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US Defender
Registrace 22. 07. 2006
This channel is for videos related to the two topics I love the most - Photography & Land Rover Defenders. I have an MFA in Photography from the Academy of Art University and I own a 1990 Land Rover Defender 110.
3Elements - GregBeams
This is a one minute clip I created as a trailer for a movie entitled Three Elements. It was created for "This Guy Edits" as part of the Envato Elements Project. I am a Patreon subscriber to "This Guy Edits".
zhlédnutí: 28
Video
Importing Land Rover Defender into the U.S. Part II
zhlédnutí 19KPřed 7 lety
This video is Part 2 of the series about importing Land Rover Defenders into the U.S.
Importing Land Rover Defender into the U.S. - Part 1
zhlédnutí 45KPřed 7 lety
This video is Part 1 of a two part series on Importing Land Rover Defenders into the US
Many NAS (north American standard) Land rovers were imported in the 1970’s
Great content thank you so much.
Hello would it be worth me buying an ex mil lhd defender 90 a 2000 and waiting for it to mature in 2025 and shipping it over ?
It depends on all sorts of variables - the two biggest of which in my mind are the condition of the truck you get and the costs of storing it. I don't have experience with military spec vehicles and so you will want to make sure you know exactly what you are getting and how different (or not) they are from the civilian models. These trucks rust really easily and are known to be leaky and so if it sits outdoors in the rain/wet, it is highly likely to have rust issues. If you found a truck in amazing condition and could store it indoors for cheap, then it might be worth it. If its an average truck that will need tons of work (which most of them do) and you have to pay to store it - then it gets harder to justify. I haven't kept up with prices but since they aren't making the classic Defenders any longer, I expect prices will only go up and so you have to balance that as well. Finally, keep in mind that once you get it here, you will probably have months to years of additional work before it's truly road worthy. From start to finish mine took 3 years from the time I contracted with Defenders Direct in England until the truck was here and fully updated and I was able to use it as my every day driver (which I still do). Good Luck!
Defenders in Brazil are getting 25 years old and they are in pretty good shape due to the fact Brazil is a non snow country and LR here are driven by people as the 2nd, 3rd, 4th car of the family.
Great video thank you
Can I do all the paint work (body & frame) and electrical work before importing ? As in install new painted doors, bumpers, hood, new lights etc & leave the motor & tranny as is ?
I believe you can do the exterior paint and repair work before you import it and I did have mine painted before it was shipped. With the frame, I believe you need to keep the original frame and so you need to be careful if you start replacing parts of the frame for any reason. Also, you don't want them to paint over any of the VIN numbers that might make it harder to validate the parts are original. While I was happy with the paint job they did in the UK, my Defender did suffer some slight body damage during shipment and I had to fix that once it arrived. If I were to do it again, I would have them replace exterior parts (fender, door) while it was in the UK but then wait and have the vehicle painted after it came to the US and after I had whatever else I wanted done to it completed. That way, I could make sure the paint job was done to my satisfaction - rather than relying on the UK seller. Just my two cents - good luck!
Many thanks for your input, very useful
Hello, I am planning on importing a vehicle into the United States. Is it possible to exchanges correspondence via email to gather some advice from you. Thanks
thanks for sharing your experience and expertise!
Hey Greg! I saw a image at the beginning of the video of Arkonik land rovers. That's who I am working with right now. What do you know about them?
we have these Land Rover in Colombia they are there like rice, and you can get one for 500 usd.
Those are the Santana’s though. Very nice and practically the same, but Spanish made versus UK.
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What's the site that you show at 6:25?
Thank you for this video! Very valuable information. I am looking to buy a vehicle from the UK and import it into the US. I am skeptical of doing this now
Many thanks Greg, I`m a brit all my life, and had a 1991 200 TDi for 10 years as my daily driver, and trust me I know my Diesel Landrovers, mine was correctly set up after a cam belt change as i made all my own setting tools for the all important diesel pump Injection timing and It WOULD DO 90 Mph and not slow at all.. you CAN make modifications simply to the diesel pump but I never done that just left It stock but did adjust the turbo boost actuator slightly to make it come on to turbo boost slightly quicker.. The engine was so oil tight its engine pan went rusty on its OUTSIDE even at 240.000 MILES when I sold it after 10 happy years as I became disabled and the "mans clutch" became too heavy it heavy traffic, I was gutted to sell It, believe me, but the guy who purchased It had a barn full Of early discoveries and said after his 5 hour drive home, it was the best early discovery he has ever driven so made me feel a bit better.. In the end I purchased a freelander 1 with its BMW engine but all important auto gear box, but was supposed to buy a TD5 auto box but the seller let me down so on the way home saw this shiny freelander in black, side steps, HSE edition interior complete with a FBH (fuel burning heater) for easy cold starts (dont really need it living right on the coast) but its comfy, quiet, easy to drive, but TBH I`m looking for an immaculate Discovery TD5 that all have rotten swiss cheese chassis (have welder - can fix) -lol/ Am 72 years old but love to keep active If I can/ thanks for your videos as many Americans have never heard of REAL defenders and think they are like the latest "Car" with a Landrover Badge on piece of cr*p, so its about time someone put them right with FACTS, you have now done this.. Thanks again, Ian.. North Essex Coast - UK.
