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importing a 280Z from Arizona


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Hello 

I'm new. 

As an Aus Forum not sure my content fits, so let me know and I will jazz hands and stage left if I'm not welcome. 

I have just brought a 280Z which is currently in a container in Oakland California waiting to be lifted on to a ship for Brisbane. It is a right hand drive, so not ideal, but I decided to pull the trigger based on some long late night phone calls and the fact the body work and paint job had been done by Nissan as the seller worked there and still does as he is semi retired.

Lovely bloke and I think after he had packed the car up was having second thoughts. I'm no panel beater so having that as a starting point is a big bonus for me. 

I paid approx $11k Aus so it looks like it will be around 18 all up with import, shipping and GST.      

VIN number is HLS3041048 

95% of the car is packed up and on its way and it runs and makes a lovely noise. Few photos attached   

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1 hour ago, Brisbanespur said:

Yep , Im off to a flyer. Left hand Drive 

Don't worry you'll fit right in. A clean LHD shell is not a bad way to go, although with the value appreciation of the cars in North America in the last few years and currency exchange rates and risks of purchasing a dud the prospect is becoming less enticing now. There is a few LHD cars over here. Quite a few rough 240z's purchased on the cheap in the US and brought in as projects have appeared on eBay in the last few years.

Driving on the other side feels a bit odd (but I am left handed and find RHD quite natural due to shifting with the left hand) but I've driven a 280z in the US and I'd have no qualms about keeping it LHD over here - especially on a non-daily driven car. The cost to convert is quite high and I think a bit of a sunken cost fallacy to pursue to be honest.

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I'm left handed myself. no plans to convert it. I've driven in Europe and it does take a bit of getting used to, not ashamed to admit I jumped in the passenger seat more then once. 

 I gave up looking over here, as the bodywork for anything in my price range was going to be well beyond my skill levels. Hopefully based on the car history (lived in dry states its whole life) and the work already done. I've paid a fair price. time will tell. I'll post some updates when it finally arrives and if anyone is interested I will give a review of the import process and the experience   

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I brought in my 72 Fairlady Z from Boston when I returned to Australia last year. 

The biggest issue you will have is border control. As well as usual quarantine, Australia has a zero tolerance to importation of items that contain asbestos. It was recommended to have key parts tested before it left the US. If you do not they are likely to send it for testing and it will cost you way way more, plus you will need to pay to have any parts removed and disposed of. 

As it was a few items tested positive and had to be removed. This included rear brake pads, exhaust manifold gasket, cam cover gasket, head gasket and the under body coating. 

I did all this before I packed it up for shipping into a container with the rest of our belongings. 

 

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15 minutes ago, scotta said:

I brought in my 72 Fairlady Z from Boston when I returned to Australia last year. 

The biggest issue you will have is border control. As well as usual quarantine, Australia has a zero tolerance to importation of items that contain asbestos. It was recommended to have key parts tested before it left the US. If you do not they are likely to send it for testing and it will cost you way way more, plus you will need to pay to have any parts removed and disposed of. 

As it was a few items tested positive and had to be removed. This included rear brake pads, exhaust manifold gasket, cam cover gasket, head gasket and the under body coating. 

I did all this before I packed it up for shipping into a container with the rest of our belongings. 

 

yer, thanks Scott. I did check with the seller . The brake pads have been replaced and under body coating are gone as well. The gaskets I am not so sure on.  so hopefully I dont run into any issues with the boys in Quarantine     

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18 hours ago, Brisbanespur said:

yer, thanks Scott. I did check with the seller . The brake pads have been replaced and under body coating are gone as well. The gaskets I am not so sure on.  so hopefully I dont run into any issues with the boys in Quarantine     

You MUST get the inspection done BEFORE it leaves the US.
Otherwise you WILL be reamed by Australian Customs and Quarantine if you don't have the paperwork saying so.
I hope you've got a good import agent... 

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It's my understanding that there isa certification process that can take place on the US side (who are aware of Australian requirements) and can provide you with a certification before the car is shipped here. 

https://www.dazmac.com.au/dazmac-develops-solution-to-asbestos-ban/

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  • 3 months later...

Hi 

I just thought I would give you an update on the import. after the car completed a grand tour of the pacific it finally arrived in Brisbane in the middle of Feb. Unfortunately customs decided to pull the container carrying my car and 2 others for asbestos testing. I had the rear brakes removed as recommended. so I was hopeful that it wouldn't be a problem.  In hindsight I should of got ISA cert

for the record in case anyone else is thinking of importing. I thought I would list the process and the costs, please feel free to ask any questions.

