Daily driver importing adventure (long... grab a snack & beverage)
12-14-2010, 11:54 PM
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Daily driver importing adventure (long... grab a snack & beverage)
Hi everyone. Many of you on this board helped me out in my car search, so as promised I'm posting my story. It's long... but you were warned.
DECISION TIME
I've always been a fan of large, RWD, GM cars and my awesome 1996 Buick Roadmaster was my latest in a long line of such vehicles. Approaching 160,000km, the RM had been a great daily driver for six years and at one time was pristine enough to appear in a feature photo shoot for a car magazine. And while it still drove quite nicely and looked decent for its age, there were a few looming issues that were making it unreliable and perhaps costly in the near future. So I began my hunt for a nice full-size luxury sedan, previously well cared for by an elderly owner. Since GM regrettably has not built any large RWD since the final B/D bodies of 1996, it was time to investigate some other manufacturers. I decided on a short list including S-Class and E-Class Mercedes, 7-Series BMWs, Lexus LS, Buick Lucerne V8, and Lincoln Town Car. While I do love my 1968 Cadillac, the contemporary Cadillac styling does not excite me and I did not consider them for a DD.
NARROWING DOWN
With a budget of $15-$20K, I ruled out the German cars pretty quickly as a car in that price range would be very expensive to maintain. The Lexus LS was a decent compromise, but I never really got excited about it. So it was back to American metal... what can I say I like what I like! The Buick Lucerne V8 was a logical replacement for the Roadmaster, especially the 300HP V8. But while they are a good value for the money I just couldn't get past the FWD. This left the Town Car. I liked the classic American big-car styling but was concerned about the low power, 239hp 4.6L SOHC engine. So I rented one on a business trip to try it out. As expected it had WAY less power than my Roadmaster, but on the other hand, it absolutely felt like my kind of car. So I decided on the TC. After all, if I need to burn rubber I can always take out my Corvette!
SHOPPING
Next step was to get the best 2006+ Lincoln Town Car I could find for around $17K. Not black (looks like airport limo) and not white (looks like wedding car). But Pearl white would be OK. As for options, heated seats were a must. I learned that to obtain heated seats, one must find a Signature Limited (not just Signature), but that also came with a premium sound stereo and way cool fully motorized open-close trunk. Here in Canada there were at best a dozen or so decent candidates for sale nationwide, but they were usually priced in the $18K-$22K range. But down south in the US there were literally hundreds within a day's drive, for thousands less. So the plan was to find the right car and import it into Canada.
THE CAR
While it seemed fairly straightforward to find such a common car within a very wide area, it took some doing. I literally investigated at least a hundred cars and made a few offers along the way. There was always something wrong... bad carfax report, bad color, wrong options, high mileage, overpriced, cheezy aftermarket fake convertible tops, it just went on and on. Whenever there was a perfect car with low mileage, by the time I called it was gone. Then finally I found a candidate in the Chicago area. 2006 Signature Limited, $16K, 71,000kms (44,000 miles), traded in at a Toyota dealer by an old couple from Texas. But... white! Not pearl white but wedding white. Can I live with a white Town Car and put up with the wedding car jokes? Hmmm.
THE DEAL
Winter was coming and I needed a car. So I figure go for it maybe I'll learn to love a white TC. Knowing that $16K was a good price, I offer full asking, subject to a pre-purchase inspection from a local Ford dealer. They accept and the car checks out, but the inspectors notice there is damage to the rims and some very minor damage on the front bumper. Immediately the salesman starts investigating getting the wheels refinished. Next morning I say OK I'll take it but you can either (a) fix the rims and bumper or (b) give me $1500 off and I'll take care of it myself back in Toronto. Unbelievably, the salesman Blackberrys me back and says good luck with your search for a perfect car and I'll get your deposit back in the morning. I'm like WTH? Two days later the sales manager calls and asks me if I'll take it for $15.5. In the meantime I had learned I could get the rims refinished back home for $500 so I said sure no problem. The bumper damage was so minor I figured I'd ignore it since the price was good. Not sure what was up over there - some kind of sales tactic or just weirdness. But whatever... the deal was fair.
PLANNING TO IMPORT
I had done a ton of research on importing a Town Car into Canada and it seemed very do-able. Also there were some terrific people on the Corvette discussion board who gave me all sorts of tips and answered my questions. The paperwork seems very complicated but as long as you get it done in advance it's easy. The planning steps were as follows:
(1) Mods - basically convert speedo to metric (easily accomplished by button on TC dash) and get daytime running lights working. I got a local Ford dealer in Illinois to do this before I picked up the car for $70! I am certain it would have cost much more here in Canada.
