Legal Markings on Falcons

[ImpulseTaco]

First off, I'm hoping someone with a BA (or BF : ) will reply to this.

I'm interested in what (if any) legally required markings are on specific parts of falcons. I intend to import one in a couple of years, and having knowledge of markings on certain parts would be very helpful.

I'm not familiar with Australian Design Rules (I think thats what its called) but we have markings on cars that are legally required by DOT (dept. of transportation) and the NHTSA (nat'l. highway transportation safety admin.)

Hopefully, someone will be willing to go look at their car and see if its got these (or any) markings on (or describing) the parts in question.

First one is headlights:

and


sidemarker lens (i know its integrated on falcons)


Seatbelt Tag

reverse of tag


Windshield marking


Airbag warnings and 4wd safety (i know falcons ain't 4x4 :P )

more airbag warnings (flipside of sun visor)

[ImpulseTaco]

Door tag (on door pillar below striker, sometimes on door itself)


Driver's Side window


Emissions compliance label 1 (underhood)

Label 2/Vacuum Routing (underhood)


Brake master cylinder cap (shows DOT3 fluid requirement)


VIN tag on fender; these tags are all over the place (anti-theft measure)


Convex mirror warning


Lastly, if your going to do this, I want you to feel comfortable with posting information about your car on the internet, or have a means of editing sensative info out. Personally, I don't care about posting my VIN on the internet, so its unaltered in these posts. I'm not concerned with the VIN number itself, as I have found specific ones in for-sale ads on the internet that I used for comparison purposes, rather I'm concerned with all the labelling on the vehicle.

[EFFalcon]

while may car is older then a BA, it'd only have less markings then a BA would.
mine has: VIN tags that look the same as those on panels.
side mirrow warning for convex mirror.
airbag warnings on underside of mirror.
and from memory it has a tag on the seat belts, others i'm not sure on as i've never checked.
but as i said, my car is older (1995) so may be missing some of these markings.

[Dave_au]

Are those markings also required for private individual model imports?

Do the ricers with the Skylines in the US have to get these compliance tags - headlings, seatbelts etc? (excluding the VIN, compliance plate etc)

[ImpulseTaco]

Originally Posted by Dave_au

Are those markings also required for private individual model imports?

Do the ricers with the Skylines in the US have to get these compliance tags - headlings, seatbelts etc? (excluding the VIN, compliance plate etc)

Yes they apply to all vehicles regardless of who/how imported, (hint, why I'm asking this in the first place) In addition to actually having the markings, the equipment items (headlights, etc) should meet the markings on them. (if you see what I'm getting at) Also, there is NO exclusion for the VIN or compliance plate. The current japanese VIN, if you could call it that, is outright ignored, and the vehicle is issued a VIN when it is brought into compliance by a "registered importer" which CANNOT be a private individual. (More on that if you'll ask). Once its issued a VIN and all necessary items are brought into compliance, then a compliance plate (sticker in our case) is made and attached to the door or door pillar.

[ImpulseTaco]

I hope someone can post up pictures. I'm sure most (if not all) of these parts are marked on BAs, and I'm really interested in what they say.

[aquahead2001]

Mate,

I think you've got your work cut out for you as with any car sold in Australia, the mighty BA Falcon is design and manufactured to meet the Australian Design Rules, and the number one design rule that will be completely different to that of the US of A is we drive on the Queen's roads on the left, sitting in the right of the car.

You ladies and gents, of course, took umbrage to our dear and beloved Liz of Buck Palace and drive on the opposite side of the road.

That means the round thing with the nut behind it is on the wrong side, the lights are pointing where they shouldn't and there are some issues with the wheel alignment that are the least of your troubles.

In all seriousness, I suggest you check out the web as there is apparently a group that brings in Australian cars to the USA that may be able to help. Unfortunately, there will be no DOT or NHTSA approvals on a BA, but with the right information I’m sure you will be able to prove compliance to most.

