did you buy a hudson in utah? shipper dropped one

I just sold my 62 impala wagon and the buyer contracted a hauling company to pick it up this last Saturday. It was hair raising for me to say the least. It was an empty 7 car trailer and he wanted it top-front so he could pick up two more cars.

To say he was not a "car guy" was an understatement. He was a recent immigrant, and was not raised in a car culture.

He clearly did not know how to drive, start, warm up, a carburated, car, killed it three or four times, getting nervous and forgot to put the car in Park. I politely told him to get out and I would square it up to the trailer and let it warm up. The ole wagon had too much rear overhang to drive on forward, so he turned it around to back it up. About this time it started to rain, and it was losing traction, trying to back up the ramps, sliding sideways, as he stopped to coast down he slammed the brakes too hard and nearly stuffed the front bumper on the pavement. He then asked me if it was a front wheel drive or rear wheel drive car! He finally got it eased up, and I was able to assist by operating the hydraulics to lift and level the ramp some.

As most know the 62's are X frames, and he has started to hook the car to the floor pan supports. I told him he had to hook the frame....which he did, two hooks on the rear, but only one in the front...

I hope it makes the trip ok, he had some hellish weather in front of him through to the East Coast...

 

Nice one!

 

I suffered the same thing watching them load my '37 Plymouth coupe on a car hauler. Communication was hampered a bit, since Polish is not my native tongue. The car had no engine, trans or brakes. Luckily, they decided to winch it onto the truck. Unfortunately, they wanted to winch it up by hooking onto the grille. I stopped them, and hooked the cable onto something a little more appropriate.

 

Hell, I'd feel more confident hauling it myself behind a 20 year old 1-ton on my buddy's beat up hand winch car trailer.

 

I have a friend who has bought a number of cars from the West Coast. He always flies out and drives them back. Now I know why.

 

Maybe the driver will get it right the next time. There is little criteria for drivers to gain employment. When I started at the trucking company i drive for you needed 7 years experience with 3 years pulling trains,,now all that is required is a valid drivers license.

 

Isn't it amazing how we are willing to buy a car sight un-seen, arrange a transporter we know nothing about - and trust it will all workout. One thing that happens a lot is your vehicle is loaded and unloaded and shuffled around during the trip. It may be a $2,100 project or a $500,000 super car, they get the same treatment.

The one time I did this - bought sight unseen thru eBay a $15,000 '40 GMC truck - and had it shipped coast-to coast CT to WA.... I did not choose the cheapest hauler. Went with these guys. All I know is the shippers are the ones making the bucks thanks to eBay.

I eBay sold that '40 GMC truck 3 years later sight unseen and back it went to the east coast thru another shipper that the buyer chose by price.

http://www.horselesscarriage.com/enclosed-auto-transport/

 

Thank NAFTA

 

Just be glad it wasn't dropped on a person. Any shipper I've helped load a car has known his stuff.

I can't imagine the liability that goes with hiring someone who is not some sort of a car guy.

Bob

 

bwahahahahahahah i know... Right!:d

 

Funny how a guy will make huge sacrifices to build a masterpiece and then ship it with whoever gives him the lowest price.....

 

I hope the buyer doesn't get screwed. HRP

 

There's a few 'unlined' racist comments on this thread so far,I have a C.D.L & have driven with/tought alot of english as a second language drivers.(we get dip shit drivers that speak evey lanuage) I contacted a 'H.A.M.B' friendly shipper & he was total ass hat - he spoke english pretty well {kinda}~~ but understanding english was a totally different thing, I pictured him standing next to his flat bed scratching his nuts with one hand & holding a map while asking where at in Nebraska iz youz coar?

 

Sad, but not the first time this has happened. DD

 

Sold a car to a dealer on the west coast. He supplied the shipper. I met the transport in a shopping center. The driver was good and knew what he was doing. Since the car was a full size '64 427 Galaxie it had to go on the top of the transport trailer. The only advice I gave him was once you start up that ramp keep going because there's no slipping the clutch. He drove the car around a little in the parking lot to get use to the clutch. Then like the professional he was, he drove right up on top in one shot. He did thank me for letting him know about the racing clutch in the car before he tried to load it on top.

 

You teach ESL??? Wow, just wow

 

This is a comon thing in the shipping business. It's called RORO, Roll on and roll off.

(Good thing it wasen't a ship)

 

I shipped a tunnelport 427 66 Fairlane to Australia a couple years ago. When the car arrived in Ca for "upgrades" for export, the starter was actually in two pieces. The receiving company knew it never left that way because it wouldn't have started to be loaded. I told him of the "know it all" female that had no time to hear starting/warm up instructions for the car. She knew it all, had done it all, and had no time for information. High dollar hi torque starter broken in half. The front seat vinyl was split front to back on drivers side I assume from standing in seat to get out window and the rear quarter was scratched about a foot long. I had pics of car being loaded and pics of outside and inside of car dated that day which I sent to receiver and buyer. They worked it out with shipper. Not impressed with the shipper..at all.

 

Reminds me of how a very large company taught me how to drive semi truck back in the seventies.

"Big truck, bends in the middle, goes pssss..pssss. Go getem boy"

Saw a new Corvette, being delivered at dealer,come off the top deck of the hauler. Stopped on it's nose and didn't go all the way over. Made front page of the local papers.

Also back in the late sixties. I saw a new blue Road Runner come off the front of the hauler and land on the right side.. Then in 85 I saw a new Olds Cutlas, top row, that didn't clear a low bridge, convertable the quick way.. Kinda ugly tho.

 

I do not understand why the dipshit had to put the car on the top,a friend had two non runners hauled and they were put in the bottom. They were a little tough to get out but were not damaged.

 

This is the kind of scenerio where I don't get sad about a car being parted out.

 

If you'd like to learn more about how to find, fix and FLIP cars, log onto carchasers.com

 

When I ran a wrecker I got a call to the Local Lincoln dealer. A car hauler was unloading two new cars. The one on the lower level had to come off first. He had to raise the ramp on the upper level to get clearance for the roof of the lower car. Once he gets the lower car out, he lowers both ends of the upper car to get it off. He was supposed to pin the ramps in place in case of a problem with the hydraulics. He was in a hurry and didn't pin the ramp the upper car was sitting on. As he was backing the lower car off, the hydraulics on the back end of the upper ramp failed and the ramp came down on the front of the hood and slid off the front of the car as he was backing down. As the ramp continued down, the angle got too steep for the upper car to stay on in park. The driver had removed the tie downs and the car slid down, came off the side of the ramps and flipped on it's top. Two brand new Lincolns trashed.

 

I will bet the guy in the hudson had to clean his drawers out!

 

Gravity maybe took care of that.

 

Probably thinking "lucky it isn't a new car".

I want to see the new owner's expression when his car arrives on its roof.

 

maybe buyer wanted to see underneath car before shipping?

 

Now would be a great time to apply fresh undercoating!

My '27 T Roadster build: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t= 734383

 

"Relax. I'm a professional!"