importing a Cerbera to the USA - Sept/Oct 2022

[goo-goo-gjoob]

About 23 years ago, back when I was a kid in high school, I became completely enamored by the TVR Cerbera. I found it playing Gran Turismo 2 on the original PlayStation and after looking it up online I spent countless hours watching car reviews about it and reading articles and reading the forums. It’s what really started my craziness over sports cars. When I was a freshman in high school, my bedroom wall was covered in posters of it that I had printed out from online. I drew doodles of it on my math notes in Algebra class. But I could never buy one since they were not made for the USA market and don’t meet our regulations. So, I ended up buying other cars that were very similar, competitors even, but never my favorite one, the one I really wanted…

Well, at long last, due to the “25 year rule”, which allows foreign cars to be imported after they’re 25 years old, I am crazy excited (and still not quite able to believe that it has been this long) because I purchased a 1997 TVR Cerbera!!!!!! I now own a TVR!

Actually, I bought the car waaaaaaay back in December 2021, but the car had not quite hit its 25 year birthday yet, so it has been sitting in safe keeping at the dealership in the UK since then. I wanted to get that particular one, even though I would have to wait for almost a year to import it, because it has had services to all the major components and seemed in good shape, and there are only a few of the year or two that are eligible for import, so decided to jump on it rather than wait for a different car to show up for sale. The car is now currently with Dom, at TVR Power, getting a list of things done to make sure it’s ready to come to the USA, since we don’t have TVR specialists here.

From what I have seen and read online, to the best of my knowledge this will be the third or fourth Cerbera imported into the USA.

The car is probably going to get here in early October!

[goo-goo-gjoob]

Granturadriver said:

Looks great, fabulous color, congratulations!

The car has been updated to the later spec with the Tuscan style front lights and the 18‘ Spider wheels?!

Is it a V8 or a Speed Six engine?

Yes, it has been updated to the later style front end and the spider wheels. I think the wheels look great with the revised front end, but I also really like the original thicker-spoke wheels with the large single headlights. I wasn't too picky with options, though. I was most concerned with finding a car that was mechanically taken care of.

The color might look silver, but it's actually more of a greenish silver; like 60% green, 40% silver. I have not seen the car in person yet, haha, but in the photos in natural light it looks a lot more greenish.

It has the 4.2L V8.

[goo-goo-gjoob]

Panamax said:

The car being more than 25 years old you will be able to import it BUT will you actually be able to register it for use on the road?

This may vary from State to State.

Good point. Yes, importing a car and registering it are two totally separate things. Safety and/or emissions testing requirements do vary from state to state, so yes, people importing the cars need to be sure they can get them registered by checking the rules for their regularly required inspections per that state's Department of Public Safety.

One important thing to note is that these TVRs don't have OBDII system, so if inspection places are required to hook that up to their computer then you will have an issue (and this is a common way of performing the emissions test, basically making sure all systems are functioning).

In Texas, as long as it passes emissions test and safety inspection then it's good to be registered.
But here's the thing...because these cars are 25 years old (they have to be in order to even import) they are old enough that they are exempt from emissions testing. So, you could say that they will pass the emissions test by being exempt from the emissions test. So, there you go.

I have already looked into it in detail and I believe I will be good to go.

Edited by goo-goo-gjoob on Saturday 17th September 01:21

[goo-goo-gjoob]

Good news and bad news...The car just turned 25! Today was it's birthday. And the shop just finished the maintenance on it! Now I'm awaiting final word from the dealership for when it will be ready to go! But a very unfortunate issue has just popped up. The ports are overloaded with roll-on-roll-off (RORO) cars and they just announced they are not taking any bookings until further notice! So, I can't even schedule the car to get onto a ship. Right now I'm awaiting some quotes for container shipping, which is still an option, just one I wasn't planning to do. This means the car might go to a different port and then be transported via truck straight to my place, instead of me picking it up at the port. The cost for this will be higher than RORO, so I'm not even 100% sure if this is going to happen. We will see what happens after I get the quotes...

[goo-goo-gjoob]

Just a quick update...After going through a few shipping options including different ports and shared container vs dedicated container, plus some ports would have to truck the car all the way to my house vs me going to the port, etc, and the fact that RORO is not an option right now...I am now planning to go with a 20 ft dedicated container to Houston, TX. Now, I am just waiting for the dealership to pick up the car from the shop and for the dealership to do their final check and report that it's all good and ready to go! So, I'm still waiting in limbo, but it's almost ready to go...

[goo-goo-gjoob]

Just FYI, for those of you asking about shipping cost...

Depending on if you use a 40 ft shared container or a 20 ft dedicated container, and depending on which port you go into, shipping costs vary from GBP4,500 - 5,900. I was looking at the gulf coast and the east coast, but depending on what port and how close you live, you might have to add truck transport cost, and with fuel prices right now, that's anywhere from USD2,400 to 3,000 for a half-way across the USA trip. It is actually cheaper for me to do the dedicated container all the way to the port nearest me, rather than a shared container to a farther away port.

