I read the recent "import car from UK" thread and realized that my sister has been living in Spain for the last 30 years. Are there any cars in Spain I should have her looking out for? I'm not aware of any Spanish Domestic Manufacturers (SEAT, maybe?). I think there's a greater chance of "exotic" motorcycles being available, though...
IIRC, SEATs are just rebadged VWs for at least the past 30 years. Not there wouldn't be fun cars to be had, if you like subcompact. It may actually be cheaper to import a SEAT than buy an A2 Golf nowadays.
In reply to stroker :
I have a sailboat racing friend who always had real Cuban cigars for the crew. His ole college room mate lived in Spain. He sent him Cubans, from Spain which no one expected. In Spain, Cuban cigars were not "a thing" meaning no significant price hike. I would imagine that the average Spaniard didn't even know you can't get Cubans in America
So, in that vein, what common place car can you get in Spain that is not "a thing" in Spain. Doesn't have to be European, could even be Japanese or Korean. Are typical cars in Spain small, similar to how cars are generally small in Italy? If so, are somewhat big cars undesirable there making them good priced?
25 year old Suzuki Samurai (Jimny?)
What side of the road do they drive on in Spain?
I see they drive on our side of the road. Note to self, I never realized that RHD was such a rare thing yet seems so previlent.
SEAT is/was the domestic manufacturer there. Before VW acquired them, they mainly built Fiats under license.
Santana built Land Rovers under license and gives you a better chance to get one that's not terminally rusted compared to getting one from the UK.
Plus, there were a couple of motorcycle manufacturers, with Bultaco probably being the most well known.
Hispano-Suiza, but good luck affording one.
Generally they would have access to anything cool and European we don't get here.
I had a Montessa trials bike, but the experience was like owning a true exotic. I was buying parts off of eBay.Spain and waiting months for them to arrive.
I'd like a Pegaso, please.....
Main problem is that its quite hard finding old cars in Spain from what I saw in my last trips, same with France.
They had their own version of "Cash for clunkers" there that wiped out a lot of older, more polluting cars off the streets.
The few I saw on my last trip:
Keep in mind that Spain and Portugal have ready-made export destinations for their older vehicles at their doorstep, so it's not only due to whatever "cash for clunkers" type programs they had.
In general, you do tend to see fewer old cars in daily use in Europe, mainly because when they get to the point where they are cheap old cars, they tend to get bought up by either buyers from Africa or from Eastern Europe. Part of this is also because most of Europe tends to have relatively stringent inspections - at least compared to most inspections here in the US - so it tend to be more expensive compared to the value of the car to keep older cars around.
I know it's a complete tangent, but I suspect that the bread-and-butter collectible cars in Europe from, say, the mid-late 90s to the mid-2000s are probably going to be very hard to find over time compared to the "Youngtimers" (German catch-all designation for newer classic cars, basically Radwood stuff). For example, I wouldn't be too surprised if the survival rate of late 70s/early to mid 80s cars in Germany is higher than for later cars, because the later cars were exported to Eastern Europe by the car carrier load.
The one exception being the UK, because their only "ready made" export market is Ireland, and it used to be relatively cheap to keep 90s/early 2000s cars around. Plus, they had more of a classic car culture that includes regular cars, although at least in Germany that's also changed. Not too sure about France, they have a bit of a weird classic car scene.
In reply to John Welsh :
that's because UK, Australia, and Japan do cool stuff that gets international attention.
Spanish cars in Andalusia?
Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) said:Spanish cars in Andalusia?
Some seem to say London’s calling.
Spain had local content laws which made imports very expensive with a big customs duty ,
So local cars were made by Fiat (Seat)and Renault , and commercial trucks ./ vans by Mercedes
When I was there in the 70s I only saw a couple of VWs ,
PS,,,,,they built A110 Alpines
Think there's any chance of finding a Suzuki RGV500 Gamma? Probably a 250 would be easier, but I doubt there's be much interest stateside for one.
In reply to j_tso :
I was thinking the same thing. Japan alone makes so many cool cars that we eat up here. That and the world's second most populous country (India) and fourth fourth most (Indonesia) are RHD.
I lived in Spain 20 years ago and I didn't see many aged cars even then. Most of the fleet seemed to be 10 years old or less. What I did see was a lot more new small cheap cars, like Ford KAs, small Seats, Renaults, and VWs. Huge generalization, but it seemed to me that Europeans don't keep their cars on the road as long as Americans.
Here is a long Wiki on spanish cars
stroker said:Think there's any chance of finding a Suzuki RGV500 Gamma? Probably a 250 would be easier, but I doubt there's be much interest stateside for one.
The 500 can be found occasionally in Canada as they were sold here new
MotorsportsGordon said:stroker said:Think there's any chance of finding a Suzuki RGV500 Gamma? Probably a 250 would be easier, but I doubt there's be much interest stateside for one.
The 500 can be found occasionally in Canada as they were sold here new
Had my sister send me some links. Found this:
But the VIN wouldn't be any good in the states. I think your suggestion of Canada is the way to go, there.
Woody (Forum Supportum) said:I had a Montessa trials bike, but the experience was like owning a true exotic. I was buying parts off of eBay.Spain and waiting months for them to arrive.
Seems about the same as Amazon here of late.
Search for a good Nissan Patrol (might be called a Safari). 1997 was the second last year for the Y60 model and they are fabulous, if a little underpowered by today's standards. Lots of room for an LS swap, or even a Cummins or Duramax if you are really keen. The manual transmission in those is really strong, and one from Spain is likely in good shape due to the climate.
stroker said:But the VIN wouldn't be any good in the states. I think your suggestion of Canada is the way to go, there.
As long as a vehicle is 25 years old, an atypical VIN shouldn't matter.
wspohn said:I'd like a Pegaso, please.....
So far I've resisted the urge to call for a price.
I'd take e30 wagon, but I don't know how prevalent that would be in spain.
That Pegaso would be like offering this Lamborghini!
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