Opinions on imported old skool Ford's

[Ferret-head]

What's all your opinions on this subject?

I've been looking on eBay at the south African mk2 escorts and they look the part!  More importantly their fitting my budget so..what's to look out for?   Like duties and taxes? Anybody had any experiences of putting an import on the road in this country ?

[Vista]

Australian and South African cars are not always rot free like people expect them to be.......but are almost always in much better Nick than the British cars of the same vintage that people restore. 

South African cars usually have different back axles (Borg Warner diffs as I recall). 

Australian cars are easier to get registered over here than South African cars as South African registration documents often don't have the year of manufacture / registration on them and Ford SA are not very helpful in providing supporting documentation. Whereas Ford Australia are very helpful (if you have the right point of contact). 

To summarise, buy wisely and inspect the car thoroughly and you can get a really good project car. 

[ShaunS]

Firstly, Big Respect to all the UK people for keeping old school fords alive, Some of those builds I followed  near write offs, yet brough back to life. 

In SA, people dont think twice about cutting up decent cars, especially the 4 door escorts. Ive witnessed floors being cut out just to build 2 door back to spec. 

People in SA have quickly learned the proper value of these cars, and unfortunatley many have just jumped on the bandwagon to make a quick buck. Hence the reason some real nasty cars ended up going across. However having said that, the are some really good clean cars here in SA. The registration authorities are quite a pain to deal with, even to register a local car sometimes. 

Also noticed SA escorts and v8 sierras heading for Australia as well, 

Hope you come right with the ideal car boet, 

 

[Xp197777]

A friend of mine imported a Australian Mk2 very is process apparently and the car was mint never seen one so good

[Ferret-head]

Cheers for the replies 

By the sounds of it I haven't got too much to worry about! 

[theloudboy]

If you buy from the guys that bring them over they handle all the paper I know people that have bought them and not had a problem 

[2512pf]

I have a sa escort 

they all seem to suffer with corrosion in the same place ( the battery tray)

apart from that they normally a lot better condition than uk escorts

and they have the stronger rs type reinforcement on the front struts 

and the stronger rear axle but fewer ratios available