What about older cars leaving the U.S.?

For some reason the thought of selling to a European/Australian/N.Z. buyer doesnt bother me near as much as selling to Japan.

 

Why does only Japan bother you? THe war is over we won get over it sheesh.
When I leave Japan I will be bringing back a few pieces of metel that have been here since the late 60's early 70's. The previous owners (japanese) had no problem letting them go because parts are hard to come by. Just like the american owners had no problem letting the cars go becasue the price was right and cash was hard to come by at the time.
If you sell overseas keep in touch with the buyers and maybe just maybe the car will find it's way home again

 

It bugs me that a lot of cool rides get shipped out of the States, but it BUGS ME A 100,000,000 times worse when some pencil-neck, rich-ass "collector" from another country buys them up so they can sit around in some fancy warehouse! Collect your own country's shit! If you're gonna buy the shit, DRIVE THE SHIT! And, yeah, I know there are plenty of American collectors too.... and while I don't think it's cool for them to do the same thing, there's a part of me that appreciates the "heritage" aspect of it.

-ns

 

I sold one car a few years ago to someone in Italy. Real easy deal, fast payment and he took care of all the shipping dfetails. Got a call saying the rollback was on its way and it arrived on time and off it went. I've sold a lot of parts overseas too. It makes me feel good knowing old American made cars & parts are respected throughout the world, and people are willing to pay some fairly high shipping rates to get them.

 

Im with Flatoz, Drewfus and Kiwi Kev.

I bought a real nice 57 Bel Air wagon over to Oz late last year. Although she was clean and well looked after, she still needed things redoin' to be "right".

Believe me when I tell ya she's definately had more love here than she's probably ever had, which inludes fixin all the little things that needed sorting on her. The interesting thing about all this is that people always place more value upon what they aspire to have and relative scarcity - not upon what they can see at any cruise night or at a set of traffic lights, WHATEVER country they are from.

We are really quite fortunate here in Aus thet we can bring a real nice ride over, register her left hook and cruise without a problem, and given all the posts on here about tree huggers and politicians trying to get us off the road, I for a fact know many gearheads who have realised its NOW or NEVER with regards to bringing in a kool ride before legislation, tree huggers, China's needs, the Arabs, the Feds or whoever totally destroy our hobby.

Ive been pretty much using the wagon as a daily and I gotta tell you, the thumbs up and stares I get for what is basically a lowered restored wagon with Astros is astounding. AND she gets looked after REAL WELL.

Further to what Flatoz was saying,...we are ALL just custodians of these rides, keepers of the keys if you will. When the time is right hopefully someone else worthy and passionate enough will inherit the keys and lavish upon our rides the same care and passion that we did.

Regardless of where they are from around the globe. Like music, hotrodding transcends boundaries the world over.

Just look at HAMB membership. That should tell you enough !!

Rat

 

Maybe the situation, whether your concerned about not having, driving, or seeing your favorite rides could be a better situation if we were to better support our local economies. Everything I see in the stores, I look at to see where it was made. My wife calls wally world - "the Devils" store. Seems like everything that they supply isnt even made in the us. 85% of all shoes we wear in the us are made in china. For every one dollar you spend, it effects the buying power of ten other spent dollars. In other words, If we all stop buying crap from China (just because of the price) and stop sending our jobs to Mexico (because they work they're asses off for less) then maybe our dollars, and our rides will mean more to those of us that take soooooooooooooooo much for granted. But if I lived in another country and I wanted to drive whatever my favorite ride is, you can bet your bottom dollar I'll find a way.

 

i really dont have much to say as all the other aussie/ nz guys have pretty much summed it up, all in all its our collective hobby, you guys just had the opportunity to make such fine cars. well take just as much care and put as much love into them as anyone else over there. ill be there in december and i may not come home alone.

 

But its just fine with you when some "pencil-neck, rich-ass collector" from the States does the same thing?? Sheesh! And as for "Collect your own country's shit!". WTF? I´ll collect whatever the hell I feel like thanks very much.

