Hi all in the know. I have a friend visiting from the US.Is it worth considering him bringing me a car or is the costs and hassles make it not worth the trouble, whats involved, how much does it cost? All the best regards for 2010...Jack

Only if youre looking at stuff thats pre-1988.

Cheers,

Mick
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Judge a successful man not on how he treats his peers, but on how he treats those less fortunate.

From my perspective is . It depends! But depends on what?
First thing you need is someone in the States to choose a good rust free vehicle and then look after all the paperwork, title transfer papers etc. Maybe you have that person.
Second thing you need is a reliable person/company to get it here for you. Theres quite a few out there, John Cain in Newcastle for example, dont know about the ACT. Cost these days is somewhere round $3,400 Oz dollars. Theres lots of horror stories out there. One I have heard of is the guy that last saw his new purchase on the back of a truck supposedly heading for the wharf. Its never been seen again.
If youre going to do it to make a few bucks, then consider all the Mustangs, Corvettes etc that you see advertised locally, sometimes for months on end. Theres lots of competition out there these days.
If youre buying something for yourself, then its an emotional decision and anything goes.
Some points of interest, particularly for NSW but again I dont know about the ACT.
30 year old cars can be registered LHD without being Engineered. Later cars have to be converted. Convert a 30 year old car and it will have to be Engineered.
Apart from conversion, youll probably have to make sure the blinkers are amber, not red or white (clear) and it has ADR compliant seat belts. Of course all other roadworthy and noise requirements will apply.
If the car is 76 or later, theyll probably want all pollution stuff in place & connected. (because of ADR introduction). Theyre generally more lenient on pre 76.
In my experience, maintenance of cars in the States leaves a bit to be desired. Be prepared to spend some bucks on anything you buy.
Hope this helps.
Bob

Ive been thinking about buying a 1970 Camaro in Z/28 or SS396 spec. As others have said, add frieght, fumigation/cleaning and then GST on top of the lot. GST is calculated on the day it leaves port. John Cain is a reliable importer, his son Lincoln lives in California and loads the containers. Expect a $US30,000 car to cost you $45k Aussie. If you want to register it over here add cost of blinkers, seatbelts etc. On club rego you dont need to do that in NSW.

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If we all had the same (good) taste, who would buy all the Fords?

geeee you guys make a simple, easy task hard..so i might as well add to the confusion here

if you want a specific car, go and do it regardless of the cost,get a ticket, stay 4-6 weeks(if you can), buy your car, tour with it, get the bits you need, load with a reputable shipping company in LA or wherever(there are a few i have used personally)and when home, hit key and enjoy, but just buy SMARTER, dont believe crap like overhaulin and wrecks to riches, generally US restos are crap, but take time do research and you will get a good car and have a holiday at the same time, and bearing in mind if you have the luxury of time and the cash to to that.
anything built after 1/1/1969 requires a VAS in vic for LHD reg, and the cut off for LHD rego is 1980, regardless of what where when, thats it. prior to that they can be regoed easily.
we also have to bear in mind that desirable and certain cars in US are not that cheap, and if you have been to LA or anywhere in the US, you still have to hunt them down, you just cant expect to get off the plane, walk down to century blvd and expect to see a 69 BBC vette roadster with a sign on it saying "buy me aussie, im for sale", its harder than that
the original question seems to be in regards to making money out of it, if thats the case, buy smarter once again, as there are plenty here to choose from already

as for getting a car loaded and shipped by a certain "satnite special" engine reco dude from the 80s, i dont think i can still trust a short dude that wears cowboy hats and boots and sells whitewalls..plenty that will gladly load and ship for a reasonable FOB rate such as pete smith here in vic or the late roly leahys son in qld..

its not rocket science


I innovate, never imitate..

If you want a car moved from California to Canberra then ring Capital Classics in Mitchell. They are primarily Mustang people but would probably import anything.

I dont know whether Americar in Bungendore import any more but they might be worth a try too.


I have also received good first hand reports about a little known importer in Castlemaine Vic and JT American Imports.


We Wreck I love your comments about JC but dont remember him being short. I do however remember a few disgruntled customers arguing with him at his Summernats trade stand about the quality of some of his products (Sat night specials with rocker studs pulling out of heads comes to mind).

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Vandals and graffiti "artists" do everyone a favour and target parking meters and fixed speed cameras only.

Ive never hada problem with anything ive imported via Lincoln and John. Always fair on freight. Nothing ever lost or any other problems.

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If we all had the same (good) taste, who would buy all the Fords?

I dont think so. Ill leave it at that.

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If we all had the same (good) taste, who would buy all the Fords?

Maybe Frank and Byron are both correct and the person in question is a much better importer than he was an engine rebuilder or parts manufacturer. I would probably use them.

A mate of mine bought one of their cast alloy 4 barrel inlet manifolds at the same Summernats. Firstly it was not cast very well around the distributor and was pinning the distributor down and leaking air into the rear cylinders as a result.

We removed it and fixed that problem with a grinder. The second problem was porosity it was oozing coolant out at an alarming rate. To their credit they did take it back and weld the pin holed area up but that was more expense shipping it to Newcastle. The third was a slight issue in that it had nowhere for the coolant bypass hose to connect. To get a machine shop to drill and tap a 1" hole in the water gallery was a fairly expensive exercise.

After all that though the manifold worked very well but not well enough to convince me as I spent just as much money on an imported second hand 340 4 barrel manifold safe in the knowledge that it would bolt straight on and work the first time around.

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Vandals and graffiti "artists" do everyone a favour and target parking meters and fixed speed cameras only.

Frank is right , its not rocket science and is very easy indeed if you do it the simple way . As a one off to do all the shipping yourself is probably not advisable on a car .
I have used many importers , most are just ok , but just a few months back i bought in a mid 60s Big Block Chrysler and used "Auto Ezy Search" .
From the day i hit the buy now button on ebay to the time it was here was 6 weeks , and that included paying for the car and shiping it to LA from San Diego . These guys made it simple and great .
They paid for the car an organised every single thing and kept me informed and was easier than buying a car 2 suburbs away .
Not sure of anyone in Canberra who can do it for you , but you are not near a shipping port anyway , even though you are closer to sydney than Melbourne.
Thats my 2 cents worth

Cheers James

www.monaromuscleparts.com

Edited by user Saturday, 2 January 2010 11:11:20 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified