Thanks to everyone who answered my questions last week.
Here's a quick summary of events:
John Huthart generously agreed to bring the car down to Windsor to save
me some mileage. I was able to get a room at the Nisbet Inn in downtown
Windsor. This is a wonderful place and comes with my highest
recommendations. It's a turn-of-the-century home which was purchased by
two sisters from England, restored, and turned into a British Pub with 4
rooms of Bed & Breakfast accomodations. Room and breakfast were C$65
and dinner was under C$40 (which included several pints of Guiness).
(They also told me the Windsor MG club regularly meets there.)
Then it was a short walk to Casino Windsor where I won about $250 at the
blackjack tables. I celebrated with a fine Cuban cigar (Montecristo #3)
and an 18-yr-old. (Single malt scotch, of course... !)
Next morning, John shows up early with the Berk. He had even put new
larger wheels and tires and a new bearing on the trailer to make my 450
mile tow safer.
At his suggestion, we offloaded it for a short drive. This thing is
terrific... though the linear gearchange will take some practice... as
will the RHD. Runs like a charm and is much quicker than I'd imagined.
When we loaded it up we easily pushed it up the ramps to the trailer...
I had brought a come-along not knowing how amazingly light these things
are. When unloading, John had simply picked up the back of the car to
line it up with the ramps!
John's a really great guy... and my wife really enjoyed talking with his
wife... I think they were kindred spirits.
I then headed to the border. When I pulled up at Customs, I told the
very young Inspector I had purchased the car in Canada. He glanced
back and said "Why?" I told him there weren't many in the US. His
response was a dry "So?"... and then he directed me to the inspection
area.
There, an enthusiastic young inspector came out and drooled all over the
car. He was sure it was an Amphicar (liked he'd seen on TV) and seemed
disappointed when I told him I doubted it's seaworthiness.
There was quick agreement that no EPA or DOT releases were needed since
the car was a 1960. EPA cutoff: Dec 31, 1967, DOT: 1973. If bringing in
ANY car later than a '67, I would recommend having both certs in hand.
(Note: they only looked at the paperwork and did not examine the car
itself.)
Next was the duty discussion... I had paperwork showing the car was
previously titled in the US and legally exported to Canada where duty
was paid. I did not have paperwork which showed that US duty was paid
when it was imported from the UK into the US. (This is important! Once
duty is paid on a car coming into the US once... it can be exported and
imported as many times as desired duty free. So if you're bringing a
foreign car back in, try to get the original paperwork.)
Each US resident can bring in $400 duty-free... so you can get an
exemption for each US citizen with you, including kids. Then, it's 10%
on the next $1000. After that, it's a flat 2.5%. (At least that's what
the paperwork said... you're pretty much at the mercy of the Inspector.
They had decided to just charge me a flat 2.5% on the whole thing.)
(On a side note, there were numerous postings in the Customs office
discussing the evils of Cuban cigars. Their official policy is
confiscation and destruction. Then a later note added that civil
penalties up to $50,000 could be levied. A third note spoke of
"appropriate criminal charges" being an additional possibility. Geeze!)
Then, in a flash of logic unusual for many civil servants (I was one, I
know!), they decided that even though I couldn't _prove_ that duty had
been paid in the past, it _must_ have since the car had a US title and
had been properly exported... and I was doing a "good thing" by bringing
such a rare car back into the States.
The next decision was _not_ to charge me any duty, but also to do an
"informal" entry with no paperwork. The Inspector argued with his boss
that such an entry might cause me problems in registering the car in the
US, so they did a formal entry, stamped and signed everything as "US
Customs Aproved" and let me enter with NO DUTY!
All the way back people were swerving and almost runnng off the road to
get a look at the car. Every stop took forever due to people flocking
to the car and asking questions.
I couldn't resist a quick drive around the block after unloading it
last night. My teenager says it the coolest thing I've ever bought!
I'm now digging through the vast documentation which John provided with
the car... starting with the magazine article of the young Brit who
bought it in 1972 for 140 pounds and restored it. Several years of
newsletters and misc Berkeley literature were a surprise bonus.
Thanks again to everyone who helped...and to John for making this a
painless adventure.
Bill Elliott
Lake Mills, WI
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