Is there in interest in importing rust free sheet metal

[alabbasi]

All, I'm ex pat Brit living in Texas and I have serious car hobby that usually results in me buying a number of parts cars that i use to fix my cars ,and then sell parts off to fund the hobby.

The majority of cars that I buy are Mercedes Benz from the 70's and 80's like the W108/W109, W107, W116, W126 etc. Items that don't sell too often are large sheet metal pieces like bonnets, boot lids, doors etc, and I've thrown away perfect rust free shells.

I'm trying to explore the viability of shipping these parts back to Europe where I think people would have a real need. I'd love your feedback as every time I throw a way a rust free 560SEL body, I always think that it would be so much easier to build one of these shells then to fix a car that has lived in the UK for 30 years.

Thanks.

 

[dinoy]

any w113 or w111 projects i am looking for some but not shells complete running projects

looking at gullwings with slk insides also kit format

 

[alabbasi]

Prices are climbing on both W113 and W111 coupes. I don't think you can find any running W113 for under $30k or a W111 coupe for under $20k. It was a different story 5 years ago.

 

[oldguy57]

It would be great to have rust free sheet metal but the cost of transporting a bodyshell would be the same as a complete car- upwards of £1000 from the States , unless say someone would buy a container load. In addition we have ridiculous import taxes where we have to pay nearly 25% of the value of the item including the cost of shipping . For example I recently brought in a small item (only available in the States) costing $220 and the final cost to me at the current dollar rate was £270. Whether it would still be economically viable I don't know but worth investigating .

 

[ianrandom]

I was thinking yes, especially panels like front wings for the 126 etc. The prices for even rusty ones are stupid. But I forgot about the import tax stinger

 

[alabbasi]

Thanks for responding. A Shell would not be feasible for the reason suggested but a shipping container full of doors, bonnets, trunk lids, wings etc might work. For me to make it viable, I will need to find a dismantler that can buy a container load. The cost of the parts will be negligible as it's practically scrap metal here.

 

[optimusprime]

Welcome Al to the forum .It is a good idea .But to move a wing ,a door. or any large object around in th uk, is touch and go , .that you will get it in one piece. Or damaged in some way or other. How would you get over that ?

 

[oldguy57]

Thanks for responding. A Shell would not be feasible for the reason suggested but a shipping container full of doors, bonnets, trunk lids, wings etc might work. For me to make it viable, I will need to find a dismantler that can buy a container load. The cost of the parts will be negligible as it's practically scrap metal here.

Yes I think this would probably be your best bet. I think you will find that sending say one panel to Europe and getting it there undamaged would not be worth the hassle let alone what appears to have been a massive hike in postage costs from the States . I hope you find some customers who are interested in buying in bulk - everyone will benefit. Good luck!

 

[Chrishazle]

It must be feasible. Good friend of mine used to be heavily into Model T Fords, every year 4 of them would travel to southern USA for a number of "boot sales" over about 8-10 days, buy a container load of Model T spares and ship it to Neil Tuckett's farm just north of Aylesbury - spare parts for members of the Model T club to buy. Graham even bought all the parts (including chassis, wheels, bodywork etc) to build a complete 2 seat Doctor's coupe Model T, which I helped him build.

Unfortunately Graham is now in very poor health so I cannot really ask him for more detail, but maybe contacting the Model T club (UK) or Neil Tuckett would elicit more info.

 

[Bellow]

A Shell would not be feasible for the reason suggested but ...

A good shell with all panels good and the boot and interior crammed full of more good panels? Mechanicals unimportant as it only has to drive onto and off a ship (or into a box). If it can be pushed, cram the (empty) engine bay full of boot lids!

 

[oldguy57]

A good shell with all panels good and the boot and interior crammed full of more good panels? Mechanicals unimportant as it only has to drive onto and off a ship (or into a box). If it can be pushed, cram the (empty) engine bay full of boot lids!

Good idea but shippers in the past have not recommended it to me because of the seemingly high incidence of theft of loose parts in imported cars. Youngest offspring imported a container load of car parts from Japan without a problem. Many individuals and dealers do it. Just a question of studying the economics of it bearing in mind transport/ import duties.

 

[alabbasi]

Thanks all, the only to make this viable is to find a used parts dealer that's willing to absorb a container full of parts. I know a guy that does this for older BMW parts and a company here in the US that ships a container full of Jaguar parts from England every month.

I'll call around some of the people I used to talk to back in the 90's when I lived in England. I suspect that some will be out of business but it may get somewhere. Scrap is down right now so these cars are barely worth the fuel costs to take them to the junk yard to get shredded.

 

[Red C220]

Before even considering this makes sure the panels are Euro compatible.

USA spec cars often had different panels due to bumper and lighting requirements.

 

[alabbasi]

Thanks, I've dismantled enough of these cars so that I'm comfortable with interchange. Only real difference on the older cars is that there will be a hole on each wing for lighted reflector running lights. Later cars like the W116,126 have side impact beams in the doors. These don't change the mounting or the shape of the doors, but the internals are slightly different as there is a steel bar welded to the inside of the door.

Aside from that, it's all bumpers and lights.

 

[ianrandom]

Yeah the w126 only has that indicator slot that's needed for the UK. Other than that I believe the panels are all the same.

 

[neilrr]

US W126 560 wings (fenders) are different from the UK version.

 

[ianrandom]

US W126 560 wings (fenders) are different from the UK version.

Oh that old chestnut. There are definitely versions with slightly larger arches. I've never seen any conclusive answer as to which 560's have them. Lots of people have asked the question though.

 

[neilrr]

What question?

I don't see any questions in your post or mine.

 

[Red C220]

Oh that old chestnut. There are definitely versions with slightly larger arches. I've never seen any conclusive answer as to which 560's have them. Lots of people have asked the question though.

The 560SEC had slightly wider arches to accommodate the wider tyres that were specified from factory. About 10mm from memory.

420 & 500 wings had the same part numbers, 560 wings had a different number. I know this for SEC's not sure about SEL's.

 

[neilrr]

American 560 SECs have a different part # from UK 560SECs. The US number was never used on UK versions.