Bringing Euro spec E30 back to the states

[umd81]

Hey, new to the forum here. I am living in Germany and just bought an 87 320i. When i go back to the states in December i will be able to take a vehicle back for free (this is not a military move or anything like that). I know i wont be able to register it in the US (without spending a lot of money i'm sure), but is there any other reason that i should bring it back? Is it a desireable car for somebody wanting to turn it into a track car or to part it out? I'm not sure which parts are the same as on US spec E30's and which are not.

The main reason i am asking is because i bought the car for pretty cheap here and thought i might be able to make a few bucks off of it since i will be able to ship it for free.

Mind you, i haven't really researched this too much yet, so i might not even be allowed to ship a non US spec vehicle back. I'm just throwing some ideas out. Thanks for your input...

[Turf1600]

I don't see why you couldnt bring it back and register is inexpensively. Do you have a title?

[umd81]

Yeah, i have the title and it's registered over here on the German system. Wouldn't it not pass US inpections because it's Euro spec?

[M42Technik]

Cars that are 25 years and older do not have any real regulations regarding specifications on the car. If its that old, you have no problems. If it isn't, you have to make the car U.S. roadworthy, which can cost upwards of $8,000-10,000 apparently.

Don't take my word on it though, there are some members here who have better information.

[Jscotty]

My uncle brought back a Jetta from europe and he would have had to swap out the window glass, tail lights, side markers, and instrument cluster before they would let him register it in the US. Because the vehicle was not that new at the time, he figured it wasn't worth it because it would have ended up costing him about $3600 and the vehicle was worth less than 10K

[JasonC]

I think that there is a loop hole in the system where you can keep your car registred over there and keep it over here. The way you do it is to take he car out of country once a year. Like go to Canada for a weekend or Mexico, that way the car don't stay in this country all year. But i'm not to for sure how true this is?

[mtechnik]

I hope you get through without any major bumps

[YAN-3]

i know for us military guys the car has to be going straight to the "authorized dealer of your choice" to be converted, otherwise its not even getting on the boat without the paper work as proof.

[backtrail69]

i know for us military guys the car has to be going straight to the "authorized dealer of your choice" to be converted, otherwise its not even getting on the boat without the paper work as proof.

Well don't you hav ethe best deal with your US e30 m3...and you get to put all the euro parts on and then ship it back later huh...Too bad you cant keep the diesel touring..

[tjmonsen5]

well, you will most likely need to swap to US spec bumpers aka Diving boards :( you will hate the look of your car, but some euro people actually like the US bumpers right? Umm, also might need to swap headlights because of the beam pattern, maybe guages? I dont know much about this, but i know that my car had a few things changed when it was brought over. All i can tell on my car is, diving boards, mph guage, (the 3 other guages are euro), and catalytic converter.

[YAN-3]

Well don't you hav ethe best deal with your US e30 m3...and you get to put all the euro parts on and then ship it back later huh...Too bad you cant keep the diesel touring..

yup the M3 is coming back as long as i can get the title from the last owner befor 2010, and the touring has to stay here. i am thinking if getting something befor 1984 though and shipping that back as it will be 25+ years old.

[ddavidv]

Lots of speculation in this thread but not tech!
Here are the FACTS, as someone who is friends with a dealer who imports classic Minis from the UK and bought one.
If it's less than 25 years old, you can't bring it into the country and use it for anything other than a doorstop, and even that won't be easy. Converting the car to be legal is highly unlikely, due to cost of changing all the parts, getting it to pass emissions, and if it's a model that has never been sold here, has to be crash tested (!) before any duplicates can be brought in.
Short answer: you can't do it.
Canada is a different story. Much easier.
If you want to bring a car in, get one that meets the 25 year age rule. Lots of interesting cars that you could import and even resell for a profit (like Minis).

[pineapplegti]

yup the M3 is coming back as long as i can get the title from the last owner befor 2010, and the touring has to stay here. i am thinking if getting something befor 1984 though and shipping that back as it will be 25+ years old.

if your gonna go through all the bs.. ship the touring..

[ColdAccord]

you can bring a car over (not sure what is necessary for requirements) and keep its german registration, but its only for i believe 12 months. if its not out of the country after that 12 months, they crush it.
importing it will cost you ~$7500, and you have to go through a registered importer. which is a hassle, and a lot of them are retarded.

You can however bring it to canada, as they have a 15 year stipulation, not 25 year like the U.S.

[smooth]

it looks like all you're really interested is whether you can make some money by selling parts off the car. the answer is that you have at least a few desirable parts that people would like. There really isn't any reason to bring the whole car over, though.

Maybe this thread will turn around and people will tell you what they want off it. Or you just do some research and figure out what to bring. Strip it down and sell the chassis before you leave Germany.