Vehicles manufactured to comply with the FMVSS will have a certification label affixed by the original manufacturer in the area of the driver-side door.
No sticker = no compliance = no importation.
A vehicle without a certification label cannot be imported as a conforming vehicle. In this case, the importer must contract with a Registered Importer (RI) to modify the vehicle
"Modify the vehicle" is a deceptively simple sounding phrase. There are two possibilities here: One--the US Gov't keeps a list of vehicles for which a "substantially similar" vehicle was sold in the USA, or for which another importer has already had a version certified compliant. These vehicles are
sometimes relatively easy to modify into compliance--swap in a mph speedo, maybe different lights, stuff like that. Depends on the market the vehicle was originally sold in. For any vehicle under 25 years old, said modifications need to be done by a registered importer. It can get costly.
Unfortunately, a 70-series Landcruiser is not such a vehicle, i.e. there was no "substantially similar" vehicle sold in the USA. In order to bring it into compliance, you'll likely need to modify it so substantially that the expense would be far too great for a single vehicle. It's entirely possible (read: likely) that it would involve buying several of the same model and subjecting them to destructive testing prior to modification (and possibly subsequent to, also). The good news is then a 70-series Landcruiser would be on the list of vehicles approved for entry, making it far easier for the rest of us to bring them in. The bad news is you'd be out a ton of money (which is fine with us, I suppose).
It's not going to happen, legally.
True Dat.
Ship it to Canada, drive to Alaska. They won't give a hoot. Register in Alaska, then move it to Oregon.
This would probably work except for a couple of things (about which the OP might not concern himself). You'd need to pay the import duty into Canada (I think it's like 12% or something), then pay it again (only 2.5% for passenger cars) when you bring it into the USA. Meh. Depends on how badly you want the car. The second thing is, even though you might be able to register it in a more loosely regulated state (is Alaska? I'd guess so), it's still illegal to have it in the USA. Still subject to Federal penalties. The laws governing registration of motor vehicles are
State laws, the laws governing importation of goods are
Federal laws. Unless you go through the "modify the vehicle" procedure outlined above, you've technically smuggled the car into the USA. The government frowns on that sort of behavior. That said, there are cars in the USA illegally. Florida's loud with them. If you want to run the risk of asset seizure, fines, and imprisonment to have a cool car, that's up to you. While the risks are real, I couldn't tell you how likely you'd be to get caught.
