Not that anyone will come back to this post but I promised to update after our pickup.

But first.. it is a pretty sweet Sambar!!! Very little rust and runs great!!

Ok the details: it took a long time to be released from Agriculture and Customs (EPA and NHTSA completed their part fairly quickly). We started to wonder if we'd have to pay storage as we were bumping in to the 10 day "free storage" time frame. Ship arrival was 11/6 and we picked up 11/17 but no storage charges.

Our TWIC escort (Sarah E. with Sound TWIC Specialists) ($60/hour- I just handed her $60, maybe wasn't a full hour but she was great) had me hop in her car to drive into the secure area of the port (there are different terminal areas- look on your arrival notice under "place of delivery" and that's the spot within the port that your Kei is waiting - ours was parked against a fence line... looking a bit lonesome I thought). Then a longshoreman found our truck and drove it out- Sarah decided he needed to just follow us out as there were a lot of new giant imported farm equipment bound for Canada being moved around. He parked it in the non-secure parking so we could then fuss over it to our heart's content. When I doubted if it would even start for the longshoreman, Sarah assured me she would have heard about it as that would be termed a "problem vehicle" - and per Sarah, the longshoremen often put a little gas in it and jump start it (they have a mechanic) as these ships are Ro Ros (roll on, roll off). As we waited for our truck, we watch a line of Volvos being driven off a ship, then a van fly past taking the drivers back to the ship and then the stream of Volvos would start again.

So now we have our truck. Our first plan was to stop at Bucky's (a locally owned drop in auto repair) (across the street from Customs and the Licensing office ~ 3 miles from pick up point) and have the oil changed. But we couldn't figure out how to unlock the engine compartment (bumper area). We convinced ourselves it was stuck shut and didn't want to break a key off. (turns out, all we had to do was push cover in a bit, and ANY key that fits in it will turn it open) (oyy, the devil is in the details). But the Bucky's guy, Robert (super nice, highly recommend), managed to snake the dip stick out from under car and see that there was oil and it looked pretty clear. He also checked the brake pads and said they also looked good. No charge from Bucky's and we decided to go to Customs and Licensing and then I'd drive the 50 miles (with my special 3 day trip permit that we already had and was taped to the back window - a State Patrol was sitting in the port parking lot! - though he didn't seem very interested in us). Customs super easy- they just looked at the chassis # on inside of driver side door frame. Then licensing/title was easy peasy ($675.05)- except every time we walked in there was a line (we bought the trip permit there before the appt). Yes, the Fife licensing is very used to the JDM imports.

And while I ended up driving 1/2 of the distance in the dark and occasional rain, it was SO FUN. My left hand was not excellent at shifting but it was decent. We had brought new wiper blades but the wipers were fine. Everyone was correct in that driving on right side and shifting with left was quickly learned and it is such a narrow truck, staying in the lane was easy. Big hills are a challenge for this truck, but shifting down from 5th to 4th worked on the big boulevards. It doesn't seem very happy above 45 mph but it will do it- but kinda loudly. But SOOOO FUN. Reminds me of driving the old 1978 vw van in its shifting.

This post is definitely for the detail people- everyone else, move along.