Hey guys,

One of my buddies lived in Costa Rica for a year and purchased a sweet 1996 110. All the bells and whistles...ARBs, Snorkle, Bumper, Winch, Rack...80K kilos.

Anyway, he moved back to the states and left it at the Rover Dealer on consignment. It has not sold and the dealer is going under.

So, what are his options with this car?

Is there a Gray Market option?

Export to England?

What?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, and I spelled advice wrong.....sorry.

Here are the pics. It is in Costa Rica so I am not trying to pimp this in the wrong section.

http://www.vialunatechnology.com/forsale/defender110/

It can't go to the US without a felony vin-swap with a vintage truck. There's a few more people jumping on that bandwagon lately thinking they can beat the system with fake 'rebuilds' on vintage titles, so enforcement will be up to respond to it. Not a good idea.

Felony...holy shit. Really?

I keep telling him to bring it up and treat it like a buggy....trail ride the bitch......

Felony...holy shit. Really?

I keep telling him to bring it up and treat it like a buggy....trail ride the bitch......

If my memory serves me right, you took a couple bad ass pictures of a grey market Defender in KOH last year! :D

Felony, lol.

My advice, you and me can go down there for a week, and pull it apart and ship the entire thing up as parts. By the time he done parting it he will have his money back and probably a profit. I can help get all the parts sold too. Or we can talk offline about other options.

Cheers

the dealer is going under

Is that the dealer in the Santa Ana / Escazu area?

Hope not, that is one cool looking dealership

Is that the dealer in the Santa Ana / Escazu area?

Hope not, that is one cool looking dealership

They are closing down because of hwy construction...they will be back up in a few months....

Parting it out would probably be profitable, just ship it up in several separate shipments. It would be illegal to put it back together, but lots of people do- that where the (lol?) felonies come into play. You can't change the VIN of a production vehicle. I've seen TD5 D110's titled as vintage 109's and antique license plates on them. :shaking:

I would ship it back in parts. there is a good market for all the parts

If it is TDI it would be worth more due to driveline.

Ed

No way to make it legal, check ECR's website for details.

He could sell it in Alberta as it’s more than 10 years old. Anywhere else in Canada its 15 years old. Tell him to buy an ’84 wreck from somewhere else in the world and rebuild he damned thing with a new Galvanized chassis. You didnt change the VIN, you just bought all new parts to rebuild an old, legally imported truck. It’s not really illegal if done properly.

In the UK you can rebuild or refurbish a vintage vehicle to a newer spec provided you do NOT change the chassis. I.E. You must rebuild the chassis. Once the chassis rebuilt and dipped, you can build your truck up on it. I regurarly build up 200tdi's, 300tdi's and Td5's, generally using the chassis, bulkhead, suspention and steering assembly from the donor vehicle, for clients in Europe and the USA. Its not illegal and its not a felony. As stated by BigBlueToy.

What is a felony is taking a newer vehicle and grinding off the numbers and restamping earlier numbers. - Unfortunatly this is the cheaper way and it is the most widely abused. eg 110's on 109 identities.

The legal way to get your vehicle in would be to use some of the parts for a rebuild onto a rebuilt 25 year old 110 stationwagon chassis and import it in the legal way.

Another legal way would be to strip it into parts and buy a 90 and rebuild the 90 as the 110, or if you have an unlimited budget you can get East Coast Rovers to do it for you, they do superb work. (there is a chap on the D-90 forum who has a NAS D90 title and chassis for sale)

Or the grey way would be to strip it into parts and export it in, make sure you send the transmission separatley from the body and chassis. The best states to get a 'Kit' regristration are Florida or Oregon. If your building it as a kit make sure there are no land rover chassis numbers.

So for all us non-americans.
Was the 110 never sold in the US?

There was a limited production run of 500 trucks in 1993 and the US Govt Uses 110's in various other countries, but i am not sure about the US.

In the UK you can rebuild or refurbish a vintage vehicle to a newer spec provided you do NOT change the chassis. I.E. You must rebuild the chassis. Once the chassis rebuilt and dipped, you can build your truck up on it. I regurarly build up 200tdi's, 300tdi's and Td5's for clients in Europe and the USA. Its not illegal and its not a felony. As stated by BigBlueToy.

That is a very loose interpretion of the rules.

You can rebuild an old vehicle with new frame. It must be brand new to OE spec. You also need to keep a number of the original powertrain and/or chassis components.

Edit: I don't think shipping the 110 here would be at all cost effective. There are plenty here already so he is unlikely to get a good price.

