Howdy- I bought a Euro 308 from a guy in Dallas. In the owners manual, there are hand-written notes mentioning the conversion over to US specs being done at a place called "Texas Coach". This would have been done in 1984 or so. Anybody ever heard of them? I did a google search and came up empty. I'm hoping maybe there is some paperwork somewhere. Thanks in advance
A lot of those so called conversion shops closed after the government required more detailed paperwork of the conversion. There are people who have cars with correct paperwork. These cars have very little done to modify the cars to US Specs. TinoBoxer claimed his beautiful car had NOTHING done. It had the correct paperwork though.
You may need to find Richard Merritt's (DOT) phone number. What year is it? After 25 years, in Texas cars are exempt from smog check but you're gonna have to get state title for your five digit VIN. I hope your cars that old! How wqas it described in your Bill of sale, "DOT Certified"????
If you contact Mike Luongo at Lamborghini of Dallas he may know the shop you are asking about. He used to do conversions many years ago before he was a Ferrari/Maserati master tech. Now he does the work at Lambo.
Actually sounds like it might have been the fellow who was around the corner from me on Goodnight Lane. There was a fellow who did "conversions" on Grey Market cars. This type of business went away when the shut down the Grey Market car trade. They used to bring in cars from Germany and Italy that they purchased used and "convert" to us Spec. Most of the cars had very little to nothing done. Some had headlight conversions. I owned an office Condo and the fellow in the office next to me used to do "inspections" Basically the Grey Market car guy would buy him a six pack and pass...
The good old days. It is very complex to do it today. There is EPA lab paperwork required. All kinds of forms. Bonds have to be posted. The shops performing the conversions are not the end of the process. The funny thing is when you speak to some of the gov't people up the chain. They have different answers. One lady was very cautious, while she was telling me that it was possible the car had to be checked around the tires for soil contamination. Then another inspector told me that was not really a problem. If you are ever serious about importing a car, it is best to find a professional broker. Of course this was not the thread. It is F chat though. LOL
Thanks for the help folks. I have had no problem registering the car here in Maine, but I'm thinking about the next owner. I do have a title for the car, so that is fine.
