I envy you folks. The cost of ownership for these cars is literally double or more north of the border. Wanted to get an aluminum rad but it's just not worth it. $224 champion is over $600 by the time it's in my hands. Ended up settling on a Spectra CU750 from Rock Auto. Which is still $300 cheaper for me to buy there and ship it to me in two days then actually buy it in this dumb country, where it's actually made!!!

There's proof. So you know I'm not on the pipe. That's $1013 after tax. I paid $313 including the shipping from the U.S. Please adopt me.

 

Wow! I knew inflation was a problem for ALL of us; but never expected it to be that high. Recently I had to replace a motor mount in my stepdaughter's Sentra. I figure, $15 -$25 (USD), but the cheapest I found was $34.99. I have to stop and think now if the part is truly needed, and then where I can get it at the cheapest price. I feel your pain!

 

Can you drive down here and buy stuff cheaper to take home or they nab you at the border coming back??

 

Find an American friend to buy and ship parts to you, although shipping to Canada is still pricey

 

Depending on what it is I'll drive across to get it. Often times I grab things when I'm already there. It's just ridiculous how they nail is up here. Shipping brakes from Rock auto from NY to SC is $32. Shipping them to Toronto, which is a 1/4 the distance is $340. Complete nonsense.

 

Get everything from Summit Racing. I just bought a new radiator and fan(not stock stuff) and all in shipped to my door was like $600 CAD

 

I generally use Summit for pretty much everything. The shipping was a lot this time around so I figured I'd just go with the 750 from Rock Auto. 1 day shipping to me and by all accounts that rad should suffice just fine. It's an upgrade over what's in there now and the low end stock one seemed to be able to keep up.

 

Not sure how much of this was shipping, or where you live but in GTA use this company's services to ship across border

www.crossborderpickups.ca

 

I've been through all of that in the more than twenty five years I've been back into the hobby.
At one time, I'd make a couple of trips a year to visit a friend in Chicago (from Toronto). Then, the Canadian buck had a 2% edge over the American dollar. I'd take my van and my friend and I would fill that sucker to the gunnels with parts. I practically built my 2nd Camaro that way.
Now, it's not only shipping but the exchange is 40% after fees! Yikes.
Fully double the Summit catalogue price once it arrives at my door. That's how a guy ends up spending $7500 CDN for a Gen 1 short block's worth of parts. (To be fair a portion of that was for local machining).

 

The glory days

 

Amen

 

... and now imagine living in germany and owning three of these cars... like me... I got used to it to pay ridiculous shipping and german tax prices...

 

I've heard that in Germany it's quite difficult to mod a car from it's original build design. Again just something I've heard. Is it true that to even change the wheels or the colour you need some sort of approval or jump through a bunch of hoops?

 

$100 is about max, after that they put duty on it.

 

Taking my car to Europe for a last hurrah tour is sort of something I might say is on my bucket list. Ship it over, drive it around and sell it there.
I've never figured out the logistics of such a move though.
​​​​​​.

 

Bring it to Toronto. Someone will remove it from your driveway and it'll be in a shipping container on its way overseas that night. All without your knowledge.

 

Yep, that's right. If you want to mod your car, you can buy parts like wheels, spoilers and so on that have been tested and permitted with lots of documentations from the german authorities that are allowed to perform these tests and write these documents. This is more or less "easy" when you have a german car like a BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen, Opel etc... But if you have an imported car like the 3rd gen, every modification is a nightmare. For example, you have a Trans Am with the standard N24 wheels in 15" and you now want to ugrade them to the PW7 Diamond Spokes in 16". There is absolutely NO documenation about any parts from the US. Even if these wheels are original to the 3rd gen, YOU have to bring certified evidence that these are wheels are original and no further modification is needed to drive safely with them. If the guy at the technical inspection is cool with US cars and likes them, some memorabilia like old dealer handouts or other official brochures from dealers MAY be enough to get a certificate from this guy that allows these wheels. But if you want some 3rd party wheels like the common Cragar wheels or Boyd or whatever... forget it. It is a horror story... The same with springs. I wanted to install the Vogtland springs in my 92, that are manufactured under our GERMAN standards, DIN norms here IN GERMANY. But they have never undergone tests and have no official documents with them, 'cause they are manufactured for a car that has never officially existed here in germany. They have never been tested for this explicit car. I talked to the guys at Vogtland and they send me some sheets and documents about these springs but it took me for over a year to find an official technician that took the risk and signed the papers for me that I am allowed to put them in and drive around with them.
It is horrible if you want to modify an import car... especially with US cars because you guys in the US don't need any documentation or technical inspection for tuning parts like springs, wheels, spoilers etc. This can result in a nightmare here in our overregulated country...

 

Wow, that's insane! That's slowly working it's way here only it's under the umbrella of climate nonsense.

 

I could probably accomplish the same thing in Edmonton!
I spent a lot of years in TO. Went to school. Worked. Although I lived north of the city. Even that's crowded now.