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Quote:Rajvik wrote:
No just, no. First off there's no way of it working short of replacing engine and transmission, though honestly you're probably going to be looking at that sooner rather than later. And even worse is that there will come a day that you're going to have to hid your baby goodbye.
Oh, I already know. S'why I want to get my hands on an engine-core and transmission-core - that way, as I said before, I already have them on hand to rebuild at my leisure. And I just did a bit of digging around, and it seems that there are after-market ECMs available for my truck, and probably will be for quite a while given how long these beasties tend to last. (Seriously, the going consensus around here is, 'As long of the frame is still good.' And even then!)
Really, now I think my one major concern is the rust. One of Scrappy's previous owners apparently lived in the State of New York for some time and it's a miracle that Scrappy is in as good of shape as he is now. (The guy must have refrained from driving him in the worst of it.) Even so, I've been finding myself having to replace a number of underbody parts that have succumbed to metal fatigue (prime example: leaf springs). I know for certain that at some point in time I'll need to have the poor feller stripped to the frame and sandblasted... and then have the frame oil coated. But I'll save that for much further in the future as something of a restoration project. (By that point I may as well have the paint redone as well. Not like he doesn't need that!)
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Get the underbody rhinoline coated or galvanized, it will make it last a lot longer once any rust has been stripped. Can be expensive but really worth it if you're going to make it last.
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Quote:Rajvik wrote:
Get the underbody rhinoline coated or galvanized, it will make it last a lot longer once any rust has been stripped. Can be expensive but really worth it if you're going to make it last.
Especially if you drive anywhere that salts the roads to prevent icing.
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Road salt is a special king of pain. Modern cars seem to tolerate it better, but pretty much every car will have surface corrosion. It also doesn't take long for stonechip to gain a little rust.
Also, 20L/100km for half a tank. City mileage and a bit of a shoeing get expensive when fuel's 1:45 a litre. Still, there's something amusing about backfires on high-rpm gearchanges.
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Quote:Also, 20L/100km for half a tank.
Ouch. (My 2010 Mazda3 manages 10L/100km, city driving...)
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I did that once, on a 250km cruise.
But, put the foot down and it just throws petrol at the engine in the hope that some of it will turn into power. The rest goes towards global warming.
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Quote:Studabaker Avanti is something that deserved better than it got. Even if a handful of former Studebaker dealers did keep it going in some fashion up until 2006. Good Mustangs OTOH, are rare as hen's teeth over here. That said, they can be oddly cheap to buy when they show up compared to the ones in the US because there isn't the culture here. I saw a Mach I (With a damaged boot, and missing front splitter) on sale for 3000, but it was a non-runner. I would've bought it too because I'm pretty sure the owner didn't know what it was - but I'd just gotten the other yoke. Of course, being cheap to buy doesn't mean they're cheap to own as I sort of discovered. Oops.
Meanwhile, thanks to my Dad, I have an unusual (for an American) appreciation for all things British in cars. I'd be more than happy to have a classic MGB or Mini-Cooper to bomb around in - especially up here in the New Mexico mountains. (And I do mean CLASSIC Mini-Cooper - not that modern POS that THINKS it's a Mini but isn't...)
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Minis are great cars. Just a bit too miniature for me. I just don't fit in the things. But they're like proper go-karts with the wheels at all four corners.
It's actually very hard to find one these days. Even the bog-stock ones seem to have utterly vanished.
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Same with decent VW Beetles once they stopped making them in the US you could not find any good ones
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It's amazing how fast cars dissapear from the roads after they go out of production.
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Aren't they still making the classic Beetles in Mexico?
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Another to appreciate British cars - my Dad and I restored his 1967 MG Midget a few years ago and that's now my summer fun cruiser. It does give you a different view of things when you realize you're now eye level with the bumpers of most American SUVs 
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Black Aeronaut Wrote:Aren't they still making the classic Beetles in Mexico? Not for a few years now, no.
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And even when they were you couldn't import them without spending practically the same amount as you did for the car on California level emissions control equipment. And then even more having it installed properly.
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And still having it confiscated by the government. They confiscated and crushed a Cizeta V16 not too long ago, along with a whole bunch of Skylines, some Land Rovers and a couple of other vehicles.
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Dartz could you cite that please, I want to see what bullshite excuse they came up with for that one.
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Rajvik Wrote:Dartz could you cite that please, I want to see what bullshite excuse they came up with for that one.
The Cizeta is well knwn... although it wasn't crushed it just sort of dissapearred. I can find plenty of articles about it being seized, but nothing about what happened afterwards
Quote:“Make no mistake, the illegal importation of gray market vehicles like this is not just a technical violation,” Miguel Unzueta, a special agent in charge of the Los Angeles office, said in a statement. “Cars that don’t meet U.S. standards are outlawed for a reason. These vehicles can pose a real threat to public health and safety.”
Yep. A one-off 700k supercar that only really went to shows is a massive threat to public safety.
Generally, it's well known that importing anything into the US that isn't 25 years old is a pain. The real reason wy, should be obvious. Protectionism, ho!
On the other hand, if I wanted an American car over here, all I'd have to do is buy it, ship it, then pay the VAT and registration taxes. Which are stupid-high anyway, but applied to just about every car. More than 50% of the price of a new car can be taxes. Which is why 'Paddy Spec' cars are a thing, where just about every feature bar the engine and wheels are ripped out to get the wholesale prices down as low as they'll go. The workers in the UK Toyota factory can tell it's an Irish car because it's being sold with poor-road suspension, cloth interior, steel wheels and the smallest engine possible. And no air conditioning.
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