Reimporting RV8 Oxford Blue 1589, V8 Register, MG Car Club

Oxford Blue 1589 finally at home in Dorking. (Photo: Al Barnett)

Al Barnett has sent in his sixth and final report on his experience of buying and reimporting Oxford Blue 1589 from David Boniface in Japan who had advertised the car on the V8 website in March 2007.

When I first thought about buying Oxford Blue 1589 it was early March, cold and wet and I was dreaming of summer in a 'new' RV8. Well here we are mid summer and it is now warm, but still wet, and I have my 'new RV8'. I did not expect though that the import and registration would take almost five months but that is how things turned out.

By the time the financial transfer had been completed we were just too late to get a slot on the March boat to the UK. The next boat left Yokohama in late April but was delayed on route and arrived at Southampton on 29th May. I just had time to load the car on to a flat bed transporter and wave goodbye as it headed for Clive Wheatley's workshop before leaving for a family holiday in France and Italy. While on holiday I tried not to think too much about the MG and instead concentrate on the food and sunshine. Not too difficult except for the morning when a motorcyclist in red leathers stopped us at a roundabout, so that we could let through no less than 42 Ferraris, of all ages and types and all lovely!

We arrived back in UK on 10th July and the MOT and Insurance were waiting for me. The next day I visited the DVLA office in Portsmouth and handed over the documents and the money to a very helpful man who then seems to have lost the whole package for almost a week. After some frantic phone calls the tax disc eventually arrived on Friday 20th July, the day we were supposed to travel north to collect the car. That Friday of course was the day the rains came, by mid morning our little lane resembled a fair sized river. Common sense prevailed and we delayed the journey until Sunday and stayed with my brother in Newcastle under Lyme.

On Monday we made our way to Clive Wheatley's High Grosvener workshop and I had my first real chance to see what I had bought. Clive and Steve had done an excellent job preparing the car for UK roads, changing all the oils and fluids and checking the car from end to end. They had also had my second boot lid sprayed and the spare wheel rack refitted. It was by now raining heavily and I set off for Surrey driving very carefully! The journey was incident free and I even had the hood down for the second half of the trip!

Today, Tuesday 24th July, has been a lovely day and I have been spending time looking carefully at the car and wielding my sponge and cleaning cloth. Initial impressions are very good, with the car in excellent condition and clearly well cared for. The tuned and modified engine is a little