(2) Paperwork for export from US - basically proof of title and no outstanding liens. Dealer faxed me this after I paid, I faxed to border, and brought original when I crossed.
(3) Paperwork for import to Canada - registry (RIV) form & fees, pay GST (5%), and proof that all recall work has been done.
PICKING UP CAR
As you can tell I was pretty enthusiastic about this whole process, so I decided to make the trip part of the fun, rather than look at it as a "purchase-related expense". I decided to take my 8yo son along for a Chicago "guy trip" to pick up the car. So I cashed in some Aeroplan points and Pricelined a Chicago 4-star hotel for only $75/night. We flew out on a Friday and the sales manager from the Toyota dealer actually picked us up at O'Hare and drove us to Crystal Lake to get the car. The payment had already been wired so all I needed to do was sign the papers and drive off. I brought some Ontario wine and gave bottles to the sales manager and salesman to thank them for helping me out with some of the export paperwork etc. Then I drove to the nearby Ford dealer to give another bottle of wine to the service advisor who inspected the car for me and got me the recall clearance documentation. They were very surprised by my "Canadian hospitality". After that we drove the Town Car for an hour to get to Chicago. When you export a car from Illinois, they give you a little window sticker for $10 which makes you legal to drive all the way back home. However, I felt conspicuous about driving a car all that distance with no proper licence plates, so I brought my old Buick plates along with me and asked the dealer to put them on the car. It's not exactly legal, but I had the correct Illinois sticker on the car plus the paperwork that I owned the plates, so I figured I could talk to talk if a cop ever stopped me. Plus I'd be able to use the toll road in Ontario to get home!
SHINY TOWN CAR
PRISTINE INTERIOR
READY TO DRIVE OFF
GUY TRIP
In our short Chicago visit, my son and I visited the Willis (Sears) Tower, along with the MOSI museum and Navy Pier. I have some friends there too and we visited the German Christkindlmarket with them, then went out for deep-dish pizza. We also found time to squeeze in a quick visit to the John Hancock Tower. The best part of our trip was definitely MOSI (Museum of Science and Industry). We've been to many science museums and this one is by far the best we've seen. There are more exhibits than you can see in a day, but the highlight was the German U-505 submarine which was captured by the allies in WWII. It is a fascinating story and terrific display so put it on your list. I've done a lot of traveling and I'd have to say Navy Pier was a huge disappointment - bad food choices, lame attractions, and overall a tourist trap. Our hotel however, the Hilton Palmer House, was spectacular. We had a terrific time and there's nothing like a father-son trip, even if it's only for two nights.
GLASS FLOOR IN WILLIS (SEARS) TOWER
OUT FOR PIZZA
MMMM
WHO'S THE NUTCRACKER?
CHICAGO PARKING
So... while we got a spectacular deal on our hotel through Priceline, I found out the parking was exhorbitant at $50/night for valet and $36/night for self-park. But as luck would have it, my friend in Chicago happens to live 4-5 blocks away from the hotel and tells me she has access to 3 free parking spaces. Sweet! So I show up and learn that it is actually street parking near her condo, which for some reason has no signage and the locals all know you can park there for free. I look at the space and think "Hmmm... well it's not a pretty street, but hey I've parked cars hundreds of times on the street in many places, and nothing's ever happened. And it's not like it's a Mercedes or anything, it's just a normal 5yo Town Car. Why should I pay $50/night to park at the hotel? Some idiot car jockey might mess with my car and scratch it up, or even worse, figure out my car is in title transition and call his criminal buddies to come and steal my serial number. Good idea... let's leave it on the street". We go out for dinner and I'm stressed about the car but my friends reassure me it's a nice neighbourhood and everything will be fine. Well... the next morning my friend calls me to say the car's been hit. Just my luck the only time I ever have a car hit while parked and it's my new car I haven't even owned for 24hrs yet. And I searched for months to get a car with no stories and original paint, fly all the way to Chicago, and now it's damaged. GRRRR! I show up to look at the car and luckily it's just paint peeled off and no crack on the bumper... but still I am quite displeased to say the least. I look at my son who is excited about going to the museum, suck it up, and try not to think about it. Check out the pic below and if you know anyone in the GTA who can fix this properly and cheaply, please let me know.
GRRRRR!!!
