Suggest some pre 1989 imports..
Discussion
Just for some fun and to chuck some ideas around...
Now we all know the hassles and headaches behind SEVS imports and finding RAWS compliant workshops to get your chosen beast road legal.
If you bring in a car that is older than Jan 1st 1989 you can pretty much bring anything you like in. You can also bring a car in that is modified and as long as the mods meet ADR standards you can keep them on the car.
So what pre Jan 1st 1989 import would you bring in?
It would be nice to bring something Italian and mid-engined in for a reasonable sum.
Lancia Integrale? I think you could get a 160BHP 8Valve...and have a 215BHP 16 valve engine shipped at the same time
Now we all know the hassles and headaches behind SEVS imports and finding RAWS compliant workshops to get your chosen beast road legal.
If you bring in a car that is older than Jan 1st 1989 you can pretty much bring anything you like in. You can also bring a car in that is modified and as long as the mods meet ADR standards you can keep them on the car.
So what pre Jan 1st 1989 import would you bring in?
It would be nice to bring something Italian and mid-engined in for a reasonable sum.
Lancia Integrale? I think you could get a 160BHP 8Valve...and have a 215BHP 16 valve engine shipped at the same time
Agreed, great thread, but have they put the time period out again because when I did a personal import on the TVR it had to be more than 15 yrs old, which would now mean pre 1993.
Is it now 20 yrs or something or been frozen at 89 ?
89 would be pre M3 but would maybe add 325 Sport to the list, maybe even M5 / M6 ?
For me mid eighties to early nineties was a great period for car manufacturers, there were real differences between models and political correctness had yet to soften intents. Then again maybe that's because that was my 18 to 28 year period !
Should the list have a value limit as some of the cars mentioned wouldn't be cheap ?
Is it now 20 yrs or something or been frozen at 89 ?
89 would be pre M3 but would maybe add 325 Sport to the list, maybe even M5 / M6 ?
For me mid eighties to early nineties was a great period for car manufacturers, there were real differences between models and political correctness had yet to soften intents. Then again maybe that's because that was my 18 to 28 year period !
Should the list have a value limit as some of the cars mentioned wouldn't be cheap ?
Fiddlemesticks said:
Running over old ground here but whats the cost on say bringing a 944 Turbo over if say the car costs 5000 GBP to buy in the uk?
I just multiply by 4 and I don't think that would be far out i.e. $20k, bit less than you can pick one up for here but not much !Also with the Integrale haven't they stopped LHD imports ? Might have to ferret out one already converted.
Edited by chunder on Thursday 20th March 01:54
The 15 year old rule was scrapped some time back. The government claimed it was affecting local manufacturers!
Its now been frozen at pre 1989.
The way all the costs are structured end up meaning you have to be pretty damn committed to pay so much for some of these 20 year old cars and then find money for insurance and maintenance on top!!
Maybe we should put a price cap on the cars...anymore than $20-$25,000 on the road and your in to the sort of money that makes it silly to do.
I guess the idea of looking for a pre 1989 import is to be looking for some fun on a budget....though I guess with the 'on road' costs its never going to be a budget blaster!!
As for the LHD thing...you can still do it in WA with a big sign on the back of your car "WARNING LEFT HAND DRIVE".
Its now been frozen at pre 1989.
The way all the costs are structured end up meaning you have to be pretty damn committed to pay so much for some of these 20 year old cars and then find money for insurance and maintenance on top!!
Maybe we should put a price cap on the cars...anymore than $20-$25,000 on the road and your in to the sort of money that makes it silly to do.
I guess the idea of looking for a pre 1989 import is to be looking for some fun on a budget....though I guess with the 'on road' costs its never going to be a budget blaster!!
As for the LHD thing...you can still do it in WA with a big sign on the back of your car "WARNING LEFT HAND DRIVE".
I've had a look into the pre-1989 import thing too and it apparently isn't quite as straight forward as it sounds.
