As anyone with more than a passing interest in cars, I often find myself looking at strange and interesting things that lurk within auction sites. I look at them and despair, for I know I’ll never be able to touch them, let alone purchase them. I know most of car-nut America hates the draconian 25-year import ban on vehicles, but have they ever considered that it could be worse? Much, much much worse. To demonstrate my point, allow me to wax lyrical about this simply majestic 1976 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight hardtop.
Manufactured at a time when General Motors was undertaking the single biggest and most expensive lineup revision in history. The one that brought us the much shorter, lighter and efficient B-Bodies. This 1976 Model is the B-Body every environmentalist loves to hate. It’s big and unapologetic. Its 455 Rocket V8 generates just 190 horsepower in its neutered state. I’m going to hazard a guess that whatever fuel economy improvements you got by doing that were unceremoniously killed off once you put those horses to pull its 5000+ lb. heft around.
And none of that matters one single tiniest little bit because…well look at it, it’s a magnificent example of a bygone era. It’s endearing in its massiveness, the last hurrah of both America thinking they knew better than to compromise and making exactly what they wanted. In normal cars at least.
The interior is a particular source of Joy for me, thankfully it seems manufacturers have seen it fit to offer colors other than grey and beige. You can get red on a Fusion, but only if you spec a black car. Could a dealer custom order you in red/red if you give them a large enough check? I digress, this triple blue is just the ticket to crush the logical side of the brain into submission and have the creative one produce images of piloting it through a road with a little sunset and a little Bob Seger on the stereo.
With the auction sitting at $8,500 you have to admit it’s a stonking deal, pound for pound. If it were up to me it’d be at this very moment on a very large container and I’d be on the import yard, salivating all over the import documents. But I wouldn’t be writing this article if it were that easy right?
Honduras absolutely and positively does not have a car culture, it’s something that will need an article all on its own at a later date but the upshot is that the overlap between feasibility and desire is a very slim one indeed. To top it all off congress, in that congress struggle to make it like they’re actually achieving something, decided one day to say “Hey, I know what we could do! Let’s ban absolutely all imports if they’re older than ten years old. Let’s give 13 years to pickups, just to be sure.”
Hear that? That’s the sound car fans make when they clench in absolute terror. Say what you want about the Mercedes law, but at least as time goes up the number of desirable cars increases. I’m stuck with whatever thing can make the cut, which if you think about it makes it a really lackluster list. Also think of all the things I’m missing.
Nope
No.
Fat Chance
No way Jose.
But of course you can! The boat will be there in a couple of weeks.
The logic and reasoning behind the law was the following “People import old beaten to crap cars because they’re cheap. But they’re dangerous and unsafe, so we have to ban them.” Sound logic, but that means we can still import new beaten to crap cars from the America because they’re cheap, and we have to ban them. Later provisions were made to ban anything with a wrecked title. Salvage titles remain fair game. I can’t help but think manufacturers had something to do with this. After all, salvage cars that are being repaired need parts and servicing right?
In any case, there is something very hush-hush and spoken around about “classic imports”. That would make sense right, make it like a 15 year no-import ban between cars 10-25 years old. Only problem is that nobody has any idea if that actually is a thing. No one at the DEI (sort of like the IRS and DMV rolled into one) would give me a straight answer. Some said no, some said maybe but they weren’t sure what you could import and what you couldn’t. Around the few car people around, they aren’t that sure either. They just imported the car and hoped a nice man from the DEI wouldn’t show up to their door with a bulldozer and a smile like the nice people fighting terrorism in the U.S by destroying Land Rover Defenders.
Will it work if I try to import the Ninety-Eight? Or that E-body turbo New Yorker (Shut up, I like them!) or will I be forced to crush it or worse, never make it through customs. It’s not like I can just pay the right people off like the stereotype commonly leads you to believe. Despite common opinion, the port authority and customs are actually quite well operated, if perhaps a bit bureaucratic in their handling. But really that comes with the territory.
It would really be a case of jumping in blind with a ton of money and a very nice car in the middle of it all. So if I really want my strange vehicle nobody in their right mind would buy for daily transportation over random silver/black appliance #815-14-41. I’d have to either jump countries, not for lack of trying, or play by the rules. I have a couple of years until the Crown Vic or the Cadillac STS become illegal.
There’s often a way to grease the wheels and get things done, especially in Latin America. In Mexico, they call it “mordida”. I’m not sure what the appropriate term is in Honduras…
You could go the “Mordida” way.But Then you are at the mercy of the guy who you…ahem,negotiated, with. Many a guy is in jail for that.
