[Wayne Maybury]

I began my Cobra search back in the late 90's. Not wanting to make an error I began to do my homework and one of the first calls I made was to Transport Canada in Ottawa. Take my advice do not waste your time calling them. The only thing they told me was that it was illegal to build, own, drive, import, register, use, a kit car in Canada. They asked me if I knew of anyone building or selling kit cars in Canada as they would then go there and shut them down, seize the cars, etc. The person I spoke to seemed to be a total idiot.

This is the first that I have heard that a kit car built in one province could not be sold or re-registered in another province so this is news to me. I noticed that MTO said that selling a completed kit car across provincial borders falls under Transport Canada jurisdiction. I would think that this would only apply to a business selling a completed kit car across a provincial border. I cannot see how Transport Canada would get involved in a personal transaction of me selling my used Cobra to an individual in another province. The car would simply have to pass a safety inspection then be re-registered.

I have said this many times here at CC. You cannot import a kit car into Canada as it does not meet Federal safety standards and has never been crash tested. However it is legal to import car parts. If someone wants to import a kit, they must bring it in as car parts and they are probably best to not try to import all of the parts at the same time as the Canadian Customs officer may decide that it is actually a complete car, but in pieces. This is one of the reasons that I decided to build a Johnex as the body, frame, suspension, etc were all made in Ontario. I purchased other parts in the US as well as in Onartio and here in Quebec. I went through the safety inspection process and registered the car in 2001.

Wayne