The worlds most interminable collection thread...?

[mat777]

Evening all,

I had confirmation today that my money has landed for some shite I've been discussion over since the start of June. 

It's all been a bit convoluted, as this particular shite is in Minnesota, and I've been in a 3-way (oo-err matron!) conversation with the seller and with a reputable car import agent, a Brit living in Texas. 

I was contemplating replicating this shite over here, but whilst the base vehicle was available here cheaply, the parts needed to make it special would have to be painstakingly sourced from across the states , gathered up and imported. It would then have been at least a week's work for a pair of mechanics at one of the handful of garage who still take on vehicle builds, rather than just flipping oil and brakes all day, with an open-ended snagging process afterwards. In fact, the more I've seen of endless niggles on the owners groups from people doing this for themselves, the more I'm glad I plumped for a completed and snagged example. 

It's cost me a lot of money and quite a few headaches (funnily enough, sending 5 figure sums overseas to a new payee will cause your bank and PayPal to raise eyebrows into orbit) but the light is now on at the end of the tunnel. I'm mega excited, because this is an "endgame" vehicle for me, a concept I've been searching in vain for for years but only recently became aware this fulfilling answer existed. 

Luckily a pre sale inspection came back with a solid thumbs up, and the seller seems a very patient and decent chap with a long ownership and a genuine reason for sale (these vehicles are usually very much a "keeper" as you won't see your build costs back in a sale).

Collection is now booked for early August. From Minnesota, it will be trucked to the Eastern Seaboard and allocated to a 40 footer with a suitable other UK bound car being handled by the agent . From there, it will take 6 weeks to arrive in Southampton, at which point I'll have to work out how to retrieve it as I can't tow it back myself legally.

It'll then probably take another 4 weeks to get registered. And so, thankyou for reading so far, and welcome to the world's longest collection thread!

[tooSavvy]

Is it 'still hot', like in Blues Brothers... 🤔

🚙💨

[Remspoor]

2 hours ago, mat777 said:

5 figure sums overseas to a new payee will cause your bank and PayPal to raise eyebrows into orbit)

First off congrats. 

Re the quote. Why not use WISE transfer?

[mat777]

So a bit of a belated update,  in mid August my precious mystery purchase left its home in Buffalo, the car going by transporter a d the title going by mail via the exporter in a convoluted arrangement to make sure all the paperwork is sorted!

 

On 28/07/2025 at 19:07, tooSavvy said:

Is it 'still hot', like in Blues Brothers... 🤔

🚙💨

 Not according to the Carfax report 😅 

 

On 28/07/2025 at 21:13, Remspoor said:

First off congrats. 

Re the quote. Why not use WISE transfer?

Ta! 

And well, if I knew enough about it I could have done, but hindsight is 20/20... The trouble with an unknown money transfer site is that if he just as wary as with a direct bank transfer! 

[High Jetter]

It looks big!

[Remspoor]

8 hours ago, mat777 said:

So a bit of a belated update,  in mid August my precious mystery purchase left its home in Buffalo, the car going by transporter a d the title going by mail via the exporter in a convoluted arrangement to make sure all the paperwork is sorted!

 

 Not according to the Carfax report 😅 

 

Ta! 

And well, if I knew enough about it I could have done, but hindsight is 20/20... The trouble with an unknown money transfer site is that if he just as wary as with a direct bank transfer! 

Wise is not unknown. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wise_(company)

[mat777]

The time has come...... 

T-minus one day, time to embark. 

How it started:

How it's going:

(poo count: 1, service station burger count: 1)

 

And HMRC can fuck right off, too

[hairnet]

😮

 

[scorchio69]

🫡

[comfortablynumb]

That's more than I have paid for any car I've ever bought.

(Come to that, it's probably more than all the cars I've bought altogether!😂)

[mat777]

1 hour ago, comfortablynumb said:

That's more than I have paid for any car I've ever bought.

(Come to that, it's probably more than all the cars I've bought altogether!😂)

It's certainly not been a cheap experience by any stretch of the imagination. And some of the current fleet have already got new homes lined up to pay off the borrowing for it. But this is an "end game" vehicle for me so the cost is (within reason!) less relevant....

 

Anyway, so.... what does one do in Southampton to kill a Sunday afternoon until the port opens at Sparrow's Fart AM on Monday? 

Not a bad start to proceedings

A touch of explorification 

Ah, bingo! 

[comfortablynumb]

Seems like a plan 👍

Edit- - particularly the beer😁

[Matty]

32 minutes ago, mat777 said:

It's certainly not been a cheap experience by any stretch of the imagination. And some of the current fleet have already got new homes lined up to pay off the borrowing for it. But this is an "end game" vehicle for me so the cost is (within reason!) less relevant....

 

Anyway, so.... what does one do in Southampton to kill a Sunday afternoon until the port opens at Sparrow's Fart AM on Monday? 

Not a bad start to proceedings

A touch of explorification 

Ah, bingo! 

Brilliant. Makes the entire buying job an experience to remember 👍

[Zelandeth]

Hmm...what in that shape would be far easier to find over there...

One of the original shape Jeep Wagoneers?  They seem to fetch strong money in good shape these days... though I'd think you could probably find one over here with enough patience.

Struggling a bit to come up with any other good SUV shaped ideas though!

