wanting a right hand drive car

[721302]

i was wondering if anyone knows what all you have to go through to get a right hand drive car shipped over to the states from europe. I am wanting a right hand drive 1302 super for my next gl project and have no clue how to go about getting one. or would it be easier to get all the RHD parts and convert a LHD to RHD? This is just a personal thing that i want one of my cars to have so i guess i want one just to have something a little different. any advise would be great.


thanks

[justdubbin]

I don't know what you have to go through (paper work,tax duties etc) but what I can tell you is that unless you can get some one from this forum to confirm the car is a good one then I would suggest you buy an Austrailian car as you stand a better chance of getting a rust free example.
The last thing you want is to import a pile of rust, besides this I think you will be put off by the price of a rust free UK example.


Rob.

[Steve C]

Hi

I reckon you would be better off using a dash and pedals. For complete cars look here at the for sales, http://www.clubvw.org.au/ Im the webmaster for that site.

Steve C

[721302]

i was looking at my car and i think it could be converted over to RHD if i had all the RHD specific parts to do it. I know the pedals and dash are differant but what about the idler arm and steering box? and would the idler bolt in the place of my steering box and vice versa? i would think that tie rods and center link could be used from my car. oh and maybe extend some of the dash wiring and get a longer speedo cable. i have a aftermarket fuse block that i am going to use so i dont have to move that and a aftermarket smooth dash would cure my dash problem. and Steve would you have any of these RHD drive parts laying around that you would be willing to ship overseas?

[oasis]

Here are two sites to check out:

http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/ is sort of a British version of theSamba.

Then, there is the UK version of eBay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/).

The steering box may be different. I saw a rack and pinion on the UK eBay that said it was RHD-specific. I know it's not the same, but the parallel may very well be.

I would also suggest picking up an issue of VolksWorld. Their advertisers cater to British clients first and foremost. RHD dashes and the like should be available.

I have one word of advice. RHD Beetles and Super Beetles have LHD-configured windshield wipers. This would drive me crazy (although I'm just one zip code away from there anyway).

[justdubbin]

As far as I'm aware the steering is different from RHD to LHD.
If you go on the VOLKZONE web site there are lots of links to UK specalists, and remember they source most of their panelwork ect from the US, so you might find one of them can bring the bits over when they next come over,this will keep the shipping costs down... you never know untill you ask


Rob.

[oasis]

I re-read my post -- this passage in particular:

Originally Posted by oasis

The steering box may be different. I saw a rack and pinion on the UK eBay that said it was RHD-specific. I know it's not the same, but the parallel may very well be.

When I said, "it's not the same, but the parallel may very well be," I meant, "the rack and pinion is not the same as the pre-r&p, but the pre-r&p may be the same in that RHD and LHD are specific to themselves only."

Here's another useful site for British links: http://www.allaircooled.com/greatbritain.htm.

A lot of sites list their prices with VAT already attached. If this is the case, here are the formulas to use:

(1st) (Listed Price) / 1.175 = (New Price w/o VAT in £)
(2nd) £ * (Exchange Rate) = $

The current exchange rate for British Pounds Sterling to US Dollars is 1.842401 as of 17 August 2004. This "final result" does not include the carriage charge (a.k.a. shipping and handling) but the deduction of the 17½% surely helps.