[V8] Looks like the way to go . . .

[Mike Arman]

Canadian owner drives car to US buyer, US buyer takes it apart. End of problem as long as the car 
runs and there is a title (they do, there is).


Canadian owner can drive the car across the border without problem, he's visiting friends in the US. 
Besides, I've never seen anything that says he HAS to drive the same car back if he wants to go 
home. ("Well my car blew up in upstate NY so I junked it, this is a rental car." Or take the bus.)


This can get even easier - if the US recipient meets the Canadian owner with a car trailer, so long 
as the car goes onto the trailer out of sight of customs, the guy in Canada doesn't even have to 
hang around longer than it takes to tie it down. US recipient then trailers the donor car to the 
sacrificial altar . . .


Recipient is going to take the car apart anyway, so there will be no problem with import duty, DOT 
compliance etc, because it isn't a "car" any more, it is just a pile of parts, and the original 
"car" isn't ever going to be registered for use on US roads anyway.

Reason for title is so the remaining shell of the body can be legally scrapped after everything has 
been scavenged off it. (Not a requirement in all states, but possession of the title is a good idea 
if the neighbors call the cops complaining about someone running a chop shop in their garage - you 
can prove ownership and that the car isn't stolen).

Repeat as needed . . .



The V8A6Q conversion is most intriguing . . . the biggest problem with the A6Q is the lackluster 
performance. There are plenty of these around, and they are getting reasonable. The donor engine is 
available, I've seen $1,500 V8Q cars complete, and engines only for a lot less. Resultant car sounds 
like a wonderful device, smaller than the type 44 V8, a decade newer in engineering, and a total 
sleeper (probably what Audi should have built for the US market in the first place).

In fact Audi DID build this, but it was expensive - so who says we can't duplicate this ourselves?

Strategy is to find an A6Q (perhaps an avant) with a bad engine, otherwise decent (I think Roger has 
one of these available), find a V8Q complete for say $1,000 (hit in back or something) and combine 
the cars. The advantage of starting with a complete V8Q instead of just an engine is that the entire 
collection of parts delivers itself in one neat parcel so you don't have to run around madly and 
spend lots of time and money buying a bazillion little parts that could have been scavenged for free 
from a complete donor car. You can also sell whatever parts are left over, and there will be MANY.

Anybody want to spin wrenches, I have a large, enclosed, concrete floored work space (aircraft 
hangar) in the Daytona Beach area . . . so if we take the two Canadian cars, Roger's bargain A6Q, 
someplace to work, and some time, we can come up with a complete set of instructions to do this 
conversion - I even have an engine hoist. (It's also warm in Florida this time of year.)

Bueller . . .  Bueller . . . Bueller . . . ?

Best Regards,

Mike Arman
90 V8Q