Best of luck, I reckon that a good looking BA GT-P complete with stripes and all would really cause a stir!

[bob^]

Ok i took some photos for you but its dark outside and the flash has washed out a number of the images, but you should still be able to get the general idea. There is only 1 sticker on the underside of the bonnet, no fender vin tags, door tag i forgot to take photos of, ours just has information regarding wheels and tyre pressure, is that what your after?
The headlights have no markings on them.
http://blazovic.customer.netspace.net.au/xr6/markings/

[Captain Stubing]

Wouldn't you just need a list of the ADR's that the BA/BF has been required to meet, then cross-match those to the US equivalent?

The markings you're interested in are placed there by the manufacturers of the components, partly, to identify the part and to assist in case of a recall situation.

[ImpulseTaco]

To Bob^
Thank you very much. It looks like the master cylinder is okay, the passenger side mirrior, and the side window looks good. Those pictures were a big help!

In response to Aquahead:
One of the lucky breaks we have is that our gov't specificlly says that they do NOT care if the car is left or right drive as long as it meets safety standards. All of our mail vehicles are RHD, and in the country, they use jeeps and subarus and all sorts of non-government vehicles.
The problem with importing it through one of the companies that your mentioning is the cost. Parts that don't meet would have to be tossed, and new ones made. Then there is a whole separate issue of emissions, which is where the cost would skyrocket. I believe you guys are on Euro 2 or Euro 3 emissions standards, which, while much stricter than ours, don't meet the letter of the law over here. The big one is that there is a specific communication protocol, called OBD II for emissions diagnosis.

Now, all of the emissions and most safety requirements (including the one for crash testing) can be gotten around if the vehicle is shipped without engine and transmission, as I can claim it as a "parts" car. Then I can make a separate shipment of the engine.

Once its past the authorities, I still wouldn't be able to actually install the Falcon engine into the vehicle do to a clean air act over here. Heres where I get another lucky break: The XR8 engine is the same engine thats in several other vehicles over here, and no-one would be able to tell the difference even upon close inspection. Example being, our Lincoln Navigator uses a 5.4 DOHC (I think that is the exact engine in the falcon, save for different heads) as does the Cobra R. And the clean air act DOES allow for kit cars, as long as the driveline is taken from a "previously certified" configuration, which the Cobra R and Navigator both are. it:

The reason that I am so interested in the parts in question, is that the DOT has specific requirements for certain parts, the biggest being windshields and headlights, but also seat belts, brake hoses, and brake fluid.

Finally, I used to be a model railroader, so I'm quite familiar with some of the products used to duplicate lettering on trains, in miniature. Conviently enough, most of the markings on the various parts are of correct size for the model train decals to work. Specifically, the AS-1 marking, I KNOW I can reproduce exactly using those decals. According to Bob's post, it looks like I'm going to have to do something on the headlights too. The seatbelts will be another matter, what I may wind up doing is taking a tag from a car over here and stapling it into the falcon seatbelts.

But as I was kind of hinting at earlier, there is no way to directly import a Falcon, so I'm going to see if I can't do it this way instead.

[Steffo]

Originally Posted by ImpulseTaco

But as I was kind of hinting at earlier, there is no way to directly import a Falcon, so I'm going to see if I can't do it this way instead.

I'm not sure if it'll help but... http://www.madmaxcars.com

They specialise in importing Aussie cars to the USA. I'm not sure if they can bring a BA/BF or not, they seem to mainly cover the 1972 - 1978 Falcon Coupe's (XA, XB, XC), and the 1970's Holden Monaro's (HQ, HJ, HX etc). Worth a shot though.

[ImpulseTaco]

There are zero restrictions on importing a car thats 25 years old, or older. If I wanted one of those cars, I could get a better car for the money doing the importation myself.

I sent an email to another company, AussieCoupes.com, asking about importing a BA, and was given a very firm NO.