How'd this get here??

So Silverfleet posted on FB a mid 90's Alfa Romeo Spider he saw wherever he lives in MA. This particular model is a '95 model year or newer. So it is obviously too new for the 25 year rule, so how did this end up on the street and licensed with Massachusetts license plates?

maybe somebody was paying for the crashtesting and got them certified?

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In reply to mad_machine:

That sounds like a reach.

Gray market

Uses a vin from an older spider

Registered as a kit car

Temp import

lied about age

There are a million ways. Think of the number of European and Japanese rally cars registered for use on the road. There's an awefully big gray area in the law and many people are willing to bend those laws until most people would consider them broken, they onlu consider it illigal if they are caught.

Look at the number of 1990's Austin Mini's running around with 60's and 70's Vins

A foreign diplomat sold their car?

I'm having trouble viewing the photo (because its linked from Facebook), but here it is anyway:

I was hanging down Nantasket Beach (about 23 miles south of Boston, MA) with my sister and her two boys, who are car nuts too, eating some fried dough on the boardwalk. The little guy (11 years old) nudges me and says, "whoa, what is that weirdo car?" knowing that Alfas are rare sights. Yup, it was a 90's GTV drop-top! I remember the coupes from playing Gran Turismo 2 back in the day. A rare sight indeed.

The other day on my way home from work, I could have sworn that I saw this thing, but I figured there was no way because they never came here. Guess my eyes were NOT playing tricks on me. My sister had to make an illegal turn just for me to get a shot, so sorry that the quality.

It had some really cool 90's era 5-spoke aftermarket wheels on it too.

How come this guy can have this, and the rest of us can't import our dream cars?

SilverFleet wrote: How come this guy can have this, and the rest of us can't import our dream cars?

Money

pinchvalve wrote:

SilverFleet wrote: How come this guy can have this, and the rest of us can't import our dream cars?

Money

No a willingness to bend the laws. You can buy on for $2-3k in the UK and spend another $2k to import it, after that it's up to you to get creative with interpreting the law. I'm not condoning it, but hundreds of people have, do and will do it every year.

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

pinchvalve wrote:

SilverFleet wrote: How come this guy can have this, and the rest of us can't import our dream cars?

Money

No a willingness to bend the laws. You can buy on for $2-3k in the UK and spend another $2k to import it, after that it's up to you to get creative with interpreting the law. I'm not condoning it, but hundreds of people have, do and will do it every year.

Not worth it. If you do get caught, it means the car is impounded and crushed, and generally you wind up with federal charges of one kind or another.

psteav wrote:

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

pinchvalve wrote:

SilverFleet wrote: How come this guy can have this, and the rest of us can't import our dream cars?

Money

No a willingness to bend the laws. You can buy on for $2-3k in the UK and spend another $2k to import it, after that it's up to you to get creative with interpreting the law. I'm not condoning it, but hundreds of people have, do and will do it every year.

Not worth it. If you do get caught, it means the car is impounded and crushed, and generally you wind up with federal charges of one kind or another.

The owner of that Alfa seems to have thought it worth it.

Again, I'm not condoning it, but people do it. Perople asked how, then said it was $$'s. No, not money, but a willingness to cheat.

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

psteav wrote:

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

pinchvalve wrote:

SilverFleet wrote: How come this guy can have this, and the rest of us can't import our dream cars?

Money

No a willingness to bend the laws. You can buy on for $2-3k in the UK and spend another $2k to import it, after that it's up to you to get creative with interpreting the law. I'm not condoning it, but hundreds of people have, do and will do it every year.

Not worth it. If you do get caught, it means the car is impounded and crushed, and generally you wind up with federal charges of one kind or another.

The owner of that Alfa seems to have thought it worth it.

If you're gonna do something like this- you can choose a better car than an alfa vert, yes?

mndsm wrote:

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

psteav wrote:

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

pinchvalve wrote:

SilverFleet wrote: How come this guy can have this, and the rest of us can't import our dream cars?

Money

No a willingness to bend the laws. You can buy on for $2-3k in the UK and spend another $2k to import it, after that it's up to you to get creative with interpreting the law. I'm not condoning it, but hundreds of people have, do and will do it every year.

Not worth it. If you do get caught, it means the car is impounded and crushed, and generally you wind up with federal charges of one kind or another.

The owner of that Alfa seems to have thought it worth it.

If you're gonna do something like this- you can choose a better car than an alfa vert, yes?

By doing this with a less expensive and less well know car, you have a better chance of getting away with it, and cut your losses when you do get caught.

Foreign diplomat?

While in Colorado/Utah, i saw this.

Fiat camper thing of some sort... with Euro plates.

a thought.. that Alfa might be here as a "show car" which means it technically cannot get driven on the streets

Swank Force One wrote: While in Colorado/Utah, i saw this. Fiat camper thing of some sort... with Euro plates.

That's not unusual, if you're coming over to the US for a longer vacation (like, 4-6 weeks) and you already have a camper van/RV in Europe, it tends to work out cheaper if you ship it over for your vacation than rent one over here. For example, there are a few companies in Germany who specialise in making all the necessary arrangements (shipping, customs broker for temporary import, insurance).

In fact, the plate looks vaguely like a German plate to me, but it's hard to guess.

Swank Force One wrote: While in Colorado/Utah, i saw this. Fiat camper thing of some sort... with Euro plates.

That's no biggie, thousands of people ship cars from Europe to here, or here to Europe for vacation and ship them back again afterwards. No difference from taking your car to Canada or Mexico

Well, it only takes 2 screws to attach a plate. Plates are probably from something else. Its only illegal if you get caught...

Every so often I see a Euro camper pass through here. I try to talk to the people with them whenever as I would love to do that some day.