Null's ultimate Dream Car Thread - A CV8 Monaro in Austria

[Null.Performance]

If there is one thing 'wrong' with the timeless and elegant design of the CV8 Monaro, it has to be the badge on the front grille, in my honest opinion. It is too large in relation to the grille and too flashy for my taste, due to it being mostly chrome. So i knew i had to get something more subtle and ordered a black 95 mm Holden badge from Australia. While I was at it, I also ordered a genuine 69 mm Holden boot badge. Have a look at them:

[Null.Performance]

Of course, I had to do a quick mock-up to get an idea of what the front end would look like with a black badge before i placed my order

[mfp4073]

When I replaced my Vauxhall badge with a Holden one I found the outline of the Holden badge was already moulded into the grill itself.
I know what you mean about the oversized badge, and I have though about painting it black to blend in better. I decided against it as I didn't wan to risk ruining the badge.

[irocfan]

Great write-up, what can one say other than "ausgezeichnet!"

[a11y_m]

Great write up - come across as a proper enthusiast too. Happy driving on those roads

[Null.Performance]

Progress is being made!
The headlights were sent to a specialist in northern Germany to be converted to LHD light pattern. Cost me an arm and a leg...
The bumper received the following treatment in the meantime:
- Deep clean
- Fixed some damage to the clips that must have occurred during transport
- Removed Vauxhall badge and added black Holden badge
- Slim license plate frame to fit Austrian number plates
- Rock chip touch up

[irocfan]

Null.Performance said:

Progress is being made!
The headlights were sent to a specialist in northern Germany to be converted to LHD light pattern. Cost me an arm and a leg...
The bumper received the following treatment in the meantime:
- Deep clean
- Fixed some damage to the clips that must have occurred during transport
- Removed Vauxhall badge and added black Holden badge
- Slim license plate frame to fit Austrian number plates
- Rock chip touch up

any reason you didn't use the GTO headlights (I assume that they'd fit and be very cheap)?

[Null.Performance]

irocfan said:

any reason you didn't use the GTO headlights (I assume that they'd fit and be very cheap)?

Very good question. I spent days browsing through various forums to find out what my options are.
From what I found out, the GTO headlights have different wiring and connectors. I am still not 100% sure on that though, since there is some conflicting information out there. In the end, I decided to go the safe route and had the headlights that are on the car converted to LHD, probably not the cheapest but certainly the most hassle-free option.

[Mickeym]

Nice car! And what a story. Congratulations on buying your dream car.

I'm wondering if you considered importing a Monaro from the Middle East? It might have been a little more expensive with the importing taxes. But you would have a LHD car, since you are in LHD country.

Prices there are also very cheap. So might have made up a bit for the taxes?

[berliner]

Hi,
nice car and very nice pictures of the Monaro in front of the mountains.
Do you have pictures from the inside?

regards from germany

[Lincsls1]

Mickeym said:

Nice car! And what a story. Congratulations on buying your dream car.

I'm wondering if you considered importing a Monaro from the Middle East? It might have been a little more expensive with the importing taxes. But you would have a LHD car, since you are in LHD country.

Prices there are also very cheap. So might have made up a bit for the taxes?

LHD Monaro?? Don't think these exist unless you're counting the Pontiac GTO to be a Monaro?

ETA:

Bugger me, just seen on another thread that there is indeed a LHD Monaro, that been said its not hard since the Pontiac GTO is very much the same car, but LHD.

Edited by Lincsls1 on Monday 30th March 16:20

[Null.Performance]

Mickeym said:

Nice car! And what a story. Congratulations on buying your dream car.

I'm wondering if you considered importing a Monaro from the Middle East? It might have been a little more expensive with the importing taxes. But you would have a LHD car, since you are in LHD country.

Prices there are also very cheap. So might have made up a bit for the taxes?

