The Tennessean

If you aren't familiar with the term "JDM" in the automotive world, odds are you've watched a JDM car scream through the streets in a video game or on the big screen.

Popularized by the "Fast and Furious" movie franchise and video games like the Gran Turismo series, JDM cars, like the Nissan Skyline GT-R, the Toyota Celica ST-205, or the Toyota Mk-4 Supra Twin Turbo, have garnered quite a loyal following in the United States for their uniqueness and flair.

JDM stands for Japanese Domestic Market and is a collective term for late-model cars manufactured only in Japan that have been imported to the United States. Their differentiators are right-hand drive steering wheels, models that weren't produced in the U.S., and often more souped-up engines that were available domestically.

Current import laws state that these Japanese-manufactured cars have to be at least 25 years old to be legally imported into the U.S., registered and driven here, so as of 2023, legal JDM cars will be 1998 model-year or older.

Although it might seem odd to see one on the road, the right-hand drive is legal in the U.S.

That unique feature, combined with the video game/movie cool factor and the allure of owning something that typically wasn't mass-produced and most likely never produced in America has made the JDM market quite a booming business.

Mike Bass, operations manager with Duncan Imports & Classics in Smyrna, keeps some 200 JDM and other classic cars in his warehouse and said that combined with the company's Virginia location, they sell roughly 80 to 100 cars a month.

"Most of our business is done remotely via the website," Bass said. "80% of our vehicles are sold to customers who never even arrive here."

Mike Bass stands next to one of his favorite cars which is a Nissan Stagea inside 
the Duncan Imports & Classic Cars warehouse in Smyrna, Tenn. July 6, 2023
Stepanie Amador/ The Tennessean

A quick tour of the Smyrna inventory revealed a plethora of very unique cars ranging from arguably the world's smallest fire truck as well as other functional mini trucks and high-performance station wagons to the adorable Nissan Figaro, which was only produced in Japan for one year in 1991.

"Nissan had several hundred thousand people put reservations in for a Figaro, but they only built 20,000 of them, so they had to do a lottery to see who would get one," Bass said.

During our visit, Bass also showed us a 1998 Nissan Stagea high-performance station wagon, which he said was his favorite car on the lot. This Stagea is a two-door, high-performance, 260-horsepower GTR wrapped in a station wagon body that was only made in Japan.

We also saw a Nissan S-Cargo (say it out loud) that got its name because it looks like a snail. Even the headlights look like snail eyes.

The selection of JDM inventory at Duncan transcends cars that are small. There's a lot of function to be had here as well. For example, the SUVs are often bought by rural route mail carriers, since there isn't a U.S. car manufacturer that produces right-hand drive cars for those users anymore.

"Mail carriers are probably 15% to 20% of what we sell," Bass said.

Then there's the mini trucks. Cute, yes, but also serve a very specific function of being rugged - yet small.

"We sell tons of mini trucks to irrigation companies who use them when putting in sprinkler systems because they can drive around the yard where a big truck can't get," he said. "A lot of universities buy these and use them as utility vehicles around campus because they can drive them down the sidewalk."

Bass said it can take up to four months to import the cars from Japan. They are shipped to Baltimore and then trucked to Duncan's two locations. Duncan Imports is also affiliated with a Japanese export partner that is a member of the Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association, which assures a certain level of ethics in doing business.

"We are the only non-Japanese entity in that organization," Bass said. "There's no other dealer in the world other than us and the dealers in Japan who are part of the organization. Our export partner has staff that view the cars before we buy them. Other dealers have to buy them blindly. We also don't offer our cars for sale until we physically have them in our hands and can make sure it's what it is supposed to be. It eliminates any surprises."

Another selling point of many of these cars is the price. The 1991 Nissan Figaro we looked at (and drove!) was priced at $24,035 and comes with only 58,417 miles, which is extremely low for a 32-year-old car.

Bass said the mileage is a huge differentiator between the U.S. and the Japanese auto markets.

"Take the Toyota Series 80 Land Cruiser: it's a very durable car that everybody loves. These were sold in the U.S., but when you find a U.S. series one, most of those cars will have 200,000 to 300,000 miles on them," he said. "The typical Japanese Land Cruiser will have 60,000 to 70,000 miles because in Japan, it is hard to drive a lot. Everything is so dense in the cities and their public transport is so good that people just don't drive much."

He said the typical Japanese car will be driven 3,000 to 4,000 miles per year, meaning you can get a 20-year-old car with 80,000 miles on it compared to the U.S. typical annual mileage at 15,000, so a 20-year-old car would have more like 300,000 miles on it.

Melonee Hurt covers growth and development (and cars!) at The Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee. Reach Melonee at mhurt@tennessean.com.