The thing I hate about this import car ban is that they don’t explain why such cars aren’t allowed in North America, let alone the United States. They just say “this is not allowed, and that car is *not* coming into this country.” I’m not against laws if there’s a reason behind those laws, but if they’re not going to explain why the laws are what they are, then why even make up the laws?
My favourite cars are the Toyota Crown MS65 of the early 1970s, but that hasn’t been sold in the USA since 1972 or 73. I like the Holden HR through HQ, but I’ve never seen them anywhere in the USA. For some reason, Right-hand drive aren’t sold here in the USA, unless it’s used for delivering mail for the USPS. I’ve seen a few right-hand drive cars here, but not many. Why the hell not?
I’d like to buy a Holden car, or a Toyota Crown if it’s safe to drive and is capable of driving under its own power.
I like the Holden too 🙂 No legal obstacles against it in Europe. On the other hand I have read some North-American articles about how the latest Holden/Chevrolet Caprice was monopolized by the police. Some folk have bought one as some GM dealer has imported them from (I ain’t sure) Middle-East before the model was banned in the U.S. (lucky him) to the favor of the domestic Impala. Like a case of a new Land/Range Rover imported from continental Europe to the U.S. which was scrapped publicly…in order to warn against so called illegal safety standards alas unsafe crash indexes… That’s all about the homologation story I think…
…and I’d like to add a comment more about the prohibition of the Korean, Japanese and U.S. car imports on the west-balkans. This regulation came overnight as well. Some of those systems while they are tending to join the e.u. as quickly as possible, without any thinking has implemented fully stupid automotive customs and eco rules. The real point is that squared headed law-folks became too lazy to issue a cross-reference catalogue of emmission norms. So it’s easier for them to ban which isn’t “european”. The cars with overseas origins can be imported only if they were previously homologated for example in Germany because they already have cross-references and are able to issue them.
They aren’t allowed because they don’t meet the laundry list of regulations that US cars have to meet. Older vehicles are allowed because it is thought that they won’t be used a daily transportation and they won’t be imported in significant numbers.
I read once that Mexico now only allowed 10 year old used cars, and no other age. It started in 2008, thus only 1998’s could be imported from USA. Then, would be 1999’s for ’09, etc.They said it was to ‘keep unsafe cars out’, but also to help local car makers and dealers. I found old article here: http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/03/mexico-bans-all-imported-used-cars-from-u-s-except-1998-models/
Now, I don’t know what the current law is, but maybe similar.
I got talked with some folks from the west-balkans (south-east-europe)… For example in some of those countries right-hand-drive cars and carburated, euro1 and euro2 cars became banned overnight. All the r.h.d. cars which were imported previously and registered, must be converted to left-hand-drive. If not than can not pass the MOT and can not be registered again. While in the eastern-european countries (newcomers of the E.U.) r.h.d. is allowed to attend and pass regular MOT. Age and the steering side on the west is out of question. All you need to have your dreamcar IS to have enough money.
I’m reading this and thinking of that Johnny Cash song:
“I’d get it one piece at a time and it wouldn’t cost me a dime
You’ll know it’s me when I come through your town
I’m gonna ride around in style, I’m gonna drive everybody wild
‘Cause I’ll have the only one there is a round”
#ReasonsIwantaCVPI.
Love it!
Sorry to hear about the tough rules down there. I’m sure the cheap prices you are seeing for the S-class and 780 make it worse.
As for this Olds, and I don’t mean to offend anybody, it was and still is a highly unattractive car. I guess that’s why I wasn’t so excited about Tom’s ’76 Coupe DeVille. The impression was too similar to the millions of other B-body cars lumbering around. You might say well the ’77 Cadillac looked like a Chevy too to which I would reply yeah but a ’77 Caprice is way better looking than a ’76.
Before the rest of you get all nostalgic take a look at the 2nd pic and recall what giving that door a good slam used to sound like.
To be fair, it’s not like there were any truly good-looking full-size domestic cars in 1976. On appearance, alone, I’d take a Chrysler New Yorker, but I’m sure the Olds is better in the reliability (and most any other) department.
Could not disagree more, I think the GM C-Bodies were beauties, especially the Olds and Cadillac, the Continental and New Yorker nee Imperial are lovely as well.
+1 Orrin. They’re not to everyone’s taste, but that’s the point. That’s why they have presence, and aren’t washed-out homogenized transportation pods like today’s Camry, et al.
