Very welcome!
I'm trying to remember the names of places that bring stuff in. Hill Shipping i've heard good things about, also John Kulin at Golden Chariots, and also there's STS imports. These companies are all in the UK and what they do is pick the car up from the sellers location via loader, take it to dock, take care of all the paperwork, bring it into southampton, take care of all the import paperwork and fees, and normally deliver it to your door. And the prices aren't too bad, considering how much happens along the way, paperwork is the killer, but they take care of that so you have everything you need to register it. Get the insurance from what i've read as it's not much, but most cars come through just fine so not too much to worry about there. Also don't try and go cheap by not putting it into a container - the guy that installed my windscreen told me of his mate that brought in Mustang that was less than a few years old and went with the cheap option of putting it on the deck. Came in soaking wet and the guy sold it not long after as he knew all of the interior sheet metal would be rotting thanks to the salt water
The only tough part is making sure the car is good. But if you're planning on restoring it, then it doesn't really matter too much. Try and get the seller to make a video and send good pics over, to set expectations, assume it will be worse than it looks. I know a guy that bought in a nice '79, was showing me all the pics and it looked mint. Got here and needed panel replacements, so we were both quite shocked as it looked great. Then again, most cars you buy here won't be in good condition and will need work. Check out Flakmonkeys thread - the car looked great and i wasn't sure at first why any work was being done it. Then soon it became apparent, and that car looked clean. So in other words, here or there, you'll end up needing to do some work. It's more of a gamble of course as you're buying sight unseen but you will be paying about half as much, if not even less. One thing i learned was to make sure the pictures are recent and not ones they have from 5, 10 years ago. Try and ask for specific pics that they wouldn't otherwise have taken already. Also make sure it has a clean title. I think Carfax is the equivalent of the HPI check over here, worth doing that. Saw a post the other day on here about a Challenger that was going for a lower price, saying it had some front damage. Carfax showed it was a write off due to flooding. So obviously someone over there knew they're worth a lot over here, whereas it would be scrapped over there, knowing that someone here wouldn't know the history and pay the going rate.
Incidentally, i just saw this - 1970, £5.5k plus $1,750 for him to arrange and ship. Worth getting a quote from the above UK ones as i don't know if this guy would do all the paperwork at import etc. It may just land in Southampton then you have to go down, do the paperwork, pay the fee's, wait for it to clear (takes a few days/ weeks), then come back down with a trailer, or get someone with a trailer - which must be a proper loader, not a converted transit, as people have been stopped leaving the docks and told the loading vehicle is carrying over it's load.
I haven't read much more than skim read of the ad, so worth checking it out in depth. Looks like he's a car dealer, so could be a good sign, maybe better than dealing with someone privately. If it's been a San Diego car all its life, then it's probably genuinely only got a bit of rust. Find out the history, with a vinyl roof if it has lived in the rust belt, could be bad. Overall though, looks original and unmessed with.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1970-Chevy-Ca ... 1927637800