Street Serpent

[GTuned]

Ladies and Gents,

Any market for my Street Serpent here in the UK? I'm thinking of bringing it over now that I've permanently relocated here. Just no real parking near me where I live (Central London)

Feel sad that it's not getting much action where it currently is :(

558055815582

Has had a sprinkling of love lately ;) Headers, air filters and full exhaust system + much more.. 10,990 original never seen rain miles (seriously!)

[Anonymous]

That car is beautiful!

[GTuned]

That car is beautiful!
Thanks :)

[8.4L 154]

Sadly the market for vipers in the UK is very small, throw in some major mods and it's smaller still. Most of the half dozen cars that are for sale at the moment have been around for some time, Both stock and a couple of very modified cars. It seems the buyers/tire kickers that have poked their heads up aren't prepared to pay the asking prices, yet fail to acknowledge they couldn't get the same car from the US for even close to the asking prices let alone the import hassle.

As for your car, very nice, but I'm assuming its a gen 4 underneath and as such would be subject to our IVA test to be registered over here (anything under 10 years old), I'd say just looking at it there is no chance of it passing the test, My ACR only scraped through due to being as it left the factory as the test grandfathers in a lot of the test for cars with the US FMVSS and emissions sticker, otherwise the wing and splitter would be an immediate fail on external protrusions and minimum radius corners. Deviate from the certified specification much and they can apply the full test criteria.

So whilst there would be interest in your car on the road, at our and other events, sadly there is little chance of registering it here and there will probably be little interest when you try to sell, sorry to be so down on the idea.

Great car and welcome to the UK though

[C-Bass]

whats the price and is it in the US still?

[GTuned]

whats the price and is it in the US still?

Good question.. It is currently sitting in Cyprus, fully taxed.. Not worth selling back to the US where I imported it from :(


Sadly the market for vipers in the UK is very small, throw in some major mods and it's smaller still. Most of the half dozen cars that are for sale at the moment have been around for some time, Both stock and a couple of very modified cars. It seems the buyers/tire kickers that have poked their heads up aren't prepared to pay the asking prices, yet fail to acknowledge they couldn't get the same car from the US for even close to the asking prices let alone the import hassle.

As for your car, very nice, but I'm assuming its a gen 4 underneath and as such would be subject to our IVA test to be registered over here (anything under 10 years old), I'd say just looking at it there is no chance of it passing the test, My ACR only scraped through due to being as it left the factory as the test grandfathers in a lot of the test for cars with the US FMVSS and emissions sticker, otherwise the wing and splitter would be an immediate fail on external protrusions and minimum radius corners. Deviate from the certified specification much and they can apply the full test criteria.

So whilst there would be interest in your car on the road, at our and other events, sadly there is little chance of registering it here and there will probably be little interest when you try to sell, sorry to be so down on the idea.

Great car and welcome to the UK though

Thanks for the honest reply! It actually a late Gen III, and already SVA'd and MOT'd in the EU along with being fully taxed as you see it (i.e. as a widebody). I hope that should help?

The shame is that it has the Cyprus duties paid up too which are over and above the usual EU import duties.. The Cyprus duties came up to as much as the value of the car when it was imported (it was like buying two Vipers!); guess you'd have to be a diehard fan? :P

There's no market in Cyprus for this beast :(

[8.4L 154]

Sorry i assumed it was in the US. Unless there is some weirdness around Cyprus i would have thought it was an easy import from Europe then, although i have no idea what is involved from the EU. As small as the market is here, its got to be bigger than Cyprus, although you may do better in France or Germany.

Get it on a boat then and lets see it.

[GTuned]

Sorry i assumed it was in the US. Unless there is some weirdness around Cyprus i would have thought it was an easy import from Europe then, although i have no idea what is involved from the EU. As small as the market is here, its got to be bigger than Cyprus, although you may do better in France or Germany.

Get it on a boat then and lets see it.

I should have been clearer in my initial post! I'm receiving quotations for a container as we speak.. Hopefully it shouldn't need to be too long.

[Ginja]

Ooh, this is exciting - that car is beautiful! I can't imagine how much fun that must be in Cyprus!

