FDM Importers

"flatisflat" (flatisflat)
10/18/2020 at 03:30 • Filed to: None

Is it just me or does the U.S. only seem to have a market for bringing in JDM vehicles? What’s a guy gotta do to get some mid-90' s Renault action up in here?!?

DISCUSSION (18)

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > flatisflat
10/18/2020 at 03:57

throw money at it?

gettingoldercarguy > flatisflat
10/18/2020 at 04:34

Many have tried, they all rust on the way over. Problem takes care of itself kinda thing.

pip bip - choose Corrour > flatisflat
10/18/2020 at 05:39

new business opportunity for you

Svend > flatisflat
10/18/2020 at 05:55

There are plenty of exporters in the U.K. to the U.S. who do British, French and German cars.

Hell, the number of times I've seen on here that someone has spotted a French car, and it's got British plates under it's American plates.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Svend
10/18/2020 at 06:02

I find a lot of the UK exporters I’ve seen have jacked up the prices on the things they sell by a lot :(

I’ve thought of importing a 126p from the UK, but they are all a large amount more expensive for cars I could get for a lot cheaper straight from Poland :(

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > flatisflat
10/18/2020 at 06:02

Here, here! I need to find somewhere to export a FIAT 126p and a Piaggio Ape through.....and to find me one of each, because I don’t just want to buy something sight unseen...

SiennaMan > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
10/18/2020 at 08:49

It probably would be cheaper if they started from an Eastern European market like Poland, though the likelihood of an expensive "misunderstanding" probably increases going that route, not to mention the fixed costs of getting a one off shipment of something that weights a few tons across the channel. I agree with someone who said it's a business opportunity, especially if you already know someone in Poland you can trust to work that end of the transaction..

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > SiennaMan
10/18/2020 at 10:18

I found a classic car shop that does a lot of international work and also finds cars for customers. I’d contacted them several years ago and they told me they could probably find one in pretty good shape and export it from Gdansk for $5500 CAD including shipping (the fact that the Canadian dollar is worth three times more than the Polish Zloty helps!)

Attack on another thousand some odd for import broker fees, import duties, etc here in Canada, and I think I’d be able to get one here for less than $8k :)

But, their prices have gone up a bit since I'd contacted the shop, so it may be more than that now...

MUSASHI66 > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
10/18/2020 at 10:38

I always wonder why you are so obsessed with the 126, as they were always considered junk even by the standards of communist Yugoslavia in the 80’s, and then I remembered my obsession with the Zastava 750 and everything becomes clearer to me.

That said, why do you like them? Childhood memories like me, or something else? Did you ever drive one?

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Svend
10/18/2020 at 12:06

Well there are a lot of avid car spotters here and French stuff is VERY rare. I’ve seen three French brand Euro imports and I live in a state where it’s much easier than some in addition to having a major Atlantic port (Savannah). There were two 2CVs and an HY Van and that’s 3x more than most people might see in the same time frame.

It's true that most people keep the Euro plates as clout.

ranwhenparked > flatisflat
10/18/2020 at 12:08

I know, right? It's weird, we get more older British or European cars from Japan (1990s Rover Minis) than we do from Europe. Seems like an untapped market. Would love to find someone that would arrange import of a Rialto or MkII Robin

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > MUSASHI66
10/18/2020 at 12:09

They were never sold in Canada, so I’ve never even seen one in person, haha! So it’s not memories or having driven one! One reason is that they are completely alien to what most ‘normal’ cars were here in Canada during that time period, or even nowadays, for the most part...they are small (most classic cars here were a lot bigger), rear-engined, air-cooled, sub-1L, only 2 cylinders...basic, cheap and easy to maintain.

My love for them came through the classic FIAT 500, actually (which I have seen 3 in person in my lifetime, though I’ve never been in or driven one)...

The classic FIAT 500 is my other absolute favorite car...but the prices for decent classic 500s have gone up a lot and ones in the best shape are like $16k CAD. I could likely import a decent 126p straight from Poland for like $8k CAD all-in, from research I’ve done and messages I’ve sent out...so cheaper price is one reason, but the main reasons are...

When I was researching 500s years ago, I came across the 126p through the fact that they are 500-based, back then not even knowing they existed. I started looking into them and found out they’re sortof an ‘underdog’ in that they were never really appreciated anywhere near as much as the 500 outside of Poland, which appealed to me (who doesn’t like a good underdog? :) ). The fact they were built all the way until 2000 in Poland also means parts would be cheaper and easier to get then the 500, and a lot of the parts are even compatible between the two cars anyway. Also, they have some improvements the 500 never had, like a synchro gearbox and a bit more power, that would make driving them a lot easier in modern traffic. The very 70s boxy styling has grown on me as well. Also, from all the articles I’ve read and the videos I’ve watched, they just seem to be genuinely charming....not ‘good’ cars, no, but unique and charming to drive. This video had helped with that idea, haha:

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > flatisflat
10/18/2020 at 12:11

I have seen three French branded Euro imports here, all with British plates. Two 2CVs and most recently an HY Van!

Kinja'd!!!

It's true that Euro imports seem to be less common than Japanese imports but I see a respectable number of Defenders around. I think just not as many people want the French stuff here, which makes me a sad as I love Citroens, Renaults, Peugeots, and even the more obscure stuff.

Jb boin > flatisflat
10/18/2020 at 15:17

Most of the exporters here send to Africa, there are also peoples buying for eastern Europe but they don’t need to ship by boat.

The Opponaut Flavien is a French living in Japan who is exporting cars (from Japan), sometimes French ones (for example he was selling this LHD Megane RS for cheaper than you could find in France) , he might have some more insight about all of this .

MUSASHI66 > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
10/18/2020 at 23:09

It’s awesome that you like them so much without ever even seeing one! They made them in Serbia (well, Yugoslavia at the time, and you can buy them for few hundred to few grand, depending on the condition. Maybe you could find one in Croatia or Montenegro and have it shipped to Canada for less than shipping from Poland?

Did I ever tell you I saw one in Cuba?

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > MUSASHI66
10/19/2020 at 12:47

I don’t ever remember them ever being produced in Yugoslavia, then again, they produced a lot of stuff under license for a long time...a lot of Eastern Bloc states did, haha! Lots for me to learn! :P

I might very well be able to find one there! Then again, I imagine if I were going to be getting one from there it would be an older model, and I imagine they would be pretty worn out...were they sold in Croatia and Montenegro up until 2000 when production ceased in Poland?

Very cool that you saw one in cuba! They’re not super common there, but I know that there are quite a few of them there as, being a communist state, they got a lot of imports of Eastern Bloc cars. Mighty Car Mods even saw and test drove one during their Cuba Special a few years back! :D

The one they drove was quite...err ...rough. A lot of that ‘keep things going with what and how you can’ Cuban ingenuity in that one...haha!

MUSASHI66 > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
10/19/2020 at 16:48

Well, I take it back - I just dug some more and couldn’t find evidence of Zastava making any of them. Wikipedia entry for 126p must be wrong.

I’ve seen a million of them back home but I did leave 20 years ago, so some stuff is blurry.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > MUSASHI66
10/19/2020 at 17:32

No worries! I was thinking that I’d never heard of them being produced anywhere other than Italy and Poland, haha! In fact, Poland produced most of the engines for the ones that were even built in Italy! :D