Classic bikes crossing the Atlantic

There is a significant flow of used vehicles from Japan to NA...mainly to the west coast and mainly to Canada where the import waiting time is only 15 years vs 30 in the USA. Driving around Vancouver one sees a lot of right hand drive Toyotas, Mitsubishis and other brands....models not sold over here.

So who are these buyers selling to? I don't really want to sell my bike overseas but if someone over the pond will give me a bundle of loot for it I'd be able to buy the next decent bike I see. But I don't want to sell it to the stateside wholesaler, I want to earn the markup that they are going to earn.

82KZ305Belt wrote:

Nerdy wrote:

82KZ305Belt wrote: Ah-hah! I suspected but did not know. I dont know how to feel about this. Maybe someone will pay me an exhorbitant price to ship my beautiful but dead KZ305 overseas? I don't want to but I can't afford to fix it.

What happened to your 305?

Cant afford to fix the head gasket

Ouch. Sorry to hear that. Is there a backstory or a thread on here about it?


EDIT: NM, found it.

82KZ305Belt wrote: So who are these buyers selling to? I don't really want to sell my bike overseas but if someone over the pond will give me a bundle of loot for it I'd be able to buy the next decent bike I see. But I don't want to sell it to the stateside wholesaler, I want to earn the markup that they are going to earn.

They are selling to the public via ebay etc. An individual bike wouldn,t be worth it. Remember the guys doing it are doing wholesale volume. Container loads at a time. The bikes are here in the UK having been transported and Uk tax paid so the buyers just have to pay the winning bid price and a bit of internal transport and its at their front door.
You will be hard pushed to find an overseas buyer who will be bothered to arrange and pay for all the transit, tax and organisation hassle etc unless its a particually desireable model and they would still be buying it sight unseen.

I figured as much. I shall remain bikeless and moneyless...

My bike sat 15 years until I could scrape up enough to get it running again. One thing at a time got me there. Had opportunities for a major rebuild but family members decided they needed the money more than I did. ( A small inheritance from my mother's estate) so I had to keep getting parts one by one. (BTW, I haven't spoken to them since 2012) Then my car's tranny went out so I had a choice, do I spend $1000 on it or do I get the bike back on the road? The bike won. Sold the car and a few other things and got her back on the road. You can just see the mirror in the left corner of the pic.


Before I decided I put the bike on CL to see what the offers would be. They were insulting so I decided to have fun with these bottom feeders. :evil: I started at $5000 and as I made improvements the price went up.

Notice the Honda front fender. :lol:
I had these muck suckers going NUTS. :woohoo:

Then I was notified of my father's passing 10 months after he died. The executor said there was a life insurance policy in my name and he would give me it and $20,000 if I would sign off on the estate. I told him to FK off and found it myself plus his Federal pension he let flounder since 98. Both me and my sister were listed as beneficiaries but Scott tried to get it for himself. I applied and got them plus made sure sis got her's as well even though she looted our mother's estate and was homeless after living in the house 3 years until the bank took it. ( It was the right thing to do) That's when I could afford a complete overhaul with new parts like in the pic above.

I then bought my daughter a 04 Chevy Malibu and spent the rest on the bike and the truck. From then on I was able to take a ride once or twice a month to visit my grandchildren.

I see those adds all the time on CL and I laugh. Offering me $300-$500 for something they can flip or part out and make $1000's.
I know it's just business but this one bike they JUST WON'T GET. :woohoo:

Steve

Nice. Will you fix mine?

If you were close I would.
Steve

Wow, this is an interesting topic for me. I have a 1977 KZ1000A. It being one of the first 300 of that model produced and shipped from Japan to the U.S. ( frame and engine # all 0's and ending below 300). I bought it in Alaska in the mid-1980's. I was going to E-Bay it, but now I think I may just keep polishing it ...

At the end of the day its keeping the old bikes on the road is the important thing. Wherever they are. Here in Amsterdam they have announced plans to get rid of all petrol vehicles by 2030. So the days are numbered. Make the most of them while you can.

Late last year I found a 76 KZ900 located in a remote part of the state for way under market value so I raced right down and bought it with the intention of flipping it( I was already in the middle of fixing my 76 LTD.) It sold in ten days to a Japanese buyer traveling the states buying old superbikes to export back to Japan. I hate to see old vehicles leaving the country, but it's a market factor, My 1950 Buick Riv went to Japan and my 47 Hudson Pickup went to Finland.

Collect up all of these and send them overseas.

(Ha, I got this from a personal-injury-lawyer website.)