Were and how do you buy them,go t America and buy and import yourself or is ther places that just sell them in the uk ? A friend is interested in buying one for shows ? Any help or info pls,ta 
i think it would be better to buy direct from the states. the dealers here, really ramp up the price.
but contact HMRC about import duty.
think there are a few boys on here who have or had them,pete 359 and tramper i think are the names,try pm them .
glenman:
think there are a few boys on here who have or had them,pete 359 and tramper i think are the names,try pm them .
hi all,
what i did was after taking advice from a mate who had twice bought and shipped his own yank trucks,was buy the truck,i used ebay usa to do this.i then contacted rybeck shipping in sheerness for a quote.i then paid rybeck a Ā£300 deposit,rybeck then liased with the seller in west virginia he delivered the truck to baltimore in maryland for me.18 days later when the truck arrived at southampton i paid rybeck Ā£6,000 and hired a low loader and went to southampton and returned to south wales with my truck.beware of any dodgy import duty scams and dodgeās,i have been told of some real horror stories.i know the import duty and v.a.t is just another way of gordon brown rapeing you,but when i went to uk register my truck the first thing the dvla asked for was my import duty/vat certificate.
regards andrew
did you consider buying from aus/nz at any time pete359 ? just wondered if that would have been an option and you could have got a truck in right hand drive.
glenman:
did you consider buying from aus/nz at any time pete359 ? just wondered if that would have been an option and you could have got a truck in right hand drive.
hi,
a good question glenman.yes i did consider that,however the shipping was horrendous.itās approximatley Ā£3500 to ship a unit from the usa to the uk,aus/nz would be atleast double that figure ,that would work for a smaller vehicle,or anything that will fit in a container as a shipping container is relativley cheap,tractor units wonāt fit and have to be driven on and off which all takes time and costs money.to be honest the left hand drive doesnāt bother me at all,if i did sell it then there is every chance it would go to holland as the cloggieās love americana,so a right ā ā ā ā ā ā could be a double edged sword.thanks
regards andrew
are they on a 12v system? is it a big deal to change them to 24v? or am i missinformed?
i looked into this a while back ( 6 months ago) infact.
spoke to a guy who had imported a western star. he paid under Ā£6k to buy it and have it shipped to southampton and pay the duty.
however he also told me that he had registered his as a showmans vehicle and as a result does,nt need an mot. obviously this means that the braking system does,nt need upgrading and that no tacho is needed or limiter.
now i dont know if this bit is true but he also said that aside from converting the brakes which aint cheap that if you import a truck built after a certain date. 98/99 i think then a digital tacho is needed and the cost of one of these and associated sensors costs bundlesā¦
as i said he registered his as a showmans vehicle but was,nt there a case a few months back with a lincolnshire trucker who went to court as he had been driving an american truck ( for private use) without an mot.
he was let off as the court deemed the truck to be a locomotive and hence no mot was required 
.
and im also led to believe although its a tax cheat 
that you pay less import duty if you register it as a motorhome and you pay no import duty if its registered as a disabled vehicle.
however what changes needed to turn the trucks into motorhomes or disabled vehicles must be carried out before import and noted on the vehicle registration docs before import to.
hi,
yes they are 12 volt,which must workout fine as they have been like that for years and stil are now.so hereās a question why have 24 volt?
regards andrew
pete 359:
hi,
yes they are 12 volt,which must workout fine as they have been like that for years and stil are now.so hereās a question why have 24 volt?
regards andrew
thought it was only for easier starting on cold mornings. when i was over there the trucks were left running all night beccause of this and the fact that most had no night heaters.
i believe letting your truck idle all night is getting banned in a lot of states now though.
dave:
pete 359:
hi,
yes they are 12 volt,which must workout fine as they have been like that for years and stil are now.so hereās a question why have 24 volt?
regards andrewthought it was only for easier starting on cold mornings. when i was over there the trucks were left running all night beccause of this and the fact that most had no night heaters.
i believe letting your truck idle all night is getting banned in a lot of states now though.
hi dave,
i have been to the usa several times and the winter weather in certain states is far more severe than anything we have had ever in the uk,so thatās the cold start theory dealt with.i think you will find that mainly as a result of much cheaper fuel the yanks in all vehicles āleave her runā,
whilst on holiday in florida i have seen dozens of cars in the car park of supermarkets ticking over just to keep the car cool even though inside itās empty!try that in youār local tesco.
regards anderw
pete 359:
dave:
pete 359:
hi,
yes they are 12 volt,which must workout fine as they have been like that for years and stil are now.so hereās a question why have 24 volt?
regards andrewthought it was only for easier starting on cold mornings. when i was over there the trucks were left running all night beccause of this and the fact that most had no night heaters.
i believe letting your truck idle all night is getting banned in a lot of states now though.hi dave,
i have been to the usa several times and the winter weather in certain states is far more severe than anything we have had ever in the uk,so thatās the cold start theory dealt with.i think you will find that mainly as a result of much cheaper fuel the yanks in all vehicles āleave her runā,
whilst on holiday in florida i have seen dozens of cars in the car park of supermarkets ticking over just to keep the car cool even though inside itās empty!try that in youār local tesco.
regards anderw
just going by what i was told when i was over there when the temps drops below a certain level battery drain is increased apparently hence they leave them running and you do get more cranking power with two batteries rather than one.
if you you leave your engine running all night the coolant wont freeze up etc but you would,nt get much heat out of an idling motor.
i agree with your sentiments though, 24v just means more expense.
ps. is there a pic of your motor on here ā ā
hi dave,
oddly enough,mine has two batteries,two 12 volt batteries wired in series,donāt ask me,i know itās odd,itās american and they are thanks
regards andrew.
pete 359:
hi dave,
oddly enough,mine has two batteries,two 12 volt batteries wired in series,donāt ask me,i know itās odd,itās american and they are
regards andrew.
nice motor that
pity about the american junk beside it 
Pete359:
so hereās a question why have 24 volt?
Power = Current x Voltage (P=IV)
24v compared to 12 means less amps for a given power requirement, and therefore thinner gauge cable, thus it creates less expense for the manufacture rather than create thick cabling to deal with the high amps from a 12v system and also less complicated design in running light cables along the chassis.
It all comes down to cost in the end, iām sure its more important to the European operator than the Yanks.
ā ā ā ā trucks they have though.
weird train of thought in this thread, just because the trucks have 12V power sockets doesnt mean its not running on 2 batteries, all the trucks I drive here in Australia are 24V trucks with 2 batteries but the cigarette lighter power sockets are all 12V
dave:
pete 359:
hi dave,
oddly enough,mine has two batteries,two 12 volt batteries wired in series,donāt ask me,i know itās odd,itās american and they are
regards andrew.nice motor that
hmm move that piece of junk scania out the way so we can see that pete a bit better.
Voltage has nothing to do with actual power available. Most trucks here have FOUR standard truck batteries nowadays and still operate at only 12v. My truck/trailer has a total of 80 lights fitted as standard including all of the LED markers and operates in a much more extreme weather enviroment than in the UK, both cold and hot conditions. Despite being 12 volts it has much more battery power and a deeper cycle than trucks i drove in before i emmigrated.
Importing yourself will probably work out chaeper, but registration can be a minefield. Iāll PM you with the contact details of people who can supply vehicles already here or can import for you.