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MG Midget and Sprite General - At long last.............

Anita's Midget is on the road over here in Queensland!

I have to say that if we had know all the loops we would have to jump through, we would have thought twice about bringing any cars over.

They sat in Customs for a month, they charged us a fortune to 'steam clean' both cars (apprx. $800.00 each)but DID NOT get wet....! Then we had to get the Midget inspected for a 'Complience plate', for that, the perfectly good original seatbelts had to be replaced with Aus/NZ 'approved' retractable units which are just bloody hopeless and in my mind far less safe than the O/E units. From there the car has to be inspected for 'Roadworthy', again, this was different to the MOT that we are used to. Fortunatly, nothing major to do.... Finally, the car needed to be registered which again was a big $$$ deal...!

However, looking on the positive side of things, so long as the car stays 'registered', there will be no more roadworthy tests or anything such like, it's now up to us to keep the car in good order, the Police have random spot checks to ensure tyres, brakes, lights and the like are all working. Their targets however are more the younger generation 17+ in their Skylines....!

So, today we ventured up through Surfers Paradise to a lovely place called Broadbeach where we enjoyed relaxing on the beach in the sun and taking in the sights....

Tomorrow, we're headed up to a Swap Meet just south of Brisbane.

Ohhhh it is nice to have one of our cars on the road here. The Frogeye will have to wait until the pocket catches up.....

Mark.
M T Boldry

good to hear you can finaly have the spridget experiance down under!
have fun
Onno Könemann

G'day Mark,
Where abouts is the swap meet, might go for a look. Let me know if you find a bugeye rear!

Cheers Phil
PRC Cuthbert

Phil, the Swap Meet is in Long Street, Cleveland. Just south of Brissie. We'll see you there?

M.
M T Boldry

Hi mark,

I need an Australian report for the magazine (with pictures). The swap meet sounds like it would be good if you haven't got images of today's jaunt.
Enjoy the drive.

Gary
Gary Lazarus

>>> they charged us a fortune to 'steam clean' both cars <<<

Wow - so LBCs are suspected as vectors for hoof-and-mouth? It all sounds rather draconian.

At any rate, good to know the cars survived the ordeal, and that you can get back to "normal" motoring.

Cheers,

-:G:-
Gryf Ketcherside

MArk..
I to, had that sort of experience with customs in Jacksonville Florida. I had purchased a 1947 Y series from the UK . I went to the port to pick it up and was told it had to have an agricultural cleaning that would take 1 hour. Cost was $50.00 US. Receipt was written in pencil on a piece of scrap paper. When I walked back to the car there were four little 6" puddles under each wheel.The total time in the office was less than ten minutes.
Those AGRI-inspectors work fast.
Sandy
SANDY SANDERS

agricultural cleaning....

Congratulations on the midget...thats great news

I have to say Im all for the "agricultural cleaning" Not so much for virus But for the little free loading creatures that like to stow away or change boxes during the ship ride. Dacades ago I used to work as a food prep guy in a kitchen. and always had to greet the food truck at 4 am....on modays and wed.


I can assure you ... Un-loading food from a truck / is a dangerous job, you never know what your going to have to kill when it JUMPS out of a box of bananas or other Non usa grown food box with full fangs ready to inject...from lizards to spiders as big as a dinner plate, to scorpians, and creatures that national geographic still has yet to identify

So yeah...If there doing there job the correct way, Im in favor...after all, look in the outback...ferrel house cats, apperatly lots of them but only came to oz aboout 100 years ago...2 escaped from a boat

Prop...i almost said one cat, but I doulbt even Jusus could have pulled that concept off...lol
Prop

A bit different to my West Aus deal. My car was the cleanest it had ever been when I brought it over. Some would say it was over restored when I originally built it. The shell was rolled over, and I painted the underneath with shiny black chassis paint. This has always made it easy to clean. I had steam cleaned all the suspension, even the exhaust had been repainted. It sat under a cover in the container. Quarentine were not interested in cleaning mine - in fact they said if they tackled it, they would probably have made it dirtier.
I was told that pre 70 cars here did not have to have belts, as they did not when they were first sold at that date. So I removed mine. The only problem they had at inspection was with the engine number. They wanted it stamped on the block. I went out and bought some stamps, and stamped it at the testing station.
The Rac were called out to value the car, but I got a great guy assigned to mine. he valued it at what a 67 average Australian Midget would be worth. My tax was assessed on this value - i.e. not a lot.
This is no disrespect on the condition of your car - I know your car is a lot more original than mine.
And Gryf, you laugh, but the English here are not allowed to donate blood, as the English suffer from mad cow. No kidding!
Shawn

Cool - didn't take ages and ages then!

I know when I was looking into taking the midget and my quad to Canada - coz there were going farm to farm, they were both going to have to have a full body and engine steam clean, but, you could get it done in either country and it was about £35 or so to do each of them. If they were from a town, or going to a town, they wouldn't have had to do that.

Mind you - everytime I go to America, I have to have my shoes fully disinfected, and to go to Canada, I have to wear shoes that have been worn only "off farm" for the two weeks previously, or they get fully disinfected too ...!

Still - I guess I am a mad cow :), however, most of these are still restrictions from the last case of Foot and Mouth, and, at least I'm only guilty of foot in mouth ;)
rachmacb

"at least I'm only guilty of foot in mouth ;)"

Now you did it. Arie wont sleep tonight.
Bas Timmermans

LOL - ain't my fault they have to shoot the sheep :)
rachmacb

Mark, methinks you got touched with the $800 cleaning fee.
Mike Allen

Sounds almost identical to the scam (ie govt process) when I imported the frog here, though I too also think they did not steam clean the car, as there was muck on the tyres that was blatantly still there after 'cleaning'.

I had to pass customs, who believe it or not let me off the import tax as it was over 25 years old and the lady thought my car was smiling...( who am I to argue??).

A safety inspection (350 bucks) followed, and registration (thankfully only 80 bucks), and a lot of trouble getting insurance, which currently runs to 1600 bucks a year, yes thats nigh on 950 quid.....ouch.

Still its all worth it, as the car doesn't need an annual inspection, hence my continual annoyance of the older, wiser heads on this board, and I can safely say its the only Frogeye in downtown !

Enjoy the cars and the scenery,thats what its all about.

RUS(59SPRITE)

Sounds almost identical to the scam (ie govt process) when I imported the frog here, though I too also think they did not steam clean the car, as there was muck on the tyres that was blatantly still there after 'cleaning'.

I had to pass customs, who believe it or not let me off the import tax as it was over 25 years old ( who am I to argue??).

A safety inspection (350 bucks) followed, and registration (thankfully only 80 bucks), and a lot of trouble getting insurance, which currently runs to 1600 bucks a year, yes thats nigh on 950 quid.....ouch.

Still its all worth it, as the car doesn't need an annual inspection, hence my continual annoyance of the older, wiser heads on this board, and I can safely say its the only Frogeye in downtown !

Enjoy the cars and the scenery,thats what its all about.

RUS(59SPRITE)

Insurance is not too bad here either. I pay $97 a month to insure my Midget, my Subaru Outback (business use), and my wifes' Fiesta Ghia 1600, all fully comprehensive. I also get to keep the Midget if it is written off. That is currently just over £700 for all three, but if the exchange rate was more normal it would be about £450! And no m.o.t's. We do have registration to pay each year though - this is a bit more than road tax I think.
Shawn

This thread was discussed between 17/04/2010 and 21/04/2010

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