Looking to buy a used Iltis in the U.S.

[charlie98210]

Originally Posted by Grant Bowker

Since there are almost certainly more Iltis avaialble in Canada, I'm curious why you state that the Iltis must be in the USA. Is it because it is as awkward getting "military " hardware across the border into the USA as it is getting similar items out of the USA?

According to the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Agency), which has been delegated the authority to regulatate the rules concerning importation of motor vehicles into the United States, all imported vehicles must meet all U.S. safety and emission standards which were in effect when the vehicle was manufactured. The rules also state that the only way to prove this is having the U.S. certification plate (issused when the vehicle was built) in its place on the vehicle.

So...if the vehicle was never meant to be sold in the U.S., there is no plate. The rules also say that having the car tested at an emission testing facility to show that it meets the emission standards is not enough. You must have a certified waiver, issued by the manufacturer, which shows that the vehicle was manufactured to comply with the U.S. emission standards, but was sold in a "non-complying country" and the certification plate was not placed on the vehicle.

Vehicles sold as "salvage" are banned from importation into the U.S.

So I figured my best bet is to find one which is already in the U.S. and have already jumped through all the hurdles necessary to be registered and driven.

The other alternative, I've been told, is to wait until 2010 for 1985 models, or 2011 for 1986's. Then they are exempt from the certification problems.

As you can see, this is a real can of worms as far as importing fairly modern cars or ex-military vehicles are concerned.

When I started looking at buying an Iltis, I thought I could just replace the engine with a U.S. certified replacement engine from VW. According to magazine articles written when VW started selling civilian versions, VW had it tested and it met U.S. crash and safety standards. But there's a rule against replacing the engine. too. NHTSA is interpeting the anti-emission equipment tampering law as including tampering with non-complying vehicles--sort of a Catch 22, if you know what I mean.
The more I research this, the worse it gets.