Ha! Yes I'm not getting any younger
@Tesla 940, that's what I've been telling my wife in trying to convince her regarding the whole roadster purchase. She has now given in, a couple days ago finally she said, just get one! But yes, I'm a perfectionist and an engineer, so getting a car wrapped might be a constant initiator of the OCD response that engineers like me inherently suffer from. It is a curse to be sure. I'm giving myself until the end of the year at this point. I'm thinking, come August, once the M3 is getting out, there will be a "flood" (relatively speaking) of roadsters hitting the market.....could be wrong, but that's my hunch.
As for expanding my search....well this is quite frustrating. To be sure, there are some incredible roadster specimens for sale in Europe. I was pursuing an awesomely equipped Magma Orange late 2012 Roadster Sport with full carbon inside and out for a really good price. I was ready to fly over to get the damn thing, but after exhaustive research on importing into the US, it became apparent that it would never happen. Unless the car is 25+ years old (classic car), it looks to be virtually impossible to get anything into our country. I read several stories of disasterous results of enthusiasts trying to import late model cars into the US only to be denied at customs. Yea, an EU spec'ed roadster will meet EPA requirements for sure, but not US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS). Unless the EU cars have the US sticker in the door jam stating they meet FMVSS, forget it. So, I don't know factually this isn't the case, but I'm guessing they don't have this sticker (can someone check an EU roadster, just to be sure?). I know the EU cars don't have TPMS and surely 2012 models don't have dual stage airbags either (this is why there are no 2012 roadsters in the US). So 2011 EU models wouldn't have an issue with the dual stage airbags as 2011 and earlier US models didn't have them either (due to an exemption that expired after 2011). But, they would not meet TPMS requirements either, and not sure what else?
So, some of the cars that were exported to Asian (Japan) probably do have the sticker as they were actual US spec'ed cars. Not sure about our roadsters in the great white north! I'm guessing they would be ok?
Anyway, this has all been a let down of sorts, we will see how my patience sustains itself over the next few months.
