Dear Dreamers,

Here's a Vanagon story that may amuse you. It also *does* eventually
respond to the importing question.

When I lived with my young family in France from 1980 to 1986, I started
out with one child and ended with four.Towards the end of our stay we
decided we needed a true family car and settled on a beautiful two-toned,
standard shift, navy blue Vanagon minibus (called "Caravelle," if memory
serves, over there) with grey cloth upholstery, rubber mats on the floor,
and a rear window wiper. We drove it happily for a year or so and then sold
it *at a profit!* when we moved back to the US. How did we make out so
well, you ask. Easy, the dollar was at a record high against the French
franc when we bought it and had dropped dramatically by the time we sold,
meaning that the francs we got on the sale bought a few more dollars than
we had put into it. Brilliant planning of course! Well, thank you Ronald
Reagan and James Baker.

So, in July 1986 back to Massachusetts we went, where my sister had picked
out the 1983 red and white V'gon which I am still coaxing to life today. It
had but 28,000 miles on it and ran like a top. In September 1989 I was able
to return to France for another year. Of course, we set out to find another
second hand van. Guess what. They are virtually non-existent on the market
in Europe. People buy them and keep them. As we looked and looked, through
our friends and contacts there, we began to despair. At one point my wife
said, "Wouldn't it be funny if we came across the one we had before?"  The
proverbial LED illuminated in my dim noggin. "Why don't we just *call* the
people we sold it to?" I remembered their name because it is the same as
the famous race car driver, Alain Prost. Found their phone number through
the Minitel, a precursor to the Internet in France.(Historical note: all
homes in the town where we lived, Rennes,  were equipped for free by the
phone company with little computer phone books in ... 1981. You thought the
French were into only wine and cheese? Think again.) Called the Prosts and
asked if they were interested in selling the lovely blue Vanagon back to
us. They were. Not only that, they had put less than 20,000 miles on it in
three years. So we bought it back and used it happily for another 12 months
in Spain and southern France. Full disclosure: mechanical problems this
time around forced me to learn some new vocabulary and we did have to
replace a CV joint or two, but basically it was trouble free and the
perfect vehicle for moving our family and all our stuff around.

What makes me think of this story? The query about bringing cars to North
America from Europe or elsewhere. We loved the van so much that our first
instinct was to bring it home with us. We did look into the laws. It was a
total nightmare and I would discourage any and all from getting into it. At
least in the US the laws are created specifically to protect homegrown
dealers. The required modifications and paperwork and customs quarantines
and tariffs were simply not to be believed. Or at least not worth the
trouble to circumvent. And we are not talking about emissions standards. I
remember one specific example. The DOT required replacing the alternator
bracket! Why, I asked. That's just the rule, I was told. Obviously, it was
just a piece of the barbed wire fence they were throwing up at the behest
of car dealers here to make it impossible for people to save money abroad.

Moral of the tale: Enjoy your Vanagon in Europe, stay in touch, but don't
try to bring her home. It's easier to finagle a visa for your significant
other!

Woody