Mexican Beetles - Finding/Purchasing/Importing (Page 2 of 4)

This may be naive on my part, but could you import one from England where they are perfectly legal and plentiful?  I'm pretty sure you couldn't do that through a US port but there may be ports in Canade that might receive it.  I'd suggest contacting a shipping broker who specializes in imports.

"I want to import them into Canada... do I still need an import broker to get them past the US border? If I'm a Canadian citizen, is that proof enough (photo id, whatever) that I'm taking these parts to Canada?"

You must get a broker.  I've been through that before with only $2500 worth of VW parts.  Your citizenship means nothing to US customs since in their eyes you could sell the cars/parts along the way.

Your plan is doomed to fail from the beginning since according to Transport Canada, you can't import a car unless the manufacturer states it complies with Canadian standards.  The way I did mine is the only legal way a Canadian resident can do it.  By swapping all the new parts onto a Canadian registered German tunnel, legally all I did was "repaired" the old German car.  Even with this legal way, Customs still dicked me around for 2 hours at the border because they didn't like what I did.  They viewed me as bringing in a non-complying car.  What you are proposing will give them the slam dunk. 

The only legal way to get a non-complying car in is if you permanently move out of Canada into Mexico, severing all ties to Canada (sell your house & cars, close all bank accts, cancel phone, cable etc).  You can then buy your car and live in Mexico for a minimum of one year.  After then, you can move back, bringing the car with you.

How hard would it be to remove a new beetle engine from a mexibug, and install it in an older body?  I'm thinking of buying a bug when I move to Cali, and wonder how well that would work?

The Mexi engine will bolt right in, but with the Fuel Injection you also need the complete engine wiring harness, the ECU (computer) that mounts under the rear seat, the high-pressure fuel pump that mounts to the frame head, dual fuel lines from the pump to the engine (and back), the high-ressure fuel filter that mounts over the rear torsion bar, and the extra vent lines from the pump back to the tank filler... and probably the charcoal cannister system to get the tank vented reliably.
If you have all this it makes for a very trouble-free system, but it's more involved than first glance suggests. I once tried to talk BtlMex into importing turn-key engines and injection systems, but Miguel believed it was too complex a conversion to sell well.

I have a 2003 VW bug Special edition, Summer Edition lime green color and iti is beautiful!! in perfect condition and has a clean title. It is a Mexican car and I live in the border with El Paso. Please contact me if someone is interested in buying it from me. I f you wish to see it I can email you the pictures. Anyone interested?

Brand new Mexican engines have been available around the US for many years.

Actually, the Mexican engines have a higher CR than any German engine ever had.  The last Mex engine's CR was 7.75:1.  The most a German engine had was 7.5:1.

There are no rust free Beetles left in BC.  They are all rotten.  Buy one in AZ.

Fernando, we saw your post the first and second time.  There's no need to keep posting the same thing. 

The reason no one wants to buy your car is because it can't be legally imported to the USA.  Unlike in Mexico, you can't "pay" someone to get it in.

Last edited by Bruce (2005-10-16 23:13:57)