Shipping ERA FIA with parts inside car

[oilerfish]

Has anyone tried to ship an ERA kit with the loose parts inside the car? Mine is an FIA non roller with most of the bits and pieces. No rear axle or wheels though.
The carpet, convertible top, undercar exhaust with primary's (No mufflers though) are the three items that probably take the most room (Asked Peter to not make any welds on exhaust to keep as short as possible)
My thought was to bubble wrap the parts instead of boxing and just throw them in the trunk, cabin and engine bay (With a plywood floor in engine bay so they don't fall out) and then use heavy poly plastic to cover the cabin and tape it down with gaffer tape and gaffer tape the shut lines of the hood and trunk. Car is not painted.
Peter said that we could try and make the stuff fit but that they had never done it before so thought I'd get a few opinions before we try it.
Car will be trailered to NJ and put in a shared container, over the sea to eastern Norway and then trailered to western Norway.

[DanEC]

It seems like everything was pretty much boxed up and inside the car of my semi roller (rear suspension only installed) except the seats which were shipped separately in a big box. But I only purchased headers and did the rest of the exhaust on my own. But trying to remember back that far maybe some of the boxes were shipped in the transport loose and stacked outside of the car. I’ll have to go back and look at some of the pictures I took. I’m not sure how they will deal with the seats for an overseas shipment. Maybe a good candidate to try to fit in the engine compartment but it may be difficult to do so and secure the hood closed.

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by oilerfish

Car will be trailered to NJ and put in a shared container, over the sea to eastern Norway and then trailered to western Norway.

Typically the shipping company picking it up will make space for various boxed parts. Loose parts, not likely. Maybe ERA, for an additional cost, can crate the car and parts for you so your shipper can just pick it up as one shipping item.

Then again

Why not just have a container delivered to ERA and have them pack it up for you?


Bill S.

[oilerfish]

Dan; I was thinking the seats just sit where they are supposed to be and load smaller bits on them, the whole cabin will be covered in heavy poly and taped all around so not worried about water ingress and wont be much in the open air. I hope..

Bill; The original plan was to have a container shipped to ERA but since i ordered the kit freight costs have gone through the roof, the cost now is minimum 6 k dollars to do it that way... That together with a lot of import taxes here has forced me to be a little creative with shipping.
I can get it to Norway for around 3 grand with a shared container but price goes up if there are more loose boxes to deal with, volume and handling costs big bucks these days, also the issue of boxes going missing underway.
And the Norwegian Kroner has gotten about 20% weaker to the dollar, shoulda just paid for it all when i ordered it

Thanks for both of your insight gents , keep the ideas coming please

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by oilerfish

Dan; I was thinking the seats just sit where they are supposed to be and load smaller bits on them, the whole cabin will be covered in heavy poly and taped all around so not worried about water ingress and wont be much in the open air. I hope..

Bill; The original plan was to have a container shipped to ERA but since i ordered the kit freight costs have gone through the roof, the cost now is minimum 6 k dollars to do it that way... That together with a lot of import taxes here has forced me to be a little creative with shipping.
I can get it to Norway for around 3 grand with a shared container but price goes up if there are more loose boxes to deal with, volume and handling costs big bucks these days, also the issue of boxes going missing underway.
And the Norwegian Kroner has gotten about 20% weaker to the dollar, shoulda just paid for it all when i ordered it

Thanks for both of your insight gents , keep the ideas coming please

Bite the bullet and get the private shipping container if you are worried about shipping loss or theft. Does it hurt, absolutely, will it make you sleep better while it's in transit, absolutely. How much is your peace of mind worth, as well as the knowledge it will all arrive as it was intended given your not so close proximity to the manufacturer.

Bill S.

[DanEC]

I’m pretty sure at least some of my boxes (maybe all) were in the cockpit and trunk, pretty much filling it up. Looking at my delivery pictures I don’t see any boxes not in the car. I don’t think they would want to pile parts and boxes on the seats. The tunnel and instrument were installed in the interior. MrMustang may have the best idea.

[oilerfish]

Originally Posted by mrmustang

Bite the bullet and get the private shipping container if you are worried about shipping loss or theft. Does it hurt, absolutely, will it make you sleep better while it's in transit, absolutely. How much is your peace of mind worth, as well as the knowledge it will all arrive as it was intended given your not so close proximity to the manufacturer.

Bill S.