Customs tested the front and rear brakes and found traces of asbestos, I am guessing the trace was on the front as there were no back brakes. It seems like the amount found effects what customs do next. I was charged to remove and dispose of the brakes and for the testing, total cost $1350 but they did not issue a fine but I did get a warning letter. 

In hindsight I should of got the ISA cert instead of the rear brake removal, but I probably ended up about even by the time you take into account the cost of the cert and removal of the asbestos. If I decide to import again, I will go down that path   

The whole process took about a week and because of that I was charged $175 in storage charges by the import agents. I know next to nothing about testing for asbestos, so how common it is to find traces of asbestos I don't know. 

Anyway on the bright side i have the car and my initial inspection is minimum rust and the body and paint are in amazing condition. still unpacking but the glass and seals dash, exterior lights, badges  etc are all there. will require a new headliner and carpets plus I'm sure a few other bits. The engine I will check through next weekend.

so costs

I paid 11k AUS for the car, cost of shipping, GST, Customs came in at around 6K . So all up 17K. could I have got a car in this condition here, maybe? but I spent a good 12 months looking and had no luck. 

I've said good-bye to the wife and kids and promised to pop out of the shed at xmas to see how they are doing.

            

 

    

 

 

       

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13 minutes ago, gilltech said:

Looks good.

So the car was silver originally? That's a nice red, did the PO tell you what mix he used? Would be handy to know for touch-up purposes.

Im still in touch with the PO, he had the paint job done by Nissan so I should be able to get the code, but I am really considering going back to silver (Which I think was the original colour.  

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To make it worthwhile I think you need to be importing a rust free example. Or dry state car at least.

Absolutely right. Same as for all the Mustangs etc people have been bringing in for years. Although in the US it can be difficult finding much of a paper trail to check whether a said car has in fact spent all its life in the 'dry' state where it has been found versus up in the mountains or over on the coast. (Although a Mustang' VIN and door data tag at least tells which factory the car was built in and which sales location the car was first supplied to, so that's a good start. One can avoid a car built and first sold in the eastern states for example).

One thing to bear in mind though, those cars that have come from a hot dry state may to all intents and purposes be rust free but with some of the ones I've seen the vinyl and plastic interiors are well cooked as is the paintwork. Not a problem with Mustangs etc as repro dash pads and other interior parts are freely available and inexpensive, but it's a different story with the 240/260/280Zs.

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12 hours ago, gilltech said:

Absolutely right. Same as for all the Mustangs etc people have been bringing in for years. Although in the US it can be difficult finding much of a paper trail to check whether a said car has in fact spent all its life in the 'dry' state where it has been found versus up in the mountains or over on the coast.

Also I know of many vintage cars that have looked fantastic in photos and when they get blasted back to bare metal all is revealed and often like an S30Z they look far worse for wear once all the bog and rust is revealed.

The other thing I'll add is that it still rains in California (I know recently it's been in drought) but these cars still rust in those states. Just less badly.

I definitely considered importing a few HLS30's at 1 point, but after seeing a few of the "cheap" ones in person I realised it was a huge gamble if you couldn't inspect each car in person. Even if you rely on someone else who sort of knows these cars well, you can easily still get caught out.

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22 hours ago, Brisbanespur said:

I paid 11k AUS for the car, cost of shipping, GST, Customs came in at around 6K . So all up 17K. could I have got a car in this condition here, maybe? but I spent a good 12 months looking and had no luck. 

Which company('s) did you use to import the car? Would you recommend dealing with them?

Did the owner drop the car and parts at the local port for shipping or did you need to ship it across land to get to a sea port? (can make a difference as to the costs).

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12 minutes ago, gav240z said:

Which company('s) did you use to import the car? Would you recommend dealing with them?

Did the owner drop the car and parts at the local port for shipping or did you need to ship it across land to get to a sea port? (can make a difference as to the costs).

Hi Gav

I used a company called West Coast shipping, the communication was very good, and they arranged the pick up and payment, which took some of the risk out of it for me. They have an office in Melbourne and I only had to deal with the one person.  The only thing I would of done differently was the asbestos certification. I think there are better companies out there that can help with that and make it more part of the process. if that makes sense?  

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