Long live the classic yachts!
Since the Berlin Wall went down some former eastern-european countries had gone through the same confusing law enforcement periods which meant to control the used car imports. Some of them finally found out that no sanctions against salvage category could help to minor the average age of a country’s carpark IF the majority of their citizens can not afford new eco-friendly cars as the average earnings were far too low to imitate the so called western lifestyle. After several years 10 years old average became a lil’ bit better than the 15-20 years average age. Some more meaningful administrations finally let to import anything as the fees are getting bigger and bigger as the vehicle is gettin’ older and less eco-friendly until they reach the age of 30. The only objection against 30+ years old cars IS that these cars MUST meet a kind of “near-to-factory-condition” and meet a score of a registered veteran car board’s decree. No extra fees afflict them as they became then “oldtimers”. And of course their headlights, taillights, bumpers, etc. don’t have to be homologated! The goal is the ORIGINALITY. I should say that became a kind of paradise for old car enthusiasts. On the other hand car owners can spend tonns of money for car parts/repairs and rapidly less for the fees, taxes and insurance.
So are you saying that to register a 30+ year old car for road use, it must meet these originality and condition standards? Or is this even to import it?
That also sounds like it would ban classic customs/hot rods/modified cars, which I’m sure sounds great to some people who are in the “original is always best” category but sounds to me like it takes away any possibility of creativity.
You can import anything. BUT if the vehicle is custom-made, must meet some serious tech/admin burocracy before it would be allowed to attend MOT. Just weeks ago an Opel enthusiast buddy of mine after several years of repairings has pushed through his custom made 196? Opel Rekord Sprint Coupé with lowered suspension, fuel injected 2.2 litre inline 4 (body sibling of the same age Holden Monaro) through MOT as well as got the fresh reg. plates. I made the follow up of his case as another buddy’s wife managed all the paperworks for him. Tonns of money he got spent for the parts and whole lot more for the paperworks. Another buddy of mine has already repair shop and is a respected member of our local hot-rod and amcar community. BUT he’s also paying some experienced and skilled folks to arrange the blueprints, tech docs and rest of the paperworks.
I said Monaro… O.k. If you are more conform with South-America the Opel Rekord (Coupé) is Chevrolet Opala there 🙂
That’s not a problem as in Europe more or less any kind of modification is illegal (although it may vary by state). And usually the requirement to get an older car registered as a classic (less taxes, cheaper insurance,…) is that the car must be original, not necessarily matching-numbers, but completely stock.
Exactly…
I never heard of the fact that “any kind of modification is illegal”. I only know the 1/3 – 2/3 rule:
1. Chassis
2. Body
3. Engine + transmission
You may completely renew one of the above and the vehicle still keeps its classic car-status. An engine and transmission swap for example; 2/3 th of the car is still original, so it officially stays “old”. For the rest minor changes are no problem at all. Other wheels, disc brakes instead of the original drums, an EFI conversion, a new interior: all perfectly OK.
For the rest you can buy and import anything you want, regardless the age of the vehicle. If you want a Kenworth W900 to use as a show-/ hobby truck that’s just fine. If you want to haul cargo with it for a living then go ahead. (Cornering could become a problem though…)
In Europe the AGE of an imported/registered car is only a matter of categorization of the fee rates. There is a (vehicle) solution for everbody’s wallet. Ummm…quite liberal…I suppose.
Sure….A classic Benz W116 in an excellent condition will cost you more than a 3 year old Lada in an excellent condition.
And a brand new Benz A-class will probably cost you more than a brand new Renault Megane, yet they’re both C-segment hatchbacks.
I seem to miss the AGE/wallet/political aspects here…
That’s not the same thing in France. Any change to a car, even the wheel size, must be homologated through a lengthy and costly procedure.
In theory, you can’t drive a car which doesn’t exactly the maker’s description and homologation, on open roads.
If you do, you won’t necessarily be bothered by the police because they might not notice the change, or, if they do, they might issue and then discuss about cars with you if ot’s a classic…
No the big trouble is that insurance companies can deny their coverage if they find any unhomologated modification to the car.
@ Costantini, it especially works great with BOF-vehicles that have a long production-run. Like Land Rovers, Range Rovers and the Mercedes G-class. A complete and new body (from a younger model) means that the other 2/3 th of the vehicle is still original; in this case the chassis and engine + transmission.
