The seller answered my question honestly about exporting it and re-importing it to U.S.


Dear rpatton3,

I do not think it is worth the risk. The car was caught by Customs and Border Dept being "snuck" into the U.S. from Canada. The car is only banned from the U.S. but it can not initial be send to any of the 4 countries.

- uzzisl

That is good enough for me.

This would be cool on French Riviera!

You're right rpatton3 with the French riviera BUT.... in France we couldn't register a Cobra titled less than 30 years....

So this Csx shouldn't come in France except for race tracks only.

OliveR

I see he sold it for short money on the relist, 55K. That's a shame you can't even bring it back into the country it originated from. What a freakin game they've turned it into.

Yes, the cobra was sold in May, after clearing U.S. Customs in September it was shipped off to France. It was a shame not being able to keep it on American soil.

Statute of limitations?

I used to be a member here and I am the original owner of CSX 4995. I can give you the true story of the car if you like. I only know what I did with the car and what happened to it for about a year after I sold it

Yes, please elaborate.

When I listed the car I got inquiries from Australia, Japan, Belgium, Italy and all through the US. I was limited where it could be exported to because it had a Canadian V.I.N. plate. A guy from Pennsylvania wanted it. He wired the money to me and left the car with me for about a year and a half in storage. A rep from Shelby told him if he could get the car into the US they could pull the V.I.N
plate, issue a new MSO and retitle the car in the US
The guy who purchased the car sent a driver up in April and told me to give him the bill of sale
I asked him if he was sure he wanted to do that and he was. The guy picked up the car and put Nevada dealer plate on it. When he got to the border I guess US customs thought something just wasn't right so they searched him and the car, and found the bill of sale. US customs phoned me and told me they had found the bill of sale and was sending the car back. I waited a few hours then the Shelby rep called and told me US customs had iimpounded the car. That was the last I heard about it until a couple of months later when someone pretending to be US customs called and asked if I still had the ownership. I told him I would sell it to him and he got pissed off and started to swear at me. The next time I was contacted about the car was about a year later when someone from Belgium called and wanted information about the car as he was interested
I gave him the information he asked for and didn't hear anymore about it
The guys here on CC say it looks like it had mold and water damage. I'm thinking that when it was impounded it was probably left outside in a storage yard without any protection from the weather and probably got rained on.
That's about all I know about it.

Thanks for the clarification sir.
Do we know where CSX 4995 is currently? Values have certainly increased since 2013 to the point it may be worthwhile to investigate.....?
Selling overseas should not be a big deal.
As the original owner of 2 cobras I sold CSX 4802 to a gentleman in Italy and a Kirkham to a dealer in France. No issues.
I'd like to hear how this story continues, or ends.
B.

Found something.

1966 Shelby Cobra 427/SC Authentic Countinuation Model CSX4995

From what I've read here, the car was exported to France. But according to the link above it is in Pittsburgh. According the the link it is offered at only $64,000. I received substantially more than that when I sold it.

Being that it is listed as not for sale in the US, Canada, Russia, etc., the sale price may reflect an adjustment to cover shipping costs and to influence a foreign buyer. It is possible that the current owner bought it for a song due to the condition, and limited market for the car and is still making a decent profitatthat price.

It seems CSX4995 is doomed to a life outside of the US.
I was also wondering how Shelby was going to re-VIN with so many serial number broaches/stamps on the car? Hood, trunk X-brace, frame etc.

Re-vin-ing a vehicle is a federal offense and Shelby American knows it. I seriously doubt this part of the story.

Shelby was not going to re-vin the car
They were going to issue another MSO so the car could be retitled as a new car in the US.

I wouldn't hold much trust in the Cars From UK site. They're re-publishing Ads from other sites and listing too good to be true pricing. Much like Trovit.

After purchasing my 17 yr old BDR 5 years ago, I found an Ad for my car on their site. Who knows how old is was and its at still there 5 years later.

https://car-from-uk.com/sale.php?id=42005


From this French Cobra forum it says it did make it to France in 2013. Google will translate it for you just right click somewhere on the page for the option to pop up.
http://forum-auto.caradisiac.com/les...a/sujet337.htm

I'm kind of slow in my old age,

so why is the car not allowed in the US ?

Because even though individual states will allow you to title them as a 1965 or waive emissions based on the year of the engine, US customs views it as a car that was manufactured the year that it was built. Therefore, it needs to make emission and safety standards of that year. Our cars do not.

With the car in question here, in addition there is also that little trying to put one over on US Customs which usually does not go so well for you.

My first attempt at a cobra was with SPF 097. It originated in the US and ended up being sold to a person in Canada and when it crossed the border it was titled in Canada. The deal fell through and the the car was back up for sale. When I went to register the car in NY the the person at the DMV noticed the Ontario title and asked to see the import stamp. Contacted US Customs and they were not going to issue an import stamp. Deal was over, got my money back without any hassle and went about looking for other cars and that is how I ended up with my ERA.

Jim

Jim's experience with that purchase was via us. Although the car had been in the US for over 15 years and registered in North Carolina, when it went to Canada the clock reset for the US and as a "non-conforming" motor vehicle it was not allowed to return for road use! My contact at NHTSA agreed that this was not logical, but once the US title was surrendered to Ontario it became "persona non grata" in the US!