"Do-It-Yourself" Transport

[John N. Packard]

The entire DF community has been following the transport saga of Rick's newly acquired '41 Chrysler across the United States to his home in York, PA. Several posts have suggested that the better way is to transport the car yourself. Being born and raised in New England where the motto to live by is "Make it do, Use it up, Do without"; I am by nature a tightwad! So, all but one of my antique car acquisitions have been "Do-it-yourself" transport projects. Believe me, there are pitfalls to this approach as well!<BR>Early on in my collector car experience I purchased a tow bar from J.C. Whitney; so that I would be equipped to haul my newly found treasures home. One of my first acquisitions was an inoperative 1937 Packard Super 8 Limousine in nearby Cecil County Maryland about 25 miles away. My tow vehicle was a 1959 Ford Galaxie two door sedan! So equipped with a universal trailer hitch from Montgomery Ward and my Whitney tow bar I went off on a Saturday afternoon to pick up my new treasure.<BR>As I pulled away from the former owner's residence, which fortunately was located on a side country road, the 5200# Packard started to sway from side to side. This wouldn't do, so I pondered the situation for a moment and then decided to secure the steering wheel with a rope! Since this was a relatively straight side road heading directly into Perryville, everything worked fine until I got to the traffic light in the center of town and tried to turn right. Of course, the big old Packard wanted to continue straight ahead and pushed that 3900# Ford straight ahead of it. Here I was in the center of town at the main intersection on a Saturday afternoon unable to move and traffic was coming from all directions! A beneficent trucker (yes Rick, there are good guys who drive trucks) explained to me the obvious; that I couldn't tie down the steering wheel because the front wheels on the towed vehicle had to track the towing vehicle. So I proceeded through the next 25 miles at 25 mph with that big old Packard rocking behind me! Fortunately I made it safely home and didn't hold up too much more traffic along the way.<BR>Anyone else got a story to tell? I've got a bunch more myself. This was just the beginning!<BR>jnp

[Guest]

One of the most stressful days of my life was when my son and I brought home our 'new' '65 Skylark last year from Temple, about 150 miles away. <P>I had seen the car in the Thrifty Nickel when we were up in that area camping with the family the weekend before so the next Saturday we took my 135,000 mi., '93 S-10 Blazer and spent the morning going back to look at the Skylark and some other basket cases in Killeen. After finding two good parts cars in a salvage yard near Belton we decided to go ahead and buy the Skylark. I had planned on renting a car dolly but the U-Haul people said the Skylark was too heavy so we had to settle with a tow bar, the only one available in the area was in Copperas Cove. We finally got back to Temple to pick up the car about 5:00 pm and had the drive shaft off and it hooked up ready to tow just as it was getting dark. The previous owner warned me to tie the steering wheel down but I remembered when my dad and I towed our Model A from Topeka to Oklahoma City in 1967, I watched that steering wheel turn on corners as if there was a ghost driving, so I figured if not tieing it worked then it should work now. I had bought a set of aux. tail/brake lights at the U-Haul place so it took awhile to wire it to my truck's trailer connector. <P>As soon as we pulled away I knew this was something I did not want to do at night. We found a Best Western and started home first thing in the morning. We averaged about 45 mph and by the time we got home I don't know what hurt worse, my hands from gripping the wheel or my head from worring about the 1.extra stopping distance (about three times the normal distance), 2.the Skylark being two feet wider than my Blazer (several narrow bridges), 3.my Blazer loosing its transmission (still runs good at 150,000 mi.), and 4.my 16 year old son asking to drive (he never did because he noticed my knuckles).<P>The best part of the trip was pulling onto my street with about 15 neighbors and the rest of my family, including my thrilled wife, there to greet us.<P>Just for that, I'd probably do it all over again.<P>By the way we went back to the salvage yard near Belton late last summer to get some parts and the owner of the yard said if he couldn't sell the cars complete he would rather crush them than sell parts from them!<BR>Does anyone understand this logic?<P>Regards,<BR>Jim<P>

[Guest Hal Davis (MODEL A HAL)]

My story is rather uneventful, but what else do I have to do at 7:00 on a Saturday morning?<P>I bought my Model A from my sister and brother-in-law. His father had bought it in 1966. They had had it stored in their garage for several years, but never started the badly needed restoration. They were moving from their house into a condo and no longer had a place to store the A. I agreed to purchase it from them to sort of keep it in the family.<P>Now... I live near Savannah, GA. They live in Pensacola, FL. The thought of hiring someone to do this never crossed my mind. It probably would have cost more than the car was worth. I called around about renting car trailers. U-Haul was the only place that was willing to rent me a trailer without renting one of their trucks. I checked into picking up a trailer in Pensacola for a one way trip back home, but the folks in Pensacola were mighty proud of their trailers and didn't like them being taken on a one way trip. At least their prices led me to believe that was the case. The U-Haul fella here at home said he'd rent me a trailer bright and early on Saturday morning and I could bring it back any time before he re-opened on Monday and it would cost me only a day's rental. That was less than half the one way rental from Pensacola. <P>So... I enlisted a friend to keep me company on the trip and help me load and unload it. We took my bottom of the line, power nothing, no A/C, '79 F-100, 300 cid 6 cyl, three on the tree, pick-up with 180,000 miles on it and went down and got the trailer, drug it for 6-8 hours down I-95 and I-10 (Now you want to talk about a long, boring stretch of interstate, I-10 from Jacksonville to Pensacola takes the cake!). Knowing the car wouldn't run, we were somewhat concerned about getting it onto the trailer. I had decided if all else fails, I would buy a "come along" to pull it up on the trailer. Even with one flat tire it pushed right up the ramp with very little effort. We strapped her down and went out to dinner.<P>The next morning we left for home. I stopped every 50 miles or so to check things out, make sure the straps were still tight, etc... Even though this old car was in bad need of restoration, everywhere we stopped, we had an audience. My old truck ran a little higher temp than it usually did, but still well within the normal range. <P>Generally, the trip was uneventful. That was two years ago. The restoration is well underway. I can see light at the end of the tunnel and am already thinking about what the next one will be. <P>As a side note, I traded my '79 F-100 for a '99 F-150 with a few more bells and whistles. I really like the new one, but miss the old one, especially when I notice a new scratch. I know it is still running somewhere.<p>[ 04-28-2001: Message edited by: MODEL A HAL ]

[Guest boettger]

Part of the benefit of belonging to AACA and more importantly a local region is the support of other members.<BR>I have been able to help several members of the Iroquois Region retrieve new purchases with my open car trailer. One was a 1933 Dodge in Conn. A real nice days drive with a fairly new member. Got to know John quite well on the 4 hour drive each way. Now John is our club secretary and one of our most enthuastic members. <BR>Helped another past Region President pick up is MGB in Baltimore. A long day (12 hours on the road). Good conversation and a trip thru Hershey (with the car on the trailer). <BR>The big joke around here is that Gary's MGB is one of the few vehicles in our region that has been to Hershey! <BR>Good friends and a helping hand is what AACA is all about.<BR>I don't think that the buddy system could have helped rick with his cross country delivery, but anything within a days drive both ways is a piece of cake for friends to help with!!