Since this year a vehicle has to be at least 40 years old in the Netherlands to be a “full” classic, which means that you no longer have to pay road tax. For a special classic car insurance you may not exceed 7,500 km a year. Plus an official appraisal every three years, so if your classic car burns down to the ground you’ll receive the amount as mentioned in the appraisal report.
The main reason for the 40 years (once it was only 25 years): too many people used old Volvos (Amazon !), Mercedes (W123, 124, 126, 201) and US land yachts (on LPG) as daily drivers. We can’t have that, can we ?
Strange rules indeed. Does Honduras have any local manufacturers though? (i.e. companies that have a production facility in the country.) Other than that, i don’t know why they would have gone out of their way to please carmakers, if none of them have a significant financial presence there.
I think you’re right that, if there was more of a car culture, the laws could probably be amended to have an “upper limit” to allow classics, but without any old cars except ones that were already there before the law was imposed, it’s hard to have a car culture. Chicken and egg.
If you act within the next two weeks you could import a Marauder…
It’d have to be a very fast boat to arrive here before Dec. 31.
You wouldn’t want that New Yorker if you could buy one. Grass is always greener.
It can get even WORSE. In Chile, you are not allowed to import any used car at all, arguing the same reasons (used cars are unsafe, etc.). The result: we are full of brand new cheap chinese crap cars, even more unsafe than a good used car. At least there are a few exceptions, e.g. for people living in the “extreme” regions (extreme north & south), as an incentive for living so far away.
Just like that – you can prohibit importing old scrap, but you can’t prevent morons from buying brand new crap (especially in case with the Chinese who are well known for cheating the vehicle certification agencies by providing… “reinforced” versions of their cars for the crash tests – just say “Chery Amulet”).
That’s why I kind of dislike the very idea of “peoples’ cars” for countries with
relatively low income – it’s better to give minimally decent cars to some rather than pieces of crap to everyone, if you ask me (car producers and sellers won’t agree to be sure).
That’s a pity classic cars fans have to suffer just because some people look at 20+ year old vehicles as some kind of regular day-to-day transportation.
And what’s wrong with using a 20+ year old vehicle as day-to-day transportation, if it passes a safety inspection? My daily driver is 17 years old (’97 Crown Vic) and, once I take care of a couple of small issues, would have no problem using my 26 year old Volvo as daily transportation.
Condtion matters more than age, which is why sweeping generalizations like this are problematic.
In Israel it’s two (2) years. Done because customs duty is higher on newer cars if only because they are worth more (that’s how it’s calculated). Israel needs high taxes to support it’s armed forces (makes sense considering who its neighbors are)* but also a number of minorities and other pressure groups (not OK IMHO). It’s also similar with ex-military vehicles which cannot be registered once they’re pensioned off; that’s why ex-IDF Mack DM800s have found their way to West Africa of all places… However, there is a collectors vehicle category for vehicles older than 30 years – basically, anything can be imported and registered, and yearly taxes are very low. Trade-off is that you cannot use them for business purposes and not allowed to drive on the road between 07:00-09:00 am.
Oh: trucks over 12 T GVW are excluded – if the truck does not get through its roadworthy test for two years running, it cannot be re-registered. Unless if it’s a tow truck. Does it makes sense? No? Well, if id did, it would not be Israel…
* In case someone wonders, US military aid represents a relatively small part of the IDF’s budget.
An Olds 98,I used to see heavy metal rockers Saxon turning up to shows in a beige one in the early 80s.The fuel bill must have had them in tears being Yorkshiremen
Ah, but it was still possible to earn loads of money from heavy metal back then…
The New wave of British Heavy Metal,an exciting time,wish i could still wear Spandex pants!
🙂 Saxon thrang arenas and had sold millions of LP’s and MC’s then… So the gas bill of an Olds 98 hadn’t been too burdensome…as the GBP had a higher value then too…
I’d say you need to get on the ball and get yourself a Crown Vic, Grand Marquis, Town Car or Marauder while you still can. The 10 year old ones are quite affordable, usually more affordable than the subject of this article. No they aren’t quite the same as the height of B/C excess but much closer than anything else you can import.
Or jump ship, $500/month being a good wage here is not doing my Crown Vic dreams any favors.
Yeah that won’t go that far but then again the Crown Vic I bought for my Daughter was only $500 though it needed a few things like the entire wiper assembly and cowl cover. For what ever reason while it was sitting waiting for auction the mechanics decided to use it for parts and it was not the only one that had parts borrowed from it. Why they took parts off of so many of the cars instead of just one I don’t understand.
