THSCC Forums

My folks are going to be inheriting an '03 Toyota Avalon from my grandfather's recent passing at age 77. They live in Rocky Mount and the car is in La Mesa (San Diego).

If anyone has used any reputable carriers lately please feel free to post any experiences and recommendations.

thanks!
Matt

Ping RJ on either Honda Tech. Corner Carvers or rr-ax.com . He sold his race car to a guy in CA from MD and since he packaged and shipped it, would be able to tell you what he found from his research.

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Has no responsibility whatsoever.

I'll talk to Adam also. He got his ITA car shipped over from CA last year.

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Todd Breakey
STS 42 - 1992 Sunburst Miata
Dammit!
"You souldn't play leap frog with a porcupine. You might get hurt." - Eliza

I know people here are gonna laugh at me, but just today I put a deposit on this:

http://www.nwicars.com/07c027.htm

It's in Portland and has to get shipped here. The guy at NWI said something about putting it in some "exchange" or something since I wasn't in a hurry where they could likely get it for a good price. A good price is anything much under $1000 for enclosed transport. A "reasonable" price is around $1200 if you're in a hurry to get it.

Anyway, you might just call the guy at that place and ask him what he was talking about. I'm sure the fact that I'm getting a car from Portland doesn't help you, but it sounds like there are ways to get your load consolidated more with similar loads if you aren't in a hurry. I recently had a friend get a Ford Think Car (basically a nice golf cart with a street tag) shipped from California all enclosed for $800, and he wasn't in a hurry for it and shopped all over.

Anyway, try calling him and see what's up. He seemed pretty nice and helpful and a one man show who had done a decent amount of car shipping.


--Donnie

Donnie, you bought a Smart?!?!??!?!!? That's freakin awesome. I've been wanting to see one of those in person to see if it would make a good commuter car for me. Congrats on the new GS purchase!!

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Todd Breakey
STS 42 - 1992 Sunburst Miata
Dammit!
"You souldn't play leap frog with a porcupine. You might get hurt." - Eliza

The eventual goal is something like this:



I'm going to replace my Sportchassis with a Volvo Class 8 like the one pictured there and use it to pull the same single car gooseneck trailer I've been using, or my two car tag stacker that I bought for my coach. I'll set it up to haul the Smart or two motorcycles on the truck bed.


--Donnie

Try deleting everything after the file extension.

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Has no responsibility whatsoever.

Then again, Tripod is notorious about killing hotlinked images.

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Has no responsibility whatsoever.

I'll drive it back for you if you pay airfare to SD + expenses (gas, cheap hotel, fast food........or is it fast hotel and cheap food??? ).


I'm serious.



Bret.

Donnie,
It is small enough to ship UPS ground.

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George Bright Member # 141
One of the youngest of the old farts.
Yes I voted against you joining the club.

They are all over Europe. They use them for city commuters, and also use them as rolling ad banners. They are a bit dodgy on the autobahn, they have to stay far right.

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1990 Faded Reddish CSP Lite Miata
2002 Electron Blue Corvette Z06
2005 Mazda 6 Wagon
2003 Nissan Pathfinder DTV (Dog Transport Vehicle)

Oh, I'm familiar with the Smart cars. I even considered puting the $99 deposit on one earlier this year to get on the list.

What I like about it is the safety package that they incorporated into the car. Damn thing basically is built as a roll cage!

I just wish that they would bring the diesel version here. 60 to 70 mpg sounds pretty good to me!!

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Todd Breakey
STS 42 - 1992 Sunburst Miata
Dammit!
"You souldn't play leap frog with a porcupine. You might get hurt." - Eliza

So, how do you get the Smart onto the chassis? Do you just get someone to help you pick it up and set it there or do you actually need ramps?

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Todd Breakey
STS 42 - 1992 Sunburst Miata
Dammit!
"You souldn't play leap frog with a porcupine. You might get hurt." - Eliza

Couple things. First, the Smart Cars coming here next year are Mitsubishi engines. Ick. Second, the Mercedes ones get 60-70MPG on gasoline. Wheee....

They weigh 1600 pounds, so you and three hefty friends still ain't picking it up. You not only need ramps, but these guys have built a platform it sits on that is on an airbag or hydraulic ramp that tips up at an angle. Why? Because there aren't (or weren't) any ramps long enough to soften the breakover angle enough and support 1600 pounds. Since the vehicle has a pretty insane approach and departure angles (look how far out the tires sit), getting on the ramp is no problem. But going between the ramp and the truck *would* be a problem since the middle of the car would drag. So these guys have their platform tip up.

Many of them are winched on and off for safety, too, but I think at least one or two of the guys doing this found ramps that are fairly long that will support it and can drive them on and off.


--Donnie

I didn't realize that we were getting the Mitsubishi engine. That sucks. I assume the one you bought has the M-B engine? Does it have the diesel or gas engine.

I still like the car and I wish that manufacturers would bring more of their small, high MPG cars here. It would be nice to have more fuel efficient cars on the road than SUVs.

BTW - the picking it up thing was a bad attempt at a joke. I really was wondering how you get the car on the chassis. I wonder if you could use a crane similar to what large yachts have to lift tenders on and off the boat. Not sure how you would attach the crane to the car, but I'm sure someone could engineer that.

This one has a 1500 - 4000 lbs limit! It's from Brower Systems

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Todd Breakey
STS 42 - 1992 Sunburst Miata
Dammit!
"You souldn't play leap frog with a porcupine. You might get hurt." - Eliza