About Us

Rockcrusher72 · 07-11-2019, 11:47 AM

Hello All,

Not sure if this is the right forum for this but I'll give it a shot.

Yesterday I went to look at an '81 NASCAR T/A. The seller's father died and left him the car, he knows VERY little about the car and it's history. While driving the car I notice that the speedometer has Kilometers as the main unit of measure. I ask the seller's friend (who knew the seller's father) and he tells me that the only history he knows is that the car came from Canada.

So does this mean the odometer is in Kilometers as well? For instance, if the odometer says 50,000 does that mean the car has 50,000 kilometers on it, and not miles? I'm guessing that might be the case but I'm just not sure.

Any help is much appreciated, thanks!

oldblueponcho · 07-11-2019, 12:00 PM

With an 81 the odometer should be in kilometers, I know my Canadian 79 was.

Chief of the 60's · 07-11-2019, 12:09 PM

Everything is in kilometers. I do not know on a car that old but newer ones must be converted to run in the US. That car has somewhere around 42,000 miles on it.

72projectbird · 07-11-2019, 12:29 PM

If its a factory Canadian car, then it'll read in kilometers, not miles. If it has 50,000Km on it, its around 31,000mi.

They only made 2000 81 Daytona cars. I don't know how many were Canadian cars, but I'd guess very few.

242177P · 07-11-2019, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chief of the 60's

Everything is in kilometers. I do not know on a car that old but newer ones must be converted to run in the US. That car has somewhere around 42,000 miles on it.

50,000 miles ---> 31,250 kilometers

NEW64OWNER · 07-11-2019, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chief of the 60's

Everything is in kilometers. I do not know on a car that old but newer ones must be converted to run in the US. That car has somewhere around 42,000 miles on it.

Why would it be converted to run in the US? I understand if it was a "smog" related issue but the speedo/odometer?

Chief of the 60's · 07-11-2019, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NEW64OWNER

Why would it be converted to run in the US? I understand if it was a "smog" related issue but the speedo/odometer?

Like I said, I do not know about old collector cars but all newer Canadian vehicles coming into the US must have the speedometer head replaced per federal law. Back in the early 2000's there was an influx of Chrysler Intrepids in the US. There was no such thing as a "Chrysler" Intrepid. We had the "Dodge" Intrepid. The Chrysler Intrepid was a Canadian only vehicle and none of them could be sold in the US without the speedometer head being replaced. There are also a lot of new Ford trucks currently coming into the US from Canada. All of those speedometer heads must be converted prior to entering the US.

NEW64OWNER · 07-11-2019, 06:57 PM

OK, that's an import thing. I didn't notice the car in question is currently being imported, I just read it came from Canada originally.

Chief of the 60's · 07-11-2019, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NEW64OWNER

OK, that's an import thing. I didn't notice the car in question is currently being imported, I just read it came from Canada originally.

Yes and notice I said the Ford trucks need to be "converted". Many speedometer heads today are digital and just get reprogrammed.

Rockcrusher72 · 07-11-2019, 07:44 PM

Okay, thanks to all who replied, I’ll operate under the assumption that the the odometer is likely reflecting kilometers and NOT miles. If I go look at her again I’ll set up a one mile “road test” while closely watching the odometer to confirm.

Chief of the 60's · 07-11-2019, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rockcrusher72

Okay, thanks to all who replied, I’ll operate under the assumption that the the odometer is likely reflecting kilometers and NOT miles. If I go look at her again I’ll set up a one mile “road test” while closely watching the odometer to confirm.

Just look at the speed numbers. I believe by '81 the speedometers had both mph and kph. If the larger print is kph then it spent its life in Canada. If the larger print is mph then it has a US speedometer. The odometer follows suit.

66sprint6 · 07-11-2019, 09:39 PM

Yes, if the KPH is larger and on the outside of the dial, then it's in km.
50,000 km is pretty low.

NEW64OWNER · 07-11-2019, 09:41 PM

50k miles or 50k kilometers, that's low either way. BUT isn't that year still able to roll over, if so it could be 150000 etc.

Chief of the 60's · 07-11-2019, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NEW64OWNER

50k miles or 50k kilometers, that's low either way. BUT isn't that year still able to roll over, if so it could be 150000 etc.

5 digit odometer. Whether its 50k mi. or km. the interior will look it. Check pedal pads, arm rest, steering wheel, center console, knobs, etc. for wear. A 50k car should have minimal. 150k won't.