I think the swapped VINs will be less of an issue on Defenders as the 1990s become 25 yrs and meet the import exception, although now they are even more rusted out....Too bad customs is basically working on behalf of the car mfgs here to prevent new vehicles that are not sold here from being imported.
If you rebuilt the engine or transmission, but not replaced it. Could the car still be imported to the USA?
Hi Gregory Beams. I have another question. Could you restore your whole car, but keep the same frame, engine and gearbox and still be able to import that car to the us?
Greg great video lots of helpful advice I bought a land rover 110 and after a little while realized I had to replace the engine as it was completely worn out I am station here in Germany and will import in the next 3 to 4 years my question is in the video you mentioned not to change the engine does that mean not to upgrade the engine or is it change at all. As you know engines go bad anything over 20 something years old and if they weren't treated very well will fail I want to know if swapping out 1 TD5 engine for a nother TD 5 engine if that is acceptable
Not helpful at all :(
No doubt, there are many fans here of Land Rover Defender. Please help us to introduce us to the trusted locations from which we can buy Land Rover.
Hey, can I import a defender into the US without an engine and gearbox?
Mac 10 - I suspect you can, assuming you are asking about importing a 25 year old and older Defender without the engine and gearbox, but I am not certain - send a message to Will Hedrick and ask him as he probably knows more about importing incomplete vehicles. I know that Customs gets concerned if someone tries to import newer Defender parts (less than 25 years old) and at some point the parts becomes a vehicle and they deny it, but otherwise I suspect you will be fine but check with Will.
Thank you so much for sharing, that was very informative!
thank you for sharing - very informative!
Hi Greg, great info. One thing you didn’t cover was all of the costs. What is the ballpark figure after all of the shipping, duties, fees etc
Excellent video....
Hi Greg, can you please advise me on how much Tax or any other Expenses i have to pay once the vehicle has arived into the US - Miami in a container?
Misrepresent!! No mate all landrover rust from the uk ,Salt on roads and they get used to near death as far as body rot goes steel and alloy dont mix well .But enjoyed your post hopefully you live in a dry salt free roads area 😁
Thanks Greg! Very helpful!
Thank you very much for taking the time to make this video and do it so well. This was extremely useful! Thank you.
So I wonder if the 3 thumbs down are from: east coast, west coast, and homeland security. Thanks, Greg, very useful video do you have links for the references you provided?
Hi Greg, I want to export this to Defender. It is possible to export now and after 2 years to register with the US. Or should I wait until 25 years old? czcams.com/video/dt1sZH6iqUA/video.html
6:54 heartache
Great information! Thank you! Are you from Seattle? I would love to check out your Defender in person. Also spotted one Defender overseas that I'd like to import, so would like to meet up if possible and discuss.
What if you want to travel to the UK and check things out for yourself, and then import... I'm assuming that would be a lot easier right?
Raf - there are a number of buyers that start to talk about buying a truck with a shop (like Defenders Direct) in the UK but before they initiate the purchase, they fly over, check out the truck they are thinking about buying, check out the shop that is doing the work, etc. Others will contract with a shop in the UK, pay them some amount as a deposit but before the truck is shipped, they fly over and make sure everything is done up to their expectations, and then make the final payment. The challenge is that it is usually cheaper to have the restoration work done in the UK where there are lots of Defender parts available and experienced Defender mechanics and then after some amount of restoration is done (up to you how much), then have the truck shipped over. That means you have to decide when you want to fly over to check things out - early on before you send any money and hope they completed all the work you agreed for them to do .... or at the end, which means you had to pay them something up front (easily can be 75% of the total cost) and hope that they aren't going to do a crappy job that when you get over there to sign-off on the completed truck you have to argue and fight with them to redo work, etc. That is why I stress that working with someone you trust is REALLY important - the horror stories are out there and they are very real. Best of Luck!
now if i just had the money
Thank you for sharing, you are right. There is limited amount of useful tips on the topic, so thanks a lot. I'm interested in importing a Ford '48 from South America ( a Hot Rod). Do you know if I can import it if I remove the engine (Chevrolet)?
