1947 Army Air Force was made a separate armed service and named United States Air Force (USAF) It reported to the Dept. of Defense and no longer under the United States Army..Since I was in the USAF for 25 years, I felt "afterburner" was an appropriate name! Sorry never took any pix of the crispy critter. I assume you are in the service. Since you are familiar with USAA and in nipponland and own a foreign car.

 

Actually, not in the armed services. I teach history at university over here. One of the topics I cover is the bombing campaign (air raids) over Japan commanded by "Hap" Arnold and led by Curtis LeMay of the XXI Bomber Command out of the Mariana Islands. Back then it was the Army Air Force, and one of Arnold's goals was to demonstrate that there was a role for an independent Air Force post WW2. Which, it appears, there was....
I don't think there's actually an overly high number of servicemen stationed in Japan opting for foreign cars: they mostly, as far as I gather, stick with what's cheap and easy as they won't be using it for that long. Some opt for something nicer (GT-R, that sort of thing) that's hard to find in the States and ship it back with them when they leave.

 

Is there nothing like collector car insurance, or an agreed value policy? I have 2 of my collector cars (over 25 years old) on that insurance and the premium is a sliding scale based on the agreed value. In the event of a total loss, they pay the agreed value. No haggling, no depreciation or assessmet to try and determine the fair market value at the time of loss. My premium works out to $8.75 (Canadian $) per $1000 of insured value.

Apparently it is the lowest risk auto policy for an insurance company to write, since many collector cars drive very little in a year, and they are cherished by their owners. The upper liability to the insurance company is defined too, so they know exactly what their potential exposure is.

 

The only collector car insurance is for cars made up to 1974 and no more than 2,000 km a year.

Actually, on doing another search to confirm those details, I found Chubb offers classic car insurance (including body insurance) for cars 25 years old or more and up to 5,000 km a year. The premiums aren't too insane, either. For example, a guy with a 1975 Maserati with an insured value of 10 million yen is paying 81,820 yen in annual fees. My car's not worth nearly that.
Because my car currently has no body insurance--it wasn't an option for the usual insurance companies. Too old. Not sure about that 5,000 km a year thing. Perhaps it's an average--some years I might go over, some I would be under. Interesting. I should do some research on that....

 

That premium is almost exactly what I am paying, on a ratio of premium/insured value.

I'm guessing that body insurance is like our comprehensive? Covers accident damage, glass etc. If the car is in an accident that covers the repair costs, or if vandalized that would be covered.

You'll also have to check any restrictions of use, many classic car policies have an exclusion that it can't be driven to work. Mine is that I am covered for "use consistent with a classic car", and I have to have another car registered in my name to be a daily driver. So things like being an Uber driver, regular commuting or being a pizza delivery guy would be excluded

 

Pretty much. My current insurance will cover me if someone else hits me (or rather, their insurance should), and will cover me if I hit a pole--but only for the damage to the pole. The damage to my car wouldn't be covered. Sometimes it covers things like fire, earthquakes, etc. Trees falling on you. Graffiti or getting keyed (luckily those are both rare).
And they do have usage restrictions. Not to be used for commuting to school or work, or for business, more than 5 days a week or 15 days in a month. So I'll have to say goodbye to my dream of delivering pizza by Jag..... (Actually, pizza delivery people here use scooters.) But I do have another car I can use if I need to be at the university more than 15 days in a month. And if they ever find out--how could they check? If you crash on the way there, you just say "this was one of those permitted days."

 

Why would you delete the swirl tank? With the fuel coming out the bottom of the main tank, you get any crud in there with no filtration. The swirl tank does a pretty good job or letting the crud settle out, and lets you drain off the bottom without any disassembly. and it has a large filter screen inside. I think it is a good setup. Why eliminate what works?

 

I have an agreed value policy on my 1993 XJS: $15000 and it covers total loss, and also collision comprehensive etc. Premium is $200 per year.The agent is Grundy and the insurer is The Philadelphia Companies There are restrictions but no minimum on mileage. Had a very minor accident and had no hassle with claim. From my overseas assignments, I have found it is best to have the car of the country and the same for the insurer. Payoff is the first consideration premium is always the second.

A little history : Billy Mitchel advocated a separate Air Service and Arnold followed in his advocacy. Curtis LeMay changed the bombing strategy for Japan.: Took the 50 cals out of the B29's to allow more incendiary bombs and took the aircraft down from high altitude to 6000 feet to increase accuracy. Eva Jima was taken to support damaged aircraft that could not make it back to Saipan. Le May gave up on strategic bombing and felt that fire bombing would cause more damage to diversified Japanese cottage industry

 

interestingly one of my cars an MGTD came from Japan. Previously owned by a US serviceman. ( 9 years USNavy For me, including two visits to Japan)
RE Curtis LeMay most of the reason LeMay went to low level bomving had to do with the Absolute failure Of the high altitude bombing the B29 was designed for.
Winds aloft certainly did much to scatter the bombs but flying at those higher altitudes also Dramatically increased the strain on the short lived engines of the B29 as well as overstressed the main spar. That combined with the massive development costs of the B29 ( roughly the same as the entire Manhattan project ) And relative short life of the B29

 

The deficiencies of the B29 were overcome with the advent of the B50. The B50 was a B29 look-a-like and was reengined. I imagine there were structural changes, but I am not privy to that information
Today is D-day, June 6. Bow your head for those brave men that gave their wounds and deaths for freedom on the beaches of Normandy