I know its not perfect, but I love living in the U.S. Even more than that, I love living in Nebraska.
I always get a kick out of hearing about car inspections in other states. Here, you can pretty much license whatever you want. I have known some people in other states have to fix things like horns in order to get their car licensed. Right now I’m driving around an 2004 Impala that the speedometer doesn’t work on. I don’t care, 95% of the time I’m in town around other traffic and I have a good sense for how fast I’m going. The thing is, I don’t think its worth the trouble or cost to fix. I’m planning on getting a new car in the next year and have another new car anyway and who knows what might happen to the ol’ girl in the mean time. It serves me well for what it is without having to spend good money on superfluous things.
If you have a modern cell phone, you can install a speedometer. It works for me, when my $700 New Yorker Fifth Avenue doesnt have an accurate speedometer ( I realize the problem when everyone is much faster than me, but speedometer still shows 80mph )
Oh, I was using cellphone when driving, which is illegal?
Yeah, but I don’t need it and actually at this point, I don’t have a newer cell phone because all I use the damn things for is texting. That’s my point, I really don’t care about it so why bother? I’m just saying I’m happy that the state isn’t making me fix it because of some stupid inspection.
Sadly I understand what you mean. I used to be into air cooled VW bugs in a big way. The only ones I could afford from the U.S. were rustbuckets. Meanwhile, at the VW factory in Mexico, they were still building BRAND NEW air cooled rear engined bugs. But there was absolutely no way you could bring one into the U.S. I looked at every angle. Just not possible. The EPA and DOT were to blame for this. It would make my day (actually the rest of my life) to see them both abolished. They are a car enthusiasts worst nightmare.
Just a minor quibble with the article, the Olds Ninety-Eight is a C body, not a B body.
I know those of us in the US resent the 25-year-rule, but it could be worse…imagine enforced “retirement” of anything over 10 years old, just to prop up the auto industry. I could see it happening on some “environmental” pretense, particularly in a state like mine. 🙁
You must be talking about some asian countries. let me name them, China, Japan, Korea.
Oh, and Singapore even though they dont make cars.
I think I will stick to my carburetor car in Michigan for a while
That will not happen in the forseeable future. The vintage car hobby in the U.S. is huge. It accounts for as sizeable part of the economy. The way the govt sees it is that most old cars will disappear from the roads just from attrition. I have collector car insurance on my ’64 Fairlane and ’72 Pinto. The Fairlane is emissions exempt anyway, because of it’s age, and the collector car registration exempts the Pinto from emissions. But there are serious restrictions to doing it this way. Collector cars in AZ cannot be used for anything but a hobby. They cannot be used for commuting, going to the store, work, or school. In short, they cannot be used for anything not related to the car itself. The upside is that collector car insurance for such inexpensive vintage cars is ridiculously cheap. I pay only $130 a YEAR, to insure both the Pinto and Fairlane. And I can drive them all I want, as long as they are not used in conjunction with any other activity.
Like anyone would even know if you drove it to the store.
Being parked out the front of the store would be a giveaway for a police officer driving past!
That is an extremely restrictive and stupid rule. Most states (like VA) restrict that you cannot use the car for work, or to drive to and from work. I understand this restriction, as it makes it impossible to put collector insurance on a daily driven vehicle. I’m OK with that.
But disallowing trips to the store, errands, to someone else’s house, *anything* other than driving for the sake of driving or to/from a show? Now that’s just ridiculous.
I’d like to import a Russian pickup truck. They had some pretty cool lines. I understand they copied some elements of the 50’s Studebakers.
I feel for the suckers that let these regulations and laws get passed. I lived in Florida and built my car. 81 Plymouth TC-3. I threw away the blown up 4 banger and put in a 6 liter V8, 4 speed trans, 8 3/4 3.55 posi rear. I moved to Maryland and their inspection laws. Talking with an inspector doing my newer cars, he told me to wait until it was 25 years old as then there would be no inspection. He said that having the dual exhaust would alone fail the car. It also would not pass emmissions inspection as it would fail the visual of not having any stock parts. So I parked the car for 2 years only driving it around my neighborhood. If I had built the car from a fiberglass body kit car, it would have been no problem as they have rules for them as well. Glad I moved back to FL.
That big, blue Olds Ninety-Eight is a beaut! Inside and out. I’ll admit, back in the day, it didn’t hold much appeal for me. I was a young guy into muscle cars or sporty cars. But I could really appreciate that now. I’d take it to car shows and I’d drive it every now and then in nice weather.