Too get the VASS engineers certificate you need to be able to show that the car meets with the ADRs at the time of its manufacture, which means for things like glass, lights, seatbelts etc being able to reference the parts back to being the same as or greatly similar to ones supplied officially into the Australian market at the time.
If this isn't possible you can still use the specifications of the parts themselves to show they complied but this can require a fair bit of work building up a file of supporting docs. This came from a fairly lengthy chat I had with one of the guys on the VASS inspector list who does the approval on such imports. They apparently build up document files for particular cars when they are asked to do them and are perfectly happy to provide these to other VASS engineers when asked so the hard work has already been done for loads of nice cars like Cosworths etc.
My list for possibles to bring in for myself came down to:
Bentley Turbo R (could potentially turn a profit on these as they cost nothing in the UK and yet still go for $40-60k here).
Any pre-1989 TVR Wedge
Lotus Esprit
The only cars that are trully dead easy to get in, in Victoria at least, are those built before 1969 - in which case they only need a roadworthy certificate and that's it.
Too get the VASS engineers certificate you need to be able to show that the car meets with the ADRs at the time of its manufacture, which means for things like glass, lights, seatbelts etc being able to reference the parts back to being the same as or greatly similar to ones supplied officially into the Australian market at the time.
If this isn't possible you can still use the specifications of the parts themselves to show they complied but this can require a fair bit of work building up a file of supporting docs. This came from a fairly lengthy chat I had with one of the guys on the VASS inspector list who does the approval on such imports. They apparently build up document files for particular cars when they are asked to do them and are perfectly happy to provide these to other VASS engineers when asked so the hard work has already been done for loads of nice cars like Cosworths etc.
My list for possibles to bring in for myself came down to:
Bentley Turbo R (could potentially turn a profit on these as they cost nothing in the UK and yet still go for $40-60k here).
Any pre-1989 TVR Wedge
Lotus Esprit
The only cars that are trully dead easy to get in, in Victoria at least, are those built before 1969 - in which case they only need a roadworthy certificate and that's it.
Edited by ariddell on Thursday 20th March 03:08
Edited by ariddell on Thursday 20th March 03:10
ariddell said said:
I've had a look into the pre-1989 import thing too and it apparently isn't quite as straight forward as it sounds.........
Yeah some cars are easier than others.Example being my MR2 that I bought in from Japan.
Because the few Aus delivered cars Toyota sold were built in Japan there was little different that needed to be changed for me to get on the road.
IIRC it only needed:
Fuel filler restrictor
ADR approved seatbelts (Early jap belts dont lock when you yank them..inertia lock only)
Side impact bars welded in to the doors
Clear side indicators
Clear front fogs
Imobiliser
High level brake light
The only other thing it needed to pass the pits was new tyres...that is not a requirement under the pre 1989 rules, it was just that the ones that came on it were nearly bald.
Oh and it failed the pits first time round for being 4mm to low and for being to loud but thats a whole other story!!
Fiddlemesticks said:
Are there actually any BMW Z1's in Oz?
I'd love one. Like really love one. And it would be perfect here. However not sure if there are any and whether that might work in my favour if you bought one over and the value the valuer would give (i.e not a lot..)?
I think there are about 5 in total. One was for sale a couple of years back for around 60k from memoryI'd love one. Like really love one. And it would be perfect here. However not sure if there are any and whether that might work in my favour if you bought one over and the value the valuer would give (i.e not a lot..)?
deviant said:
If its pre 1989 then I think you would be free to do as you please. Also with it being pre 1989 you dont need to go to a compliance workshop...if you know what your doing you can do it all yourself.
Post 1989 you in to the SEV's game.
I think it comes down to state registration requirements rather than an import restriction. You can get the import approval without any issue, however in Vic at least you need a VASS engineers report to be able to register the car.Post 1989 you in to the SEV's game.
In order to get this report approved is where it leads in to proving that the car met the ADRs applicable at its time of manufacture.
May be different in other states but the only time you can bring a car in and register it in Vic without having to go through some form of compliancing proceedure in line with the ADRs at the time is in the case of pre-1969 cars where they only need a RWC and no VASS report or compliancing done.
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