DRIVE HOME
The drive from Chicago to Toronto is long, but it's easy. Now wouldn't you know it a huge midwestern storm is brewing so we hit the road at 7am to try and stay ahead of the bad weather. It wasn't to be. The entire 900km drive I was at the front end of the storm, just as snow was accumulating on the roads. And whenever I would break away it was time to stop for a meal or customs, so when I got back in the car the storm had caught up. It wasn't a dangerous or scary drive, just an annoying amount of snow with the occasional plow, which kept my average speed to probably 80km/h. Overall it was 14 hours to get home, including stops and customs. However I would add that's 14 hours in a very comfortable Lincoln Town Car!! This car is absolutely quiet on the highway and it performed beautifully. You can hardly even hear the tires driving through the slush. I very much enjoyed the SoundMark premium sound system and heated seats, while my son sat in comfort playing video games and watching movies in back. We also got in a few old-fashioned rounds of "20 questions".
PARKING AT CRACKER BARREL
COMFY RIDE BACK THERE
U.S. CUSTOMS
A really cool guy on the Corvette enthusiast web site gave me a ton of info about importing via the Detroit/Windsor Ambassador Bridge. He even gave me a Google satellite map with labels on where to drive in, which office to visit, and how to drive out. This was a tremendous help and if anyone reading this ever imports a vehicle let me know and I'll give you the info. So upon arriving at the border, first stop was the US side where I needed to get the title stamped. I had been warned that this office was pretty unfriendly... and that they made people wait in line while they had idle chit-chat until they felt like calling the next customer. It was absolutely accurate and actually quite comical, but in the end it was only 15 minutes and the guy was pretty nice. My son observed his gun and thought it was cool.
CANADIAN CUSTOMS
After this I crossed the bridge, paid the toll, and got in the line for Canadian customs. I expected the front line drive-thru customs guy would ask for my passport and then wave me through to the main office when I told him I was importing a car. Not so! He proceeded to ask for my bill of sale and all sorts of questions about the car. (TIP: never get in line at customs behind an unplated car that looks like it's being imported... you'll be waiting a while). Anyway when he was done asking his questions he did in fact send me to the "secondary" inspection area to do paperwork, pay fees, etc. Also, he blasted me for having Ontario plates not registered to the car and warned me that I could be fined $500, but that it was not his jurisdiction. I parked the vehicle to go into the office and a second officer blasted me again about the plates. Finally I got to the desk and a very nice (but serious) lady went through all the paperwork with me. They charged me 5% HST on the car plus the registry (RIV) fee of around $200. She noted that the tax was payable on all aspects of the car purchase, including admin fees, licence, etc. But that also they deduct $400 from the purchase price when calculating tax to allow for my 48-hour exemption! She filled out the RIV form and said I'd get an email receipt, which was on my iPhone instantly. As I left, I had to show my card to a person outside before I drove away. This weird inspector asked me a few questions about the TC as though he knew a fair bit about cars. Then he asked to look inside and said something like "gee we eyeballed your car and figured you paid 2 grand... but I guess it's pretty nice and you paid $15.5 so you must not be lying about the price". WTH? Either a weird tactic to make me admit something or these guys are just plain idiots. 75 minutes for the Canadian-side ordeal by the way.
NEXT STEPS
The very next day I got an email from RIV saying I could download my Inspection Form and take it to the local Canadian Tire for inspection. This inspection has already been paid in the fee I paid at the border. If it requires any mods that will cost extra, but I'm pretty sure it won't. In any case my buddy in Toronto has a contact at a CT who will look the other way on some things! Then after that, I need a safety check and e-test. Final step is paying my PST (8%) at the Ministry and I'm all done! Would I do it again? Well, it was fun and I probably saved a few grand so yes, I would definitely import another used car if the dollar remains near par. But I don't think I'd offer to do it as a favor for a buddy just for kicks - I can imagine these border people can get on your nerves if you do this all the time.
TEXAS CAR STARTS NEW LIFE IN CANADA
FATE OF THE BUICK
Well if you read this far you're perhaps wondering what happened to the Roadmaster. If I had the space I would have loved to keep it and restore/play with it when I'm an old man someday. But then again, if I were ever in that position I could probably find a better one for not much money. There is not much demand for these cars. So... I called one of my car buddies and said "I can put this on Craigslist for $2K and deal with a bunch of hassles, lowballers, and weirdos, or I can just sell it to you for a grand. He grabbed it right away and will probably drive it for a while and sell it to a relative back east. Long may you run RM. I still have the magazine article anyway!