Edit: I don't think shipping the 110 here would be at all cost effective. There are plenty here already so he is unlikely to get a good price.


I'd agree the defender market is very low at the moment, whilst we are still selling them; we are selling more high spec tdi refurbishments than full rebuilds. The enthusiast market for original unmolested import D110's has flatlined! Mainland Europ may be a better market for it.

In the USA if a vehicle has had a replacement chassis it is actually classed as a new vehicle under federal law, question is how many US made vehicles are restored ever year with replacement chassis fitted? I'd bet these are thousands. They could never enforce it so they leave it alone.

Ah some of the misconceptions that I see here.

The above comment has little merit and is lacking much truth. Insurance companies regularly replace chassis in the US and the vehicle is not reclassified to a new model year. Global, can you provide a reglatory citation to either the FMV standards, or a state reg? If so, I'll rethink my position, but until then, I stand on my comments.

There are legal ways to do a VIN swap, but what's been suggested here is not.

There are so many gray-market vehicles in the US, I expect to see this one here any day now!

That is a very loose interpretion of the rules.

You can rebuild an old vehicle with new frame. It must be brand new to OE spec. You also need to keep a number of the original powertrain and/or chassis components.

Edit: I don't think shipping the 110 here would be at all cost effective. There are plenty here already so he is unlikely to get a good price.

I have a client who has a NEW SIII that was built from the ground up of all new or NOS parts. When the builder went to have it registered, the current UK model years safety regs were such that it would have killed the project. The truck bears a VIN plate from an early 90.

When we build a new vintage series, we keep records on the donor vehicle/vehicles and provide the state with those records, VINs, and info on the new chassis etc and they assign a new VIN and the vehicle registers as what we tell them it is, as long as the year is the same as one of the major donors. Just did a 65 109SW that way. We could have run it as the VIN of one of the donors, but wanted to involve the Gubmint to make sure they were happy about it. No need inviting problems.

Lots of imports that people in the UK fluff for sale in the US are not legal here, despite the assertions of the sellers. Most I've seen are also fluffed junkers with newspapers and bondo filling the holes in the frame, under a heavy undercoating. :shaking:

I have a client who has a NEW SIII that was built from the ground up of all new or NOS parts. When the builder went to have it registered, the current UK model years safety regs were such that it would have killed the project. The truck bears a VIN plate from an early 90.

Yes, that is correct. The registration authority have a points system...

Unmodified chassis frame or body shell (body and chassis as one unit - monocoque ie direct replacement from the manufacturer) (original or new) = 5 points
Suspension = 2 points
Axles = 2 points
Transmission = 2 points
Steering assembly = 2 points
Engine = 1 point
Body = zero points

Score less than eight and you need to apply for a new registration number (and VIN), and submit it for an Single Vehicle Approval (SVA, now IVA) test, just the same as any other kit, or home built, car.

If he had used a new chassis frame and enough parts from a (single) donor vehicle to get the magic number '8' he would have been ok.

This system is widely abused and, because of this, the regs get tougher every year. :shaking:

When we build a new vintage series, we keep records on the donor vehicle/vehicles and provide the state with those records, VINs, and info on the new chassis etc and they assign a new VIN and the vehicle registers as what we tell them it is, as long as the year is the same as one of the major donors. Just did a 65 109SW that way. We could have run it as the VIN of one of the donors, but wanted to involve the Gubmint to make sure they were happy about it. No need inviting problems.

Lots of imports that people in the UK fluff for sale in the US are not legal here, despite the assertions of the sellers. Most I've seen are also fluffed junkers with newspapers and bondo filling the holes in the frame, under a heavy undercoating. :shaking:

This is pretty much the only way to avoid being charged under a "Ship of Theseus" scam. If you search, you'll find that Body Coddington got charged with felonious Ship of Theseus scams for taking 1932 Ford frames/bulkheads and building hot rods out of them with newer engines and sold them with titles indicating the vehicle was a 1932 Ford. Of course, as anyone who knows of Coddingotn, these vehicles retained very little from th Fords they were loosely based upon. The CARB took a very dim view of this and threatened him with prison for it. He died before it was completely resolved. IIRC, the California DMV along with the DOT/NHTSA were claiming they were going to search Coddington's offices and start looking for purchasers of these vehicles to perform smog testing that there was little to no chance of them passing.

There are a lot of things out there that we just should stay as far away from as possible.

Jesse James also got CARB emissions trouble over something that he did and im too lazy to search.

