tiff_lee Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 Afternoon all, this is my cherry post here so please be gentle I'm looking to emigrate in approx 18 months (may well change) to Australia and was contemplating buying a Westfield here in the UK owning it for the necessary 12 months (to satisfy personal import rules) and then exporting it out there, the reason being from the best I can tell it works out far cheaper then actually buying one out there. Has anyone else imported a Westfield or any other 'kitcar' into Oz? is there any problems with the Australian Design Rules (ADR)? I was looking at other 7 style clones such as the Tiger but as I couldn't find any of them out there for sale i'm not sure if that would make it more difficult to export/import or not? Any feedback/info appreciated, cheers Lee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Colonial Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 This should be educational! No idea, but I can tell you we have a few members in Australia, so there must be a way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Young Pretender Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 Lee, I'm sorry to say I can't help on this point but I have no doubt that someone here will have the experience to help. Just wanted to post and point out that I'm not even remotely jealous at the thought of you cruising through oz in your westy! ;-) Where are you planning to base yourself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterg Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 Hi and welcome, there are reasons why it might not be a great idea, most of them are discussed in this thread on Blatchat (Lotus 7 and Caterham owners forum)... http://www.blatchat.com/t.asp?id=198498 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Algar - Competition Secretary Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 My brother has recently moved to Aus and it's certainly well worth looking at taking a car with you. Out there they are a fortune !!! he moved from USA where he had a new 5ltr Merc Coupe which was awsome, but "only" $ 50 K. in Aus it was 3 times that. I would have thought take the most expensive "normal " car you can as you are going to really win when you get there. You can even sell on :d I used to work for a Finish company and FInland has the same very high prices, one of the perks for the finish nationals working over here, was to buy a LHD high spec Merc here with no tax and export it before 12months to comply with UK rules, then import into Finland after 12 months to comply with theirs and really cash in :d Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiff_lee Posted July 9, 2012 Author Share Posted July 9, 2012 Thanks for the replies, if all goes well I shall end up in Perth. Peter I had a look at that thread and it basically seems to focus on the shipping cost and somewhat excessive charges which tbh I was expecting, however after all those charges and whatnot perhaps it will the negate the point of buying one here to start with. Might be more worthwhile doing some like your brother then Nick and taking a more 'normal' car to turn some kind of profit on to fund a kitcar purchase out there, hhmm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulianE Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 I do have some contacts in Australia as have sent quite a few parts out there , do you have any idea how much they do actually cost out there and how that does compare with shipping prices added into price . I do have contacts in Perth , Sydney and Tasmania , one of our local members emigrated a couple of years ago ,I could see if I have contact details for him if you like and that would perhaps give you an insight with someone who has moved from here to there You will find that Westfields over there commonly run toyota running gear engines and gearboxes and even the scuttles are modified with a hump in front on the driver to accomodate the toyota switchgear ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 Nissan 1800 also popular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NZkiwi75 Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 Hey Lee I might be able to help, I’m living in Brisbane OZ & have just started my Build, FW Westie, I know bits & pieces about the ADR’s but know nothing about importing. The ADR’s are painful, eg, for registration/certification you need bumpers, exhaust cant exit in front of the driver so out the back it goes, I think exhaust db76 where UK is 96ish, emissions are tough to. No 4 point harness. A lot of these points just happen to fall of the car after registration (bumper, exhaust if replaced so that is exits out the side) I’m using 2L Duratec motor out of Mazda 3, Ford Sierra T9 gearbox & diff, Wilwood brakes, Golf rears, There is a Westfield importer in Perth, where you can buy a kit from & either get parts from them or the UK. You can find them off the UK website. It’s not cheap to build one over here, base kit $15,500ish. So over all build cost could be $35,000-$45,000ish. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiff_lee Posted July 11, 2012 Author Share Posted July 11, 2012 I have been searching the net to find some for sale over there but apart from ebay.com.au there doesn't seem to be any, perhaps i'm just looking in the wrong places. If total cost could end up at 35-40k I would of thought it's worthwhile importing a built one, hmmm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Young Pretender Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 There's a few on here, can't see where they're based though. Couldn't see any others. http://www.arrowsportscars.com.au/for_sale.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulianE Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 Try http://www.ozclubbies.com.au/index.php?/forum/27-clubmans/ , you will need to get a user name to access , seem to be a few various types built / for rebuild at a lot less than the $35.000-$45.000 (Dollars) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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