Importing my Trans Am

[TransAmDan]

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I originally saw a purple one of these in photos which is why I had my '89 Firebird painted the same colour a year before as I couldn't afford the 4th Gen at that time. After going to Thorney Island with the Renegades in 2002, I decided to sell my 3rd Gen. I had my '89 Firebird 2.8MPFI for around 5 years until i got the itch to get a V8 version and a little newer. So I went on eBay, got my eye on ones of these. Certainly looked a bit more aggressive. Never brought anything on eBay before.

These are all the photos I had of the car before bidding.

Proof it has an engine, as that was a worry.


The eBay listing pointed out a small dent by the gas cap, so I could see the guy was honest.


Interior looked okay to me.


Also both doors open. So all looking good.


Nice view of the T-Tops.

Bidding
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The car was high mileage, with 85,000 miles on the click and being only 2 years old. I was assured that these engines just keep going. Well I'm on 140,000miles now(Nov 2009), and still going. The eBay bidding was fun, as this was the first time I have ever bid on anything on eBay. Was like playing a computer game, there was a bit of a bidding war going on, but I didn't want to let it go, and kept on bidding. The high mileage did help with the cost. Went for just under $18,000 in the end (exchange rate was $1.6 to ?1 at the time).

Shipping
My next hurdle was getting it to England. Had contacted the seller and he was happy to store it in a garage for a couple of week while i found a way to get it to me. Emailed many shipping companies, some wanted measurements of the car, some knew what a Trans-Am was. Some shipping companies gave me a quote 3 months later. I went for one that was $700. The car was located in Pensacola. Went across land for 3 days to Jacksonville where it was put on a large boat and arrive in Southampton docks around 2 weeks later.

Collecting the Car
Was well excited when I got the phone call to say the car is at Southampton docs and feel free to come down to collect it. The also said the customs charge was ?4000 payable in cash. My boss drove me to the bank, got the cash out and went on our way to Southampton docs. What a great way to spend the afternoon, boss take you somewhere away from work to pick up my new toy. Many sleepless nights were encountered leading up to this day. I think it was dock gate 20 we went to. Went over the Itchen bridge, with all that cash I had me I didn't have 50p change for the bridge. Found the place where we needed to go and handed over the cash then someone took us to the car to look round it and check for damage. We noticed there was a crack in the windscreen. oh no, what happened there. They said this can happen during shipping and they will note it down.
Started it up to leave, and it started no problem, had 1/4tank of fuel. Went to pull away and stalled it, doh!, use to a 2.8 V6, and I stall a 5.7 V8.
It drove home lovely, as we were driving out of Southampton a 7ish year old with his mum was walking across a crossing, he look at the car and put his thumbs up.