I just attended the wedding of an Autopian reader in Nuernbreg, Germany, and you won’t be surprised to hear that it was located in an awesome car museum. I am spending the remainder of the week in the area with my parents, who live here with their dog, cat, 2011 Chevy Equinox, 2015 BMW 320i, and — most importantly — my 1994 Chrysler Voyager diesel five-speed. It is one of the greatest vehicles I’ve ever had the pleasure of owning — and it played a big role in getting me through 2020’s COVID lockdown with at least a few of my marbles still intact. Two and a half years later, the thing still runs like a sewing machine, as the cliche’d expression goes, so I don’t want to get rid of it. The only problem is: I might have to. I could use some advice
I landed in Munich a few days ago to celebrate perhaps the greatest gift I’ve received as a car writer: Friendships made with readers — specifically, one made with Andreas, a Romanian-German with a heart of gold and an Autobianchi of not-too-much rust.
I landed on Friday and attended his 12-hour wedding the following day. It was in an incredible car museum; here’s a small section of it:
There was a lot of cake:
Why was there so much cake? Because as I show in this video below, Jose, the bride, is a baking legend:
There was also dancing:
And there was Romanian moonshine (Visinata):
The wedding was beautiful. The vows, which I’ll admit made me spring a bit of a headlight-fluid leak, included much discussion of Andreas’s love of cars, and of the bride and groom’s upcoming road trip to the U.S. (which I will be third-wheeling). Plus, many of the decorations on the tables were car-related. It was epic.
I mention this primarily because the vehicle I took to the wedding was none other than Project Krassler, my 260,000 miles diesel, manual Chrysler Voyager. A bit of backstory:
Back in 2020, after Andreas bought the van on my behalf, he and I —along with some of his friends — replaced almost all the major wear components in the suspension and steering, we slapped on some new tires, fixed the shifter linkage, changed all the fluids, swapped out some bad CV joints, and on and on. Here’s a look at all that hard work:
After a number of attempts, I got the van through Germany’s grueling vehicle inspection, TÜV:
At that point, I hit the road, first to Belgium, since almost every surrounding country was closed due to COVID restrictions:
Then I headed to Sweden, where I saw the supercar-maker Koenigsegg’s headquarters:
In the summer of 2021, I traveled to an gorgeus wedding in Istanbul, and then to a honeymoon in Cappadocia, where I picked up a hitchhiker. It was hell, but also awesome:
In the 10,000 miles I put on the $600 van after reviving it from the dead, the only issues I’ve had are with headlight and taillight bulbs. There was a tiny leak from a CV boot, but I just tightened the clamp, and all was good. Now I’m back home in early 2023 — 2.5 years since wrenching this $600 beast back onto the road — and how does the ol’ van run these days? Like an absolute dream:
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A bit of an aside: On my way to the van after the wedding, I spotted this rare American Jeep ZJ:
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Anyway, now to the point of this article: What should I do with this van if my parents, who are now storing the machine, decide to move back stateside? My options include: 1. Store the van here, ask a friend to graciously register it as an antique so I can drive it when I visit 2. Sell it or 3. Import it to the U.S.
My concern with number two is that Europe is cracking down hard on diesel vehicles, and I fear that, if I sold it, it wouldn’t be long before it was on its way to the junkyard. As a rust-free highway cruiser in excellent mechanical shape, I feel it deserves better. I’d love to import it, but California likely won’t let me, even if it’s 25 years old. And the storage option? Well, that could work, but when does it end? Perhaps an overlanding trip to Africa could be the goal. These are tough decisions.
What do you think?
I’m going against the general consensus here. Sell it in the EU.
Didn’t you meet a Mopar Caravan fanatic in your journey’s over there? Wouldn’t he make a great steward for PK?
Don’t most cheap used cars sold in Germany wind up in Eastern Europe anyway? They have a great history in keeping cars running just shy of forever.
Load it up with care packages and donate it to the Ukraine. You could even talk to that one guy who made you that one particulAR-15 offer for the Tracker about adding to the care package. Every bit helps!
Andreas doesn’t have a friend in Romania that could use a reliable, diesel people mover? I have to think it would last longer there than in Western Europe, though I am not up to date with EU regs beyond the 2035 goal.
