looking to purchase

[cycleguy55]

Originally Posted by Propdave

Hello,

I'm excited to be joining the rest of you here in SPC ownership. I am purchasing a 351W 15yr old car and I need any advice you can offer. I am in Canada so I am limited to cars 15yrs or older. I will be looking at the car for the first time in about two weeks. The car has very low miles (sub 5k), is kept in a heated garage and seems to be in perfect shape.

I own a number of cars (Supercharged Audi R8 V10, Porsche 996tt, 1933 Ford Speedstar Vicky...) so I'm somewhat familiar with powerful car ownership.

I'm lookig for any advice when I look over the Cobra for the first time. Are there specific issues I should be looking for?

Thank you in advance for any help.

Dave

There's some stuff posted on this thread: MadMaxx Car buying tips

I'd also look for complete records from the seller / owner. As you'll be importing it into Canada (as I did), make sure you have the documentation you need to import it and satisfy the 15 year rule. It doesn't matter what it says on the title, you need to be able to PROVE it was either completed or first registered at least 15 years ago.

My most recent experience at importing a car indicates Transport Canada / Canada Border Services Agency cares more THAT you have a title certificate than on WHAT it says - particularly when it comes to what the car is titled as. IOW, they essentially ignore "1995 SPCN Cobra" or, in my case, "1991 West Coast Cobra". I think they've been stung in the past by these descriptions on title certificates.

It seems they're now looking for some documentation as to "an official registration history". We were unable to provide "an official registration history" for my car when importing it in 2014, as the VIN was issued by Michigan in 1991 and they purge the records after 10 years. What we used as a proxy was a combination of the VIN issued by Michigan (plate / decal affixed to the door jam), and a letter from the Michigan Secretary of State detailing how the last 6 digits of the VIN represented the VIN issue date. BTW, that was only accepted because Michigan doesn't issue VINs until the car has passed safety inspection.

BTW, I was told the VIN / letter combination would not have been accepted if it was possible for the VIN to have been issued prior to the car being completed (as apparently happens in some places - registration while the car is still under construction). In that case we would have needed to provide some other proof of completion to satisfy the 15 year test. Yikes - glad I dodged that bullet.