I'm not really that worried about parts going missing, especially if they are all inside of the car and its sealed up. I will also be insured for the full value of the items shipped. I just want to make it easier to move around without the excess baggage and save a substantially amount to ship.

I did look into getting a crate made, however a forklift to move made that a non starter for me. I want the ease of being able to roll it onto and off of a trailer/truck on both ends of the sea journey.

So far I'm pretty happy with my freight forwarder here in Norway, helpful and knowledgeable. They ship lots of cars to Norway in shared containers and have their own warehouse in NJ where the car will be loaded, once its through their gates i should be golden.

I'm picking the car up with a flat bed trailer on my side but I have not figured out how to get it safely from ERA to NJ. I'll ask Peter if he has a trucker in the area that he recommends.

Robby R

[oilerfish]

Originally Posted by DanEC

I’m pretty sure at least some of my boxes (maybe all) were in the cockpit and trunk, pretty much filling it up. Looking at my delivery pictures I don’t see any boxes not in the car. I don’t think they would want to pile parts and boxes on the seats. The tunnel and instrument were installed in the interior. MrMustang may have the best idea.

Thanks for that Dan. I'm in contact with ERA and Peter is thinking about how to do it Is the dash mounted on all of the cars irrespective of what you order? I did not state either or when i ordered mine.

Robby R

[strictlypersonl]

Robby,
ERA can deliver the kit in any stage of assembly/disassembly.
However...
What are the laws in the importing country? My experience with the European Union is that the closer a package looks like a completed car, the more barriers there are to importing. We've had to split the shipments into groups that can be described as "parts".

[DanEC]

Originally Posted by oilerfish

Thanks for that Dan. I'm in contact with ERA and Peter is thinking about how to do it Is the dash mounted on all of the cars irrespective of what you order? I did not state either or when i ordered mine.

Robby R

I don’t know, maybe not. It’s just attached with 5 ( maybe 6) screws so it’s easy for them to do so and in my unfinished semi roller, the gages and switches were all installed. All the aluminum was temporarily in place. Fuel and brake hard lines mounted. Windshield bolted in. All body panels hung. I believe lights may have been in place. Footboxes temporarily installed (I did my own bonding and riveting). Fuel tank was mounted. In my case, the rear suspension was all mounted - the front was on casters. I think my full bumpers were hung but I may remember wrong on that. I had a lot of disassembly to do upon receipt.

[KarlzEE Bebout]

A friend had his car shipped from Arizona to Washington state on an open trailer. Granted, it was a complete car but he found someone that used heavy duty shrink wrap and the car made the journey with no dings, bugs, or water spots. I'm just mentioning this as it seemed like a very good way to secure anything packed inside the car, engine bay, and trunk and still have the My 2¢.

[tkb289]

Robby,

First off, congrats on building an ERA FIA, I would imagine there are not many in Norway.

As far as how to wrap everything up for shipping, there are some good suggestions here. If you have not done so already, you may want to also check with your freight forwarder in Norway, in terms of what to expect with customs inspections. If the car is all wrapped up, it may need to be done in such a way that it can be uncovered and inspected, then sealed back up.

It may be helpful to provide a drawing or diagram (from ERA) that illustrates where the chassis number is stamped into the frame and the location of the brass ID tag that is attached to the frame. If the customs agents know where to look, it might minimize what they have to uncover and cover back up.

- Tim

[xb-60]

Originally Posted by mrmustang

Bite the bullet and get the private shipping container if you are worried about shipping loss or theft. Does it hurt, absolutely, will it make you sleep better while it's in transit, absolutely. How much is your peace of mind worth, as well as the knowledge it will all arrive as it was intended given your not so close proximity to the manufacturer.

Bill S.

I agree with Bill.

My car and associated parts 'only' had to come around 2400km overland, coming in a 20 foot shipping container, delivered to my door. The delivery guys were happy to help me unload the container (took less than an hour) as they then didn't need to come back again to pick up the container.
A container is the only way to guarantee the safety of the car/parts. If "parts go missing", even though they are insured, the headaches, hassles and time involved in replacing them would be considerable, particularly when dealing with parts sourced from another country. Peace of mind is, indeed, worth a lot.

It is a massive relief when all of your car/parts arrives, safe and complete.
Good luck with whatever you choose to do.


