How do USA sidemarker lights get added to a Euro? Import requirement?

I've seen a number of Euro Dinos in the USA with USA sidemarker lights. How and why are they there? Was there any reason why US markers could appear on a Euro Dino? Was it required to be added to import a Euro Dino into the USA?

Thanks

 

Yes, the side marker lights would have been required to import the car into the US. However, once a car is 25 years old, it can be imported without having to meet the Federal DOT and EPA standards. So the car you saw must have been imported when it was less than 25 years old.

 

Synchro - the crux of the issue is the date of manufacture of the car. Those produced prior to mid-1971 did not need DOT-EPA modification, as evidenced by the fact that the factory did not produce anything other than the "Euro" version for all (including the U.S.) markets.

Late 1971 and thereafter, there were two models produced (Euro and U.S....not addressesing other countries such as Switzerland, Austrailia, etc.)

Therefore, cars brought into the U.S. that were manufactured post 1972 were either imported by Chenetti (Connecticut) as U.S. version Dinos, or as gray market Euro versions. To bring in a gray market car required not only side rectangular lights/reflectors, but would also require the necessary smog equipment. This was an expensive proposition, and the value of the car did not justify this expense (save for the spike in 1989 and perhaps now).

This is not to suggest that some may have come and side markets added, I am simply reflecting upon my observations that most of those that we see with Euro front directionals and U.S. side markers got that way as modifications of a U.S. car, not the opposite.

Jim S.

 

the euro car i have, 07010, has us style side marker lights. you can tell from position that these aren't factory specs. however, it is interesting, since we are discussing this, how many euro cars have the us spec dino style lights added on.

it seems to me, if you were just trying to import the car, you would go for what is on the shelf that meets us standards. however, most euro cars, that have come to the us, have the same style of lights as us spec cars. this is more than coincidence.

my euro car was built in aug. 1973 and imported in late 1973. i talke dto the second owner, who bought the car in jan/feb of 1974. he said the sidemarkers weren't on the car during the time he owned it.

this means, somewhere down the line, they were installed. i have to ask why. the first owner imported the car from switzerland into san francisco, which is where the second owner bought it. could some california law have come up that forced the retro of the lights? you got me. during the eighties, the car changed hands a couple of times, but i can't figure out when the lights were added. they definitily weren't there in the mid 70's.
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wspeer - I assume that you car does not have any of the smog equipment. If this is true, I am at a loss. Scratching my head wondering why someone added the side markers after the car was already in the U.S.

Stranger things have happened...maybe.

Jim S.

 

Were the square marker lights place over the same location as the Euro "button" shaped lights?
If so, then this might have made it simple for the owner to enlarge the small, round cutout area to ft the square ones in. just a thought...

 

that is my best guess as the positioning seems about right and it would have saved from having body work at the time.