"Jason Bleazard" <dml@bleazard.net> wrote:
: Any ideas on the best way to transport a Jeep back from the Colorado meet? My
: dad has his dad's '48 Willy's sitting in the garage. He hasn't had much
: interest in working on it, so he told me I could have it if I can figure out a
: way to get it back to this part of the country. He can get it as far as the
: National Meet. It isn't currently running, so it'll have to be moved on a
: flatbed.
Ah, yes - the elusive "free" vehicle! :-)
: We'll have the RV trailer behind our Dakota, so towing it ourselves is out of
: the question. Is there anyone else from the East who's going to be at the
: meet and would be willing to tow it to Jon's? I'd pay the difference in gas.
: Anyone have any experience with vehicle moving services? How much do they
: cost, do they take good care of the vehicles or do they just abuse them, and
: can they transport a vehicle that isn't currently running?
From what I have heard, there are good companies and bad companies,
and in general, I suspect you pretty much get what you pay for. Based
on some fairly cursory net searching, it looks like the going rate is
approximately $750-1500 coast to coast, depending on wether you want
an open or enclosed trailer, and $750-1,200 from the midwest to either
coast, again depending on open or closed.
: Any other ideas? Jon, are you *sure* you don't want someone to bring your
: 3500 out to Colorado? :-)
Heh! Now I *really* wish I was driving out, I would have been glad to
haul that back for you. :-( A thought I had was maybe leave it at your
Dad's and when you go to visit for xmas or whatever, fly one way and
rent a u-haul and trailer for the way home, but I did a quick quote and
u-haul wants a bucketload of cash to do that (like $2K). Another option
would be if you plan to drive back home anytime in the near future, take
the '01 and rent a u-haul trailer for the ride back - even that would cost
you $620 though for a one way rental. ($300 or so if you want to use a
dolly instead and disconnect the rear driveshaft). Another option might
be to rent a trailer around here, haul it out there and return it here
for an "in town" move. Unfortunately, I don't know what that would
cost since the web site for in town moves only goes up to 24 hours
rental, and you need to call them for longer moves. The extra days
might end up being as much as a one way move, I dunno.
Another option is to find somebody with a 3500 CTD and an enclosed
trailer who would be crazy enough to go out there and pick up the Jeep
for you. ;-) I actually wouldn't mind the trip, it would probably be
fun, and I figure the round trip would be fairly easy to do in 5 days,
but at $3/gallon, would probably cost $700 in gas alone, plus convincing
the boss that I need another week off work right after the national
meet and Carlisle 2 weeks before that. ;-) By that time, you're probably
better off with a moving company... ?
I noticed that most of the auto transport companies I came across
online offered free online quotes, so it might not hurt to just submit
a bunch of them and see what happens. I also noticed that many of them
asked wether the vehicle was running or not. This would seem to indicate
that they will move a non-operational vehicle, but it might cost extra.
I think there are also web sites out there where people with auto
transports who are "hauling post holes" on their return trip and who
would transport stuff for you for reasonable cost. That's probably
just a private person though, I don't know if they would be insured,
or what sort of person you'd get - kind've hit and miss probably.
I dunno... Beyond the above I'm kinda scraping the bottom of
the barrel for ideas here. I'd love to help you to get that Jeep
home, its just a bummer that I'm flying out instead of driving... :-(
How heavy is that Jeep anyway? Are you tempted at all to
weld a hitch to the back of your trailer and hook a drawbar to the
front of the Jeep? :-) Sounds crazy but I'm sure its been done...
As long as we are on the subject of crazy ideas, what are the dimensions
of that Jeep? Any chance a bunch of crazy DMLers with hand tools
could remove enough parts and sheet metal to make it fit in the bed
of the Dak? :-)
(Ok, NOW I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas...) ;-)
--
-Jon-
.- Jon Steiger --- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com -.
| 67 Dodge Coronet, 70 Plymouth Barracuda, 76 Peugeot TSA |
| 78 Dodge B100, 90 Dodge Dakota Convertible, 92 Dodge Ram 4x4 |
| 96 Dodge Dakota, 96 Suzuki Intruder 1400, 96 Kolb FireFly |
| 99 Jeep Cherokee 4x4, 01 Dodge Ram 3500 CTD |
`--------------------------------- http://www.jonsteiger.com --'
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| Make your plans NOW to attend the National DML Meet in Colorado! |
| Date: July 15-23, 2006 - More info: http://meet.dakota-truck.net |
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