Hope it goes smoothly for you.  I've tried to buy two cars from over there so far and ended up getting ghosted by the sellers before managing to get anywhere.

[stuboy]

usa govement wagon?

[Zelandeth]

Admittedly I have just automatically assumed it's something old...which is a bit silly given that one of the things I was trying to import was a 1998 Chevrolet Astro...

I'd still like to get that as it would be an absolute perfect all rounder for me in my view.  Does everything the Volvo does but in even greater comfort.

[EyesWeldedShut]

On 28/07/2025 at 18:48, mat777 said:

I was contemplating replicating this shite over here, but whilst the base vehicle was available here cheaply, the parts needed to make it special would have to be painstakingly sourced from across the states , gathered up and imported.

2 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

One of the original shape Jeep Wagoneers? 

I'm leaning that way - older Jeep/SUV thingy but in a US only build/custom build - pick up like this maybe?

[mintwth]

4 hours ago, mat777 said:

what does one do in Southampton

Looks like you've found Solent Sky and HMS Shrapnel (South Western Hotel & station).

The Dancing Man microbrewery is worth a visit. Then there's Bargate and walking the city walls if you have 15-30mins to kill

[mat777]

10 hours ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

I'm leaning that way - older Jeep/SUV thingy but in a US only build/custom build - pick up like this maybe?

 

11 hours ago, stuboy said:

usa govement wagon?

Somewhere in the middle of these! 

 

Anyway, the day dawns. Poo count 1, hotel buffet breakfast 1

[EyesWeldedShut]

10 minutes ago, mat777 said:

Somewhere in the middle of these! 

Has to be a Jeep Despatcher a la USPS then

[mat777]

Right....

Weather?  Miserable 

Breakfast? Digested 

Complimentary room teabags and biscuits? Snaffled

Hotel? Trivago 

 

Onwards for the final leg!

[mat777]

Soon 

[Pieman]

I hadn't seen this thread before - following!

[Tickman]

5 hours ago, mat777 said:

Soon 

 

Such a tease

[mat777]

Well, that was a long day! 

A short hop (well, a drive actually) to the port saw me finally - after it had to be jump started from flat - collect this beast 🤠

 

"But why", you ask not unreasonably, "did you go to the colossal cost and effort of importing a scruffy old Suburban when there's loads here already?"

Because this one is unlike 99.9% of other Suburbans either in America or over here:

The power and torque of a Big Block, with economy to match my TD5 Discovery 😎

And boy, does she have some shove - the 230+ mile trip home saw me happily suburb-ling along at 65 on a mere fraction of throttle - more commonly seen in the big twin-wheel Silverado pickups, this drivetrain was made to spend 500,000 miles pulling 10 tons of 5th-wheel trailers. So, it ought to cope nicely with my UK ones! 

Not that the trip was without worry..... Leaving the port on fumes with a handy Costco fuel station a mile away, I daren't turn it off again - I had a jump pack with me, but I suspected that could cause rather more forecourt consternation than simply leaving it running, drowned out by the noise of the pumps....

After my £120 pump limit translated into 88 litres of diesel, I now had half a tank (yes really!) so hit the road! 

Early afternoon saw me safely back home, where I  had a quick congratulatory snack

...before  I immediately set to with the remaining daylight. First to come off was the ugly mozzie mesh on the grille, followed by some spanner work to remove the Pedestrian Impaler 5000 front towbar. 

I then went to fit the spare front licence plate - purely for looks, as once it has an MOT and registration then some UK ones will be going on! Unfortunately it turned out the reason the front plate was in the boot, was because the plastic self-tapper inserts in the bumper were mummified to the point of disintegrating as soon as I touched them. However, removing the front hitch meant I could now get my arm inside the bumper to hold some washers and nylock nuts in place for some boots through the plate. 

Looks so much better already! Here seen intimidating the neighbours' cars

At the back, the exhaust extension needs removing, but this may need some angle grinder assistance because the slip-on part is well and truly rusted on. Inside, it's a case of "so much room for activities!" - goodbye to tenting at future shows and events....

The third row is also on the list of things to remove, mostly for space but also for weight. She's a hefty girl at nearly 3 tons, and every kilo removed is another legal kilo of payload!

 

So, now for a week or arranging appointments with the local auto sparky for fog light and front marker light rectification, before she goes for an MOT to complete the UK registration process.

I gave up naming my cars a while back, but I think this one is going to channel my core memories of Sesame Street, and be known as "Big 'Burb" 😅

 

[yes oui si]

Phwoar etc 

[Pieman]

That is INCREDIBLE.  I want to buy that and live in it!

[Schaefft]

Awesome, I still think this is my favorite generation of Suburban, they just look so good in my eyes, especially in black, with some decent factory wheels. Nice to see much of the addon stuff already getting removed as well!

Hopefully this will be as bomb proof for you as they are known for. For many this is peak GM truck.

[Zelandeth]

Worthy!

Last car I tried (and failed) to import was also diesel - albeit with a rather worse reputation for reliability!

[320touring]

Suitably epic and lame at the same time.

 

Cap duly doffed!

 

So what's the gen on these engines then? I'm ok with Cummins 6BT and early Powerstrokes, but don't know nuffin about these Duramax(?) lumps.

 

Apart from the name sounds like a condom brand...