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Tue Dec 20, 2005 11:19 am

Does anyone know if theyknow somebody that was sucessfully registering a Mexico Beetle in the US. I have done some research and would like to know if the only way is to have a US Beetle chassis and replacing all the parts from one to the other.

If that is the only way, how much work is involved replacing the chassis and $ estimate.

Thanks,

Ed

Wed Dec 21, 2005 1:21 am

Swapping all the parts onto a US registered chassis is cheap and easy compared to trying to meet current standards.

The biggest hurdle I think is the requirement for cars in the USA to have OBDII (or III) onboard diagnostics. First go to engineering school and earn a degree in electrical engineering, then begin to design an ECU that provides such diagnostics. That shouldn't take much more than 4-5 years, providing you did well in high school.

Swapping all the parts onto a US registered chassis takes 3 days with a couple of friends helping.

Wed Dec 21, 2005 3:52 am

All the Mexican Beetles i've seen were on old pans.

If there was a easy way to register them "as is" it would of been done.

Wed Dec 21, 2005 5:48 am

I talked to a guy that had one and he said he had to register it as a kit car(home built), not sure what he had to do but it sounded like it was a pain.

Wed Dec 21, 2005 10:23 am

registration varies state to state.if its in states already,depending on your state,you can just apply for the title.ive had 3 of them and all were different.one i bought was titled with original vin in florida and all i did was transfer it.another was done in ct and they registered it as an assembled car from different cars and assigned a special vin,the other had the tunnel replaced and used the vin from it

Wed Dec 21, 2005 11:16 am

There was a 1982 Bug in CO. that an illegal was driving during the fruit picking season. The Bug had expired tags and no insurance so it got impounded. All cars at CO. auctions are supplied with titles when you purchase them so someone ended up with an '82 Bug with a CO title. Pretty cool.

Wed Dec 21, 2005 2:02 pm

Back in 2001 I had a '55 oval shipped over from Sweden. When I went to pick it up it was sitting beside 5 2001 Vw beetles that a guy was trying to sneak over here. It made my job a bit harder that day because the US agent said that mine was ok after he inspected it. He also said that there was no way in hell he was going to let those Mexican beetles in. Don't try to bring one of those through Baltimore Harbour.

Wed Dec 21, 2005 9:53 pm

I know a guy who drives around a mexican beetle. He took the id plate and chassis number from a junked out beetle he owned and welded it to the mexican one. Totally illegal but he drives it daily and it is reg. under historic tags.

Thu Dec 22, 2005 1:48 am

KillerTux wrote: He took the id plate and chassis number from a junked out beetle he owned and welded it to the mexican one. Totally illegal ......
I heard about a guy that did that. He doesn't have the car anymore. It was crushed, and they gave him a criminal record in exchange.

Thu Dec 22, 2005 2:05 am

Yikes. Excuse the dumb question, but what is it about Mexican Beetles that makes it so hard (or impossible) to get them registered in the U.S. I don't think I've ever heard why...

Thu Dec 22, 2005 2:21 am

V.W.Baron wrote: Yikes. Excuse the dumb question, but what is it about Mexican Beetles that makes it so hard (or impossible) to get them registered in the U.S. I don't think I've ever heard why...

they dont meet modern emission controls and saftey standards.

Thu Dec 22, 2005 3:07 am

67jason wrote: they dont meet modern emission controls and saftey standards.

I think the final ones produced and sold for the Mexico City area may pass US emissions standards, except I'm not sure about the computer's OBD issues.

The biggest problems though is the lack of ABS, air bags, "crumple zones", side impact protection, and the like. There's only so much you can do with this 1930's-engineered body and by the late 70's VW had done about as much as they could with it for safety.

-Andy

Thu Dec 22, 2005 10:36 am

All Mexican Beetle were built exactly the same. There isn't a "Mexico City" version.

Even though the engine has VW's digital fuel injection, and can in some conditions meet the USA/Canada emissions standards, it lacks the most important requirement. OBDII diagnostics. All cars sold here have a standard socket within close proximity of the steering column so that auto shops and the smog cops can plug into your car to determine if it has any problems with the EFI. I think it some places (Oregon?) they don't even sniff the tail pipe, they just plug in and interrogate the data log in the ECU. There is no such feature on the Mexican Beetles.

Cars sold here must pass the emissions standards under many different conditions. Cold weather operation included. The Mexican Beetle's Digifant does not have a very sophisticated cold weather handling capability since Mexico is a tropical country. Cold weather as we know it rarely happens there. Although, in my observations, it handles the cold pretty well. Better than any German carburated Bug I've owned.

As far as the warm weather operating standars go, the Mexican Beetle's FI is more than capable of meeting the USA/Canada emissions standards, since the standards for Mexico are now the same as ours. Their standards have been the same as ours for about 10 years now.

