Car Carriers

gwbfiat

True Classic
Has anyone on this forum had a great experience with transporting a car? I recently purchased a 1986 Bertone X1/9 and I need to transport it from Phoenix, AZ to Seattle, WA. I am not in a rush as it is currently parked and safely stored at my brother-in-law's house in Tempe. If anyone has had good experience with transporting a car I would appreciate it if you could share the company name and/or contact person that you dealt with.

My other option is to drive down with my truck and trailer it back home. Originally I was just going to buy a one way ticket and fly down and simply drive it back home but now I am having second thoughts about doing that simply because I don't want to risk having mechanical problems and having to deal with road side repairs or having it towed.

I would like to thank Zonker for posting the add on this forum from craigslist in Phoenix on July 9th. I wouldn't have known about the car if Zonker didn't share that information with us. I wasn't planning to buy another X1/9 at this time but I couldn't resist after seeing that add. I sent my brother-in-law down to simply take a look at it and of course it turned out to be a great car. It is all original (including the paint) and has no rust. My brother-in-law says that the guy selling the car was really nice and took lots of time to talk with him about the car and he was a straight shooter and was not trying to hide anything about the car or make it look better than it actually is.

Thanks in advance for any great leads!

George
 
I used UShip (www.uship.com) to transport an X from Calif to Austin TX. with good success. Its a reverse bidding process. The first bids came in high but as time went on, the bids came down and I ended up selecting a carrier who was willing to take the job for $550! Car arrived on time and in good shape.

Make sure specify you want the TOP of a two story carrier. No chance of hail damage this time of year but the bottom cars often get dripped on from the leaking cars above. Can you imagine having another X1/9 above your car providing a steady stream of rear seal leakage onto your paint job?

Ed
 
+1 for Uship

Worked great for me from Portland to the Bay Area, and I'd agree with the information from that last post.
 
I have hauled 128's and X1/9's on my 16foot car carrier with no problem. Of course anything would seem easy after hauling a 63 ford Galaxy. The ford's rear bumper stuck out about three feet past the end of the trailer. The X has convenient metal loops on each corner to attach chain and binders. I have never used them but you can get straps that fit directly over the tires. I have loaded the X frontwards and backwards. Backwards is slightly more tongue weight. I usually have one or two raggedy old tires on hand as buffers.
 
99% of the time NO ONE has a GOOD experience...

with car carriers.

But... 99% of the time those that fly down and drive back have a GREAT time even with some trouble along the way. Most of these have been East to the West that I know of and ALL were helped along the way... PLUS, they got to meet many of the folks here.

YOU, on the other hand, are basically driving South to North and will have a PLETHORA of HELP and PARTS if the occasion occurs.

Drive west to LA and then north on I-5 and you have it made. Start a NEW THREAD with your Itinerary and us the approximate dates and times. We can then give you our locations and phone numbers and maybe we both can find time for some lunch or coffee or even a visit.

Give us more info and fotos of the car and we can possibly tell you whether you need to drive it or tow it... and if towing it, there are also some more options. More later...
 
backwards

If you should trailer your car backwards BE SURE your top fits snugly, and maybe strap it down. Air can lift it in ways it wasn't designed for going backwards. I lost the targa top off a 911 that way. Luckily no one got hurt, but it was totally trashed when the semi behind me flattened it!
 
If you should trailer your car backwards BE SURE your top fits snugly, and maybe strap it down. Air can lift it in ways it wasn't designed for going backwards. I lost the targa top off a 911 that way. Luckily no one got hurt, but it was totally trashed when the semi behind me flattened it!
Wow! I never thought of that. Luckily I never lost a top but you can be sure I will keep that in mind if I ever have to haul my car again. Thanks for the tip.
 
I believe it was JJ that lost a top towing a car...

and I believe it was mounted forward... but never latched or latched properly.

BUT... the REAL reason I mention this is that he didn't realize it until he got home... and then it was a month later or so when he went back that way and found it. HA! I believe it was a little banged up as it had landed in the weeds and not the roadway...

I probably got the details about this all wrong (as it was many years ago) but the essence of finding the top sometime later is still there.
 
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