I* think that if it will pass the diesel emissions test at the local inspection station for the model year it is, then it should be legal to import.
Safety regulations should be optional as well, i cant count how many gem cars, or golf carts I see, as well as sand rails driving around on the street or highway with no airbags or 5mph bumpers ect... I think spikes should replace airbags, might wake a few people up that drive...

IMO it is a ploy to force manufacturers into paying the .gov to test and certify the vehicles...

I* think that if it will pass the diesel emissions test at the local inspection station for the model year it is, then it should be legal to import.


Try that and let us know how it goes:flipoff2:

Jesse James also got CARB emissions trouble over something that he did and im too lazy to search.

I can't imagine WHY guys like James and Coddington ever even started businesses like that in CA...

Several of my old clients did manufacturing in that ratbag state - they couldn't even paint a piece of metal without millions of dollars in fume mitigation equipment (and probably inspector pay-offs).

CARB - what a bunch of tin star petty dictators. BTW - the same guys will be coming to see YOU soon, no matter what state you're in

I can't imagine WHY guys like James and Coddington ever even started businesses like that in CA...

Several of my old clients did manufacturing in that ratbag state - they couldn't even paint a piece of metal without millions of dollars in fume mitigation equipment (and probably inspector pay-offs).

CARB - what a bunch of tin star petty dictators. BTW - the same guys will be coming to see YOU soon, no matter what state you're in

California wasn't always the soviet union. It once had liberty. Now only tyranny.

Jesse James also got CARB emissions trouble over something that he did and im too lazy to search.

I* think that if it will pass the diesel emissions test at the local inspection station for the model year it is, then it should be legal to import.
Safety regulations should be optional as well, i cant count how many gem cars, or golf carts I see, as well as sand rails driving around on the street or highway with no airbags or 5mph bumpers ect... I think spikes should replace airbags, might wake a few people up that drive...

IMO it is a ploy to force manufacturers into paying the .gov to test and certify the vehicles...
only if it was a type accepted import engine for that model year...give it a try, you never know...

only if it was a type accepted import engine for that model year...give it a try, you never know...

no, i meant in my ideal world without beurocrap rules...

Have you tried the homemade vehicule route?

How many of us are sitting back thinking to ourselves "this has only been discussed how many times adn somebody thinks they're gonna find the new way to do it legally"?

How many of us are sitting back thinking to ourselves "this has only been discussed how many times adn somebody thinks they're gonna find the new way to do it legally"?

I'm actually sitting back thinking that 98.75% of the "facts" posted on Pirate are bullshit.

I imported a TD5 D130 and titled it as a 1984 Chevy 3500. Why?

Cuz I don't giiiive a fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. :smokin:

I imported a TD5 D130 and titled it as a 1984 Chevy 3500. Why?

Cuz I don't giiiive a fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. :smokin:

That's my boy!

Finally someone with a little testicular fortitude.

I just sell 'em you title 'em as you please.

Anything is legal as long as you don’t get caught!

BTW
there's a Java Black 300tdi 110 that will soon be living in NY , a Bonatti Grey 300tdi 130 that is also going to NY, a Metalic Blue 200tdi 110 thats going to Africa and then to the USA, recently we delivered a Metalic Blue 300tdi to WI.

What year?
there's really never been a problem getting a 200 or 300tdi in, it's the late model shit with a td5 and such that are the problem and for madcow to do it show balls, but WHEN did you import it

What year?
there's really never been a problem getting a 200 or 300tdi in, it's the late model shit with a td5 and such that are the problem and for madcow to do it show balls, but WHEN did you import it

There have always been some folks who were willing to take the risk. A few years back, I bid on reassembling 110s that were coming in from the Netherlands. I saw one that had been assembled and three or four that were pretty seriously disassembled.

What year?
there's really never been a problem getting a 200 or 300tdi in, it's the late model shit with a td5 and such that are the problem and for madcow to do it show balls, but WHEN did you import it

2 x1983 refurbished vehicles, 2 x 1984 refurbished vehicles, all came in in 2009

BTW
there's a Java Black 300tdi 110 that will soon be living in NY , a Bonatti Grey 300tdi 130 that is also going to NY, a Metalic Blue 200tdi 110 thats going to Africa and then to the USA, recently we delivered a Metalic Blue 300tdi to WI.

The picture of that Bonatti grey truck is infawkingcredible! A beautiful truck Julian.

Why doesn’t your buddy keep an address in Costa Rica to keep it plated there, And just bring it here and drive it. My uncle lives in Alabama and all his vehicules are plated in Mississippi. I have friends who have driven Alberta plated vehicules for years in Quebec. As long as you have an address and Drivers license there you can keep it plated there.