Quote:
Originally Posted by wintech  Andrew,
Robert Hayden is a chap I have a lot of respect for as regards Fcars. Not only an obvious enthusiast, but also very happy to help where he can fit it into his busy life. Robs treatise on the body woes afflicting his TR from rust are very sobering in consideration it was a low Mileage UK car with service from reputable technicians.
I did the math when I first joined this site and a UK car would have owed me more than a LHD car with hopefully no cancer(about +30% end result of shipping,duty,ins,rego etc.) If the AUD/USD gets to $1.10+ again and GBP continues to suffer the infection of EU financial woes and drops below AUD$1.40/GBP then it may make a difference. The later build and lower mileage on UK cars does increase the ask price if it is from a 'reputable' source but bear in mind the LCT in Oz on cars over a certain landed valuation(not the purchase price) if that is levied it makes it a darned expensive exercise.
SA was also an option..IF the cars over there were reasonably priced in AUD...but its all relative to the local market income/expense matrix. The car Peter suggested at the current AUD/ZAR exchange (8.15:1)is AUD $110,000 even though it is too later build to import, still expensive, may owe around 140-150,000 AUD after all costs!! When there are cars in Sydney on cars.com for $100K RHD!!
My budget didn't stretch that far as it was about driving the dream before Alzheimer's drives me! Heh heh. I did luck out, but I was not in a position time-wise to get a PPI done before the ebay auction finished.It could have have gone very pear shaped for me even though I qualified a lot of stuff through the local FCA about the car/owner before I bid.
As a comparison, it is a 50+k mile car which had been over-serviced since day1 and according to the Service manager at Continental(Chicago, sold new) 'at 50K it ran better than TR's on the lot with 10K on them'. I have the service records for it now and he wasn't kidding, full major service every 2 yrs and a major inspection after each Club track meet, regardless of expense. Apart from the wear on the D/S seat upper bolster from the original owners use; the car looks, starts,goes and handles like new.
BUT it is LHD and this is OZ, although if I still had my '67 Shelby GT500 that I had in the eighties with the 427 stroker in it... being LHD would not hurt the value at all and probably wouldn't enter into the discussion either.
In summary, its horses for courses Andrew- your money, your motives, your budget and your dream. Aim for the stars and you will at least get the moon.
Pete |
Pete -
My sentiments exactly with Rob, he's a great character and definitely helped me avoid a costly and problematic purchase. Perhaps that is why i am hesitant to jump into a car; considering the potential for disaster or tears.
I'm prepared to buy a car with high kms (say 50,000). My 2006 3 series has 121,000km on it today, so higher numbers on the clock don't really concern me. If the car is properly maintained and regularly driven then there is no problem.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wintech Again Andrew,
got a bit side-tracked and missed yr query re the compliance mods.
"Did you have to strengthen any the doors or change the exhaust?"
The exhaust got changed back to the original for the Engineering/Pit Inspection process. The Tubi Comp. is now back on it.
The doors did require side intrusion protection, however I took pics of the bar work comprising the door frame (25mm CrMol tubing by the look) and no argument when presented for registration. The side intrusion protection on any car for the Oz market are flimsy pressed sheet metal pieces added to cover ADR specs.
If you are in Sydney, the local rego requirements for an imported car may vary with WA standards( can you even register a LHD car in NSW?)
pete |
I was under the impression that the original Testarossa exhaust would fail the emissions test - however the US delivered cars have cats whereas the UK ones don't - perhaps that was the difference?
Also, it is not possible to register a LHD car here anymore. They moved the goalposts on that one.
As for the ADR and the door - that might just work... I have an 86 M3 which i brought over from Japan in 2011 and the import company did a similar thing to avoid modifying it. I did have to convert the car to RHD though - not such a problem as many parts are interchangeable with other E30 cars - and those are somewhat cheaper and more plentiful than TRs
The AUD-GBP exchange has improved significantly since i first started looking seriously at TRs about 2 years ago. Maybe it will get to the point where i can't refuse one.
AK
02-04-2012, 12:28 AM
Linear Mode