Brynja, I think you should be okay if that's the only change to the original vehicle but keep in mind, the more things that are changed then the less the vehicle fits into the classic car category. You should check with Will Hedrick - check Linkedin for his contact information - as he can tell you for sure if you will run into any issues. Good Luck.
Hi Greg, thanks for the very informative videos. Quick question, what if the overseas truck has been fitted with a replacement engine or gearbox that is the same specs as the original. Would that fall under the modification clause?
Thanks for the comment. I believe if the replacement parts are of the same specs as the original, then you will be okay but you should reach out to Will Hedrick (see my other responses for a link to his contact info) to make sure - he is an attorney that works with imports and can validate if you are okay.
Thx Greg. I’m been thinking of purchasing a defender from overseas for years. Your video has made me a lot more comfortable moving forward
Did you ever consider importing from South Africa? Any opinions?
Greg, Great job on your video. I would have liked to see the costs associated with buying your defender and links or form names, for the import application, however, that isn't a big deal. What is interesting is that a far greater threat to the US is the EXPORT of stolen vehicles or vehicles obtained through bank fraud, that have had their VIN numbers swapped. Another slightly vintage pop culture reference that might help is the scene in Rain Man, where Tom Cruises character is trying to import exotic autos that don't make it past customs because they are held up over emissions. Thanks again for the great content. I w
I am not sure what you do for a living, but, you are a great communicator, and though I have not finished this videos series, you have done a great job. Thank you for this content.
Will Hendrick@ Defender of Defenders, specializes in import law, best person to talk to before importing a vehicle and you have no experience at all. All the vehicles I have ever imported , I used in the country in which they were coming from. In Europe my vehicle was registered and titled in my name already before shipping. It was easy and I did not use a broker.Lots of good info here. thanks.
Thanks Bernard - couldn't agree more!
You my friend are a hero
Thank you, very informative!
Surly whats legal is what written in the rule book nor what a lawyer says you cannot say anything different than whats written. Who did they change the vin number 1 its on the vin plate then it stamped into the body work in the engine bay in the rear of the car And on the chassis so how would you cut all these out. Plus you can tell if the vin plate has been tampered with because the it will show damage. Uk car you cannot change or swap the vin plates because it would not pass annual inspection and the paper work log book v5 would tell if the vehicle has been rebuilt and lost any of it original vin ids so you talk rubbish there. About update uk vehicles. The uk has been dealing with doggy cars a long time we are good at it remember the vin is stamped is several different places across tge car and chassis to stop this. It very normal to have the engine change legally and uk documents will be change engine failure on these cars is regular and a factory swap is do legally and you change the documents so you avoid these cars. This happens more with v8 than diesels.but gear box swap happen all the time landrover do because it cheaper than repair. You never buy unseen
Hi Keith, I am not an expert on how the VIN numbers were being changed back when that was being done. I assumed it was being done at the time the vehicle was being shipped and so the vehicle was no longer subject to the UK vehicle inspection process. Since Customs was able to detect and confiscate the Defenders where this was being done, my guess is that before Customs started focusing on Defenders, the importers either weren't changing all of the VIN numbers (and Customs at that time wasn't checking all of them) or the changes were detectible. In any event, Customs is clearly checking all of the VIN numbers now and to your point, they can detect if the VIN numbers have been changed. The problem with the importation rules is that they are very brief and basically say that the "classic" vehicle being imported needs to be substantially in its original condition. That is pretty vague in terms of what exactly they mean by "substantially in its original condition". While I believe Customs has some internal guidance they follow, different Customs officials at different ports of entry may interpret that guidance differently. This is one of the reasons I used an experienced attorney to help guide my Defender through Customs - so that he could respond to any questions Customs may have had and explain his experience with any particular modification they were questioning. Having said that, I know of people that have imported their own vehicle and not used an attorney or anyone else to help them. Hope that helps and thanks for the comment.
Thanks for doing this sir thanks for
You should've gone for an Urban Automotive Defender mate. I've got an Urban Automotive Defender 90 and I adore it
Hi. I'm a British national and I'm wanting to import a F40 to sell in the USA would this be applicable to non US citizens?
I am not sure how your citizenship impacts the application of the regulations. I expect that if you are not a resident in the U.S. in some way, then importing an F40 or any vehicle, might get to be harder. You should reach out to Will Hedrick who handles all sorts of imports. Will is an attorney and I expect could answer your question and point you to the regulations or laws that govern non-US citizens importing vehicles into the US. Best of luck.
Im importer of this vehicles. If you interested i will be glad to help you guys. I have LHD vehicles ready to import. Gas or Diesel. My email is: Avantrucksrq@gmail.com