 

I agree. Send all the jobs and manufacturing overseas to save money, put lots of people out of work as a result, and then wonder why nobody has the money to buy anything anymore. Its not just a US problem.

 

Yep Les is a great guy.

 

What you are seeing in part is just a small part of the "correction" (gotta love that term!) of the American economy. It also includes farther separation of the classes, where the rich get rich, and the middle slides ever farther to the poorer side.

 

Its all about the passion, buying my Merc will cost me around $6000 above purchase price by the time its here in Darwin and I have a 2-3month wait for it, so it will be loved like it never could have been before. I will fix it and make it my own so if I ever grow tired of it it will move along to whomever has the coin at the time.
I will be over in a couple of months and would love to come home with another friend.

 

In January I sold a '67 Plymouth Belvedere to a guy that was shipping it to Belgium. I had it for sale for 2 months and was never offered what I wanted until the buyer offered me full price for it. I am not mad I took the money and bought my '64 Coupe De Ville with it. As long as some one takes care of it that is all that matters.

 

I think the British have a law that prevents "Classic" British cars from being sold to leave the country. I don't know what it entails but I read it somewhere. Gene

 

With your dollar the way it is, a lot of stuff is coming down under, and why not, share the love!

 

When trade exists, all parties benefit. We live in a world economy where the goods go to the highest bidder. Every sector wants there little piece of the American pie protected-as long as someone else pays the price. From folks wanting import tariffs on things made here to folks wanting free trade on things that aren’t, we all have our own agenda depending on our personal circumstances. If I really HAD to sell a car and the best home was abroad I'd be happy for its new owner.

 

to me..it dont matter where it goes..just that it gets respected, loved, used, and enjoyed.
and in these times you have to think about your servival,
its not like its getting sent off to someone to go and hack it all up and ruin what you built. if the Guy/ or Gal that bought your car liked it for what it was and how you built it, thats a compliment in itself. And Its still on this big ol ball we call the world..better than being crushed into a ball that will end up bieng a washer or dryer out on someones back porch.

 

Sell it to the guy with the most money.
A buddy of mine is way into old VW's. Some of those things bring crazy money. About 10-15 years ago the Japanease starting buying them all up. Now, the tides are turned and alot of americans are buying them back and they are coming back stateside.
Just have fun with cars. The easieast way to do that is with selling for the best buck.

 

I agree 100%. I'm NOT opposed to shipping overseas. I was just curious what others thought.

 

I agree. But when I needed new "feed" lines for my water heater, ONLY Chinese ones were on the shelf at the 2 stores I went to. I wasn't even afforded a CHOICE

 

Overseas Customers Are A Big Part Of Our Biz, They Have Made Up For The Loss Of Sales In The Usa.

 

I buy from overseas and sell out of the country, it's just a larger marketplace.

I'd gladly ship some American iron in trade for some foreign stuff, anybody got a Tatra M77/87?

Dave

 

yeah lets send all are u.s .made car oversea's so we can all build glass car's when this turns around, wait you guys sale your cars ,i'll keep mine

 

Here's my 2 cents: Car people are car people. As long as it goes to a real car nut, I'm cool with it. Speculators, however, are another matter entirely.

 

Money talks................

 

It's a world market

 

Me too.

 

Never heard about any law stating classic cars cant leave the uk if they are here and for sale then buy.

 

Well I understand about family , but also yes there dollar or euro,yen ,whatever is stronger than ours they can pay more for a car or ebay part cuz they can. I was amazed when I ve sold stuff to Finland,France for waaaay more thanI'd pay for it. But as long as you get bank for it than I guess ok!

 

If the car is saved, and contributes to the joy of a hot rodder, why would I care if he is Japanese, Russian or Eskimo. We are still brothers in spirit.

We, as human beings, have much more important things in common with each other, than sharing a language, or having a "USA membership card". I would love it if this hobby were popular in all coutries!