, he was like, he was a kid and he just, he did what a kid would do, right?
You know, and did not see it.
And it stinks for those people that did like invest in in hero because he definitely letthem down.
But it's just tough man, it's tough.
So, so okay, so he starts really going downhill and it pretty much, you know, he'sgoing to start losing it in the sense of he's not showing up to work.
He's like getting in fights.
He's not paying the employees.
All of that standard kind of stuff.
And you know, at this point, there's no Sean because he was tired of it.
He left.
And these other guys are left picking up the pieces and now they're not even gettingpaid.
Yeah, dude.
Yeah.
Classic.
I'm sure you know what's happening next.
What?
Dude disappears, right?
Oh, yes, of course.
So he, he got in a fight and his buddy, his buddy got beat down pretty hard.
And this guy just leaves and never, never comes back.
They come in and they try to see what they can salvage from the business.
Yeah.
And there's nothing there.
There's nothing there except for like papers and stuff strewn everywhere.
Yeah, some wrecked cars out back like.
Yeah, just like junk everywhere.
And so they're not able to recover like what these people spent.
Yeah.
You know, they're not even able to kind of figure out what's next for the people thatthey've been doing.
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Craig Lieberman, one of the guys that was responsible for casting the cars of the Fast and the Furious original two movies.
He got the first MotorX car, one of the 14 to 16 that they made.
Right.
Or, you know, legalized, federalized, whatever.
And so that ends up being the hero car, as you're saying, in too fast, too furious.
Yeah.
So it's pretty crazy.
This 26 year old dude is getting cars that are in major motion picture.
You know, just this whole thing.
And if he had just really focused, dude, he would have done it.
Right.
Right.
He would be the man right now.
Yeah, I know.
It's insane to think about it.
Instead, he's hiding somewhere.
100% like dude, there's no talent.
There's no talent, dude.
And it seems as though like a lot of people know that he was just in over his head.
And you know, and there's, I saw multiple quotes of guys that got screwed by him.
That were like, you know, it's all good.
Like he was in over his head.
I should have recognized it, whatever, you know, and they're like, there's no hate.
It's just too bad.
Yeah.
And that's crazy though.
They said they recognize it, but they still put up the money in my eyes.
Because they wanted it so bad.
It was crazy.
Yes, the sky.
I do.
I couldn't even hate on him for it.
Yeah.
I like to hear you're going to get me an R34.
Oh, dude, you're a company.
You're a little crazy though.
But like, yeah, let's do it.
There's kind of shit everywhere, but like whatever, right?
Yeah.
I mean, yeah.
And that is a hard thing.
But so what happens?
Do they get to keep the cars afterwards?
Does the federal government take them?
Like, how does this work at this point?
Like, if these people have paid him, Skylands are illegal, but like, how does that work?
Well, they have the ones that are grandfathered in.
Right.
So the DOT sends them the bonds.
Right.
And the bonds basically state that not that like their legal, but that they look them over and they're good enough to drive on the road.
It's like this is still weird gray thing, but yeah, they're okay to get registered.
They're okay to stay.
They can't be exported, you know, for for being here, type thing.
Right.
So at least for these people that threw down this money and like had this dream, if they got the car, they got to keep it.
Right.
So, but what happens to those guys that threw down money and they never got the car and the dude disappeared?
Who knows? Nothing. Nothing. They get screwed, yes, because there's no one to take that money back from.
Right.
There's no selling off assets of the company because he took them all.
It's crazy.
Yeah, it is.
And it just goes to show how you really can get taken advantage of in this industry and in this community.
If you don't really pay attention, even if you do really pay attention, it doesn't mean that you're not going to get screwed.
Right.
It's kind of wild.
But now that these cars are like of age though, like it's kind of simpler now, right?
Like you're not, you don't have to go through someone like that that has to do this crazy thing to make this car sellable.
So it's like, but you still do have like it's other worries now, right?
Right.
It's not, is this guy going to federalize my car and actually deliver it to me now?
It's like, is what I'm buying side unseen?
Actually what I'm buying in the sense of, you know, condition and all of these other things right because MotorX was only bringing cream of the crop because they were picking long before.
Yeah, there's still new cars.
Yeah, they're like, yeah.
Not even 10 years old.
Right.
Some of them like, for 34s.
It's just a different worry that we have now, right?
It's like, you know, people want the money so they'll sell you a dream kind of, you know, like just like that guy was just a different dream.
So it is like definitely too bad that this happened.
Like you said, I think that it really kind of put a sour like, you kind of tasting people's miles about these cars and importers and like, you know, how legitimate they are.
And so it's like, definitely too bad, but it's also something that, you know, could be learned from and probably was learned from in the sense of like, don't mess around like that.
Yeah, with the federal government, yeah, especially when you're doing something that already isn't really like cool.
Yeah, I mean, the EPA doesn't play around.
Yeah, I mean, same with like the highway safety board.
I don't get it, right?
Yeah.