Hey Mickey,

thank you for you kind words.
No, I never considered importing a LHD Monaro from the Middle East. Of course, the idea of a LHD Chevy Lumina Coupe or Pontiac GTO (from the US) was somewhat tempting, but the taxes would absolutely kill me and the legalizing process could potentially take forever.
Compared to the Australian and UK CV8 Monaros, the American GTO simply is a less attractive looking car and the Middle East is a part of the world that I have no plans to ever visit. I decided to go the RHD route and spent years looking for the perfect example, as I considered a steering wheel on the wrong side to be a small compromise to make when purchasing my ultimate dream car - something I will only be able to do once in my life

[Null.Performance]

berliner said:

Hi,
nice car and very nice pictures of the Monaro in front of the mountains.
Do you have pictures from the inside?

regards from germany

Hey Berliner,

fantastic to see another Monaro in Continental Europe! Do you know how this car ended up in Switzerland in the first place? Curious to learn more about your experience legalizing and taxing an Australian made car, imported from Switzerland into Germany.
I must say I have no idea how many petrol heads were crazy enough to bring either an American Pontiac GTO, Aussie or UK Monaro, or simply any Holden vehicle to continental Europe, but there can't be a lot? I only know of one German guy on pistonheads (Schneesturm) who has imported a white 2015 Vauxhall VXR8 GTS into Germany. I believe he also had an older VRX8 before. We should definitely organize an Australian car meet somewhere in Central Europe in the future

I unfortunately only have a few rather crappy cellphone pics of my cars interior, here is one of them:



I will definitely take some better pictures for you in the furure. I am thinking about taking it for a quick spin on the large parking lot next to my underground parking garage soon. Unfortunately, I am currently not allowed to drive my Monaro on Austrian roads because it is not legalized / taxed / insured yet.
I fired it up yesterday for the first time in what felt like an eternity after putting in a brand new battery. Now the urge to just take it out and go for a drive is REALLY strong again. I know I am not allowed to do so - I will probably risk it though if the corona virus lockdown in Austria won't be lifted in the next 6-8 weeks, so I won't go crazy.

Edited by Null.Performance on Monday 30th March 19:03

[Lincsls1]

Null.Performance said:

Hey Mickey,

thank you for you kind words.
No, I never considered importing a LHD Monaro from the Middle East. Of course, the idea of a LHD Chevy Lumina Coupe or Pontiac GTO (from the US) was somewhat tempting, but the taxes would absolutely kill me and the legalizing process could potentially take forever.
Compared to the Australian and UK CV8 Monaros, the American GTO simply is a less attractive looking car and the Middle East is a part of the world that I have no plans to ever visit. I decided to go the RHD route and spent years looking for the perfect example, as I considered a steering wheel on the wrong side to be a small compromise to make when purchasing my ultimate dream car - something I will only be able to do once in my life

Oi! I think you'll find the you have the steering wheel on the correct side. RHD=correct!
Your looks to be in fabulous condition, and actually I think that's a great picture!

[berliner]

Hi,

black interior, I love it, very clean.

I saw the Vauxhall VXR8 on Mobile.de a few years ago.

Pedders Germany still has a red maloo and there is also a VZ Ute in the Netherlands. Many will not come together for a meeting ;-)

How long it will take for your car to be legalized?

[Mickeym]

Null.Performance said:

Hey Mickey,

thank you for you kind words.
No, I never considered importing a LHD Monaro from the Middle East. Of course, the idea of a LHD Chevy Lumina Coupe or Pontiac GTO (from the US) was somewhat tempting, but the taxes would absolutely kill me and the legalizing process could potentially take forever.
Compared to the Australian and UK CV8 Monaros, the American GTO simply is a less attractive looking car and the Middle East is a part of the world that I have no plans to ever visit. I decided to go the RHD route and spent years looking for the perfect example, as I considered a steering wheel on the wrong side to be a small compromise to make when purchasing my ultimate dream car - something I will only be able to do once in my life

Fair enough and I agree it's a small compromise to have a RHD car there, considering how great you car looks. And that interior! Nice!

Just one question. When you say the legalizing process could potentially take forever, is this in the particular case of the Monaro and GTO? Because I worked with somebody from Vienna once and he imported a couple of Corvettes from the US and said it was very straight forward. He complained about the taxes. But the process he said it was not difficult.

He always complained about how expensive cars with a lot of power are to insure in Austria and that you can't really modify the cars much. Do you have to get some exotic car type of insurance for it there? Since it was never made there.

[Null.Performance]

berliner said:

Hi,
Pedders Germany still has a red maloo and there is also a VZ Ute in the Netherlands. Many will not come together for a meeting ;-)
How long it will take for your car to be legalized?

There is a guy in Belgium with a VE SSV Redline Ute (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8bDMU7ow00)
And I have seen 3 Pontiac GTOs come up for sale in Germany in recent years: a black 5.7 Auto, a black 6.0 with the full SAP Package and a red 6.0, both automatics. So there must be quite a few more.

