An addition to the above. ANY imported vehicle should have the correct paper trail with it no matter how many owners it has passed through in this country. As an example, in eight years of having my 101 in this country I have had to prove its legal import status at least 6 times to the AZ DMV even although they should have traceable records.

Just because it is over 25 years old when you buy it does not mean it was originally brought in legally and there is no pleading ignorance as a defence. As an example there was a nice blue 110 on ebay last year, 1983 V8 with LT95, that had my interest but it turns out when you started running the numbers based on the seller's commentary it had been brought in early. On questioning he disclosed that it was actually registered as a '74 109. Even although it was now 25 years old it still was not legal and, as the import paperwork was fraudulent, it never could be.

Caveat emptor. Like the poster above I prefer to stick with leafers and ended up with a fun NADA 109 to build.