D Day - the reverse invasion

[steven mandell]

"D" as in Delivery.
No lack of activity to report here on the Western front .
After fully 15 months of investigations, scheming and covert actions performed by my valued French Connection- - my 40 foot container filled with 8 unusuals finally landed near my barn on the one year anniversary date of my obtaining it.
I was quite worried about being able to unload it because the container was atop a huge truck's trailer bed 4 and a half feet above the ground, and no assistance is offered by the driver.   I had decided to use a part of my new property that incorporates a rather abrupt elevation change of about  2 feet  as the break point for  the truck mounted 40 ' container, and my height angled trailer plus ramps fore and aft, to lessen the steepness of unloading path.
However, I did expect to be surprised, and have to be ready to regroup.   That proved immediately prophetic, when as soon as the tractor trailer arrived with a cable locked container, and no cable cutters, and some self appointed officials from the HOA that owns my street of access announced that they would not allow the truck entry through their street.  I took off in hyper drive mode, and with the help of my 2 member retiree pit crew, got the thick cable cut, and trailer hooked up and moved,.   It was now necessarrily supplanted with newly required drive up work ramps, and hastily arranged folding tables, plywood, a concrete block, and various but essential lengths of boarding.   
A bumper jack was quickly brought into play, when of course the trailer jack handle decided to fall apart the moment that it was most needed.
So 30 minutes of my allowed 2 hour unloading time consumed, and no vehicles off the truck now illegality parked on a residential street 500 feet away .
Stay tuned for more unfolding drama.

[steven mandell]

This together with the lightweight, and very narrow trifold 6' aluminum ladder type ramp, comprised my ramp of death. 
I was unanimously nominated to kamikaze rank and thrust out the container, often as not without brakes, and with a tire that could not be inflated fully. 
Amusement park like thrills, but without the reassurance of being supported by tried and true engineering, as the set up needed to be hastily improvised, and changed for each run as number and placement of road wheels varied and boards or ramps flexed, cracked or drifted. 
Applying brakes (when available) mid run could put me in serious risk of pulling a ramp downhill with me, and thereby causing the high end of a ramp to pull off its mooring.  That would make for a directly vertical descent!
The boarding on hand was too wide to fully fit in the gaps between trailer runways and ramps, so I had to fully trust hand signals from my selected guide, and quickly saw at the wheel whilst the small crowd at the base of the ramping scattered like rats as my wild ride approached their view posts.

[Rusty Chrome (Malcolm Parker)]

Hope you got them all down in one piece and that we can get to see the line-up.

[Big Al]

Should be an Olympic sport.

[plas man]

a, Ha! I see the makings of a Disney movie .....

[Big Al]

Better story than one other container I heard about. Its not Walt Disney, but Stephen King. It is impounded to be returned to country of origin, or the forfeiture of a fee created at the dockside. Failure to choose results in scrappage. And so the boarders slowly close to international trade, as fear and paranoia grow, to serve the expediency of overcharging for a service. We're all doomed I tell'ee. Doomed!

[steven mandell]

Yes there are many potential pitfalls to performing a transport on this scale that can easily add thousands to the cost.  This being my second 40 footer in two years, I fit in 2 more but admittedly smaller cars, and  instead of including the AC Petite spare engine trans and differential that Alan Bud allowed me to bring over on my first move, I was able to offer an acquaintance 1/2 price passage for a Porsche 356 roof section (with sunroof) panel, which is taking $500 off my bottom line. 
By personally shopping for and preselecting and paying my own trucker from the port instead of utilizing my broker's  tried and true trucker I saved another $400. 
Picking an import broker savy enough to ask the Dock Director for a waiver of the extra drayage fees of $980 that accrued owing to the port being backed up on getting to inspect my container saved me the $980.

Constructing and surviving the pitfalls of my ramp of death and my retiree pitcrew vs. paying a flatbed tow truck saved another $200 on unloading fees.

So all in I managed to avoid about $2,000 of what I grievously had to unexpectedly pay on my first move of this scale 2 years ago.  I suppose that is an acceptable learning curve.

Picking my own bare bones shipper instead of going with the ones suggested by the import broker's that Bruce Wiener used saved me another several thousand dollars.

I was also fortunate to have been referred to a broker who was more reasonably priced, and even more importantly, allowed me to follow through with my own leads on finding lower priced options without getting his nose too bent out of shape at having been outdone in this regard.
Yes, I ended up duplicating some of the work that the brokers are paid for.  But the savings are so significant as to speak for themselves.
However, not having a broker is considered a red flag to Customs, and can cause more costly delays and worry.  It is a good idea to have someone who knows the ropes of the industry regularly checking the status of your shipment, and generally looking out for you.

So all in all, I believe that I saved about 40% of what it would have cost me if I had let the "experts" handle it all for me.
Sometimes it is worth being someone else's pain in the arse!

[plas man]

well lets hope there's no Bonds tucked away or Brummie land will declare war !!!

[steven mandell]

Shown here is all that I could fit in a picture of the fun that awaited my  now only 90 minute time allotment for unloading on the public street for which the commercial vehicle had no permit to even drive through.

Thankfully the Police were enough amused by the spectacle and to them, comical cargo to ignore/ fail to focus on the transgression on their several drive bys.

That $500  loading and strapping fee was well earned!
 They really did a great job of packing them in like sardines, with but inches between, and yet no damage from rubbing each other.  Last time I made the mistake of allowing them to reuse a few cheap straps that Bob had used to deliver a couple of cars to port with expensive consequences.  But now have another 16 high quality straps that I should sell /trade off for bits or favors.
My prior load showed obvious evidence of careless handling in terms of scratches. 
My stern warning to the shipper that he would be held responsible if this were to be repeated, and being advised that every surface had been photographed prior to drop off was apparently effective.  No damage evident to any of my 8 babies this go round.

Can anyone I.D. them all correctly?

[steven mandell]

well lets hope there's no Bonds tucked away or Brummie land will declare war !!!

No vehicles of U K heritage were harmed or imported by this drama.
Remember, this was an invasion of your ally by the guys across your Channel that you've already  been at war with for centuries.