LONG MAY YOU RUN
DECISION TIME
I've always been a fan of large, RWD, GM cars and my awesome 1996 Buick Roadmaster was my latest in a long line of such vehicles. Approaching 160,000km, the RM had been a great daily driver for six years and at one time was pristine enough to appear in a feature photo shoot for a car magazine. And while it still drove quite nicely and looked decent for its age, there were a few looming issues that were making it unreliable and perhaps costly in the near future. So I began my hunt for a nice full-size luxury sedan, previously well cared for by an elderly owner. Since GM regrettably has not built any large RWD since the final B/D bodies of 1996, it was time to investigate some other manufacturers. I decided on a short list including S-Class and E-Class Mercedes, 7-Series BMWs, Lexus LS, Buick Lucerne V8, and Lincoln Town Car. While I do love my 1968 Cadillac, the contemporary Cadillac styling does not excite me and I did not consider them for a DD.
NARROWING DOWN
With a budget of $15-$20K, I ruled out the German cars pretty quickly as a car in that price range would be very expensive to maintain. The Lexus LS was a decent compromise, but I never really got excited about it. So it was back to American metal... what can I say I like what I like! The Buick Lucerne V8 was a logical replacement for the Roadmaster, especially the 300HP V8. But while they are a good value for the money I just couldn't get past the FWD. This left the Town Car. I liked the classic American big-car styling but was concerned about the low power, 239hp 4.6L SOHC engine. So I rented one on a business trip to try it out. As expected it had WAY less power than my Roadmaster, but on the other hand, it absolutely felt like my kind of car. So I decided on the TC. After all, if I need to burn rubber I can always take out my Corvette!
SHOPPING
Next step was to get the best 2006+ Lincoln Town Car I could find for around $17K. Not black (looks like airport limo) and not white (looks like wedding car). But Pearl white would be OK. As for options, heated seats were a must. I learned that to obtain heated seats, one must find a Signature Limited (not just Signature), but that also came with a premium sound stereo and way cool fully motorized open-close trunk. Here in Canada there were at best a dozen or so decent candidates for sale nationwide, but they were usually priced in the $18K-$22K range. But down south in the US there were literally hundreds within a day's drive, for thousands less. So the plan was to find the right car and import it into Canada.
THE CAR
While it seemed fairly straightforward to find such a common car within a very wide area, it took some doing. I literally investigated at least a hundred cars and made a few offers along the way. There was always something wrong... bad carfax report, bad color, wrong options, high mileage, overpriced, cheezy aftermarket fake convertible tops, it just went on and on. Whenever there was a perfect car with low mileage, by the time I called it was gone. Then finally I found a candidate in the Chicago area. 2006 Signature Limited, $16K, 71,000kms (44,000 miles), traded in at a Toyota dealer by an old couple from Texas. But... white! Not pearl white but wedding white. Can I live with a white Town Car and put up with the wedding car jokes? Hmmm.
THE DEAL
Winter was coming and I needed a car. So I figure go for it maybe I'll learn to love a white TC. Knowing that $16K was a good price, I offer full asking, subject to a pre-purchase inspection from a local Ford dealer. They accept and the car checks out, but the inspectors notice there is damage to the rims and some very minor damage on the front bumper. Immediately the salesman starts investigating getting the wheels refinished. Next morning I say OK I'll take it but you can either (a) fix the rims and bumper or (b) give me $1500 off and I'll take care of it myself back in Toronto. Unbelievably, the salesman Blackberrys me back and says good luck with your search for a perfect car and I'll get your deposit back in the morning. I'm like WTH? Two days later the sales manager calls and asks me if I'll take it for $15.5. In the meantime I had learned I could get the rims refinished back home for $500 so I said sure no problem. The bumper damage was so minor I figured I'd ignore it since the price was good. Not sure what was up over there - some kind of sales tactic or just weirdness. But whatever... the deal was fair.
PLANNING TO IMPORT
I had done a ton of research on importing a Town Car into Canada and it seemed very do-able. Also there were some terrific people on the Corvette discussion board who gave me all sorts of tips and answered my questions. The paperwork seems very complicated but as long as you get it done in advance it's easy. The planning steps were as follows:
(1) Mods - basically convert speedo to metric (easily accomplished by button on TC dash) and get daytime running lights working. I got a local Ford dealer in Illinois to do this before I picked up the car for $70! I am certain it would have cost much more here in Canada.
