Fellow fiends:
Regarding the question on marking parts as for a car older than 25 years
of age: I live in Detroit and am having my '63 B body restoration done in
Windsor, Ontario (just a hop, skip and a jump away). NB: actually the
work is done but I can't get my buddy to tow it over here, something about
a busted transmission in the car with the hitch (?) (sigh, so near and yet
so far... but I digress...
There were numerous body parts needed for this project which I
purchased myself and delivered to the body shop in Windsor.
The B was manufactured in 1963 (vin 6659) and is thus
31 years old so I had no dilemma in declairing the appropriateness of the
designation, but... without knowing the minutiae of Canadian import laws
it was obvious that I was permitted to pay a lower duty on the stuff as
it was going for the restoration of a car that was... older than 25 years
of age (and could *ONLY* go on such a car; generic parts such as battery,
generator, head lights etc. don't qualify for this duty break). What I was
bringing in were body pannels and such (oops, purchased by another supply house
in the US) that were only appropriate for the B (I suppose you *could* put
them on a Europa, but they would look pretty odd). So, your customer in
Canada is evidently trying to get around his having to pay a higher duty
on auto parts imported from a foreign country (US). I suspect that there
are additional nuances to this regarding where the parts were actually
manufactured. Being a part of the 'commonwealth', Canada gives a break on
duty to parts made in England (I think). I (rightly) declaired that
my Rover body parts were stamped in England (there were stickers to that
effect on the parts anyway).
What it appears to be is that the Canadian federal and provincial
governments are actually giving a break to the *old* car hobbiest (WOW!).
Needless-to-say, I surmise most of the above. Details could be wrong.
Regarding your dillema in *falsly* marking the order, I think you already
answered your own question.
Cheers,
Will "Rumpole" Zehring
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