[Lang]

Bruce

You have to apply to the Heritage Commission for export of any pre-1945 vehicle. It goes before an "expert" committee.

If you look at their site you will find almost no bans have been made on any items (including artwork and any other heritage artifact) and permits have been given to nearly every application.

It has to be a SERIOUS national treasure to have export stopped.

They look at among other things if there are any others of that type in Australia (in this case I know of 3) and if it has any particular significance ie "this was the exact vehicle Lt J. Smith drove to personally crash through the walls of Damascus to win his VC"

I have both imported and exported significant vehicles without problem. Somewhere in their preamble they say that "We live in a global village and if we allow significant vehicles to be brought out of other countries to Australia we must allow traffic in the opposite direction." With the huge upswing in vintage/classic imports to Australia they said about 3 years ago that Australia is running about 2:1 positive in gains versus losses.

It is highly unlikely the FWD would fail to gain an export permit.

The asbestos story has been overblown and any normal vehicle will have no problems getting back in. We brought in 5 Model T Fords about 18 months ago with clearly visible (external auxiliary brake bands) woven asbestos linings and three different inspectors made no comment. If you wanted to bring in say, an older refrigerator truck with asbestos insulated walls, that volume might cause problems supposing you actually voluntarily told them or they bothered to ask. It would be advisable to remove obvious asbestos such as the insulation sheets inside engine covers and bays.

Lang