1999 323ti

[1996 328ti]

Is this the one people have seen in the DC area?
http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail...eadExists=true
CarFax shows it coming in from Italy.
http://www.carfax.com/cfm/ccc_Displa...CT31070AW11302

[Panzer_M]

interesting, but for a few grand more you can get M Roadster now.

[Panzer_M]

if it was a 323ti Sport I'd think about it....but looking yesterday for 10-12K I can get a 323ti Mtechnic/Sport in Germany and shipped Bremen to Miami(1-1.5k in Transport dues)

[L84THSKY]

What about the conversion costs to US specs?

Originally Posted by Panzer_M

if it was a 323ti Sport I'd think about it....but looking yesterday for 10-12K I can get a 323ti Mtechnic/Sport in Germany and shipped Bremen to Miami(1-1.5k in Transport dues)

[weezer]

Originally Posted by 1996 328ti

Is this the one people have seen in the DC area?
http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail...eadExists=true
CarFax shows it coming in from Italy.
http://www.carfax.com/cfm/ccc_Displa...CT31070AW11302

That's the one I saw I saw in downtown DC last year, silver with VA. tags, 5 spoke wheels. Probably needs new water pump, radiator, thermostat....typical M52 engine. But still a great deal, I think. Can't compare it to conversion, one would still get/have the car first to be able to do the conversion. So, price of car + engine + suspension + exhaust + diff? + trans? + labor......still a good deal.

[cooljess76]

When I picked my 318ti up in Michigan back in November, I saw a dark blue e46 323ti with euro plates on the highway, while passing through Chicago. Probably the only e46 ti in the country! I didn't think to see if it was right hand drive or not or check to see what country it was from since we were driving on ice and it was too risky. I wonder how he was able to get it here and then drive on our roads with euro plates. Very weird...

[Panzer_M]

Originally Posted by Panzer_M

if it was a 323ti Sport I'd think about it....but looking yesterday for 10-12K I can get a 323ti Mtechnic/Sport in Germany and shipped Bremen to Miami(1-1.5k in Transport dues)

As a company vehicle with FL, Little it seems.

[bullmand]

I would only buy this car if it has ALL of the paperwork from Customs. I think when this came up before that we determined it was brought in by a diplomat. If that's the case, the importation should be temporary and I suspect Customs is going to expect this car to leave the country again at some point. It's completely ridiculous, but if it was imported by a diplomat it wasn't converted and isn't technically legal. That would worry me in the long term. Customs could show up and tell you to ship it or destroy it. That would suck.

EDIT: Here's what the EPA says:

5. Temporary Importations

Vehicles and engines imported into the U.S. temporarily may be eligible for an exemption from complying with Federal emission requirements. After the purpose of the exemption has been satisfied, the vehicle must be exported or destroyed.

D. Diplomat or Foreign Military

The vehicle is being imported temporarily for personal use by a representative of a foreign government or international organization on assignment in the U.S. The representative must have authorization for free entry of a vehicle in writing by the U.S. Department of State. However, a member of the armed forces of a foreign country only needs to have his or her official orders for duty in the U.S.

No Customs bond or approval is required by EPA.

The importer must file with Customs, upon entry, an EPA Form 3520-1, declare code "N" on that form, and attach a copy of the U.S. Department of State authorization, or orders for duty in the U.S. for members of the armed forces of foreign countries.

So, it would very interesting to see a copy of this car's form 3520-1.

[aceyx]

If the car has VA tags, it's got a VA title. Therefore, not a diplomat/consul exemption from the US State dept.


Okay, if I buy this car, I can sell my ti, AND still buy the bike. Hm...

[bullmand]

I understand that it's titled/tagged in VA. That doesn't change anything about the point I was trying to make. The car was brought here from Italy. There's a paperwork trail somewhere and I would not seriously consider buying this car unless all that paperwork was in order. Given the level of concern for the job of most DMV employees, you could probably buy this and register it anywhere without a problem. But our vehicle import laws are draconian and ridiculous and what would you do if someone from customs, the EPA, or DOT showed up at your house one day and told you to ship it out of the country or destroy it? I can't afford that gamble. Has anyone contacted the seller about the car's paper trail?

[Panzer_M]

My 1997 318ti was brought over from Germany(the car also was in Czech and Austria) to Tenn(and I got it from Tenn(The Car was registered in Alaska though)) and Registered it florida in florida without issues.

should say it like this 1st Owner was a german, then it was bought by the 2nd owner, who brought it to the US in 2000 then I got it in 2004...least that's the best timeline i can make from the repair papers I got with the car.

[anchaleena]

think there would be problems with meeting US emissions standards/specs?

[bullmand]

They were all brought over from Germany in one way or another. Again the point is whether or not the importation paperwork is in order. anchaleena, I don't expect that the car would have any problems with emissions. As long as it doesn't have any codes stored, the MD inspection won't be a problem. The MD mechanical inspection may take issue with the fact that the speedometer is in kilometers and not miles, but that could be remedied with a cluster from a US 6 cylinder car.

[crewdog153]

I drove my car from Pontoon Beach, IL to Ft. Riley, KS on German plates. Of course they were US Forces Europe plates but they were still the long kind, just instead of having the EU logo and DE in the blue, it has a nautical star and US. I got pulled over a few times, it was funny to see the confusion on the cops face when he asked where my plates were from, the best part was, they never did figure out they had expired about a month prior.

Anyway, depending on the state (i know CA DOES NOT ALLOW THIS) you can drive on forign plates for a certain amount of time. I had 30 days to get my car re-registered in either MA or KS. I chose KS because I dont want to have to drive to MA every year to get an inspection done. Thats a pain in the ass


Converting it would be a very expensive ordeal. WHen I was stationed in Germany I had an 86 Porsche 944. I bought it for like 1000 Euros or something but, I wanted to bring it back and I was told its going to cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $6000-$8000. So I said screw it. It wasnt worth the money they wanted and I already had my Ti.I dont remmeber specifically what you need to do to convert it but, theres a bunch of stuff. I know the windshield has to be replaced with "safetyglass"

[Panzer_M]

I broke the 1997's windshield trying to remove it when parting the car out. Found out the hard way it was not US safety/DOT pebble glass(the kind that breaks into little gem size pieces)