And if we can get some of the UK guys and gals to come down, it could be a decent sized turnout

I initially wanted to get the car road legal by mid April, when winter would finally be gone. An then Corona happened
Austria is currently on indefinite lockdown, and during this time the Zulassungsstellen as well as all the governments own Kfz-Prüfstellen are operating in emergency mode with very limited staff and will only deal with 'critical cases'. Most likely I will have to wait for things to get back to normal again before I can get my Monaro legalized...

[Null.Performance]

Mickeym said:

Just one question. When you say the legalizing process could potentially take forever, is this in the particular case of the Monaro and GTO? Because I worked with somebody from Vienna once and he imported a couple of Corvettes from the US and said it was very straight forward. He complained about the taxes. But the process he said it was not difficult.
He always complained about how expensive cars with a lot of power are to insure in Austria and that you can't really modify the cars much. Do you have to get some exotic car type of insurance for it there? Since it was never made there.

Huh, that's a lot of questions, I'll do my best to answer:
- Legalization process:
My Monaro is a car that was previously legalized in another EU country by it's importer (UK; Vauxhall) so that means it will most likely be a not too difficult and straight forward process for me as well.

- Taxes:
Road tax is determined by horsepower, fuel economy, emissions, value and age of the car. No matter if exotic Lambo, imported Monaro or run of the mill Golf.
On top of that, we do have what's called the 'Normverbrauchsabgabe'. A fee the first buyer of a new car has to pay to the government. The more eco-friendly your car is, the lesser the fee. Somewhat similar to the american gas guzzler tax.
Now, you are correct, the Monaro was never imported / sold through a dealer in Austria, so I am it's first registered owner in Austria. Since it's a 14 year old car, the fee is much smaller than if it were a brand new car. Still, it's more than 2000 pounds on to of the price of the car that I have to pay the government just to be able to get it on the road. And because I am not satisfied with what the Austrian used car market has to offer, I guess. It's kind of a fked up thing to be honest and it has always bothered me. But I knew all along I would have to pay this Normverbrauchsabgabe, and paying taxes is simply part of life, so I will stop complaining now

- Insurance:
I thought I'd need special exotic car insurance for my Monaro; and thus inquired a few insurance companies specializing in classic and high end cars. But they all turned me down, saying my car would not meet their criteria for exotic / classic/ one-off cars or whatever. Yall kidding me???
Turns out, I can insure it just like a run of the mill car with my current insurance company - Which is a good thing because cheaper!
Insurance premiums are (again) determined by horsepower, fuel economy, emissions, value and age of the car. And your driving and accident record. My record is clean, btw
So yeah, a Corvette or any other high powered and polluting car will be quite expensive to insure.

- Plates:
There's a really cool thing called 'Wechselkennzeichen' in Austria. This allows me to use one set of license plates for up to three cars and split insurance costs between them!
I do have a daily driver next to the Monaro, so I will definitely grab me a set of Wechselkennzeichens!

- Modifying imported or rare cars:
Pretty difficult. Once your imported car gets approved for road use via a process called 'Einzelgenehmigung', you may not alter it's approved state in any way other than maintenance. Or you will have to go through the same process again. With uncertain ending! If you can provide them with engineering certificates (e.g. TÜV) for your mods, that makes it a bit easier, but still, I personally would not do it. Because who the hell does TÜV certificates for a Monaro? You guessed it, nobody
I could try and be a sneaky mf and mod my imported car anyway, but once I get caught by police, the fines are hefty and can easily lead to a loss of license or my car off the road until I fix it. Not something I want to experience.

- Ease of importing Corvettes:
Once a certain type of car (say, C7 Corvette) has been legalized in any State of Austria, it does indeed make it a bit easier for the next guy importing a C7 Corvette. So yeah, I guess Corvettes are easier to legalize than say a Vector M8. I do see quite a lot of Corvettes here. I guess when dealers decide to import a bunch of them at once it makes it even easier for them? Not sure though

All in all, the process of importing an American GTO would involve a lot more paperwork than importing a Monaro from the UK! And I save big on taxes because EU. I hope that answered most of your questions. Please take it with a grain of salt, because I am a private individual and not a professional car dealership at the end of the day

Edited by Null.Performance on Tuesday 31st March 01:52

[bigwheel]

Hiya. Your replies may appear to be long winded to some but are a pleasure to read. Full of very interesting information. And your grasp of the English language is formidable.
You have brought a new dimension to the forum and welcome your input.

