Pan-Am Classic Rally

So, I have a sister, she lives in Central America.

She is not doing well financially and is in need of a second vehicle, so she asked me to pick something up. Vehicles cost 4x as much or more down there and the selection is terrible. So I bought her a jeep XJ (cherokee) manual everything, so it should be a good vehicle for her(merry Christmas :).

Problem being, getting it down there. She is willing to pay someone (who does this for a living) around $3,000 USD to drive it down there.... I paid 1,500 and they seem to go for around 10k there...

Anyways, long story short, I thought I could drive it down in the Pan-American race/rally and just leave it there and fly home. I do not want to pay someone 3k to drive it. I'm back in school so I have the time over the summer and flexible job schedules. I however do not feel safe driving by myself or with a friend through Mexico and Guatemala nor would I even begin to know who to bribe.

I figured being in a group and organization, especially one with ridiculously expensive classic cars would be safe and have all the kinks figured out. Plus it would be super fun. Would they let me in? or could I volunteer to be a support vehicle? I don't think I could be a support vehicle as I didn't plan to run the whole race.

I have plenty of time to plan this out, I plan to keep the jeep/beat around in it/fix/modify little things for the rest of this winter and next winter and drive it down within the next 2 years.

I suppose the first place to look would be a pan-american rally organization but all I can find is pro-rally and motorcycle/baja stuff. Nothing I would be able to hang with in a stock jeep. Who runs the classic pan-am rally's? Is this a good idea? Should I suck it up and fork out 3k and hope it makes it down there? Anyone have any better ideas?

The first problem with classic Panamericana is that it runs backward to what you want to do- it starts in the south and runs north. They might help with some of the required paperwork, though. You probably can contact the organizers through their webpage- http://www.lacarrerapanamericana.com.mx/

The second- driving from Canada to Argentina is perfectly legal- you may need visas for individual countries, but I know Mexico does not require one. Should check, but visa's should be what you look for.

Third, and probably most important- you should check the car import rules to Guatemala, to make sure you CAN even leave the car there legally. There may be some import rules that you have to work around. Since there are import rules to a US territory like Puerto Rico, I would imagine there is one for Guatemala- which would explain the high cost of used cars.

Lastly- the actual driving thing- I would not be worried about the individual govenments. There are other groups that are more to worry about.

Check with the state department.

alfadriver wrote: The first problem with classic Panamericana is that it runs backward ... Lastly- the actual driving thing- I would not be worried about the individual govenments. There are other groups that are more to worry about.

Bah, I had no idea it only ran one way. I always thought it went from SanDiego to Panama and back.

Actually, I'm not worried about the legality/paper work. It is going from the US to Belize. Have a passport and have got visas in the past. Passing though Mexico and Guatemala are areas of concern in regards to "outlaws." Sister would take care of paperwork/taxes I have no worries about that. I was specifically hoping to travel in a group to avoid interactions with criminals.

Thats a real bummer about the race direction.... hmm.

Thanks for the link's