Finally looking

@Geoffluczka

Greetings Geoff - its pretty exciting to be at the point of looking in earnest for the car most suitable for you (budget and appearance). As a word of caution, I think there are restrictions as to what vehicles can be brought into Canada (particularly a replica).

There will be the SOC brain trust (much more knowledgeable than me) that will eventually chime in with sage advice. Best of luck with your Speedster endeavor, and keep us posted with your results. 

Good luck with your search! Importing a built and finished car can be done. According to Transport Canada, a finished kit car can be brought in, as long as it was fully-finished 15 or more years ago. Then it qualifies as age-exempt, and while it still needs to be safe and roadworthy etc, it can be imported. Anything newer than 15 years old is subject to all the normal ‘new car’ regulations, compliance with which will likely be prohibitive. 
Of course, you’ll have to pay for shipping/transport, customs duty, and whatever taxes your province charges. And the registration fees of course. As with all such procedures, if do it right, provide all the right documentation at the right time, and follow all the rules, it’s definitely do-able.

The issue of course is always cost - if you find one in the US for say, 25,000, by the time you’ve converted USD to CAD, transported it, paid the taxes etc, it’ll end up being closer to 40,000CAD by the time you’re driving it. Which explains why a. They’re rare in Canada, and b. They’re expensive.

I’d like to say that I’d been through it all and had first-hand experience of the above, but I lucked out and found a great base car close to home. However, I did a ton of research before that one popped up, so I do know that the guidelines above are true...

Whatever - it’s still totally worth it! Much better value and much more fun than any other $40k car out there.

good luck again!

Hey Geoffluczka, there's a CMC  speedster for sale on Kijiji Ontario for $33K. Canadian. Talked to the owner, who built the car himself about 25 years ago. IRS chassis, original gel-coat. Looks to be a quality build.

@David Stroud IM Roadster Dn imported a car from the USA.  Otherwise Intermeccanica is the only builder here unless the car was brought in to the country as parts and built here. 

@jesse postill that’s actually the one I have my eye on. The problem is that it’s 3000km away from me, so it makes it difficult. I just don’t know these well enough to know what a quality build looks like (especially just from pictures) and what a quality build is worth up here, as there’s not much to compare to in Canadian dollars. 
thanks very much for the reply. 

If you want/need rolling windows and have the budget you should wait for an IM.  Just saying.