Hi there.. new to this forum.

[Macka62]

I'd like to hear the pro's and cons if anyone has some info.

Mac

[400TT]

Mac, I'm certainly no expert, but here is my take on it.

It's the difficulty of approval & registration that stops most people importing Cobras.

You can always go the club rego path or bring it in as a race car, but I would think that a Cobra that cannot be fully registered would be hard to sell if/when you decided to.

I would check with Vic Roads on the rules for importation.

I know in QLD they actually check the year of manufacture, so just because it is titled as a 1965 Cobra, doesn't mean they will treat it as that. I know that they do contact the manufacturer or other 3rd parties to verify the vehicles age.

There are some allowances for age, so if you purchase a Cobra replica that is made before a certain year, approval can be a lot easier. 1989 from memory is one of the key years. So you would be looking at old Cobra replicas in the states, but they are not hard to find.

Importing can be done but is not simple. I've only seen personal imports brought in and successfully fully registered here.

The simple way, would be to buy an already approved & registered local Cobra. Transferring registered Cobras between states is also not a big drama either most of the time.

Good luck with it.

[NASSTY]

Originally Posted by Macka62

I'd like to hear the pro's and cons if anyone has some info.

Mac

I've never imported a car before so I don't know what would be required. That said, since I have been going through the engineering process myself atm, I could imagine that you will need an engineer to complete rego. If you are after full rego and not something like club rego, then the engineer would possibly require a full chassis test, calculate side intrusion, require the correct ride height, E markings, tyres and rims, offsets, drawings of mods to donor parts, etc. The list could be quite long which equals dollars for the engineer. There might be ways/exemptions to ge around some of these issues but you will need to speak to an automotive engineer to be confident for exactly knowing where you stand. I'll PM you the details of my engineer. There is only one person that I know of on this forum who has imported a cobra for full rego and I believe that was quite a few years ago. Unfortunately regs and ADRs change over time.

That leaves two other options, buy or build.

In short, if you buy, buyer beware, but should be a straight forward process to transfer rego. Easy if it's in the same state perhaps less so if it's interstate. Others can tell you about interstate transfers, I built mine.

If building, apart for the process of building, building a recognised kit, which your engineer has passed before, is not too costly or hard to get passed and regoed as all the computations and chassis testing and drawings of modded parts etc etc have already been done, if you build it as per the manufacturer's specs.

This is only a summary, intended only to get you thinking. It's by no means exhaustive. You've got lots of questions to ask.

Cheers

[Aussie Mike]

Even for club reg you are going to need an engineers report that includes torsion and beaming tests on the chassis. Michael can probably confirm this but I think it's the same for club reg plates and special reg (street rod).

Cheers

[LoBelly]

(my understanding is)Foreign Kits/Cars do not necessarily require an engineers report to any greater or lesser degree than a local kit/car, and; that to meet Federal rules for ICV reg a torsion/beam test is not necessarily required (but some states have set specific levels).

In the specific case of the Cobra Car Club of Victoria the Club decided when forming its rules that it may require a member seeking club rego to get an engieers report.

This is basically a safety condition to stop people presenting with their home made chassis - which may never have been independently assessed - and then expecting to be able to automatically participate in the Club Permit(Reg) scheme. Which will likely involve driving on public roads.

This is not to say that there is necessarily anything wrong with home made chassis, just that the club thinks that a professional review would be a good idea.

In this regard the bar that the CCCV has set is actually higher than the governing legislation requires.


LoBelly