Re: Euro Quattro's??

[Frank Deutschmann <fhd@interport.net>]

PAUL SOUZA 202-260-6061 sez:
>           If an agent offered eurospec cars for sell in the US, fine.  But, 
>           I would want a guarantee that it will be properly certified and 
>           not pay until that car is in my driveway, all tagged and titled.
>           It's a headache of a process I'll never do again.  I imported a 
>           83 930 Turbo back in '86 and THAT was a pain.  It was even one of 
>           the "easier" cars to import!  It was worth it though, the car 
>           paid for college.  Also trying to sell any car in the US without 
>           A/C is a pain, especially here in the DC area.  People buying 
>           these cars tend to expect it.  

Just to toss in dome more info here:

My '81 911 is a euro-car; I brought it in because it was factory-maintained
as a club racing toy.

The process is a *MAJOR* hassle, from shipping (if you don't want to be replacing
half the parts on your car, ship it in a container), to customs (post a bond,
wait lots of time), to DOT (paperwork, paperwork), to EPA (paperwork, potentially
mods, testing, and always brain-dead people), to actual registration (the usual,
but now the usual ask questions).

And then, every year, at emissions-time, you get to have hassles with the
inspection station, proving that the exemption cert is valid.

Beware that to restrict gray-market sales, the EPA has a rule which prevents a
euro-car from being re-titled within two years of entry (or else the exemption
cert is no longer valid).  This is serious!  (If you are considering buying a
euro-car which is here already, be very careful about this -- it can get majorly
expensive!)

All that said, my parents brought in a Mercedes 300SD before they were available
here (over 350K miles, and still going strong, looks great, too!) and I always
get a kick out of the Km-only speedo (I'm now real good at multiplying by .6),
and I would say that that car was barely worth the process for.  Of course, I
love my 911, and feel that the process was worth it for that car, too.  But I'd
think long and hard before I did it again -- if you are doing it just for price,
forget it!  All in, my 911 was slightly more expensive than an equavallent (but
slower!) US model.  And that was way back when, when the dollar had some strength
(anyone remember those days?!).

-frank
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