During the '80s, the exchange rate was very favorable to the dollar. As a result, there were many military members buying Porches, MB, etc and having them converted when shipped back to the States. Of course the import car dealers in the US didn't like that very much, and lobbied for really strict rules that pretty much put the kibosh on the whole idea.
I bought a Euro spec motorcycle and they took it out of my shipment at Long Beach. The bonded importer who had it was on his last legs, and had a very low care factor. I held out $500 and said, "Will this get it into the States?" He said yep and pencil whipped it. I didn't have any trouble registering it, and sold it to an individual later.
Moral of the story... I could have been screwed at the port, but got lucky. After I got it in, there was no problems. But that was back in the 80s. Your mileage may vary.