So, if you can afford it, you can get a Zonda, Koenisegg ect

right? i mean, you can get anything shipped over here right? I mean, i plan on being able to afford these and even if they weren't street legal i could still buy them?? i mean, i know there are ways of making them street legal.. there has to be.. i just see all these threads and maybe i'm just starting one lol but really, all i have to do is order the thing, at the very least i could use it as a track car.. what would happen if i did drive it and got pulled over? would it get impounded? i mean, is it just that i dont have it registered? or will they get all insane that it isn't street legal?


Peter

 

Zonda is in the process, IIRC.

 

realistically, I believe youd be unable to register it if u tried; at least until you had EPA and DOT certification for the vehicle. It may seem a formality, but you would be very upset if you got it here and were told you couldnt drive it! the exception being on a track, I believe as you need no LP, you wouldnt need anything but to have the keys.

 

I think there is a way to register a car as track-only car with limited mileage (like 5000/year) allowed on public roads - it just something i heard and cause i don't plan on buying anything that's not street legal i don't care to research it.

 

I've seen a couple people discuss this around on the board.

I believe the law is called the "Show and Display." If you bring your car into the US under this law, I believe you are limited to 2500 miles/yr, but the car does not need to be legalized in the sense that it has to meet emission standards.

A search may turn up more information on this, as I've heard of a zonda here in the US, somewhere down in Florida I believe, so it apparently can be done...

 

I believe show and display still requires epa conformance (hence the huge price tag for legalizing a McLaren F1 even for show and display use) but you don't have to crash test any to get past DOT regulations. Track use would be different, but I'm not sure the technicalities of it. I believe the total is 2500 miles per year, but it's checked every other or third year rather than yearly. Zonda and Koenigsegg are working on getting them legal - I believe Wycleff's Zonda is here on S&D, as is a black Koenigsegg, but last I heard, Koenigsegg is still working on clearing the EPA/emissions stuff to get it legal so the cars are still not for sale.

 

There are many cars here under the "Show and Display" law. 1 Koenigsegg, at least 5 Paganis (I believe there are more), some Jag XJ220s, Porsche 959s, and many others. It is very expensive to get the cars to pass emissions. Hence the jump in a Pagani pricetag from $450K to over $800K. If you were to buy one over in Europe, where they are legal, the Pagani stickers brand-new for the first price. It is the importing, taxes, conversion that add up to so much more. Pretty much, if you have the money, and are willing to wait, you can get almost any car you want into the States. You just may not be able to drive it much.

Of course, there are those who would say that nothing is illegal unless you're caught.

 

Instead of $800k for a Pagani here, I'd spend the $450k for the Euro version and use another $300k for a nice little home in Italy to store it in.

 

What would you do with the other 50K

 

gas

 

Bah, who needs a house? Just get a nice 2 car garage and stick a cot or two on the other side... hehe.

 

Well, I was thinking of a little studio condo on the Riviera near Monaco - I stayed at a friends' family place there a few years back and IIRC they paid 350k euro for it. Ocean view, very quiet. I could enjoy a month or so there every year!!!

 

If it were only that easy.

 

couldnt you just slap some dealer plates and import to Mexico and drive it across the border?
No officer know these cars. Put a ferrari logo on it and he will think its just another Fcar.

 

The difficulty is in legally registering the car. You can buy the car and put it in your garage easily without trying to hide anything.

You can take it to the race track via trailer and drive it all day as well.

But if you want to drive it on public roads, it needs to be registered. Otherwise, I hope you never get pulled over.

 

Then why do I keep hearing about the DOT siezing cars during importation? Bill Gates' 959 was (maybe still is?) held at a DOT warehouse for years when he tried to import it.

 

Because he was trying to import it, not driving it over the border. I've heard the show/display rule called the Bill Gates rule. Autosports Designs has done this for an Aston Martin V600 LeMans, i think the final price was $440K. Michael Sheehan's site has a story about bringing in an F50GT that is amusing(as long as it wasn't your F50)

 

Be very careful with the taxes, its one of the main reasons we don't have a place in Europe right now, still cheaper to rent...

 

Yes but for show & display, you need to apply, and be approved by the DOT. Only certain cars are covered by the Show & Display clause. If he could just bring the car in for track use, I'm sure he wouldv'e done so, and then worried about making it road legal, rather than letting the DOT keep it.

 

He's got it IIRC.

 

Hmm. The other big deterrent was the fact that going even twice a year, it might be cheaper to rent than own. Of course, saying you "own" a waterview villa on the Italian riviera is much cooler than saying you rent one twice a year - but is it worth it financially?

This I haven't decided.

 

What about owning it and then renting it to help offset the costs...?

 

Good call.

 

Italy and taxes are two words that don't belong in any sane sentance...

 

I Borrowed this from Michael Sheehan's Site and it does a GREAT job explaining the Bill Gates Bill to import cars that are not certified by the US Government.

" The rules are simple. The non-certified car is declared exempt from NHTSA safety (crash-related) standards if: it's imported by a collector or an enthusiast and not by a dealer or a broker; it's used only for show or display; and it's driven only 2.5K miles or less per year on public roads to shows for display or for service. The non-certified car must also be updated and tested to meet allocable model year EPA (smog) standards, which can be expensive but not impossible to do with today's modern fuel-injected cars. Last but not least, the car being imported must be of historical or technical interest, meaning no mass-production cars."

check out his site it is a wealth of information
www.ferraris-online.com