Help with importing

[Mudhen]

Hey guys - long time no talk!  Hope everyone is well, dealing with these crazy times.

I'm looking at importing a car and wondering if anyone has worked with any good importers to help me through the process.  Other than general Googling I have no clue how to make sure it's done safely.

This would be the car:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254654416288

We just sold our Countryman so we're down to 8 Minis/MINIs now..things have kind of gotten out of hand here.  65 (S), 80 (still on the freakin' rotisserie!), 03 (r53), 04 (r53), 04 (MC40), 05 (r53), 05 (r52), 11 (JCW R55)...

Thanks!!

Pat

[MiniDave]

Find John McGee on Facebook, he's in Maryland and I know he's imported some cars over the years.....

[Mudhen]

Find John McGee on Facebook, he's in Maryland and I know he's imported some cars over the years.....

Beauty - thanks!  Friends of 'Ian Rae'...profile pic is a stack of Minis...gotta be him!

[ADRay]

welcome back.

Will that be your car?

[MiniDave]

https://www.facebook.com/Mcgees-Custom-Minis-266785820018607/

[Mudhen]

WOW has he done some amazing Mini stuff over the years!  His Morris is absolutely insane!  :-\

I offered to pay him to bring it in for me...I honestly don't want to deal with figuring it out.  Might happen - thanks MiniDave!

Yes, Andy - probably sell off the '05 rally car - if I can get it running again.  Sat most of last year during the cage build and picked up all sorts of stupid issues.  Swapping the cylinder head with a rebuilt one from Liams '03 and fingers crossed it will be alive again.

[BruceK]

It's really not very difficult to import a car - I've done 3 of them myself and others on this forum have done as least as many imports if not more.   But I can see where if you don't want to mess with it, then simple enough to delegate the process.   The big wrinkle of course is to make sure that the car you want to import is definitely at least 25 years old.    US Customs is wise to any mickey-mouse with VIN number changing - especially on classic Minis and old Land Rovers.   You may already know this, but for some time there has been a little motivation in the UK to swap out VINs on classic Minis (old VINs on newer cars) - even if they were intended to remain in the UK rather than be to be sold to a customer abroad: cheaper road tax and no MOTs needed on 'older' cars for example.

Austin/Rover started stamping a hidden VIN on classic Minis sometime in the 1980s:  it's in the gutter of the windshield scuttle panel and can usually be spotted from below with a mirror positioned above the air cleaner looking up.  I just mention this as you may want to get a photo confirmation from the seller showing the VIN before it gets shipped to the US.

 

[MPlayle]

As Bruce states, get the VIN properly verified BEFORE it is shipped.

Most states require a VIN verification on directly imported vehicles and they will check for both the readily available VIN and the "secret" VIN (the one Bruce mentions).  They will give you grief if they don't match.

[BruceK]

How is this going? Any updates?

[Mudhen]

I spoke with John McGee and he brought up the possible issue with it being highly modified throwing alarms up at customs so I decided not to risk it.  Also the car was in sort of a middle ground for my needs - over prepared for rallycross where cages aren't required, and having an illegal cage for US rally so that would all have to be redone to go that route.

Thinking I might pay someone to do the bodywork on my '80 that I half started and is still sitting on a rotisserie.  I don't think I have the ability to do it myself but if I could get the body done maybe it would push me to start bolting things up.

Pat

[Mudhen]

We did just add a freshly imported car, though (hopefully getting on the truck today!)...if there are any JDM fans on here.  We didn't attempt the importation on our own - and the price reflected it.   :(

[BruceK]

We did just add a freshly imported car, though (hopefully getting on the truck today!)...if there are any JDM fans on here.  We didn't attempt the importation on our own - and the price reflected it.   :(

Nice Pulsar!   I like JDM stuff - recently imported my Toyota Liteace from Japan.  And I'd consider doing more of that - so many interesting JDM cars available.

[Mudhen]

Nice Pulsar!   I like JDM stuff - recently imported my Toyota Liteace from Japan.  And I'd consider doing more of that - so many interesting JDM cars available.

What are the odds!  I had to google the Liteace (my son is the one that's crazy over JDM stuff) - love the small vans.  A local shop has a monster Delica that looks like it would be a blast.   4.gif

[BruceK]

Actually the LiteAce came in van and pickup versions.  I've got the pickup - it's the next size up from the little kei mini trucks you might have seen.   

[Mudhen]

That's awesome.   4.gif

Are parts generally available for them?  A local Kei truck is what started this mess for us...told my son we'd buy it for him if he could pull off passing all his classes (he was a high school senior getting 30s and 40s during the whole remote learning mess in the spring).  He pulled off the miracle of the century, but the truck got sold so we were stuck.

Sort of went overboard with the Pulsar.   ::)

[BruceK]

That's awesome.   4.gif

Are parts generally available for them?  A local Kei truck is what started this mess for us...told my son we'd buy it for him if he could pull off passing all his classes (he was a high school senior getting 30s and 40s during the whole remote learning mess in the spring).  He pulled off the miracle of the century, but the truck got sold so we were stuck.

Sort of went overboard with the Pulsar.   ::)

Some parts for the LiteAce are available in the US - if they are common with models that Toyota oringally imported into this country.  And suspension, brakes, etc. are the same as the Toyota Van sold here in the 1980s. 

For other stuff I need to look to Japan or the Middle East.   A good source I've found is www.partsouq.com where you enter the VIN to ensure parts fit.  I've also heard about www.megazip.net as a good source, but I have not yet used them.   You might try either one of those for parts for your JDM Pulsar.