Imported?

Just noticed on my log book, it says "IMPORTED VEHICLE-WAS REGISTERED/USED OVERSEAS. DECLARED MANUFACTURED 1983"

Where can I find out the early history of my car?
It is a right hand drive model, and has not been converted so it looks like it was bought as a uk spec car. :dontknow:

Ive had this before and I knew the vehicle had been bought in Germany as a right hand drive model and then brought to the UK

Not sure how to find out anymore?

The log book says the registration date is 10/11/83.
The lad I bought the car off had said a previous owner had been in the RAF.
So possibly bought it in germany?
I would be nice to know.

Don't think you can find out much more, my 1600 says the same except it was imported in 82. Think it was common to for those in the forces to bring back cars when stationed in Europe as cost difference was so great. A lot of the rhd GTI's seem to have little clips to retain the rear seat belts (not found on UK cars). Also the GTI's don't necessarily have colour coded interior as you could specify the seat material colour in Europe.

Cheers

We (members of the forces abroad) could order just about any car from dealer / manufacturer reps working through the NAAFI (that famous 'non-profit making' monopoly) TAX FREE.
If whole Regiments were posted abroad you could buy before going.
If you ordered whilst in Germany you sometimes had the choice of picking the car up from the factory (Merc, Opel, VW / Audi).
For German cars you could also specify options not available in the UK, as the car was built to your order.
If you were lucky with the exchange rate (order in DM and pay in ? sterling) you could make a killing - my Audi 100 GL5S cost me just over ?3000 for a car worth nearly ?10k in UK with all the extras (some not available in UK) because the exchange rate changed drastically between ordering the car and paying for it !!!.
We had special BFG (British Forces Germany) registration plates …
as below…



up until an RSM got shot by the IRA outside Zeebrugge, then we had UK plates and tax discs (free) as though the car was fully registered in UK.
The ONLY proviso was that you kept and drove it for at least one year before importing it into the uk, and kept it in UK for a year before selling it - otherwise you had to pay import duty (in my case ?1k for the Audi - which I exchanged for my first Mk1 - and the Dealer paid that for me and 'gave' me the Golf !!!!)
Insurance was a bit more expensive, you had to have a BFG test EVERY year (MOT but to German TUV standards - our REME workshops all employed a guy - either military or German - just to do this testing.
We had fuel ration cards and could buy cheap coupons for exchange at any BP garage….most guys never used their whole allowance…..the black market for these was phenomenal !
Hope this explains a bit…

Now going to pull up a sandbag and swing the lantern…….happy memories……

wow awesome thanks Prowler!

you certainly do learn something new everyday 8)

…forgot to mention that, before the introduction of the UK plates, on importation, after all the Customs and Excise forms and checks, we had to apply for UK registration, and were allocated the correct year of manufacture plate….so an '80 car imported in '83 was given an unallocated '80 registration of the county it was 'imported' into.

Cheers Prowler, thats interesting info.

That is great info, thanks. It was most likely a forces car then.
Has anybody had a go with this site, I have put my mk1 on there, I hope I may trace one of the owners.

http://www.drivearchive.co.uk

That site is a cracking idea, but I don't think its very well known yet. I've put my mk1 on there, but none of my previous 4 cars are listed (they were nothing fantastic mind) I hope previous owners of my mk1 find the site 1 day. Would be interesting to find some history.