[GTuned]

Ooh, this is exciting - that car is beautiful! I can't imagine how much fun that must be in Cyprus!

Thanks, hopefully soon we can find out how much fun it is in the UK too ;)

[VIPER BAZ UK]

Did we spaek on the phone a few weeks ago about this car????

[GTuned]

Not with me directly, however I'm sure several friends of mine and the dealership that will be presenting and storing it will have spoken to several people. Happy to chat about it anytime :)

[Fatboy 18]

When is the car due into the UK? Would be nice to see it :)

[GTuned]

Technically, the container has arrived today.. It should be on the street by Friday.. fingers crossed! It will be in Ascot at Super Vettura http://www.supervettura.com/ keeping some Koenigseggs and a Veyron company :D

[Vprbite]

Dude that sucks about importing. I know the UK has some wacky rules when it comes to bringing a United States car over.

ViperDave, can you tell me what it is about the wing and splitter that would fail your car? And emissions didn't play a part?

Also, no way to register it as a collector car/low mileage kind of thing? I know here, depending on the state, you can register a car as a collector car if there less than a certain number made and it can exclude you from emissions testing. My friend did that with his Lotus Exige. Here in Arizona my Viper qualifies but I usually drive over the miles that would call it a collector piece.

It's a gorgeous car man. Those SS kits are Good looking and VERY well made. Good luck with everything, but moving to central London, that car might see rain for the first time.

[Roy]

if this car is difficult to get on UK plates than I don't understand how my custom build 550bhp Classic mini Hayabusa turbo, RWD spaceframed monster wasn't a problem at all...crazy IVA people...

[8.4L 154]

Vprbite The rules are funny in that because the my ACR had FMVSS certification certain elements of the IVA test are covered by the US regs, this included emissions and external projections among a lot of other things. With the external projections there is a limit on the minimum radius of corners that can be impacted by a sphere of another radius (ie sharp corners hit by heads etc) I didn't go into the exact details of checking the wing and splitter when i put mine through the test as i looked quite likely the sharp corners on the splitter would fail and i was relying on the FMVSS rule above to get away with it anyway, the backup option was to remove them both and the winglets. Emissions was also covered by the sticker under the hood. However with all of the cross regulatory acceptance, if there is any modification and you cant convince the examiner that it is how it left the factory and was certified they can apply the full test criteria. As such pretty much any exhaust modification that increases db levels or messes up smoke emissions will fall foul of the test, Likewise if the wing and splitter were autoform et al after market they would fail too if they have sharp coreners like the ACR splitter. If you have the regulatory stickers and look stock then the sniffer and radius spheres don't go anywhere near the car, they just look at the sticker and put a tick in the box.

As for other ways, for cars older than 10 years they only have to be tested by the local MOT station which performs our yearly test on all cars over 3 years old, This test is FAR FAR less rigorous than the IVA test and is also performed by private businesses under license from the government and as such the already less strict rules are variably applied depending on your relationship with the tester and their dedication to being a pain in the * or nice to you, depending on if they like you or not or the potential revenue stream to fix your "failed" car, The IVA test is done by the government agency and as such they are dedicated to the rule book and clipboard and being a PITA.

Once you have your IVA certificate you can do what you like to the car providing it can pass the lesser MOT test each year, although it may not necessarily still conform to construction and use regulations which may see you being stopped at the roadside by the police and the same lot that do the IVA test, but you would have to be really unlucky or have really pissed someone off to fall foul of that.

On the whole from what i have read about importing to the US it is probably easier to import a car from the US into the UK than it is to go the other way, But again it depends a lot on the individual state rules much like it does within the EU, As such GTuned's car which is already registered in the EU (presumably before the mods) should just be a paperwork exercise to move to another EU state.

Roy, its all down to if you meet the rules or not, Dodge made a car with a sharp edge on a splitter and an exhaust right on the db limit, on the other hand Edd China made a sofa car that conformed to all the rules, (although I'm not sure the original design would pass the current regs) so you can build nutty stuff within the rules, there is also the grey fuzzy area between modifying an existing car and building a new one via IVA rules

[GTuned]

On the whole from what i have read about importing to the US it is probably easier to import a car from the US into the UK than it is to go the other way, But again it depends a lot on the individual state rules much like it does within the EU, As such GTuned's car which is already registered in the EU (presumably before the mods) should just be a paperwork exercise to move to another EU state.