Rocco Testa · 02:48 AM

This car sounds like the one I bought in Canada back around 1999. I bought it from a guy who owned the car in Canada and I drove it back to the US. This car didn't have a hood bird on it. If the car has a USA EPA sticker on the door it can be sold in the USA. I had to show Customs it was on the door when they looked at the car. They inspected the EPA sticker and saw it was on the car door and had been in place, before they let the car though customs. You also need a matching bill of sale in YOUR NAME. He is a little back history on this deal. (This will be the real short story on this and I mean short). Sometime ago I was looking for a 81 Pace car, my friend at the time was owner or Classic Restorations in NY He use to be the tech editor for HHP and his shop was in NY not far from were I live. One day when I stopped by Melvin told me he had found a 81 T/A for sale in Canada for a fare price, but there was a catch, I needed to go with one of my other friends and do a swap with him for another car. Mel was selling a nice clean 80 Turbo pace car in Hemming news for around $16000. The guy who owned the 81 pace car was also selling a 74 SD T/A along with all of the parts that went with the car to put it back together to Melvin for $5000 cash plus the 80 pace car. This guy was also selling me the the 81 pace car he owned for $4000 cash. I was to drive back the 81 pace car and follow my friend back to the States with the 74 SD and parts in tow. So now we meet up at the guy at his home in the AM after driving all day from the USA to get they. The guy who is buying the 80 Pace car and trading his SD T/A for cash needs to pay the taxes on his new car at the border. So we take the 80 T/A to Michigan from his home in Canada over the bridge to pay the taxes to the Canadian government. On arrival the Canadian border police starts asking everyone questions about how much the new owner paid for the 80 Pace car and they tell us $5000 US seems to cheap. They then go and take the phone number off of the car trailer and and match it to a phone number in Hemming ad for an 80 Pace car for sell. They then go and call the shop in the US and ask about the car for sell in the ad. They then ask a worker who answered the phone if they still have the Pace car for sale. The worker tells them it was sold for $16 grand and was being delivered to Canada. The Canadian Custom's border police now come and put us in custody telling us we lied to them about the car and that he paid $16 grand for the car. They go and take all our key, cars, money, and drivers licenses from us. Then then give us some money back and tell us to go into town and come back in 8 hrs until they sought things out. We go back in 8 hrs and they tell the new owner of the Pace car that he will need to pay $3500 in Taxes, a fine and $500 dollars more because the car has A/C. The guy who now owns the 80 pace car doesn't have that much money on him so I gave him what I had on me, because I was buying the 81 pace car from him. After losing a day they let us go after paying them. We are now in shock and still need to load the SD and parts and head back to the USA. We load the car and all the parts onto the trailer and head back to the US. We don't want to go back to Michigan again so we go back to the New York border. Wail in tow I loose my friend, I don;t have a cell phone or any tools on me. I pull up to the US Border, and they ask me if I have anything to claim and I tell them the car I'm driving. The tell me were to park and to take all my paper work into the custom's agent. I do so, and the Agent goes out with me and he checks the car over and looks at the EPA sticker on the door. We go back inside and tells me I own nothing and to have a nice day. I then ask the agent if he has seen my friend with the Red SD T/A on a trailer, he tells me he has not seen him. I now go and get about $20.00 in change and start calling the shop in NY on a pay phone to get my friends cell phone number. After about an hour or so I finally get a hold of my friend on his cell phone. I ask him were are you and he tells me he is at the border and the car is getting impounded and he need to take it to lock up. I ask him how can you be at the border when I'm already there and I don't see you. He then asks the Canadian border police were he is and they tell him he is at the Horse shoe falls border and I'm at the main border were he has to bring the SD into lockup. I hang up the phone in shock and go over to the nice agent who help me out with my car. He tell me is that your friend that has to bring his car here for lockup. I tell him yes, He then asks me, whats up with that car and how much did we pay for it. I told him you don't want to know the whole story, he tells me he does. I go into it with him and what happened in Michigan at the Border. He then tells me when my friend gets here to come to him with all the paper work on the car. My friend gets there about an hour latter we go over all the paper work with the agent. The US agent gives us some new paper work and asks my friend some questions and tells him what to write down. He then goes in the back and comes back about 1/2 hour latter. He gives my friend some paper work, takes us outside, gives my friend back the keys to his truck and the car and tells us don't look back have a nice day. Then he tells us the next time Melvin want to by a car in Canada he needs to come and get it by himself. (short version) PRE 911

Heybuck · 07-15-2019, 03:25 AM

Gee, reading all that it confirms not to drive to Canada.

About 8 years back, a guy I know here and his wife, hired a car (Hyundai) in Portland OR, drove it around up into Washington and into Canada. All had been arranged with the hire car company. They did the usual tourist things and drove back to the US at a different border crossing. Canadian police stopped them from crossing as the car had different plates on it. Someone had swapped them over. Plates on the car were stolen.

They were detained by the Canadian police for hours and hours while it got sorted out. Very stressful. But who knows the number on a hire car??? Your own car yes, but a hire car.......

Ian

TAKerry · 07-15-2019, 08:53 AM

I had a motorcycle restored by a fellow in Canada. When it was taken across the border we explained the reason for the trip and had to post a bond. The resto took about 5 years. After renewing the bond for the 3rd or 4th time they were starting to get antsy and threatened to revoke it. We had to show progress pic and an explanation of why things were taking so long. They were afraid we sold it and didn't claim the value.