Scarecrow, you have made the perfect case for having 2 sets of anal retentive bureaucrats burnt at the stake. The Feds and the Insurance people.
Your point 2. how do you PROVE that all the bits are 15 years old or do they only care about engine and chassis numbers? I have read the rules about importing pieces of kit cars and those rules seem to be pretty obscure.
You are quite right: The rules on kit cars imports are not easy to sort out. But I spent more than a year seriously researching all aspects of this -- importing, registering and insuring -- before buying my car, so I think I've got a handle on it. Let's see if I can make it simple re: importing.
For completely assembled kit cars (incl. Cobras): The best way to prove the car's age is to have a state DMV-issued registration document that clearly identifies it as a "kit car" or "special construction vehicle," where the "model year" is the year+month the vehicle was completed and first registered for road use (i.e., 1995 MY or older). Transport Canada considers a government-issued document like this to be the most credible. However, many U.S. states register kit cars based on the year the engine was built (e.g., 1966 FE block), or the year the replica is meant to resemble, and in these cases you end up with the wrong kind of documentation (e.g., a 2005 Factory Five roadster being titled as a "1966 Cobra" which it clearly isn't). I had managed to find a seller in New Hampshire who had a very nice 1986 Contemporary Classic Cobra with the correct state title, but ultimately I ended up buying a resale Cobra in Canada.
For unassembled kit cars: Transport Canada prohibits the importation and sale of new motor vehicles that do not meet federal safety standards, and this applies to unassembled kits as well. On the other hand, it is legal to import car parts or what Transport calls "starter kits" for the home builder, provided you have obtained their written approval beforehand. The key is that the "starter kit" cannot contain enough parts to be deemed a "motor vehicle." And the problem is that Transport won't tell you in advance what can be included, or what must be excluded. They sure don't make it easy for you. Factory Five Racing and its official Canadian distributor, Western Canada Cobras (B.C.), have taken the time to sort this all out with Transport, which is why there are quite a few FFR "starter kits" coming into Canada and not too many other brands around (e.g., ERA Replicas, Kirkham, Superformance, etc.).
So, let's say you find someone selling a 15 year old Cobra kit that hasn't been completed yet (a project car that the seller has lost interest in). Is this eligible under the 15 year rule? Absolutely not. The kit car has to have been 100% finished/completed/assembled at least 15 years ago.
I'm a frequent poster on many Cobra forums and have seen many fellow Canadians make some serious and costly mistakes, so I try to pass on what I've learned at every turn. It is possible to realize the dream of owning a nice Cobra replica, but it's a bit of a minefield in Canada, and I encourage you to do your homework first to avoid nasty surprises.
Here's a photo of my Superformance Cobra replica, one of a handful of SPFs in Canada. It's a top-quality replica, is visually identical to an original 427S/C, and uses many original components -- real Halibrand knock-off wheels, Smith gauges, Lucas switches, MotoLita steering wheel, etc. Engine puts out 450-hp and car weighs 2400-lb.