I would agree, I have imported cars from all over the world, and it would seem that the EU is more open minded. The Gen-III was also officially made into a street legal car in the EU so in principle they should be OK with a few adjustments, however, the ACR came later and perhaps some picky countries may have issues with the spoiler. Incidentally, I have registered it with the widebody, as it was fully built in the US and then shipped over complete. Cyprus is in many ways is far stricter than the UK, for example engine swaps are only strictly allowed if the car came out of the factory with that engine option, so definitely no cross-brand swaps or even cross-model swaps (say a RB26 Skyline GTR engine in a Silvia).

Some chaps from Dodge once told me that the Gen-II Vipers left the factory with rear exit exhausts in the US in order to help increase European sales.. Dodge had been thinking of EU sales for a long time.

[Fatboy 18]

ome chaps from Dodge once told me that the Gen-II Vipers left the factory with rear exit exhausts in the US in order to help increase European sales.. Dodge had been thinking of EU sales for a long time.

This is true, they were also marketed as Chrysler Vipers in the UK, Not 'Dodge' and I believe power output was lower.

Rules have changed now, but when I had to put my car through SVA, I took off the aftermarket rear wing, had to add a rear fog light and side repeater lights and sort out front light alignment. I left the Belanger cat back system on and the car passed the test, then after the test, Wing went back on along with a whole bunch of other stuff over the years :D

[Vprbite]

Wow. Kooky rules. I am not sure what FMVSS and IVA stands for. Is that purely emissions or is it the stuff about pedestrian protection? I know Europe has stricter rules about pedestrian protection. I didn't know your wing and splitter would fail you though. Sounds brutal, all that testing.

Here it varies by state and then by county in that state. But it's not as confusing as that may seem. For instance, certain counties require zero emission testing at all. Goose egg. Nada. Though you can still drive that car in any county or state without thinking twice. You need to register your car where you live and do most of your driving. But you can drive it anywhere. However, certain modifications could get you pulled over and cited in other areas. Here in Arizona we have a lot of lifted trucks and if we have rules about headlight height and tires sticking out we certainly don't enforce them. However, if you drive to California for a vacation, your emissions aren't an issue but you can be cited for your tires sticking out from the body of the car too far.

Sounds tricky but it seems easier than the Europe/UK rules. Though I guess it's just about the trickyness that you are used to.

When I lived in Paris, there was a guy I saw driving a 67 firebird screaming loud everywhere it went and all I could think is he must have gone through so much to get that car there and keep it there. Must cost a fortune. I have no idea who he was but I am sure he was some kind of big dog.

[Vprbite]

Good luck selling the car though. I love those SS kits (if I had a vert I would want it to be one of those) and I would think someone would want it, especially since you went through all the import trouble. Doesn't it cost about as much as the car just to bring it over from the states?

Good luck. Beautiful car.

[8.4L 154]

Vprbite, IVA is the Individual Vehicle Assessment, its just our test for cars that don't have EU type approval, FMVSS is the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, which is the US DOT set of type approval criteria, our equivalent is the EC Whole Vehicle Type Approval (ECWVTA), all of which are the tests and standards for the whole vehicle and the FMVSS and ECWVTA involce crash testing etc whereas the IVA is for self builds and private imports which means we can avoid crash testing and use the standards of other countries etc.

Yeah i guess we have different pedestrian safety criteria, although i suspect they are quite similar given the ACR splitter has the cut away center section, which i expect is only there to bring the leading edge of the splitter behind the leading edge of the vehicle which presumably in the US means it doesn't have to be blunt or soft anymore, whereas in the EU it would still be contactable by a 100mm sphere, therefore needs a min radius of 2.5mm.

Realistically it was amazingly easy to import a stock ACR into the UK and the only real changes i had to make to the car was changing how some of the lights behaved and adding a few stick on LED strips for lights the US don't usually require or have different viability criteria, Overall i probably spent less than $200 on parts including those ones i brought and didn't use for whatever reason or changed for nicer less compliant versions after the test, then the test is about $300, and shipping is only about $2000. The biggest cost by far are the taxes.

