USA Puma

Ladies and gentlemen. Please find pictures of (possibly) the first Ford Puma in Georgia and in Florida!

The process was very smooth because of all the preparation made at the outset. I did not need an EPA approval, which was just as well because it hadn't come yet. The customs officer that dealt with me was very friendly, yet professional and simply stamped my paperwork because I had everything else in order and probably because I had adhered to her advice religiously over the last eight weeks or so. The paperwork was stamped with the date that I went to go and see her, which in turn gives me a year rather than stamping the paperwork with an exit date. Because I showed her pictures of my rigourously cleaning the car underneath etc., it seems as though I did not need an inspection either.

I was advised that I do not need to notify customs when the vehicle has to go or be exported. She told me that customs really won't care any more and just to enjoy my holiday. :)

I was so pleased to see my little car and drive it on to the American roads. I was so excited in fact that I thought it best to pull over and have something to eat to calm myself down!

Once I had eaten, I gave my insurance company a call and after about an hour of faffing around (whilst changing my number plates to the new "GB logo" ones), I was insured and ready to go. I'm led to believe that you don't actually legally require insurance as a temp import but - I'm not a moron. More on insurance in the step by step.

As a side note, I did notice when I removed the front numberplate that the way the grill is designed against the numberplate mounting points, it looks as though they may have intended for this car to come to countries with a small numberplate as the mounting looked correct for US or even Japanese plate! An interesting notion… Shame I didn't take a picture… Because in this case I was indeed a moron...

I hit the open road and drove from Georgia back down to Florida on a 410 mile drive which cost me two tanks of fuel at about $15.00 each. This of course was the most expensive stuff as 87 and 89 (US) octane I'm not quite equivalent to 95 RON. Quite often you will find 91 and/or 93, which are (roughly) 95 and 98 RON respectively.

$2.42 was expensive… I got $2.02 later on!

Remember, one US gallon is 3.68 L…

The car did not miss a beat on the way back down but one thing that interested me was the type pressures had gone up around 10 psi since leaving Southampton… No idea why other than the positions in relation to the hemisphere perhaps. Both ports of course are at sea level. I simply reduced the air pressure and the car settled back down rather than bouncing around like a lunatic.

Whilst getting the air sorted at a gas station, a lady came up to me to ask me about the car. She said her daughter was amazed that the steering wheel was on the other side and so I offered for them to check it out inside. Very excited, they each took a seat in the front of my car, took pictures and thanked me before continuing on their journey. I got back onto I-95 and the rest is a bit of a blur.

I just wanted to thank everybody that has supported and kept up with this blog and to anybody that has taken the time to read it as I know how daunting this process can be yet how interesting it is.

I will put up a step-by-step in due course with all the paperwork needed and so on, but in the meantime I can tell you that it really was a lot simpler and cheaper then I for one had expected.

… Provided you get the right customs officer…

Until my next post, thank you for reading. It has been quite a journey with some worries and woes. But like anything in life one is passionate about, I guess nothing can beat knowledge and preparation. If you want something enough - what's stopping you!

Chris and the Little Black Cat