I think I'm going to ship my 85GSL to London or Paris for use when we are there. My wife goes every 3 months and I go 1 or 2 times a year, but we'll probably semi-retire in the south of France in about 4 years. The 85 looks good because it has 55k and is in generally good shape.

I was figuring to ship to Marseille, which is an OK place for me to pick it up (costs about $1500) but maybe I should ship to England ( pretty easy to get from England to France now). Maybe I should even license it in England. I don't know. Anyone got any good ideas or info?

Then i have to know how to store it for six months at a time: fogging oil, what else? I'm using Redline gear oil in diff and trans: is that enough? Also, where can I store it near Paris? Is anyone doing anything like this?

There are NO parts for the 7 in France, but I can load it with spares before I ship. Belgium and England seem to have better facilities. And maybe Mazdatrix will ship, or I can simply load up with parts here every time I go.

Has anyone ever done something like this?

B

 

?????????????

 

I know there are some RX-7 guys in England and Belgium, but noone posts from France. My wife has a house in Aveyron, and it would be nice to have a car there (other than an old Renault beater) and it would be nice to have a car to go from Paris rather than renting for $600/month.

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I was stationed in England for 2 years... wouldn't recommend sending it there. They have MOT inspections every year... including emissions. Unless you find a nice shop that takes Jack Daniels for payment, you're screwed. Unless, of course yours happens to be really good on emissions. Mine wouldn't pass.

Oh, and you have to pay 160 bucks a year (96 pounds) to even drive it over there (per car)... and then you have to pay for insurance over there.... lots of moola. If you have lots of moola already, GO FOR IT. An Rx-7 on British roads would be fun as hell. Driving on the wrong side of the road with a left hand drive car is kinda hard to get used to. There are advantages, though. You know exactly where the edge of the road is, so you can hug it when a Lorrie is coming by. With right hand drive (british car), it's kinda hard to judge where the edge of the road is.

I don't know, I'd do it in the south of france if you could, but I don't know their laws.

 

Pre 87 rotarys are exempt from emmissions in the UK

and road tax is £160 or $256

insurance (dependant on age and no claims bonus = approx £500? = $800

 

Ahem :-)

Whilst you DO have a safety inspection annually, emissions on an 85 is visible smoke only. NO FBs in UK have nasty power sapping grot on them :-)

Provided the FB was sold in France you should have no problem. You could always store it with me. I'm not too far from Heathrow and about an hour from the ports.

Usual reason for registering in the UK is that the french don't understand kit cars, so won't register them generally. But this isn't one of those.

 

The 85 is stock and very pristine, with California emissions. Nice car. Should be OK anywhere. It would be nice to license it in UK and store near Heathrow so I could avoid Paris and CDG and that whole mess. Of course. it means a longer drive, but 'd rather drive than fly.

I'm fedup with Paris and CDG and Roissy and that whole mess anyhow. Next week I plan to fly SF to London then direct to Rodez. Failing that I'll go Lufthansa to Frankfort to Toulouse. If I could get a direct to a place where I had my GSL stored that would be ideal.

B

 

Maybe Heathrow isn't the best. Paris would be OK. Does anyone know licensing and smogging requirements for France?

B

 

I'm sitting here in the south of France right now, having just returned from shopping with the dreadful Peugeot 206 we have rented. The roads here are excellent, winding around thru fields, hedgerows, forests and up and down mountains. I miss my car(s). My bro-in-law says the car must have been sold in France sometime, and they were. In fact there's a Mazda dealer 8 minutes away, but I suppose Mazda here means little 4 door econobox.

B

 

why not ask in the european forum on this site

Several owners in the france area (none actually in france as far as I know though) should be able to point you in the right direction

 

dang, I guess it went up!!!

 

dont worry it's 375 euro tax in Belgium
emmisions will not be a problem with a californian car.
As for the other things: I really don't know. It might be pretty difficult to register the car there before you really live there. Shipping to Marseille could be good, put I believe it's going to be a lot of work to get it on the road. UK has more experience with importing cars, so it might be easier to get it registered there.

