I was in mexico a week ago and the old beetle is everywhere down there! The rental car places had tons of them sitting around... They didn't look much different than the ones from years ago. Its amazing that the car stayed in production for such a long time.
Is it possible to import one of those Beetles from Mexico to either the US or Canada? They are all part of NAFTA so it should work right?
I'd loved to get my hands on the old school Beetles.
I'd loved to get my hands on the old school Beetles.
Sorry dude....isn't going to happen. They do not meet US safety or emission standards and have not been available in this country since 1979.
You don't have to buy a Mexican one to get one, they're all over.
They're cheap and reliable. That's why they've been in production for so long.
As always, Corporate Recreation must chime in on EVERY gay comment.
You're our little rainbow warrior aren't you?
What about Canadian safety/emission standards? Do we even have standards??
Eli: Over here, older Beetles are ridiculously overpriced. I was thinking a 1989 Beetle from Mexico would be pretty cheap (I have no clue really, just wishful thinking).
One day, I'll have one, along with a BMW 2002 and a Datsun 510. My perfect dream car garage!
You're probably right, but like many Japanese cars that people want to mod, if you have a version of that car over here you can pretty much use all the parts from over there.
For instance, buy a rusted out shell of a VW Beetle (and its clean title) from someone in the US for dirt cheap, and then purchase a newer Beetle from Mexico. Use all the parts from the new one, and just use the old one's title. It's a strange loophole... you're not allowed to import cars from other countries and drive them, but they don't seem to mind if you import parts and put them on your car. Not exactly legal, but not policed either.
Don't be an idiot.
The old VW's are cool. Everybody should own one at some point.
They're collectors cars, that's why they cost so much.
Who's going to stop you if you find a private seller and have it shipped over? Hell, who's going to stop you if you drive it over yourself? The Border Patrol?
We all know how well that works.
It is perfectly legal to restore an old car. Moving VIN numbers is not legal, i.e cutting them out from the old car and welding them onto the new.
It's not really 100% legal to restore an old car the way most people restore them. Many parts are not DOT certified, or are imported from another country.
In this case, if you wanted a 100% legal engine, you'd have to buy a very old American VW Beetle engine (which is exempt from emission laws) and fully rebuild it.
OR, you could buy a Mexican VW Beetle engine which is only a few years old, runs great, pollutes the same amount as the American engine and is dirt cheap, but is not totally legal since it's from another country.
It's the same deal as with Japanese cars. I own a 300ZX, and they stopped selling them in the US in 1996. But in Japan they sold them until 2000. It's usually cheaper to buy a low mileage engine from Japan as it is to get one from over here. It will pass emissions, but it's not totally legit.
Same deal with people with Honda's. They might own a Civic or Integra, and they buy an engine from Japan because they have higher output versions over there. They still pass emissions, but they are not 100% legal since that engine is not from the USA.
PS- The same goes even for real old cars. In some states, you can drop in a different engine as long as it's newer than the one the car came with. So if you're trying to fix up a 1976 Datsun 280Z, you can legally use an engine from a 1977 280Z, but not an engine from a 1975 280Z.
Or if you're restoring an old Corvette, it's the same deal. You may have an early 70's Vette that you want to drop a new engine in. If that engine is one year older than the car, you are not allowed to use it.
But that's the law, which is cannot account for every situation. In the real world, people swap the engines and do not report it, since it only creates headaches from paperwork.
Or if you're restoring an old Corvette, it's the same deal. You may have an early 70's Vette that you want to drop a new engine in. If that engine is one year older than the car, you are not allowed to use it.
But that's the law, which is cannot account for every situation. In the real world, people swap the engines and do not report it, since it only creates headaches from paperwork.
Marshall
In theory some of the things you speak of are true but in reality they hardly ever affect anyone outside the state of Kalifornia. Here in Texas we can pretty much do whatever we want, even to new cars as long as it passes the emission test if it is required to do so.