Thu Dec 22, 2005 12:07 pm

Well starting next year (2006) all 1981 or older car is legal in US as it's 25 years or older. Besides that, Mexican Beetles are illegal. There's ways around it people slip by (false VIN, etc) but they're all technically illegally modified cars and if authorities finds out they'll impund and crush the car. You maybe able to import them for collector's showcase only or raced (not street legal). Yes, some mid 80s, 90's Beetle shas made it here somehow with legal titles, etc because they've slipped through the cracks.

In short, you want a 100% legalized Mexican Beetle, spend 10's of thousands of dollars making it DOT approved (crash specs, emmissions, glass, etc) though that's not guaranteed also. Some billioaires buy super cars and often can spend over $100k or more trying to get them passed DOT but still fail so some things just aren't road legal here no matter what.

Go to your local Customs office and ask an officer. I've talked to a bunch in the past from my old job. They're helpful and tell you exactly what you need, etc.

Thu Dec 22, 2005 3:30 pm

This summer I was asked to appraise a Mexican Beetle legally registered in Texas (with a Mexican VIN) for insurance purposes. I refused. Here is my take on Mexican Bugs. Some states without emissions testing are very lax on registering a car. Afterall it is just a license and proof of ownership that is taxed. Some states basically do not care if it has OBD II, crash test worthiness, meets emissions etc. Why? Because it is not written into state law. On the other hand it is in federal law and in the case of the Mexican bugs this is what really counts. Who cares if it is legally registered in state XYZ if at any time the feds can confiscate and crush your car and fine you considerable amounts of money for being out of compliance. On the other hand there are cars sold on earlier chassis that are reconstructed with Mexican Beetle parts. For all intents and purposes that car is the year of the chassis whether it be a 70 or 71 or 72 etc. I believe this is how all the MexiBeetles and some others were sold. They may have actually closed that loophole in the law too as I have not checked and no one seems to have been selling these re constructed cars as a business for the past few years. If it has a true Mexican VIN it will have letters and numbers in the same format as a new Golf or Jetta instead of the old style numbering system.
Insurance is the other matter. Mexican Bug VINs do not show up in insurance company data bases therefore they don't know what it is. The person asked me to appraise it for an amount less than what he paid to submit to an agreed value type of insurance. No thankk you. I could just imagine someone hurt or killed in some accident and all the lawsuits that would result by everyone involved. It won't matter a bit to the lawyers that the car was "legally" registerred in the state if it wasn't legally imported in the first place. As nice as the Mexican Beetles(there are quite a few of them where I live most of them with Mexican plates) are I do not believe they are worth the hassles and potential problems involved.

Thu Dec 22, 2005 3:49 pm

I have a converted 2000 Mexi on a 68 pan. I also have the customs paperwork. It came into this country as a "1968 repaired Volkswagen".

Basically, if the car was LEGALLY imported to the states, there is no problem. The only way to LEGALLY import one it is to put a new car on an old U.S. pan... With this done, there was absolutely no problem with titling and tags. The car was imported as a 1968 VW.

End of story...

Thu Dec 22, 2005 8:13 pm

for medicinal purposes?

Fri Dec 23, 2005 8:41 pm

I think there's a lot of parts on that beetle that won't pass DOT so you're going to have a real tough time unless you change the VIN. I don't think you really need to change out the whole floor pan, some people just cut the vin out of an old chassis and weld it onto a new one. But if you want to keep everything stock, you'd either have to go with moving everything to the old chassis (I think this is too much work) or it might be easier to just slap the VIN plate from the old chassis in there and seal it on and put some undercoating around the thing. I've heard people do this in CA on bugs, just haven't heard of it being done with a mexican one. Personally, I wouldn't bother with a 70's sytle bug.

Fri Dec 23, 2005 8:58 pm

In the mid 90s there was an article in Automobile magazine about the Mexican bugs. VW of Mexico wanted badly for VW to reimport the car to the US. The article mentioned that these cars would pass the safety standards except for airbags-and Porsche had already completed all of the R & D on these for the Bugs. Several updated models were presented to VWAG by VW of Mexico, but we now know what there answer was.

I have a 1990 Mexican Bug, with a clear IL title. It had an IL title when my buddy bought it off of a used car lot, and it transferred fine into his name. And when I bought the car from him, it transferred into my name no prob. I had it insured through Gieco and now Farmers. They added 4 additional "0"s to the VIN on my insurance card as the VIN is too short otherwise. Here in AZ they do a have a vehical inspection before registration-a bit worried about having to walk home, but we shall see!

Sat Dec 24, 2005 8:43 pm

If you swap it out to a late model pan, its just like buying a NEW body. I dont see why that would be illegal. I would do it. I live 1 hr 30 min. from mexico. I can go looking for one. I have a pan too. I'll drag it across in a covered u-haul... easy, right.