 

I can claim permanent residence in France since we have a house there and I'm married to a french woman, and I can claim I'm retired.

Just need to know what's easiest and best.

B

 

I believe France would be better then. I'm not sure but if I'm not mistaken they only have car inspections every time the car is sold. So once on th road you're good to go forever. This might have been changed though, I really don't know. What I do now is that France is almost for sure going to be cheaper then the UK.

 

whats the procedure for importing a car to france though ?

 

I have a friend (with dual French-American citizenship) who sent his Porsche to France last year for $1500, but I don't know the details of licensing and smogging, yet. He's in Nice. I figure to ship the 85GSL to Marsaillse (sp?) and drive it home in a couplpe hours. I'm going to add that funky back seat for hauling the 4 yr old granddaughter around. The 85 only has 55k and I'll fill it with spares so I won't need Mazda Corp. Also, M'trix does some little shipping to Europe.

Shifting this damn Peugeot is like groping around in a box of rubber bands. But when I'm alone I really push it 'cause the roads are SOOOO great. Until you come around a bend and plow into a herd of a couple hundred sheep, of course. They own the road. Oh well, mouton hood ornament. And guess how many cops there are on the back roads. Would you believe zero? And guess what speed limit they enforce on 'le National'. Would you believe 'anything you're good enough to drive'? Just stay away from Paris: but then, who needs Paris?

B

 

Hmmm.... I thought 130kp/h? Anyway, Mazdatrix will ship to Europe, but it will be far too expensive, just buy in France. After some time you'll now your way around. European RX7 scene is rather small, and most of us now eachother. I can come to a meeting and people I never saw before now my name, or at least my car
Since the FB has a type aproval over here in Europe, it won't be too hard to get the paperwork done.
Don't worry about smog tests, Europe will accept Californian cars for sure (you guys have the hardest standards in the world!).
I'm not sure about importing a non-european car to France, there might b import taxes. Since the age of the car this won't be very much, but still, try to find out first.
Good luck, and I hope to welcome you on the old continent soon!

 

Talking last night to an american who moved here, he says no prob. I own the car and it's old. Says I might be able to drive it with CA plates, even. Smog only req'd upon sale (I'll let my widow worry about that one).

I just remembered that we own 2 large barns in the village (originally intended as building projects for children who don't give a s**t), so I'm figuring how to erect an economy lift, or create a pit underneath by cutting away floor and re-framing Anyone got plans for a cheapo home lift? This gives me an excuse to buy a decent torch: remember what click-and-clack say: every project justifies a new tool. Now all I hafta do is sell this idea to my wife. Hmmmm.

B

 

I think I'm getting this together. I figure to ship the 85GSL in a couple months, then fly to Marseille to pick it up. I understand that the smog is only done on resale, so first thing I'll do here is remove rats nest and install RB header to muffler. I can put a lift or pit in an extra barn we have. I hate pits, and a lift gives me an excuse to buy an arc welder AND a torch. As well as some fun apparatus.

If this works out I'll send another over, and see what's involved in selling it. I have extra cars in CA, and I will soon have more! A fleet of FBs, including red, white and blue versions.

FBs are pretty cheap now, and I figure to load up, fixem up nice (including either an orange or lime green fun car) and get ready for the coming surge in buyer interest (or else I'll give 'em to my kids - I have 4 but only 2 talk to me - either way they'll stay on the road).

In the meantime I'm going to have a whole lot of fun on these made-for-sports-car roads.

B

 

fill them with aftermarket parts too .... shipping is expensive and you'd be able to sell them on no problem

 

Just put a Bonerz cat in the 85.

I figure the following spares:

-brake pads, front and rear
-plugs
-MMO
-JB Weld
-wheel bearings
-U Joints (aren't they replaceable on 85s?)
-radiator/heater hoses
-vacuum hoses
-ignitors

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