Has David ever taken any advice?
He needs your advice, but he will not “take” your advice.
Armor it and send it to Ukraine
Portable missile platform. Like HIMARS but Chrysler.
Make it a loaner car for Autopian members travelling to Europe.
Maybe only for Autopian Rich Corinthian Leather Members…
Things you get (physical):
Everything in Velour plus:
A week’s use of Project Krassler per year.
Hell, that could work!
Ship it over, write an article about that. Then write a series of articles about jumping through all the hoops of registering it in California. Write it all off as business expenses for taxes. Then cruise the open American highways as that thing is begging to!
I was going to suggest this exact same thing.
Now, I am not rational about this. My family car growing up had that same VM engine. Hearing it purring hits my soft spot…
So yes, give the import a go and let us know about the process! You can even convert it to run on vegetable oil once it is here, to add an extra backflip. There is a rather large community for that in LA.
I agree with giving it to Andreas…..
Give it to someone in need (with a full tank of fuel for which I will gladly pay).
I’m thinking it’s time for an Autopian Round-the-World Rally hitting obscure automotive history sites heretofore unknown to Western civilization. Sort of an “Around the World in 80 Days” adventure where you drive the van till the wheels drop off, then you give it a Viking funeral. Maybe Mercedes comes along as an outrider/scout with a couple of bikes. That way you’d have ride home.
Import it here and give it to a lucky reader? 😛
If your parents move back to the US, what state would they move to? In some states, it even goes by county. And a few other factors, too. Some exempt diesels, some have a model year cutoff, some have a rolling 25-year exemption, etc.
No way in hell California will allow it.
Too bad you didn’t go with the newer generation, which looks really awesome but had transmission problems! The manuals sold in Europe might not have that issue.
Is the manual transmission on your van the same as the ones we got here? Yeah, that was when they still offered manual in the US 😀
It’s the beefed-up version found on vehicles like the GLH
Thats good – my parents had a manual gasoline 2.5L? NA Caravan… I think it was a 1984? Anyway, it finally met its end when the transmission just completely locked up going around an off-ramp from the highway, locked the front wheels, and the whole thing skidded to a stop with all of us in the car.
Me thinks importing and homing them in another state is the best option. I like the Torch location. Might be great for Otto in a few years…
As an aside, one wonders how folk like DT and MS afford the insurance on their collections. Even liability t’aint cheap.
The Vantopian has to come stateside. Just make it happen.
DT, why is this even up for debate? You have the videos, all the memories, and all the stories and goodwill that resulted from that whole adventure. You have made a big decision to change your life, so do it. What the heck are you gonna do with a beat-up Chrysler minivan in LA, anyway? Even if it is “running nice”, it’s still a crappy minivan that ain’t gonna make you any money and its content value for the site has seen its apex already.
To quote one Anthony Kiedis (you probably won’t get the reference) :
Give it away
Give it away
Give it away, now!
Are container fees still outrageous? This might be a decision that economic forces make on your behalf.
Cost no option, that van is much cooler stateside than on the continent. It’s also just begging to be “perpetually loaned” to someone in a more forgiving but similarly rust free domicile. Have any good friends in need of a quirky minivan in Arizona?
Bring it over, register it somewhere besides California, and use it to promote the site. If you find you don’t need it or can’t really make use of it, raffle it off in a membership drive next year. Anyone who signs up or renews gets a crack at winning a piece of Autopian history.
As with the majority of your automotive acquisitions, shoot it, burn it, bury it, forget it.
That would simply be utterly irresponsible unless David imports it and does all of this during a Lemons Rally, in which case it would be utterly irresponsible and probably worth bonus points.
If I understand California’s laws correctly, you can import it into the state, but you’ll have to do the work to make sure it meets smog, and that may not be worth it for an old cheap van.
Edit: Apparently, California doesn’t test diesels as old as your van, I say send it on over!
That said, you know which state doesn’t care about smog? Illinois. You know which employee of yours lives in Illinois? Wink wink
As a fellow Illinoisian, I must remind you that van will be swiss cheese after a single winter.
