I'm pretty sure NTSC VCR's won't play PAL because of the line structure and possibly frame rate incompatibility too, unless NTSC VCR's play at 30fps. Most VCRs sold in the UK by the end of the format were multi-format players that would convert NTSC and SECAM (the French system), but North America never really did that. I know whenever I tried playing NTSC on a PAL-only VCR all I got was distortion and picture rollover so I'd say the same would happen the other way around.
You'd still need to have a PAL capable VCR if you wanted to rip the tape to your PC aswell, and because of the voltage difference I don't think you'd be able buy an old VCR from Europe and use that, unless you can buy the kind of transformer over there that we can get over here to convert the voltage of North American electrical items and make a 2 pin plug fit in a 3 pin socket.