Exclusivity For Sale: Just Bring Money

EXCLUSIVITY FOR SALE: JUST BRING MONEY

IF YOU’VE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH one of the twowheeled vixens that you’ve just read about, have we got a matchmaker for you. Meet Jack Calof, president of Exotic Motorcycle Imports (EMI), who has made it his business to import otherwise-unobtainable motorcycles from Japan. In 1981, EMI opened for business, and since then has been bringing in everything from its first bike, a Yamaha RD350LC, to the 1990 machines we tested.

Getting bikes from Japan is a complicated process, and before it’s over, a lot of money changes hands. Calof spends about $ 1000 just to get the bike from a Japanese dealer to the dock. He then has to pay for packing and shipping the bike, as well as for customs charges. The bottom line is that the average EMI-imported motorcycle will cost $2000 to $3000 more in America than it goes for in Japan. For example, the sweet-running CBR400 we tested. $4600 there, will make your billfold $7800 lighter here.

One of advantages of buying from EMI, though, is that through Calof’s efforts, buyers are able to license their machines, always one of the bugaboos of bringing in foreign vehicles. “If one of my customers cannot get their machine licensed and registered, I will buy it back from them,” he says.

So, if you just can’t live without one of the Japanese exotics, give EMI a call. Getting your dream bike won’t be cheap, but it will be easy.

Exotic Motorcycle Imports

22130 S. Vermont Ave.,

Torrance, CA 90502 213/320-9844