Francos' Thread

[alabbasi]

With the price of the dollar right now, it would be pretty cheap to buy a US car. Not sure what the tax would be  but shipping is always a lot cheaper then people expect.

[francos]

Thank you all for your responses. It's good to see a place where everyone shares the same interest.

I'm pretty sure that I can't find a 6.9 in Israel, but the idea was to import it from the US.

Since I lived in Chile for a few years I can bring a car and pay only 70% of the taxes, unlike NIM205 who paid 140%. That is the norm here.

I expect to bring it within 6 months, but I think a 450SEL will do (because of a tight budget)

[alabbasi]

Francos

How is trade between Isreal and Jordan? I spent time in Jordan (16 years ago) and it was like 70's Mercedes Benz heaven. You may be able to sneak one across the  border when nobody's looking.

All the best

Al

[francos]

There is always the option of buying a car from Jordan, but the big problem is the horrible life that those vehicles endure there.

Almost all of the mercs in Jordan are either taxis or ex-taxis, or they are treated badly and pretty neglected by their owners.

I wouldn't go near a jordanian Mercedes, and to tell you the truth, if a merc in Israel is not in the hands of a collector, I can say the same about those.

I wouldn't buy a jordanian or an israeli Mercedes from a non-collector.

By the way, I have no problem crossing the border and buying one legally (Actually many israelis go there on the weekend to fix their cars or to buy parts), but I would rather buy a car in good shape that can be used daily or at least once a week.

Reliability is very important to me.

[alabbasi]

Good point, when I was there, import taxes were very high and these cars were coveted. W115 and W123 cars played the taxi role but never the W116's. They certainly were not collectors cars, but more daily driving family cars that were well taken care off.  At a 300% tax, even the cheapest new Mercedes would cost around 60k which is a huge junk of change for the average Jordanian.

I hear that the import tax was lowered and this could have well pushed these beautiful old cars into beater status.

Now check out this tastefully advertised example: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/mercedes-benz-450sel-6-9_W0QQitemZ280171194677

[francos]

Yes, the import tax here was recently lowered from 140% to 112% but still 116's are not very well appreciated.

About the example, I don't really know how tastefull that is, but the car is beautiful (If only it had tan leather interior and the other type of wood...)