On the other hand the crazy stories you hear about the US and the regulations around importing vehicles with engines that don't have type approval in the US, such as some of the EU small volume supercar manufactures having to import rolling chassis and then fitting US built engines in the states, there is even a story within the UK viper club of a member (before my time even) who took his export Viper (branded Chrysler and made for the EU) to the US when he emigrated only to find he couldn't register it in FL because it didn't have the right federal stickers and paperwork. In the end with the help of the old club and letters from Dodge he was able to convince the authorities it really was made in Detroit. Most if not all of the TVR's that have made it to the US have had the original engine pulled out and LS engines fitted in place, not a bad thing probably but a lot of effort.

It does seem strange when we see all the US custom car TV programs and the stuff they put together that you can import a TVR into the US, but then i guess all those programs are re-building US cars and using US motors. But then you don't have the sofa car as far as i know https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWfCczHfYSQ (see if you can spot fatties viper) I dont think there is anything here that would stop anyone having a lifted truck or other significant changes after a car is first registered, we just dont seem to have the fashion of lifted trucks over here, but we do seem to let the yonguns get away with tire stretching which is pretty dangerous the way some of them do it and the authorities don't do much unless its extreme.

[GTuned]

Good luck selling the car though. I love those SS kits (if I had a vert I would want it to be one of those) and I would think someone would want it, especially since you went through all the import trouble. Doesn't it cost about as much as the car just to bring it over from the states?

Good luck. Beautiful car.

Thank you! :) ou are absolutely correct, for the car to be as it is today, and where it is today actually cost significantly more than double what it started life out as; not that it was ugly, but.. that rear on the factory 'verts is just nasty imho :o

But then most of us know what it is like, once you start on a dream project, it doesn't stop and I have to say it was worth it. It was a dream of mine to own a Viper since I was in college..

[GTuned]

Keeping some nice cars company ;)

6252 6253

Feel free to drop by, SuperVettura will be supplying much nicer photos soon :D

[Fatboy 18]

Any interest yet on the car?

[GTuned]

There has been a surprising amount of interest in general and it seems to also attract attention from people seeing it as they pass by and curious as to what it is. Although the leading contender seems to be a collector and wants to take it abroad..

Some photos :)

Front View
http://www.supervettura.com/images/wide%20body%20viper%203.jpg

Front 3/4 View
http://www.supervettura.com/images/wide%20body%20viper%201.jpg

Rear 3/4 View
http://www.supervettura.com/images/wide%20body%20viper%202.jpg

Side View
http://www.supervettura.com/images/wide%20body%20viper%205.jpg

Side View w/ Hard Top
http://www.supervettura.com/images/wide%20body%20viper%207.jpg

Interior
http://www.supervettura.com/images/wide%20body%20viper%209.jpg

Mileage
http://www.supervettura.com/images/wide%20body%20viper%2011.jpg

[Fatboy 18]

Have to say it looks Great, Good luck with any sales :) It looks very at home in the car toy shop :D

[GTuned]

Have to say it looks Great, Good luck with any sales :) It looks very at home in the car toy shop :D

Cheers! :) It definitely looked very "at home" with all the other cars there :D

[ibroker]

Cheers! :) It definitely looked very "at home" with all the other cars there :D

That dealer are really doing you no favours, no surprise it has not sold in nearly a year if my experience is anything to go by.

I called on Saturday morning to enquire about the car and a possible PX and visit, no one called me back. I called again first thing this morning and was told I needed to speak to James who would be about half an our, no call back, I called again late morning and its now 4 hours later....no call.

Do yourself a favour and dump them thats shocking service.

An hour ago I placed a deposit on a 4 month old car 2015 model that I will now import.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I thought you should know.

[GTuned]

Thanks for the heads up, and sorry to hear that. I will have a chat with them right away, they are usually quite good :(

I'll send you a PM in case you still want to discuss something about it.

[Fatboy 18]

Come on then ibroker, what have you bought..........Gen V?

If so it could be the first UK car? .....................that I know of! :)

[ibroker]

All being well !!
13700

[GTuned]

Congrats and good luck, I like the colour, but I may well be a tad biased ;)