Palawan books

If you are interested in the Aston Martin Project GT cars, there is coverage in the two-volume "Racing with the David Brown Aston Martins by Chris Nixon - I have a good set available.

 

Palawan's DB4GT book deals with the Project cars as well on 60 to 70 pages, including chassis histories of the individual cars, and fantastic historical and modern images.

 

Rumoured that they were not satisfied and have ordered a reprint. Usual high quality Palawan scenario especially as this book is possibly their most important to date. Patience is a virtue !

 

Other than the French book by Michel Bollee they have not covered the project cars that well over the years. Revs has a large number of photos of these cars also.

 

+ 1 agree. This is a bit annoying as I enjoy reading either upright in an armchair or before I go to bed.

 

Got an email from Palawan, the Aston Martin project GT racing cars book is there and will be shipped momentarily

 

Once you got your copy your opinion on the book would be highly appreciated!

I myself am still undecided as DB4GT already has almost 70 pages on the GT Project cars including individual chassis histories. And the available sample pages show several pages with just a few words in very large letters written on it so as to just fill the pages. Therefore, I had some difficulty to make up my mind.

 

The plan was that I should receive the book on Thursday 10, but I am arguing about the VAT with DHL so there will probably be some delay.
Although the shipment correctly states that it's a book, DHL is asking for payment of VAT at standard rate for the full invoice, whereas it would be fair to have the reduced rate on the book (and standard rate on the shipment only), IMHO. Since in France the standard rate is 20% and the reduced rate (which applies to books) is 5.5%, it makes more than 100 EUR difference, so it's worth at least trying ...

 

I assume that French customs has calculated the total VAT amount and that DHL is only an intermediate party in this?
In that case I am afraid that you will not win your argument

BTW, I do understand taxes on imported goods but IMHO taxes on shipping costs are unfair.

 

I am afraid it's fruitless to negotiate these things with institutions like DHL (although I have always been very satisfied with their service).

What you need when ordering in Britain is people like Ben Horton or Charles and Andy from Cotswold, who handle all the post-Brexit red tape in advance and make sure that parcels just go through all barriers without any delay or inconvenience.

 

Both FED EX and UPS like to invoice spurious charges when importing to the uk. UPS charged me £6.30 customs fee on a £5k valued import. UPS owe me monies from four years ago but never respond to email and use strange phone numbers where the person who answers speaks a different language. Very unprofessional and they owe me still! FEDEX invoice for VAT on books……

I agree that using resellers like Hortons takes all the hassle away.

 

It's actually a mistake from DHL, they failed to notice and report to the customs that the item was a book and they paid the 20% VAT. Now I had to pay them to allow the delivery, and was advised to make a claim to DHL - in an ideal world, they would be correcting the situation with the customs, get the refund for the excess VAT paid and pass it back to me... (all this from multiple communications with DHL).
Since I already paid, and am not likely to sue DHL for a little more than 100 EUR, I'm not holding my breath.
I will try though, and will report back here for the fun of it...

 

At least in my case FedEx delivered first and then asked for the money which I refused.

Anyone received the Palawan Project Book yet ?

 

Received today, #15 of 250.
Today was one of these rare days during which I work, so I did not really have time to have more than a very quick look at it.
At first glance it seems to be a quality work.
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Seem to be having a Palawan fetish.After purchasing the superb Ferrari in Camera recently decided to spend more dosh on the DB4GT directly purchased from Palawan.

Although expensive it was cheaper than buying from a very well known UK book retailer who are charging £4000 .There is another on Abebooks priced £2800.

A relative bargain at £2000 ! Great book as are all of their publications. Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Yes it happens !!

I have great enjoyment from my copy of the Jaguar D type which is a fantastic book. Also Silver Steads which seems to go under the radar which in my humble opinion is a mistake. Ferrari in Camera and the DB4 GT are special too.

 

And don‘t forget DB3S! Although I never had any special interest in this model, I am completely excited by Palawan's treat. Fantastically executed, a feast for everyone who loves classic cars.

 

£2,000 is still a little steep to me - specially if by mistake I'd have to add 20% VAT...
Btw, DHL has assigned a file number to my VAT claim, so we'll see if / how it moves forward.

 

Update on my hopeless VAT claim: DHL's answer is that the book could not be identified as a book because the invoice from Palawan did not include an ISBN, so the standard VAT had to be applied - defining the shipment as "book" is not considered conclusive.
Unlike in other books, I could not find an ISBN number printed within the book - I wonder how book resellers manage that. Motors Mania has the "Seventies Motors Racing" advertised for 600 EUR; given that converted Palawan's price of 400 GBP is 467 EUR, it's quite possible they indeed pay the 20% VAT. On the other hand, Horton's typically pays the VAT (so that it's not asked when receiving their shipment) - they only have a few Palawan's book, but I'd be surprised if they actually pay 20% (that would be a significant cost for them, more difficult to cope with than 5.5%).

 

The tariffs hit me hard here in the US.

I was hit up for $157 in import duties and filing fees, then only to be hit again for another $120 for Bonded Warehouse storage fees!!!

I then received an email from DHL informing me that they are temporally pausing any shipments to the US that have a value over $800

It was quite a pill to swallow and will make me think again from whom I order books from in the future. Luckily this is the first import duties I've had to pay in 30 odd years of buying books from out of country.

 

In the EU, duties on import from the UK are one direct product of Brexit... Before, there was no question, because when the VAT is paid within one country of the EU (at its local rate) it's not asked in another EU destination country. VAT on books in the UK is typically 0% (vs 5.5% in France) - before Brexit, the 0% VAT was "paid" in the UK so books bought directly from the UK were not subject to any VAT in France. Now, they are at least subject to the 5.5% French VAT, which raises to 20% if the shipment fails to be recognized as a book (for whatever reason).
Palawan books are sometimes available from Hortons (who takes care of the taxes in most of the cases, in spite of being in the UK) or from web bookshops in Germany or France - maybe it's worth waiting for that before ordering from the UK, even though it means more wait because the books are not available when they are released.

PS - so far the "Aston Martin GT Project cars" is a very good read, at least

 

But is it worth £750?

 

No, same applies to Rolex, Hermès, LVMH, Ferrari etq.

 

Someone previously mentioned some individual pages with large writing on chapter pages as if to 'fill out' the book.

From sample pages it looks quite arty. Was such artwork appropriate for this era of car? Racing Through Europe had Julian Balmes artwork but it did not dominate or draw away attention from the book contents.

There seems to be a lack of reviews from motoring publications or on here to tempt parting with 750 pounds especially when there were such rumours that this was going to be Palawans best ever book.

A shame if it has not come up to scratch, would definitely have purchased.An honest opinion would be great.

 

Palawan would never give away review copies as is normal practice but does often loan out copies to reliable journalists such as Mick Walsh. It's expensive just sending one out, then the journo has to get it back again. Which can be a bit painful with all the repacking and DHL or post. And even with someone careful like Mick, Palawan then has a 'used copy'. At £750. As you probably know, Julian did not design this one.