Any experience with "Grey" market Land Rovers in the USA?

S

Sid Post

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Oct 14, 1998
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I have considered purchasing a Rubicon Jeep or taking a Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 and rebuilding it but, what I really want is one of the new generation Diesel Land Rovers which are not available in the USA. I have considered a gas powered Discovery but, what I really want is a Defender 110. With a claimed ~35mpg, the economy and reliability are attractive. At a similar retail pricepoint, I could buy a domestic Ford or Chevy Diesel but the economy just isn't there; also I have had reliability problems in years past.

Where should I look to find information on importing a Euro-spec Land Rover Defender in the USA? Any idea on what sort of cost I would be looking at beyond the purchase price from the dealer? How about parts? Anyone know if I would be able to get parts direct from a domestic dealer or, would I have to have them shipped in from England?

Thanks for your help in advance!
 
Sid..... your major problem will not be parts, etc. You may not be able to register a grey market vehicle because it (probably) will not meet Federal Emission Standards. Don't know about your states standards. Some vehicles can be retrofitted at high cost. Hope this helps.
 
MY understanding of Land Rovers is that they need so much service, I wouldn't consider importing one with no warranty and sketchy parts availability.

John
 
Uh, Land Rovers are the MOST durable things. (Discos and Range Rovers aren't the originals) Usually 25 yr and older cars are exempt from emmisions
 
East Coast Rover import information

NHTSA vehicle list

After finding these two websites, it looks like I need to start shopping for something 25 years old or older or, wait until the current ones are 25 or older ;)

In terms of reliability, I would tend to think a Series III Land Rover would be easier to maintain then say a Unimog 404 troop carrier or a Pinzgauer. A diesel Defender would be awesome but, they appear to be out of reach due to regulations. The Defender 90/110 NAS's (legal US models) here already are gas only and cost way too much.
 
Sid-
If you want some good info on this, email me and I will give you the email and phone contact info of a good friend of mine that I go to church with who has done this "grey market" thing before on Def110s and knows the details of the ins and outs and is VERY intriguing. He owned a Def110 and their are INCREDIBLE vehicles.
 
Import it with no fuel tank and say you are going to convert it to LNG or CNG or even Propane.

A pal of mine imported a car that was out of the emmisions range (May have been a Lotus) he said he just imported it with no tank, and lied about the soon to be conversion. Why not do the conversion to gas anyway? Unless you live in a really cold climate.
 
Well, the one good thing is that you can get them in standard shift. They are only available in auto here in the US. You'll have to change all the glass and the bumpers for starters...
 
I thought Defender imports were halted in the U.S. primarily due to the fact that Land Rover won't build them with air bags.
 
Dont discount the discoverys..i have had a few over the years, and they are worth every penny. If you ever get to use it off road, im sure you will be in awe of the awesome capabilities it has.
 
One of the other options you have... is to find a company that will bring it up to US spec for crash protection.

Me personally, I would do a diesel conversion before buying one out of the states. That way you KNOW you can get parts for it! :D
 
If you are willing to look at an old one, there are a wealth of websites out there.

Start at www.lrx.com

They have everything from Series Is to Defender 110s to parts. They also link to a lot of good sites.

I picked up a '73 Series III LHD from www.turkys.com and have nothing but good things to say there. He also has some cool Minis.

There are a lot of places that sell parts for the Series IIIs and down, including:

www.thatchedroofgarage.com
www.roversdownsouth.com
www.tntlr.com

These are all in my neck of the woods, but I'm sure there are some over your way.

I love mine, and apart from some suspension things I'm working on, drive it daily.

It's a cult, so be prepared. If you need anymore advice, just ask. I've done a lot of research prior to buying what I did. Good luck
 
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