DKW Auto-Union Project: 1953 DKW F89P Meisterklasse Import

Back in late 2016, after Shelly and I returned from a tour around Germany which culminated with a visit to Audi Tradition in Ingolstadt, I came across what looked like a complete and in reasonably good condition F89P Meisterklasse. I had always found the Meisterklasse an interesting car and had desired one for some time. Suitably inspired from the recent visit to Germany, I plunged in and agreed to buy the car. The car was in Portugal, so I began the process of importing the vehicle, something I was familiar with from earlier.

In 2012 I imported a DKW 3=6 sedan from South Africa. Although it was a lengthy process it went smoothly enough and the car arrived safely with a minimum of fuss. Whenever people asked me advice about importing a vehicle under the personal imports scheme, I recommended it as a viable means of obtaining vehicles that are otherwise rare in Australia and explained the many of the nuances and things to consider. http://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/importing-south-african-dkw.html

However, unknown to me at the time, in 2017 Border Force (formerly Australian Customs) implemented a zero tolerance policy on ALL asbestos containing materials and began to actively target classic car imports. Little did I know, this purchase was about to descend into farce and nightmare.

Zero Tolerance for ALL Asbestos Material
On 4 March 2017, without prior warning to shipping and Customs agents, Border Force announced a zero tolerance policy for ALL materials containing asbestos. This change of policy was a knee jerk reaction to two embarrasing incidents involving Chinese manufactured products; one being building materials supplied for the new Princess Margaret hospital in Perth, and the other being Geely and Great Wall cars, all of which contained asbestos. The government found a loophole to allow the Geely and Great Wall cars to enter the Australian market - the importer placed a sticker on the firewall and owners manual warning of asbestos in certain parts and advising that only official repairers work on those parts. To divert attention (I believe) and give the impression something was being done, Border Force started targeting personal vehicle imports.

Under Australian law it is illegal to import or export asbestos, but the interpretation of that law had excluded materials containing asbestos within itself. For instance, if there was asbestos within the gasket of an engine inside the engine, that was acceptable. Not any longer. Now, any component that contains any amount of asbestos is banned and could result in the importer being fined and the vehicle seized and destroyed. These new rules resulted in all personal vehicle imports to Australia going through rigorous inspection and testing of all parts that possibly contain asbestos, including testing of brake linings, gaskets, fibrous washers, heat shielding and soundproofing materials, mastic coatings and clutch linings. As all vintage and classic vehicles are likely to have some asbestos material within them, Border Force actively targeted these vehicles.

My Experience in 2017
As mentioned, when I saw this rare 1953 DKW F89 Meisterklasse posted for sale on an international DKW forum, my interest was piqued. The car appeared to be complete, largely unmolested and in reasonably fair condition. It was also very cheap. The seller was in Portugal but was agreeable to help with shipping of the vehicle to Australia.

My car arrived at the Fremantle docks in February 2017, the week after the new rules were introduced, and was consequently subjected to asbestos testing. The rear brakes, the head and manifold gaskets and in a mastic coating on the underbody all tested positive for asbestos so the car was impounded and now the real problems began.

At that time procedures to deal with this problem were not in place and neither the shipping agent nor Border Force could agree how to proceed. After a discussion with the shipping agent, I proposed that myself and my mechanic friends from Classic Gasoline attend the depot and remove the offending material. This offer was rejected by Border Force as we were not ‘authorized’ to enter the dockside area. Border Force insisted I needed to engage a professional asbestos remover, but there were no asbestos removers who had the requisite automobile experience to work on a vintage vehicle. Further discussions were held and we then proposed to attend together with the professional asbestos remover in order to provide them the necessary technical guidance to work on the car. This offer was however refused.

Amusingly I have discovered the ABF are using this photo of my car in their Asbestos Policy briefing pack

We were forced to wait while affected industry bodies unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate some sort of workable process with Border Force. Eventually Border Force agreed to our original proposal to remove the asbestos ourselves, under their supervision. After completing the necessary paperwork, obtaining permits and booking a time to attend the depot, Border Force realized that conducting these repairs in a storage depot without the appropriate facilities might be unsafe and our permit was cancelled.

Discussions now turned to taking the vehicle to an offsite location where the work could be done safely. Border Force first declined, then approved a suggestion to transport the car to the Classic Gasoline workshop. Then they changed their mind again and advised the car could only be moved to a certified asbestos removal centre. After they realized that there was no such thing as a certified asbestos removal centre, they relented and approved the car to be moved to Classic Gasoline. Paperwork recommenced, but once again we were thwarted at the last minute when Quarantine intervened. Quarantine advised that the car could be moved to Classic Gasoline for removal of the asbestos only after it had been spray cleaned, but that it could only be spray cleaned after the asbestos was removed. Catch 22 meets Franz Kafka....

We returned to our original plan to remove the asbestos onsite and re-booked a time to attend, but once again this was cancelled at the last second by someone in the Border Force hierarchy who again demanded the work be done by an asbestos specialist. After another frustrating round of calls, it was finally agreed that the asbestos inspector, Rhys and Wayne from Classic Gasoline and I would attend the car and complete the removal of the asbestos material under Border Force's supervision. This occurred on the morning of Wednesday 26 April 2017.

Despite the less than satisfactory environment we were required to work in, it only took us four hours to remove all the offending material. We were very fortunate that the DKW is a simple car with a very small engine which could be removed without the use of a hoist. Border Force certified the removal of the identified asbestos material and arranged its formal seizure and destruction. A great deal of paperwork was involved.

Mastic coating in the wheel arch to cover a bad rust repair

After scrubbing with degreaser and a wire brush

The offending material is bagged up for disposal

I believe my car was the third personal import vehicle impacted by the new rules in Australia, consequently, my experience may be somewhat atypical. Nevertheless, the first six months of the new process saw some appalling treatment of vehicle importers, such as this experience documented by Mike Sheehan of Ferraris-Online: http://ferraris-online.com/pages/article.php?reqart=FOC_201707_SS2- Border Force and the shipping industry eventually formulated a coherent process.

Details of Border Force's policy and its implications are extensively documented here: http://www.border.gov.au/Busi/cargo-support-trade-and-goods/importing-goods/prohibited-and-restricted/asbestos

DKW Auto-Union Project

Sunday 20 January 2019

1953 DKW F89P Meisterklasse Import - April 2017

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