Why are they so like about these cars and emissions and all this?
Why are they so crazy about it?
I know why they just like, these are our laws.
We stick to it, but like, I don't understand why.
Yeah, I mean, yeah.
Because like at the end of the day, I mean, I don't get it.
Yeah, how is this this skyline beside us so much worse than this civic behind us?
Right.
Like how is that so?
I mean, I'm sure there's like a bunch of safety things in fall.
Safety.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But like, I don't know if you're, I mean, I know that risk driving my car that it's not safe.
It doesn't have airbags.
Yeah.
Whatever.
I wouldn't say it's not safe.
Like, is that about your safety or the other people's safety on the road?
I mean, like, how do they look at it?
Not even you put them, you know, like, I don't know.
I mean, I don't get what right if you're willing to drive it.
Right.
You sit down and start that car.
Right.
The fact that that door can crumple in.
Yeah, that's on you.
I'm consenting, right?
I'm cool with it.
I'm cool with it.
Yeah, I got my skyline.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
And that's probably how a lot of people think, but obviously their jobs are to be safe.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But it's just crazy that that's like the hang up on this.
Yeah.
Like driving any car you want.
No, this is what's crazy is once it turns 25, you only have to do that stuff.
Yeah.
Like so wait.
Oh, no, no, we're good.
So if it's not 25 years old, we need to say you safe and we need to protect you.
As soon as it's 25 years old, you know, nothing.
You don't care.
Right.
Just take it.
Yeah, that's what blows my mind is that I could pick that up at work and not have to have that type of stuff done on it.
Like that's what I always thought like at once the motor X when it was a thing when they were operating.
I was like, this is what we're going to have to do to get these cars.
This is insane.
Yeah, like all the door bars.
Yeah, right.
And whatever proprietary three catalytic converters they had to put on the car to make it legal.
Stackery.
So just like that's that's what was going through my mind.
Man, I'll never be able to get a skyline.
I'm going to have to put $30,000 with a medal in the thing that alone like, you know, just getting to register it.
And so that is kind of a crazy thing.
And it's awesome that we don't have to do that.
Right.
Yeah, absolutely.
There's four cars in here that would have had to go through it.
Yeah.
That's like that would have been a ton of extra money.
And 24,000 now, like plus all the time.
Yeah, I mean, so you know, to wrap it up, motor X was pretty much the first of its kind,importer of skylines who also federalized them.
Right.
But lost the focus.
Drop the ball.
Drop the ball.
And I didn't realize what an impact on history.
Do this hero guy had no clue what an impact on history.
Yeah, I wonder if he knows.
I wonder if he ever Googles his name.
Right.
Or if he like what hey hero, if you end up listening to this, you really screwed us.
Yeah, we could have had some dope stuff if you could have stay off the nose candy and the checks.
Yeah, that's crackly.
We're going to put it.
Yeah.
That's like, but I mean, no, I mean, it is true.
How would this market have been affected?
Like we don't know, you know, how much thinner of a stock would there be in Japan right now?
Yeah.
How more, how many more would have gone where we don't know?
Yeah, it's kind of crazy because I still only understand how you spoke, how he was able to do it in the first place.
But like, I'm going with it.
You know, like how did, how is a 25 year old car?
It's 25.
We can't have it unless you do these things.
Yeah.
And then it's cool.
But nobody else was able to do it afterwards because you just ruined it for everyone.
I know.
One bad egg.
And like, no one else has done it or could do it.
It's kind of crazy.
Yeah.
And so, yeah.
It's brutal.
I mean, we just figured we'd kind of run through the motor X thing.
We don't have all the answers.
We weren't there.
We, there's a lot of mysteries that they say people haven't even divulged on how things happen.
Yeah.
Within it, you know, but there's a big, there's a big thing on.
Yeah, because there was a lot of stuff on there about it.
Plenty of stuff on there.
Like kidnapping and all kinds of other stuff involved with it that we're not getting into.
Yeah, we just covered the bases on it.
The basics.
Just so somebody who had no clue what motor X was now, at least is like, oh, okay.
They, they're shit heads, right?
Yeah.
You know, but.
They dropped the ball heavy.
Yeah.
And I don't think that reflects on Sean Morris because I think he was the one guy trying to try.
Yeah, he was the dude that was making it work.
I'd imagine because it fell apart after he was gone.
Right.
Yeah.
Once he left, yeah.
And I'm sure, yeah, that whole had a big effect on the end really tanking because he probablywas that, you know, fabric, but.
But that dude's killing it now.
Yeah, he is.
He, he owned stop rank.
I guess I technically bought a car from him.
That's cool.
I guess.
But yeah, that's the motor X story that was episode 35.
Yeah.
Thank you for tuning for 36.
Make sure you check us out on YouTube.
You can watch the whole podcast in CR Cool Little Garage studio.
Follow us on Instagram @rhdgus.
And for today, I'm Bobby.
This is Aaron.
See ya.
Peace.
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