Further update on reimporting Oxford Blue 1589

Oxford Blue 1589 at the docks at Southampton (Photo: Al Barnett)

Al Barnett has sent in his fifth report on his experience of buying Oxford Blue 1589 from David Boniface who had advertised the car on the V8 website and then reimporting it to the UK.

I am delighted to report that on 1st June I collected RV8 (Oxford Blue 1589) from the docks at Southampton. The formalities were straightforward and within 10 minutes I had left the office of YA Logistics clutching three copies of the Release Order. One copy was for the custodians of the storage compound, one for the dock exit gate guard and one for my records. A couple of minutes later we arrived at the compound, surrounded by a security fence and seemingly full of new Nissan 350Zs and other high value machinery. I glimpsed one Woodcote Green RV8 in the distance but there, just inside the gate, behind a Mazda Bongo Camper - what a wonderful name! - I could see an Oxford Blue RV8.


Clive Wheatley had organised a low loader and I met Gerald Bowater, the owner-driver, at 08.00 inside Dock Gate 4. (Photo: Al Barnett)

Sure enough that was it and in a couple of minutes the compound staff had connected a starter pack and the air was filled with the splendid noise of 5 litres of V8 rumbling through one of Clive's single box exhaust systems. I then waited, nervously, whilst the car was manoeuvred out and into full view. I have heard stories of cars being damaged in transit and that the spare wheel and the CD player would almost

certainly have disappeared. Well the car was dusty after five weeks at sea but a quick examination revealed no sign of any damage and that all the equipment was present. I took a few pictures and then drove the car, very carefully, onto the lorry.

Five minutes later and the transporter was out of the docks heading north for Clive's Shropshire workshop and I was driving home to Dorking, trying to keep a big grin off my face. I am very relieved and realise I have probably been very lucky. My thanks go to everyone who has been involved with the project so far and particularly to David Boniface, the previous owner, as the car really does look as good as he described it.

Frustratingly, that very short drive, all of twenty feet, onto the lorry is all I can do for several weeks, as in the next couple of days Fiona and I head off to France and Italy for a series of visits that were agreed a long time ago. We will be back in mid July, by which time Clive will, hopefully, have the MOT completed and the car prepared for use. I will then have to go through the registration formalities and hope to have the car on the road by around 20th July.

So there we are just one more part of this diary to go and that last entry should cover the registration details and my first driving impressions.


The RV8 came over from Japan on the Asian Sun - any worry that it might be an ancient tramp steamer seems unfounded ... it's operated by Eukor Car Carriers.

Diary of reimporting Oxford Blue 1589
We felt many members would be interested in a series of running reports on Al Barnett's experiences with reimporting this RV8. So Al will be sending a series of reports of how he has organised the export arrangements, freight and insurances, reimport procedures, collection from the UK docks and preparation for UK roads. The full set of reports is available using the links below.
Report 1
Report 2
Report 3
Report 4		 Report 5
Report 6
Report 7
Report 8