Help: Recommend A Car Body Place Please

[ChasesDragons]

Hello,

I am living out of SL, now. But I have a 1969 Mercedes W114 that is off the road.

It needs repair to the bulkhead and the suspension control arm mounting points at the rear.

I have come up with a devilish plan; ship the car to SL and have all repairs done there....may be even do an engine conversion.

Any ideas who I can access for this kind of job? The repair costs are ridiculous here and the mechs do not do it often enough to be good at it, if they are not a dedicated restorer.

Pics for titillation!

[Charith H Jayasinghe]

Try contact Komisiripala, he did and doing a good project recently from a guy called Nishantha around Kolonnawa. Hope he will post more details soon unless send a PM to him.

[Jaliya48]

Finding a good tinkerer is easy...what's not is getting your project to Sri Lanka! Did you find out about possibilities, costs, etc?

[Komisiripala]

You can't ship it. Sorry. There's how's the devil and the plan.

I think you can bring it down for personal use. But then you can never transfer it. At least 10-15 years or so.

First look into the legal aspect of this. If its possible then we'll think about the tinkering

[Rumesh88]

Komi is right but you can explore the possibility of temporarily (subject to a time limit of 3 months) importing the car to SL with the approval of the Import and Export controller on the repair and return basis. Follow the link http://www.gic.gov.lk/gic/index.php?option=com_info&id=427&task=info〈=en You need to check these regulatory issues at both ends and depending on the country they may not allow certain modifications at your end when re-importing. Even if you work out solutions for all these be prepared to hold the tinkerer at a gun point, otherwise you'd never meet the time limit to re-export (Project R bear witness). Your idea is good but the execution is the problem.

Edited August 8, 2013 by Rumesh88

[ChasesDragons]

Damn guys, always the walls! Every corner I look around, always the bloody walls.

Over the last few hours I have found a couple of local probabilities.... I will explore this, initially.

I am aware the the temporary importation Claus...but whoever thought of the 3 month limit is off their geddy man! It will take that just to get the welding near complete.

Another option is to buy a Land Rover locally and upgrade it.

My current run about is a Land Rover Lightweight. It is upgraded by mating the body to a 1990 Discovery 200tdi. I guess I can't even import this for personal use into SL, as it is 1990?!?

But, I have a spare 200tdi engine stored for "other purposes" in the garage. Easy to ship and fit to a series Sri Lankan Landy?

Guys, its a pleasure to talk to petrol heads of the old country!

Udhi

[Rumesh88]

Nothing is impossible in your "old country" as long as you approach the right people in the "right manner".

[ChasesDragons]

This is true. I still haven't learnt the art, in SL.

I will chase up Komi's reference.

Another option is to get an SL registered LR or Toyota, 80s diesel....or a beetle like a Baja style beetle.

[Hoonigan]

Even if you get the vehicle down, you will have to have someone down with the car breathing down the mech's neck. Talented as they are some of our best guys tend to have a serious case of ADD!

Importing a car into SL for re-export wouldn't cost you as much as a 'regular' import. But the paperwork might eat into your determination first. And as mentioned earlier, getting the car back into wherever you live might pose bigger issues, especially if you swap motors.

For the cost, time and effort, you might find it more sensible to get it done locally.