Posted by Gordon on Monday, April 19, 2004 at 12:58PM :
In Reply to: Re: hey chris just up the road posted by Chris In Idaho on Sunday, April 18, 2004 at 7:53PM :
Nearly made me spill my Irn-Bru here, Chris.
Actually the Scandinavians are deeply into American vehicles, more so than almost any other area of Europe.
If you think about it, the majority of the Dodges, GMCs, Weasels, and the like have been coming back to the US from Norway and Denmark, so I suppose shipping a few back wont hurt.
I take it you know the reason? A lot of those countries have a 30 or 40-year rule, which means that if you import a new or used truck / car / whatever you get screwed for an unfeasibly large amount of tax at the port or when you go to register it. If it's over 30 or 40 years old the taxes virtually disappear, so right now I'd expect the Scandinavians to be buying up vehicles built up to around 1974, although that year wasn't a high point in US design and styling, was it? Last time I worked for any length of time in Norway was in 1989 and US dealers had started collecting vehicles that they knew would be eligible for 'export' to there the following year.
I need to stop buying stuff from the US and start sending it back - anyone want an (expensive) WC53 ? Of course the Dollar is pretty low against most other currencies at the minute, which is why we don't have a lot of US tourists here in Scotland now, and i'm buying up parts for the panel van project despite being even more broke than usual.
Gordon