dirtbike

Hi,

Can anyone point me in the direction of some reliabel info related to importing a classic british car into the US.

The car is over 25yrs old so should be exempt of safety or emissions legislation and I've owned it in the UK for several years.

I've tried googling but all I ever find is info on bringing US cars to the UK.

Thanks in advance
Nick

Ray

Yup you can do ... plenty of headaches for you though
The insurance to drive it should be fun

not a lot about it cos rarely people try it .... but there is probably an importer somewhere out there

fatbrit

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=629023

Bob

few threads on the subject...generally not worth the cost though, the cost being from an official importer to do it for you.

BritishGuy36

Where are you going to get the fuel to power it? [the answer may not be as obvious as it appears]

That's just one of the many questions you would be best advised to seek an answer to before embarking on this project.

Rete

WHY?????????????? Who would want to import an old junker here in the US. We have enough of our own.

Have you read up on the US Custom's website?

dirtbike

I was planning on using super unleaded the same as you use in a modern car, the car maybe more than 25years old but the engineering and technology certainly isn't

I've had a look on the customs site and could only find the info I stated above, I was hoping to find someone that has been through the process. I haven't read through the thread with the VW Bus yet but I'm about to.

Thanks for the inpute so far.
Nick

Bob

The result is, it's a no goer on that one.

Folinskyinla

Hi:

As BritishGuy36 noted, what do you intend to fuel the thing with? It is hard to compare since the Pump Octane in the US is a combination of RON and MO -- tends to be about 4 points lower than UK. "Regular" is about 91 RON in the US, midgrade would be about 93 RON and Premium is about 94-95 RON.

fatbrit

Just add a toluene/xylene mix.

BritishGuy36

Ok so octane rating about 98 then....I repeat my question.

Unless of course you want to carefully measure and fart around with additives a-la Fatbrit's suggestion.

Lover not a fighter

I'll answer your question, from personal experience. It'll run absolutely fine on 94 premium fuel. I've not added an additive and its thrashing around on US roads quite happily.

RoadWarriorFromLP

As you've figured out, 25+ year old cars are exempt from DOT and EPA regulations. That makes them easier to import and you won't need to use a "registered importer."

You will need to clear customs, though. Have a look at this: http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/trade/bas...orting_car.xml

As for octane, 98 in the UK is roughly equal to 93 in the US. In many states, premium is 91 octane, so you find the fuel here to be a bit on the low side of what you're used to. However, you can add an octane booster to the fuel easily enough.

(The US octane measure is on the AKI method; the UK and most of the world use RON. RON octane numbers are about 4-5 points higher than their US equivalents, so a rough conversion isn't difficult.)

Bob

You can get super premium in a few places though, but my god is that stuff expensive and for the sake of a rubbish old banger just isn't worth it.

dirtbike

Thank you for the link to the customs stuff, I'll have a read through it.

Guys, fuel is not an issue trust me, it is a low compression engine that has mappable fuel and ignition so lower grade fuel is only a few key strokes of the laptop away.

If the car was simply a rot box I wouldn't even entertain the idea but as I slaved many hours and many many £'s making this car what it is I'm loathed to get rid of it. If it's a case of rolling the old girl into a container with what little belongings I'll be taking and sending it on a boat for 3 weeks I'm happy to do so.

What I need to know is what do I have to do with customs, will there be any duty to pay despite owning the car for many years here, can anyone recommend a shipping agent etc...

Thank you all for the advice but I just need to know what is required to get it there, making it run on low grade fuel is not going to be an issue but I appreciate your advice because I'm sure to many people it wouldn't have occured to them that UK spec fuel is better than most premium fuels in the US.

Kind regards
Nick