buying my first yank!

[Wilksy288]

Hey all, so I'm thinking of buying my first American vehicle but have come across a couple of ads stating they are MOT'd but just need to be registered. Can anyone explain why they haven't already been registered? As I would prefer to be able to drive it home. Also where do you get your parts for American cars? Do you get them imported or are there any well established businesses over here? Sorry about the newby questions!

Many thanks
Scott

[Roo]

Freshly imported stuff won't be registered as that puts the V5c in the dealers name. Doing it this way means the purchaser will be the first UK registered keeper.

[JoPo1]

I import my own parts, more times than not it works out cheaper and is better quality equipment. RockAuto and SummitRacing are who I use.

[fatboy18]

Importing parts is the way to go....Depends on what car/ truck you end up with.

The US Dollar is crap against the Pound at the moment so things will cost more.
As for fluids, I sometimes get mine from Opie Oils or ATO 24 in Germany where you get American Fluids and because the pound is good against the euro you get a good rate with no added import tax as they are in Europe.

If you have any friends that have holiday homes in the USA you could chat them up and ask them to bring back the odd item for you.

I sometimes get the odd part from ebay USA sent to a mates house.

Get yourself a copy of any UK American car magazine and you will find plenty of spare part places. Join a car club and the membership will pay for itself quickly and normally being a member of a club will give you discounts on insurance and sometimes with aftermarket spares vendors.
Many Insurance companies will shy away from LHD American Cars and they will give you stupid quotes in the process. Shop around as you will find a massive difference in prices.

So what are you leaning towards in terms of make or model?

[Wilksy288]

Thanks for the info guys.

At the moment I'm leaning towards a 70s ford pickup, but if a new edge mustang pops up I would be pretty tempted, but they seem pretty rare in the UK and so haven't seen many for sale. I'm in no rush so I just keep checking the classifieds to see if anything catches my eye.

[LuS1fer]

70s and early 80s Yanks still rust. Later, the better, in terms of standing up to the elements.

[fatboy18]

Always worth contacting owners clubs, members know of other members stuff for sale that may not be currently advertised

Mustang Owners club are a nice bunch