Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Rick]

Hi all,

While the jolly green giant was being rebuilt, I had to resort to overseas sellers to source various bits for it. The NOS steering wheel for example, came from Australia, while turn signals, grille trims, engine & brake parts, and so on were sourced in its native US.

What parts have you had to have shipped over, to enable your car to either be restored, or kept in roadworthy condition?

RJ
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[MikeEdwards]

I imported some oil seals from the US for mine, but I must admit I haven't used any of them yet. The Vauxhall engine has a two-piece rope seal for the rear crank, but an overseas owner (actually the chap who sold me his car when he emigrated to Aus in the eighties, then bought it back about eight years ago) discovered there's a two-piece rubber seal that makes a much better job of sealing available for a Holden engine that fits ours.

So I contacted the distributor in Australia, and they didn't reply. I emailed them several times, and still got no reply. So I started on their distributor list from their web site, and got a 50/50 response rate when I asked if they would ship to the UK. That is, 50% of them replied, but all (including the company whose name ended in "International") wouldn't ship here. One of them, however, gave me the golden nugget, the make and model of a much more common vehicle that used the same seal, which allowed me to deal with an American distributor who not only had them in stock and would ship to the UK, they were about a quarter of the price of the cheapest Australian stockist.

Other than that, because the car wasn't shipped outside the UK except in very small numbers, I haven't been moved to source stuff from abroad. And on my comment about getting no response to emails, I should say I've had similar issues with UK companies not responding - in fact a recent purchase of some Oilite bearings to replace the nylon pedal bushes went from one supplier to another simply because the first one never replied to my email.

[D4B]

The secondhand doors for my little Honda pickup were very kindly posted from Australia by another enthusiast. He was so keen to help that he gave me the doors and I only paid the postage
(which was quite a lot but well worth it) many thanks again Wayne!

Steve

All sorts of parts were sent to me from France for the Peugeot too, thanks to Patrick, Claude, Herve, Harold, Robert, and others too numerous to mention. Merci Beaucoup.

Steve

[Minxy]

I often buy parts from Cyprus for the Hillman as they seem to be very widely available there. A couple of years ago we had our kitchen refitted and the guy who came to do the granite work tops was a Cypriot and was telling me that in their day Hillmans were very popular so there are a lot of parts languishing in garages. Certainly when I was there about five years ago old Hillmans were plentiful as were many other old cars.....well worth a visit for old car spotting.

[christine lowery]

Not cars, but my Motorbike is a 89 Honda PC 800 and we have shipped in parts fro all over the world
Honda on line spares network lets the uk agent see who has a part world wide
When I bought my wife's pc800 it need a few bits as someone in it's past had taken a hacksaw to the rear boot locking system
The parts were in stock at Honda Japan and we were told by them that we were the only people ever to order one of the parts (a latch) for a 20 year old bike at the time
chris n Christine
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Honda_PC_800.jpg

[lowdrag]

New radiator for early E-type.

Made in UK and delivered, £1,500 inc VAT and minimum two months delay.

Made in USA and delivered by Fedex in two days, £800.



Even has the correct Marston tag on it, works perfectly, and £700 more in my bank. Perfect.

I check their prices every time now.

[D4B]

My friends in France reckon they can get spares quicker from USA than from France

[emmerson]

I ordered a new radiator for my Range Rover from Cheshire, I think it was, and it came direct from China!

[goneps]

Many times over the years I've bought parts for the Morris, both new and used, from Britain. With a few notable exceptions the service received, if any, has been poor. Vintage tyre suppliers are among the worst.

When overhauling the motor almost ten years ago I managed to get a swag of new engine parts, including a cylinder head, from a chap in Jersey who had a large quantity of the military surplus parts for the tank version of the engine. These were so keenly priced that even having the 11kg package couriered to NZ (in a mere 62 hours door to door) it still represented a substantial cost saving compared with local sources.

A good shipping agent can slash the cost quoted by such as DHL. The one item that was sent via FedEx showed that company's NZ agent to be utterly inept.

Beware of those outfits like Burlen (the SU people) who have standardised postal charges that can multiply the cost of small items out of all proportion.

Ian Harris (for Morris parts) and Surplus Supplies (for BSF fasteners) are excellent people to deal with—fast response, quick despatch, and reasonable postal charges. Paul Beck is also good. Usual disclaimers for all the above.

Richard

[geonot]

When I was restoring my Mk1 Cortina I needed the hard to get trim parts for the centre console.
I bought a complete console in USA , as I was going on holiday there that year I had the seller send it to my hotel , were I stripped the bits that I needed and brought them home in my suitcase.
Have ordered many parts from Australia without any problems.

[Ashley]

I bought a rebuilt Healey 3000 BJ8 engine from the states which was full of blasting grit, so had to be done again and also a pair of rebuilt to concours HD8s one of which had been bodged, but it sorted okay. Other parts, tools and rocker covers etc have been fine.

[V8 Nutter]

I have often bought parts from the U.S. without problems and even with the taxes and shipping the prices are usually very good.

Back in the eighties when it was popular to import cheap E Type Jags from the States, the company I worked for had several freshly imported engines to rebuild, bodges included. I oversize bore and piston the rest standard. Pistons with knurled skirts to take the slop out of worn bores, and engine numbers ground off and re-stamped. Arthur Dailey rules!

[Da Tow'd]

I ordered parts on your side of the pond for my 1948 Thames from Small Ford Spares UK. Pleasant folks to deal with.
A new friend in New Zealand offered to loan me his workshop manual when I rebuilt the Thames engine. Thanks again Andrew
cheers
Hank

[Ray White]

Rick and I both have similar Dodge Brothers cars that are relatively unusual being RHD as a result of being exported to Australia. One would expect the United States to be a good source of spares based on the production numbers alone but parts are in very short supply and expensive. I have been helped enormously by an Australian enthusiast who has organised the shipment of a replacement exhaust manifold, a water pump and a correct amp meter. Another Australian sent me a replacement neck for the radiator and a lot of useful information .

From the U.S.A. I have had a carb, a restored dynamo, new valve guides and springs, a special large nut for the exhaust, a replica "dog bone" temp gauge, petrol cap and gauge, and a rebuild kit for the vacuum tank. I also acquired an additional rear lamp and the correct fittings from fellow enthusiasts. Various other small parts too numerous to mention have also come from abroad.

The thing that kills it are the shipping costs and import duties which often equal the original cost of the items.

[goneps]

In NZ we're fortunate (for now, at any rate) in that personal imports with a value less than $400 escape duties, but over that amount one is clobbered with duties and GST on both the item and the freight cost.

Every few months local retailers revive their tired old refrain that GST (VAT) should be imposed on all purchases "to level the playing field", which of course conveniently overlooks the fact that many items are simply not available here. Although the government is in favour, for the time being it's in the "too-hard" basket. That said, they'd sooner chase a few millions in GST on overseas purchases than go after the multi-nationals who pay virtually no tax, or the estimated between $1billion and $5billion lost through tax evasion by the wealthy.

Richard