Anyone with shipping knowledge, please help!

[ELVA164]

Hi everyone,

After months of searching, I've finally found the appropriate panels to get the Cortina back together. There's just one pretty big issue-the parts are in Berkeley, CA and I'm in New York. I need to ship the following parts:

A front-right fender, attached to a radiator core support/valance panel:

A hood:
(See my sig for an idea of the scale, I don't seem to have any pictures of a hood by itself.)

Does anyone know of a company that would be able to ship cross-country and has experience transporting fragile, hard-to-find pieces like these? I would really appreciate any leads!

Thanks,

Mike

[markseven]

PM Phreshkid. He may have domestic shipping expertise.

[ELVA164]

Will do!

[phreshkid]

Hmm. My line of work doesn't include LTL. I am about as clueless as you are when it comes to shipping parts like this. I'd suggest having a box build for this nosepiece. Even then, damage is almost certain when shipping cross-country like you suggest doing.

I'm sorry I wasn't of much help. I don't deal with shipping on the domestic level.

Now if you wanted to buy a shipping container, I can have that shipped any day of the week.

[GDA]

Just thinking out loud here.... similar issue if you had to ship a big piece of furniture cross country. I would think crate it up and then pay the fee to get a few feet of the trailer of the house moving truck.

[mr2peak]

I have a friend who can build a box and drop this off at a shipping location. Let me see if he's interested.

Is there any way to separate the pieces? That would save a lot in shipping and box complexity

[ForcedFirebird]

LTL isn't too bad, I have shipped a lot of large items from engines to roll cages to whole cars. Just make sure you crate it good on a pallet, helps to have a commercial origin/destination with fork lifts.

[markseven]

Have you considered flying out, renting a minivan and driving back with the parts?

[2mAn]

Forward air is a good company to use. I don't know the dimensions but they prefer the items to be on a pallet. If mr2peak 's friend will build it that would be your best bet. Good luck!

[UNHCLL]

FedEx Freight LTL - I used them to ship composite panels for BMW's - I've never had one broken/damaged/destroyed in 5+ years.

You'll want to find someone with an LTL account, the savings are somewhere around 50% of actual list price for retail booking.

[2mAn]

random question, but is this the guy in Berkeley who has a ton of old Lotus parts? I remember seeing a guy from race-cars.com who had a bunch of cool stuff in that area

[MrSlacker]

Check out shippers on uship.com they have a section for non-car stuff there

[our guile]

+1 for uship.com. I used them to send a S50 + trans and accessories (2 crates) from AZ to South FL with no issues.

[flyboyx]

i have an account with aaa cooper trucking company around here. i would see if the guy can get a free palet from home depot or lowes. i would then use some scrap wood to make a jig so the parts sit tightly in a vertical position on the pallet. maybe bubble wrap them first.

the entire pallet can be taken in the back of a pickup or van to a local trucking company. they can ship it to your local new york trucking company or frieght dock. you can retrieve it with a pick up truck or van. they will load it for you with a fork lift.

you will want to shop around for prices as they will vary widely. i think with the price of gas as cheap as it is right now, you ought to be able to find a rate around 200.00 or less. you may need to open an account with your company of choice to get a better rate.

fed ex ground will only ship a max weight of 140 lbs to a commercial address or store pickup. those parts with a pallet will weigh more than that for sure.

[flyboyx]

ive used uship a few times. it has been a few years, but i don't know how good it would be for something like this.

a better suggestion might be a web site called "yesterday's tractors". they actually have a secton on this forum where you can advertise a haul needed or haul available. i have used this a couple times to have e30s shipped from up north or other parts of the country.

in one instance i had an ix shipped to me in houston from ohio for 300.00.