UK plates in the USA

[Puma]

Hi all.

You guys have a nice community here. I don't own a Fiesta, but the car I'm going to be bringing with me to the US in January never made it here in the first place and therefore there is no forum.

I'm sure many of you are aware that the Puma makes quite a popular engine conversion into earlier Fez's and kit cars here in the UK. However, many have forgotten how good a car it was in itself. You guys got the big Brother as you know, the Cougar; Ford here, Mercury there. The Puma was a smaller, lower-powered and more nimble sports coupe that FoMoCo decided not to sell in the US, understandably; it was only available with a manual transmission.

The long and short of it is that I intend to bring one over as a temporary import and would love to find a group of enthusiasts that might like to see one in the flesh Being so closely related to the Fiesta, I felt like this might be a good place to start.

Anyway, nice to meet you all.

Chris
USA-bound Brit
Small cat in tow...

 

[Vince62]

Better check with US Customs to make sure it can come into the country.Just use to work for a customs broker and you need to ask questions.Could be months tied up if you don't. I know I'm in Canada but I did the documents going into the states.Every country has it's own laws and some stricter than others.

 

[D1JL]

First off, welcome to our forum.

Good luck with bringing this car into the US.
You will also have emission hoops to jump through.
Cars never intended to be brought into the US are considered "Gray Market".
I am not saying that you cannot bring it in but there is a very lot of paperwork and expense.

Again, good luck.

Dave

 

[Puma]

Thanks guys! You are all on the button there; quite right, it is a headache to import a car into the US if under 25 years old in particular. However, a non-resident can import a car for up to a year without any of the headaches. I have to run on my local plates and insure it locally, but it doesn't have to go through any regular importation ruling. http://www.cbp.gov/trade/basic-import-export/importing-car. Basically, I go under the same rules as a Canadian or Mexican only I didn't drive my car across the Atlantic… Mind you, that would be rather impressive on one tank of fuel!

I have also had advice from FL DOT, EPA, customs at the FL Everglades port and a pal of mine that imports 24 year old cars in this way so they can be here a year early for the actual import - it protects US manufacturers from what I can understand. My shipping company is all geared up and ready to go, but I will keep you all posted on the process if it's of interest?

Thanks for the welcome. I'm having trouble uploading pictures at the moment but include a link to a car that looks just like mine, again if you are interested.

Happy New Year to all.

http://www.pumapeople.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=106290
Remember, this isn't mine, but it's identical.