It’s a carrier for rust after having prolonged David contact. No risks should be allowed that cause the condition to become acute.
Not sure how far outside Chicagoland Mercedes lives (and don’t need to know for privacy’s sake), but Cook County definitely has emissions testing, and I think most of the collar counties do too. Not a big deal for a relatively new car, and not even much of a headache if you don’t go on the last day of the month. It’s just a guy plugging into the OBD port while the car idles, but I can imagine a 25 year old diesel is going to take some more work to pass.
I live right on the edge of emissions testing in McHenry County. If I were to move give or take a mile, I wouldn’t have to test anything! As of right now, Illinois only tests model year 1996 and newer gasoline-powered cars. So, this van would be too old and too diesel to fall under IL’s radar.
There’s also something sad about the IL test. The state doesn’t actually check your emissions. Instead, the testing station plugs an OBD reader into your car and checks to see if any system is reporting a malfunction. In theory, you could roll in blowing oily clouds of smoke and still pass so long as your check engine light has been off for long enough.
And who is going to have an extra large storage structure on the grounds of her new home? ^^wink^^wink^^
I was going to suggest shipping it here and leaving it with the Torchinskys, but Mercedes’ suggestion is the MOVE.
Does Jason have room to park it at his place? That would give you an East Coast car whenever you’re out that way. Or do an EV conversion, either in the US or Germany. California has a bunch of EV conversion places. I am assume the paperwork side of converting it would be easier in the US.
Doesn’t David technically own The Marshall?
That being said, keeping it in Germany and getting the historic registration next year (it’s a 1994 model, right?) would be the cheapest option. How does it work currently with car tax and insurance? Are you able to have that in your name without being a German resident? Or is in your parents’ name?
It’s in my parents’ name. Taxes are few due to my dad’s job as a government employee.
Maybe the van won’t be banned if it’s historical. That could be a workaround; I just don’t want it to be scrapped. It’s a great machine!
If I still lived there, I’d say you could keep it at my place. It would be useful to have the use of a 7-seater on occasion (although I think you only had three seats installed the last time I saw it). The current H-Zulassung car tax rate is 192€, and I’m sure insurance would be super low.
Why is your parents’ dog called cat?
Wedding present to Andreas & Jose?
A Porsche 911 made of chocolate. And some greenbacks for gas.
Nice choices. They wouldn’t want the van too?
Maybe give it as a charity donation to Afghan or Ukrainian refugees, as long as you can follow its progress?
That would seem to be in line with meeting and helping people through cars, provide possible content for the site, make sure that it would continue to be used, and save you all the importation headaches when you’re trying to downsize your fleet
A Fine Corinthian Leather membership to The Autopian, obviously.
At least with things sold here originally there’s no emissions testing on diesels produced before 1998 in CA, but I know nothing about importing things and that probably doesn’t help.
For what California calls a “direct import” (a vehicle not originally made for the US market), they do require diesel vehicles made after 1980 to meet EPA and CA emissions standards.
It may very well be the case that the Voyager meets the standards as-is, of course, and would just need to be tested, assuming it only needs to comply with what was in effect in its year of manufacture.
“an Autobianchi of not-too-much rust” ROFL
David,
Can it be registered to an LLC based in a different state as an ‘Autopian business vehicle’? Similar to the 500000 businesses with the same address in Delaware, or Kalispell Montana. Or a stateside friend register it in their state.
That would be a cool ride for stateside touring, and a unique sight! I vote for import it.
I have read that Vermont has a very casual attitude toward registering vehicles from non-residents, but I don’t know how much the importation would complicate that process.
Vermont won’t care so long as you have a bill of sale/title and a good VIN. Though, I wonder if an old smoky van with a VT plate will be a cop magnet in California? My VT-plated cars don’t get any attention, but Illinois is also a lot more chill about cars.
I say bring it over. Just make sure you track down a parts car first and strip out any and all unobtainium European-only parts (especially drivetrain). Stash all those parts inside and ship all of it together, if they’ll allow it.
Filling it with spare parts only works for container shipping, in which case sure, go ahead and fill the vehicle and the rest of the space in the container. For roll-on/roll-off shipping the vehicle must be empty.