(2) Paperwork for export from US - basically proof of title and no outstanding liens. Dealer faxed me this after I paid, I faxed to border, and brought original when I crossed.
(3) Paperwork for import to Canada - registry (RIV) form & fees, pay GST (5%), and proof that all recall work has been done.
PICKING UP CAR
As you can tell I was pretty enthusiastic about this whole process, so I decided to make the trip part of the fun, rather than look at it as a "purchase-related expense". I decided to take my 8yo son along for a Chicago "guy trip" to pick up the car. So I cashed in some Aeroplan points and Pricelined a Chicago 4-star hotel for only $75/night. We flew out on a Friday and the sales manager from the Toyota dealer actually picked us up at O'Hare and drove us to Crystal Lake to get the car. The payment had already been wired so all I needed to do was sign the papers and drive off. I brought some Ontario wine and gave bottles to the sales manager and salesman to thank them for helping me out with some of the export paperwork etc. Then I drove to the nearby Ford dealer to give another bottle of wine to the service advisor who inspected the car for me and got me the recall clearance documentation. They were very surprised by my "Canadian hospitality". After that we drove the Town Car for an hour to get to Chicago. When you export a car from Illinois, they give you a little window sticker for $10 which makes you legal to drive all the way back home. However, I felt conspicuous about driving a car all that distance with no proper licence plates, so I brought my old Buick plates along with me and asked the dealer to put them on the car. It's not exactly legal, but I had the correct Illinois sticker on the car plus the paperwork that I owned the plates, so I figured I could talk to talk if a cop ever stopped me. Plus I'd be able to use the toll road in Ontario to get home!
SHINY TOWN CAR
PRISTINE INTERIOR
READY TO DRIVE OFF
GUY TRIP
In our short Chicago visit, my son and I visited the Willis (Sears) Tower, along with the MOSI museum and Navy Pier. I have some friends there too and we visited the German Christkindlmarket with them, then went out for deep-dish pizza. We also found time to squeeze in a quick visit to the John Hancock Tower. The best part of our trip was definitely MOSI (Museum of Science and Industry). We've been to many science museums and this one is by far the best we've seen. There are more exhibits than you can see in a day, but the highlight was the German U-505 submarine which was captured by the allies in WWII. It is a fascinating story and terrific display so put it on your list. I've done a lot of traveling and I'd have to say Navy Pier was a huge disappointment - bad food choices, lame attractions, and overall a tourist trap. Our hotel however, the Hilton Palmer House, was spectacular. We had a terrific time and there's nothing like a father-son trip, even if it's only for two nights.
GLASS FLOOR IN WILLIS (SEARS) TOWER
OUT FOR PIZZA
MMMM
WHO'S THE NUTCRACKER?
CHICAGO PARKING
So... while we got a spectacular deal on our hotel through Priceline, I found out the parking was exhorbitant at $50/night for valet and $36/night for self-park. But as luck would have it, my friend in Chicago happens to live 4-5 blocks away from the hotel and tells me she has access to 3 free parking spaces. Sweet! So I show up and learn that it is actually street parking near her condo, which for some reason has no signage and the locals all know you can park there for free. I look at the space and think "Hmmm... well it's not a pretty street, but hey I've parked cars hundreds of times on the street in many places, and nothing's ever happened. And it's not like it's a Mercedes or anything, it's just a normal 5yo Town Car. Why should I pay $50/night to park at the hotel? Some idiot car jockey might mess with my car and scratch it up, or even worse, figure out my car is in title transition and call his criminal buddies to come and steal my serial number. Good idea... let's leave it on the street". We go out for dinner and I'm stressed about the car but my friends reassure me it's a nice neighbourhood and everything will be fine. Well... the next morning my friend calls me to say the car's been hit. Just my luck the only time I ever have a car hit while parked and it's my new car I haven't even owned for 24hrs yet. And I searched for months to get a car with no stories and original paint, fly all the way to Chicago, and now it's damaged. GRRRR! I show up to look at the car and luckily it's just paint peeled off and no crack on the bumper... but still I am quite displeased to say the least. I look at my son who is excited about going to the museum, suck it up, and try not to think about it. Check out the pic below and if you know anyone in the GTA who can fix this properly and cheaply, please let me know.
GRRRRR!!!
