Newish Returning Member

Richard,

In my experience, the best place to buy a LHD car is France.  <span style=”line-height: 1.5;”> LHD prices are not particularly low in the UK </span><span style=”line-height: 1.5;”>and, </span><span style=”line-height: 1.5;”>in France, the choice is far greater.</span>

There is a plethora of magazines and websites to view but I think th<span style=”line-height: 1.5;”>e weekly publication “La Vie de L’Auto” is particularly good.  It has an excellent number of ads, many with photos, and the rest of the magazine is full of interesting articles.</span>

<span style=”line-height: 1.5;”> Like you, I am not in France so I do not get the mag regularly but tend to consult their website for current ads.  It is very user friendly with </span><span style=”line-height: 1.5;”>a wide selection of  vehicles and yo</span><span style=”line-height: 1.5;”>u can tailor your search to only show vehicles specific to your choice of model, location etc.</span>

https://www.lva-auto.fr/petites-annonces.php?idType=AR2100&vue=galerie&idMarque=MA203&idModele=MO1046&debut=1885&fin=2016&idCarrosserie=-1&idDepartement=-1&prixmini=&prixmaxi=&motsCles=&idVae=AR110

Hope this helps,

B…..

Welcome back Richard,

There are a few TOC members on the west coast – nearest one may be the owner of a blue Light 15 in Healdsburg which is not too far away from you – contact John (membership@traction-owners.co.uk) if you would like the contact details – he may ask the member first.  There are a few others further away.

We used to live near you a long time ago and shipped a car (not a Traction) back which cost us about $3500 back in 2004. We avoided any question of paying tax on it because I had owned it for over a year. That’s not to say you would have to pay tax if you imported one that you had just bought, but there would be more strings attached as it would not be obvious you are not going to sell it immediately. It took a few weeks to get here and I wasn’t sure what state it would be in when it arrived – but actually it was fine.  There are a fair few – but not that many –  TAs in the states – both Slough and French. They’ve almost all come from somewhere else because not many were sold there in the first place, so whilst they are having an easy time in the California sun now they may not have done in their earlier life. I mention this so you can factor that in to your thoughts. I would expect to get a better choice in Europe and, as Bernie says, France would provide the best selection of LHD cars.

We have a number of ex-pat TOC members in France – again, John could put you in touch.

Have a look at the buyers guide – you’ll see your choices are:

• Big boot (1952 on) or small boot (up to ’52)
• Slough (probably RHD, chrome, leather, 12V, sunroof) or Paris (probably LHD, austerity spec, 6V)
• Wide body (Normale /Big 15) or narrow (Legere / Light 15). The wide body has more room, including more rear legroom and is easier to work on. The narrow body is prettier.

It gets more complicated and there is less to choose from if you go for pre-war (which includes roadsters) or the even longer Commerciale / Familiale or the 6 cylinder cars.

Chris

Hello Richard Moore

I’m a new member of the Traction Owner’s Club.  I’m in Sonoma county California and know other traction owners in the San Francisco bay area (including in Marin).  At this time I have a “light 15” here in Santa Rosa as well as a TA11BL in France. In the last few years I’ve had others as well.  If you want to talk you can reach me directly on my cell phone at (707)738-5462 or email at rnyquist@vom.com. PS: the blue light 15 is no longer in Healdsburg. It’s in Santa Rosa.

Richard Nyquist