Bringing a Euro Daytona to the U.S.

I brought in a 1964 car from Europe. Cars older then 25 years, in other words those made/titled before 1979 will only have to pay customs duties and the like. Emissions were/are not an issue, (nor is anything else having to do with kph speedometer, re-inforced doors, side markers, headlights, seatbelts).
Yale

 

Yale is correct on this one. One thing to look out for is where the USD is relative to the Euro. The numbers really aren't in your favor right now. When the Fed raises rates, the dollar should strengthen.

There are a lot of rough cars in Europe that were ridden hard and put away wet. Be careful.

 

once it is at a us port it is simply a matter of paying your customs broker, clearing customs and paying your duty. the car is then free to drive off. beware state rules re emissions or a safety inspection which car may or may not pass. you will have to see if you are exempt. my state has no inspections of any kind- safety or emissions, so not a problem. once car is over 25 no epa or dot, therefore each year a new crop becomes available. bigger issue is getting it here and even bigger is getting it from seller to port if seller no live near port. i bought a car in sicily and the cost to haul from sicily to northern port was more than the transatlantic voyage. i shipped the car ro-ro and not container. i've done it twice and had no problems. container is considerably more $. good luck.

 

I have a Euro Daytona with Plexi nose, a 1969 model. It was imported to the US in the early 1970s and there was no conversion work of any kind carried out. It is registered and driven here in GA and has been for the past 30 years with no issues. No emissions tests... no DOT bumpers or door bars.... no problems.

I also prefer the Euro cars, it was one of the reasons I jumped on the one I bought. The plexi nose, no side market lights, no reverse light, no dual points setup or dinoplex modules.... a much cleaner looking car and the Euro cars ran stronger when new (of coarse now that would mean nothing since most have been rebuilt at one time or another).

I would recommend a car that has had at least a top end rebuild at some point. Even a very low mileage original car is still over 30 years old and things like valve seals were not made from the greatest materials when new, at least as compared to what you can use today. Find a car that someone dropped crazy money on restoring in the late 1980s when they were going for $500K...

There are some early Euro cars here in the states. I know another early red Euro with plexi nose sold in LA several months ago.

Terry

 

I brought a Euro plexi Daytona in to the US in 1999. There were no problems. Just paid the customs fee, which was either 1% or 2% as I recall. There were no inspections/ DOT/EPA issues due to the car's age. Even got to keep the triangle spinners vs. the DOT octagon spinners( yuk ). Just be sure to see the car for yourself. I had mine inspected there. But when it arrived, there were issues that should have been appearant to any vintage auto expert. Fortunatly, I do my own work, so it was not the end of the world.

 

I hear you, but I don't quite understand a quote I read in Forza: It was in the 512 Boxer buyer's guide. They said it is now illegal to import any further of these cars, so what's in the US now is basically the supply.

So what did they mean by that? Some of those cars are 25 years and older. Can somebody explain please?

 

I know for a fact that a Boxer that is at least 25 years old can be imported into the U.S. In 2000, I was investigating this and even talked to Dick Merritt at the US DOT about it. I believe that the Forza statement can be explained by one of the following:

1) I believe the article was from the Feb. 1998 issue of Forza, which was probably written in 1997. At that time, the no Boxer would have been 25 years old (1973 was the first year of Boxer production with only 24 cars produced late in the year).

2) It is possibile that the rules changed sometime after the date of the Forza article.

Steve