All I can say is that the price/value of the small number of late-model TVRs in the USA just went up, that's for sure.

[goo-goo-gjoob]

Another quick update…

The dealership had picked up the Cerbera from the shop, but they found a small issue that they were not happy with, so they sent it back to the mechanic. Now, the issue has been sorted out. The dealership is going to pick the car up on Monday and then spend the week checking over the car, they will clean and detail it and all the other stuff that a dealership normally does, and then prepare the car for shipping. As long as everything is good it will hopefully be 100% ready this time.

As of right now, the car is tentatively scheduled for collection around October 19th! It will go to the shipping company’s warehouse and then get loaded into a container for shipping. Not sure of the exact ship or schedule yet, but I’m guessing the car will not arrive in Texas until at least mid-November.

While I am not happy about the delays, I mean the car turned 25 weeks ago and could have been on the boat by now, I am lucky that both the dealership and the mechanic are working together to make sure the car is 100% solid before it comes all the way here. They both understand that it’s coming a long way and we don’t have TVR specialists here, so the last thing they want is for me to get the car and find an issue. They both have reputations to protect, too, so I get the impression that they are being extra careful. I’m glad that the dealership is taking the extra time to thoroughly look over the car because we did have the mechanic perform a lot of servicing work just now, prior to shipping, which was the plan all along. This way I can hopefully have some time to enjoy the car prior to having any issues in the future.

I can’t tell you how stressful it is owning a car that is half way across the globe, though, and counting on others to take care of it!

I guess this is another “I’m still waiting” post, but I hope that very soon here I will be posting some photos of the car being loaded onto a transport truck/lorry! That’s going to be a big day for me!

As far as I know, this will still be the first Cerbera in Texas.

[goo-goo-gjoob]

Good news! Everything is confirmed! I finally have some dates!

Oct 19th = transport truck will collect the car from the dealership
Oct 21st = car gets loaded into the shipping container
Oct 24th = ship departs London Gateway Port
Nov 22nd = ship arrives at Port of Houston, TX

Then I will pick up the car from the shipping warehouse in Houston and trailer it home. I’m not sure when I will be able to pick it up but I’m guessing it will be after Thanksgiving holiday.

Whoohoo! So happy. After more than 20 years of waiting, and a whole year waiting since I actually bought the car, communicating with the dealership, mechanic, then trying to understand all the logistics and the import process, and then the last minute shipping changes, it’s all coming together. I can’t believe it.

[goo-goo-gjoob]

Great comments. Ya, I thought about the same thing after getting similar advice.

We have a word document that says everything about how to operate the car, how to open the doors, the boot, the bonnet, how to roll down the windows, how to start it (that's like a whole paragraph), where the battery is, etc. Since the Cerbera's controls are really weird.
We also have another word document that basically says, in giant letters, to roll the windows down and leave the boot and bonnet popped open. That way if the battery dies they can at least open the bonnet to jump start it.

I don't know for certain but I think they might disconnect the battery for shipping. But either way, I'm sure the battery will be dead by the time it gets here. It will be container shipped, not RORO, as I originally was planning, so it won't be a big deal if it dies. The container will go to a warehouse where it will be unloaded. I'm sure they will either jump start it or they will pull it out and let it sit until I come to get it. My brother and I will show up with the trailer and tools to jump it and get it alive again.

[goo-goo-gjoob]

Sitting at the dealership waiting for the truck...

[goo-goo-gjoob]

My car got picked up today for shipping! The dealership, DT Performance Cars, did an amazing job on some light restoration. They cleaned the wheel arches, re-did the black wrap at the front grille, replaced a few bits, and treated some wear and tear on the leather interior and cleaned it so well it almost looks like a different color! Between the past maintenance on the car, and my own maintenance that I just had done at TVR Power, and now the detailing work at the dealer, I have a feeling the car is going to be amazing. I can’t wait to see this thing in person!

https://youtube.com/shorts/qKTMraXTXBY?feature=sha...

Edited by goo-goo-gjoob on Thursday 20th October 03:14

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I am hoping to put all the photos together soon and arrange them in order so I can document the history of the car. Might post a link soon if I get all the photos set up.

[goo-goo-gjoob]

Granturadriver said:

Oh, the car already had a body off chassis restoration?!

Yes, back in 2015.

[goo-goo-gjoob]

SIXSIXES said:

Excellent! Another Cerbera in Texas! First one was a light blue 4.2 example I believe.

Do you have any info on this? You might be thinking of me because I announced on some TVR car club facebook groups that I had bought the car almost a year ago, but I have had to wait for 10 months before I could legally import it. I've heard of a number of other Cerberas that are here in the USA already and some that are planning to be brought over soon, but I have not heard of any that are in Texas already. I would love to get in contact with the other owner if there is another one here.