I dont have experience with a older car YET.  I bought a 2001 2500HD from Houston, and a 2003 Jeff Gordon car from Connecticut...I had the seller fax me the Title.. I faxed it to U.S. customs (must be 72 hrs before crossing).. When the vehicles arrived in Port Huron, I brought them to US customs,and took title in and they matched it up, and stamped it.. Then went to Canada Customs and filled out FORM 1  paid GST and 206.00 for Form 1  Drive home, took vehicles to GM dealer for recall letter, and CTC for 30.00 import form.. Had vehicles safetied and paid PST  drove them around on Texas and Connecticut plates... presume older car is very much the same, especially if car was bult in Canada    Carl2

If you can fly down, or bus it. Drive the car home, at the border show you bill of sale ( title) pay your GST and off you go. ( my car 6000 Canadian, gst was about 430 ) thats all you have to do. If you transport it you will have to get a broker, which will charge you the gst plus transport fees, about 1000 US from anywhere in the US

My suggestion is to really pound the pavement up here first and leave no stone unturned. 

Now, this could be ignored if you are buying an allready restored car and you're paying $30,000-$40,000.  Fly down, and drive the car back. 

But what about if you're looking for something restorable, say in the $4000-$6000 range.  I would say stick closer to home.  Try Vancouver island. 

From Calgary, you can count on spending about $2000 to travel to California to pick up a car.  Most $4000 cars probably couldn't be driven 2500km without incident, so this means truck and trailer or transport.

I looked for about  year and a half in California for something(online).  I bought my car for $3000 5km from my house.  Right time, right place. 

-- Edited by 64 Canso at 00:57, 2008-03-28

I brought my 67 Nova SS home from Nebraska last fall. 1) I got the copy of the title sent to me, and faxed it to US customs with a page attatched explaining I wanted to import this car, and I was buying it in Nebraska. (As noted, this must be AT LEAST 72 hours prior to arriving at the border with the car) 2) I called Customs about 15 minutes after I sent the fax to confirm they had received it and put it in the file. 3) I went to get the car. I paid with a cheque, and did not keep a copy of the cheque. That is something I was told later I should have done. 4) I got the original title for the car when I picked it up. I also got my original bill of sale at that time. 5) I arrived at the border with the car, title, bill of sale and stopped first at the US side. They confirmed that the paperwork and car numbers all matched. (Plus the agent spent about 15 minutes inspecting the car top to bottom. I finally asked him if he was a car guy, because this was WAY out of the ordinary, and he smiled and said yes!) 6) I went to Canada Customs and gave them the copies of the title, bill of sale, and the name, address and phone number of the seller. Have this along in case they question the value you are stating. DON'T TRY ANYTHING FUNNY WITH THE VALUE, BECAUSE YOU WILL BE SORRY IF YOU DO AND GET CAUGHT. It's not worth the little bit you "might" save if you get away with it. I didn't have the copy of the cheque I wrote, and they told me to make sure I do that next time to document my purchase price. Prepare to pay $100 A/C tax if it has it. 7) Make sure when you fill out your form that you don't accidentally fill it out as a parts car. If you happen to check the wrong box, you will NOT be able to licence that vehicle in Canada, EVER. 8) Pay what you have to, bring the car home and do all the necessary paperwork online, and this depends on the age of it. Old stuff exempt.

Just to add to what Carl said. Make sure you verify the hours that US customs is open. I got stuck this way in Lewiston. Showed up at 7:00 PM Friday night only to find they close at 5:00. I had to pay to store the car at a shop in Tonnawanda until Monday morning.

I do this for a living,Our company brings old cars and any other cars across all the time,8 to 9 at a time on one truck