As far as the engine not being any older that the frame...this only applies if the car is newer that 25 years old and must pass the emissions test but in reality I have never had anything like that checked even on many of the highly moddified cars I have taken to get inspected.
In theory some of the things you speak of are true but in reality they hardly ever affect anyone outside the state of Kalifornia. Here in Texas we can pretty much do whatever we want, even to new cars as long as it passes the emission test if it is required to do so.
As far as the engine not being any older that the frame...this only applies if the car is newer that 25 years old and must pass the emissions test but in reality I have never had anything like that checked even on many of the highly moddified cars I have taken to get inspected.
Vic
Elite Member
- Jun 12, 2001
- 50,422
- 14,337
- 136
You, my friend, have excellent taste. I've owned all three in my time (actually 3 bugs - '60, '65, and '69), but I haven't dabbled in old cars for several years. But that is going to change. By the end of the month, I should have another little 510 racecar in my stable.Originally posted by: mAdD INDIAN
One day, I'll have one, along with a BMW 2002 and a Datsun 510. My perfect dream car garage!
Yup, down south.
BTW: The "Beetle is the ONLY car never to have been "Copied" (at least not until VW started makinf the NEW Beetle) and the Rabbit was the one car copied the MOST!
I know they don't bother checking those things, I'm just saying that's the "official" word on it. My car is from Japan, and over there they have different versions of the same vehicle. You are not legally allowed to own one of those vehicles, but you can buy the parts from over there and put them on your car, in effect having that vehicle.
If you ever take a look at how hard it is to import a car you'd see what I mean. You can buy a Skyline for cheap, but it's going to cost you $$$$$ if you want to import it over here. It's hard to get around that, since they don't export a version of that to the USA and it would stick out like a sore thumb. But if you wanted a Silvia, you could buy a 240SX over here and put all of the Silvia parts on it since the cars are basically the same.
You're into Mustangs so you wouldn't run into those problems dealing with importing parts or vehicles since everything is made here. But imagine if they sold a better version of it in Europe and you wanted it over here. You wouldn't be able to buy the Euro spec vehicle and drive it here due to import restrictions, but you would be able to buy Euro spec "front clip and "rear clip" and use all those parts to convert your American spec car into the one you want.
I understand exactly what you are talking about, and I agree with you. I build OLD Mustangs mostly so in reality a lot of the reproduction parts do come from over there...HEHE....but there really aren't any laws restricting what you can do with an older car that isn't required to meet emissions. I do feel for you guys that hot rod Japanese cars because most of the good stuff isn't available in this country legally. Luckily for me and most of my friends we can build just about anything we want and make obscene amounts of HP with readily available and legal parts...I feel for you import guys.
I mod Z's, I don't associate with the Honda, FWD, 4 banger crowd.
You can feel sorry for them, since they need all sorts of tricks to put out any decend kind of HP, I feel bad for them too.
I stick to RWD/Turbo, since it's easy to get power that way. A guy on the Z board I go on is putting out around 630 rear wheel HP on his stock internals, just has bolt ons such as larger turbos/higher flow injectors for now. And a Puerto Rican team is putting out about 1200 hp to the rear wheels on the stock Nissan block and stock crank, they have aftermarket pistons, rods, and valves.
Right now I have no engine mods at all, and I have 389 lbs of torque at my rear wheels just by doing intake/exhaust and turning up the boost.
Eventually I'd like to restore an older car. I always wanted a 240Z with a small block Chevy in it, and I've also been having an itching to restore a muscle car such as a late 60's Mustang or Camaro. Not to race, just to be loud and badass
TRENDING THREADS
-
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)- Started by DisEnchantment
- Replies: 25K
-
Discussion Intel Meteor, Arrow, Lunar & Panther Lakes + WCL Discussion Threads
- Started by Tigerick
- Replies: 22K
-
News NVIDIA and Intel to Develop AI Infrastructure and Personal Computing Products- Started by poke01
- Replies: 384
-
Discussion Intel current and future Lakes & Rapids thread- Started by TheF34RChannel
- Replies: 23K
Facebook
Twitter