DRIVE HOME
The drive from Chicago to Toronto is long, but it's easy. Now wouldn't you know it a huge midwestern storm is brewing so we hit the road at 7am to try and stay ahead of the bad weather. It wasn't to be. The entire 900km drive I was at the front end of the storm, just as snow was accumulating on the roads. And whenever I would break away it was time to stop for a meal or customs, so when I got back in the car the storm had caught up. It wasn't a dangerous or scary drive, just an annoying amount of snow with the occasional plow, which kept my average speed to probably 80km/h. Overall it was 14 hours to get home, including stops and customs. However I would add that's 14 hours in a very comfortable Lincoln Town Car!! This car is absolutely quiet on the highway and it performed beautifully. You can hardly even hear the tires driving through the slush. I very much enjoyed the SoundMark premium sound system and heated seats, while my son sat in comfort playing video games and watching movies in back. We also got in a few old-fashioned rounds of "20 questions".
PARKING AT CRACKER BARREL
COMFY RIDE BACK THERE
U.S. CUSTOMS
A really cool guy on the Corvette enthusiast web site gave me a ton of info about importing via the Detroit/Windsor Ambassador Bridge. He even gave me a Google satellite map with labels on where to drive in, which office to visit, and how to drive out. This was a tremendous help and if anyone reading this ever imports a vehicle let me know and I'll give you the info. So upon arriving at the border, first stop was the US side where I needed to get the title stamped. I had been warned that this office was pretty unfriendly... and that they made people wait in line while they had idle chit-chat until they felt like calling the next customer. It was absolutely accurate and actually quite comical, but in the end it was only 15 minutes and the guy was pretty nice. My son observed his gun and thought it was cool.
CANADIAN CUSTOMS
After this I crossed the bridge, paid the toll, and got in the line for Canadian customs. I expected the front line drive-thru customs guy would ask for my passport and then wave me through to the main office when I told him I was importing a car. Not so! He proceeded to ask for my bill of sale and all sorts of questions about the car. (TIP: never get in line at customs behind an unplated car that looks like it's being imported... you'll be waiting a while). Anyway when he was done asking his questions he did in fact send me to the "secondary" inspection area to do paperwork, pay fees, etc. Also, he blasted me for having Ontario plates not registered to the car and warned me that I could be fined $500, but that it was not his jurisdiction. I parked the vehicle to go into the office and a second officer blasted me again about the plates. Finally I got to the desk and a very nice (but serious) lady went through all the paperwork with me. They charged me 5% HST on the car plus the registry (RIV) fee of around $200. She noted that the tax was payable on all aspects of the car purchase, including admin fees, licence, etc. But that also they deduct $400 from the purchase price when calculating tax to allow for my 48-hour exemption! She filled out the RIV form and said I'd get an email receipt, which was on my iPhone instantly. As I left, I had to show my card to a person outside before I drove away. This weird inspector asked me a few questions about the TC as though he knew a fair bit about cars. Then he asked to look inside and said something like "gee we eyeballed your car and figured you paid 2 grand... but I guess it's pretty nice and you paid $15.5 so you must not be lying about the price". WTH? Either a weird tactic to make me admit something or these guys are just plain idiots. 75 minutes for the Canadian-side ordeal by the way.
NEXT STEPS
The very next day I got an email from RIV saying I could download my Inspection Form and take it to the local Canadian Tire for inspection. This inspection has already been paid in the fee I paid at the border. If it requires any mods that will cost extra, but I'm pretty sure it won't. In any case my buddy in Toronto has a contact at a CT who will look the other way on some things! Then after that, I need a safety check and e-test. Final step is paying my PST (8%) at the Ministry and I'm all done! Would I do it again? Well, it was fun and I probably saved a few grand so yes, I would definitely import another used car if the dollar remains near par. But I don't think I'd offer to do it as a favor for a buddy just for kicks - I can imagine these border people can get on your nerves if you do this all the time.
TEXAS CAR STARTS NEW LIFE IN CANADA
FATE OF THE BUICK
Well if you read this far you're perhaps wondering what happened to the Roadmaster. If I had the space I would have loved to keep it and restore/play with it when I'm an old man someday. But then again, if I were ever in that position I could probably find a better one for not much money. There is not much demand for these cars. So... I called one of my car buddies and said "I can put this on Craigslist for $2K and deal with a bunch of hassles, lowballers, and weirdos, or I can just sell it to you for a grand. He grabbed it right away and will probably drive it for a while and sell it to a relative back east. Long may you run RM. I still have the magazine article anyway!
LONG MAY YOU RUN