[Mickeym]

Null.Performance said:

Huh, that's a lot of questions, I'll do my best to answer:
- Legalization process:
My Monaro is a car that was previously legalized in another EU country by it's importer (UK; Vauxhall) so that means it will most likely be a not too difficult and straight forward process for me as well.

- Taxes:
Road tax is determined by horsepower, fuel economy, emissions, value and age of the car. No matter if exotic Lambo, imported Monaro or run of the mill Golf.
On top of that, we do have what's called the 'Normverbrauchsabgabe'. A fee the first buyer of a new car has to pay to the government. The more eco-friendly your car is, the lesser the fee. Somewhat similar to the american gas guzzler tax.
Now, you are correct, the Monaro was never imported / sold through a dealer in Austria, so I am it's first registered owner in Austria. Since it's a 14 year old car, the fee is much smaller than if it were a brand new car. Still, it's more than 2000 pounds on to of the price of the car that I have to pay the government just to be able to get it on the road. And because I am not satisfied with what the Austrian used car market has to offer, I guess. It's kind of a fked up thing to be honest and it has always bothered me. But I knew all along I would have to pay this Normverbrauchsabgabe, and paying taxes is simply part of life, so I will stop complaining now

- Insurance:
I thought I'd need special exotic car insurance for my Monaro; and thus inquired a few insurance companies specializing in classic and high end cars. But they all turned me down, saying my car would not meet their criteria for exotic / classic/ one-off cars or whatever. Yall kidding me???
Turns out, I can insure it just like a run of the mill car with my current insurance company - Which is a good thing because cheaper!
Insurance premiums are (again) determined by horsepower, fuel economy, emissions, value and age of the car. And your driving and accident record. My record is clean, btw
So yeah, a Corvette or any other high powered and polluting car will be quite expensive to insure.

- Plates:
There's a really cool thing called 'Wechselkennzeichen' in Austria. This allows me to use one set of license plates for up to three cars and split insurance costs between them!
I do have a daily driver next to the Monaro, so I will definitely grab me a set of Wechselkennzeichens!

- Modifying imported or rare cars:
Pretty difficult. Once your imported car gets approved for road use via a process called 'Einzelgenehmigung', you may not alter it's approved state in any way other than maintenance. Or you will have to go through the same process again. With uncertain ending! If you can provide them with engineering certificates (e.g. TÜV) for your mods, that makes it a bit easier, but still, I personally would not do it. Because who the hell does TÜV certificates for a Monaro? You guessed it, nobody
I could try and be a sneaky mf and mod my imported car anyway, but once I get caught by police, the fines are hefty and can easily lead to a loss of license or my car off the road until I fix it. Not something I want to experience.

- Ease of importing Corvettes:
Once a certain type of car (say, C7 Corvette) has been legalized in any State of Austria, it does indeed make it a bit easier for the next guy importing a C7 Corvette. So yeah, I guess Corvettes are easier to legalize than say a Vector M8. I do see quite a lot of Corvettes here. I guess when dealers decide to import a bunch of them at once it makes it even easier for them? Not sure though

All in all, the process of importing an American GTO would involve a lot more paperwork than importing a Monaro from the UK! And I save big on taxes because EU. I hope that answered most of your questions. Please take it with a grain of salt, because I am a private individual and not a professional car dealership at the end of the day

Edited by Null.Performance on Tuesday 31st March 01:52

Nice write up! Yeah, I remember him mentioning the license plate sharing deal. He had it too.

So £2000 in taxes without importing duties? I don't know how much you paid for your car. But the current price for non VXR cars seem to be between £6-8K. So that's around 25-33% in taxes without importing duties. I can see why you didn't go for a Pontiac GTO. What importing duties would add on top of that, 20% more?

And they allowed you to insure it with a normal company because it was a model sold in the UK? That's interesting. Wonder if this will change because of Brexit.

I can see you really, really wanted the car, based on all the hoops you went through. But I'm sure you will be rewarded. Besides being a very nice car, there it is even more rare. I wonder what people will think it is when they see it. Maybe you could start a reaction thread once you have it on the road to post the reactions.

How is the perception and reception of a big V8 over there, in these times of electric cars and environmental conscience? Are people there already starting to look down and frown on them?