Non-US market cars

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jefftepper

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It seems that a good number of the cars for sale reported here are from other places (mostly Europe) and privately imported to the US at some point. I realize that E9's are much easier to import now that they are not subject to DOT/EPA certification as they were when they were less than 25 years old. Nonetheless, is this trend something recent or has it been the case for sometime? Is the demand here for E9's such that it makes sense to import them for resale? Just wondering.
 
Euro coupes outnumber US/NA coupes by 7 to 1 in build numbers. They have been imported since the 80s to the US but I doubt that many are being imported now, some of the best survivors are here, Italy has decent coupes too
 
Maybe

Earlier this year, while I was shopping for my coupe, I began looking outside the U.S. just to see about prices. I didn't get very far, but it appeared that there may have been some good cars overseas, particularly in Germany and Italy. European cars were less likely to have an automatic transmission or to have air conditioning, but did not have the silly DOT side lights, US headlights, and the really stupid aluminum spacer on top of the front struts to raise the headlight beam. Retrofitting air conditioning would have been a deal killer for me.
 
The issue is, very few decent vintage daily drivers exist in Deutschland any more. Road salt, rust and strict TUV road worthiness inspections have taken there toll on cars. In fact, your rarely see old cars on the roads anymore in Germany. In 2008, while working in Stuttgart, I went to the German E12/E28 meet in Bavaria near Mindleheim. Talking to the German E12/E28 club president, he estimated that there are probably less than a 1000 E12's left in Germany and a lot of them are project cars. If you want to go see old cars in Germany, a good place to go is the Nurburgring Historic races in August where owners bring their vintage cars. Here are some pics that I my friend Imran took while we are at the Historics in 2008.
http://picasaweb.google.com/wiskinator/NurburgringCars Take a look at the Fiat 124 in the 4th pic. What do you see that is unusual about the car? If you didn't notice, see the US spec side marker lights, small license plate area so it's a US spec Fiat. Talking with the owner, he imported the car from Arizona since old Fiats are a rarity in Germany. Collectors are importing vintage European US spec cars back to Germany. Simple rule of supply and demand. Supply of vintage cars is minimal in Europe but lots of vintage rust free cars exist in the US. Just look how crazy the price of vintage 911's has become. You don't see vintage 911's being driven in Germany but attend any classic car show in Germany, you'll see several.

In 2004, while working at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. I wanted to bring back a vintage Euro spec BMW. I found the cars were in two basic categories, very nice and out of my price range or total project cars, i.e. bottomless money pits so I passed. Three months after I returned back to the states, I found a 70 Euro spec E3 2800 on the streets of the SFV area of LA for $300 that was rust free, imported into CA in the early 70's. If you want to bring back a Euro spec car, look for a car in France, Italy, Spain, i.e. warmer climates where they don't dump salt on the roads in the winter.

Just remember that you live in CA and any car 76 and later still has to under go smog testing in CA. Trust me, the CA Air Resources Board (CARB) does not like gray market cars, AMHIK. I'd rather have hot pokers in the eyes than deal with CARB again. Here's my story of dealing with CARB regarding my former Euro spec E12. http://www.firstfives.org/carmonth/may2009.html Here's a link on an owner's story of importing an old school BMW into CA. http://www.bayarea02.com/features/importing/index.html Bottom line, do your homework before you import a Euro spec car.

G-Man
 
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Why old cars are scarce in Germany

Aside from weather, rust, etc, there was an attitude against aging cars.

From what my German friends say, for a long time, no one appreciated old cars. Executive class cars like coupes and especially big sedans were viewed as day-old bread once the new models came out. Executives wanted the latest and greatest. These cars were status symbols, perhaps even more than in the US. To have the newest top line BMW or Merc was the desire...
 
Thanks for the insights. I do have some familiarity with the "Grey Market" cars from the early 1980's as my former father-in-law imported a 745 and a 323 from Germany and went through the certification process. It was not a trivial effort !
 
If you want a nice E9, be willing to travel for the right one. It could be anywhere.
 
agree...

Nicad said:
If you want a nice E9, be willing to travel for the right one. It could be anywhere.
Click to expand...

Don't be afraid to import one... Italy is as good as it gets for dry coupes. All but one coupe I've owned started out in Italy. The one that didn't is a pile of ferrous somewhere now.
 
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