Here it is arriving... and much relief that everything was safe and well secured, as promised




Cheers!
Glen


edit: should add - the car's body had already safely travelled via container from Pennsylvania to east coast Australia

[oilerfish]

Originally Posted by strictlypersonl

Robby,
ERA can deliver the kit in any stage of assembly/disassembly.
However...
What are the laws in the importing country? My experience with the European Union is that the closer a package looks like a completed car, the more barriers there are to importing. We've had to split the shipments into groups that can be described as "parts".

Norway is a bit different. I have discussed with DMV and freight forwarder and there should be no issues with having the car sent as a kit in one shipment.
I ordered the car as a basic kit but understand that a lot of the pieces are temporarily in place.

The procedure here is you apply for a license to build, get the kit home and then invite the DMV to come and see what you have (Yes they actually come to my garage). The car is imported as parts and the DMV has no knowledge of when the car arrives and are only in the loop when i tell them to come have a look. That allows me to remove the bits and pieces that are temporarily mounted for shipping purpose before the DMV inspects.

There is no inspection at the import of the kit unless tax people want to check all the parts to make sure there is nothing that shouldn't be there that they can tax.
Shipper says that's unlikely to happen and if it does its not a big deal, just means repacking the car over here before I trailer it from east coast to west coast.

Robby R

[oilerfish]

Originally Posted by KarlzEE Bebout

A friend had his car shipped from Arizona to Washington state on an open trailer. Granted, it was a complete car but he found someone that used heavy duty shrink wrap and the car made the journey with no dings, bugs, or water spots. I'm just mentioning this as it seemed like a very good way to secure anything packed inside the car, engine bay, and trunk and still have the My 2¢.

Thanks, shrink wrap might be a good option, ill keep that in mind.

[PDUB]

Originally Posted by oilerfish

Thanks, shrink wrap might be a good option, ill keep that in mind.

This is commonplace for storing boats here in the states, and likely other places, for the winter months... check with some marinas.

[oilerfish]

Originally Posted by tkb289

Robby,

First off, congrats on building an ERA FIA, I would imagine there are not many in Norway.

As far as how to wrap everything up for shipping, there are some good suggestions here. If you have not done so already, you may want to also check with your freight forwarder in Norway, in terms of what to expect with customs inspections. If the car is all wrapped up, it may need to be done in such a way that it can be uncovered and inspected, then sealed back up.

It may be helpful to provide a drawing or diagram (from ERA) that illustrates where the chassis number is stamped into the frame and the location of the brass ID tag that is attached to the frame. If the customs agents know where to look, it might minimize what they have to uncover and cover back up.

- Tim

As far as i know there are no ERA's in Norway so I'm a guinea pig on this for a few others that i have been in touch with locally

The customs are unlikely to open the wrapping if the paperwork describing all of the parts and total value is believable. If they do open I'll have a lot of gaffer tape and poly with me

I have discussed with my freight forwarder and am told that the kit will not be inspected by the DMV, and very unlikely that customs opens to check at import as its considered parts and not a finished car.
The kit will be inspected in my garage when i tell the DMV that it is ready for primary inspection.

Good idea and Ill make sure that freight forwarder has info regarding chassis plate location but i don't think anyone will look at this until the car is in my garage.

Robby R

[oilerfish]

Originally Posted by xb-60

I agree with Bill.

My car and associated parts 'only' had to come around 2400km overland, coming in a 20 foot shipping container, delivered to my door. The delivery guys were happy to help me unload the container (took less than an hour) as they then didn't need to come back again to pick up the container.
A container is the only way to guarantee the safety of the car/parts. If "parts go missing", even though they are insured, the headaches, hassles and time involved in replacing them would be considerable, particularly when dealing with parts sourced from another country. Peace of mind is, indeed, worth a lot.

It is a massive relief when all of your car/parts arrives, safe and complete.
Good luck with whatever you choose to do.


Here it is arriving... and much relief that everything was safe and well secured, as promised

Attachment 37818


Cheers!
Glen


edit: should add - the car's body had already safely travelled via container from Pennsylvania to east coast Australia

Thanks Glen, the car will be in a container, just with some other cars. Ill be there when its unloaded so no pilfering opportunity between NJ and here. All i need now is to figure out who will truck it from ERA to New Jersey, working on that right now

Robby R

[xb-60]

Best wishes for your venture Robby.

Some background on my comments, and also on my Cobra journey .... before going down my current path with a PACE 289FIA build, I had very seriously considered an ERA 289FIA - in fact I had already paid a deposit to Peter. The import hurdles and costs involved in getting an ERA kit (or indeed, any other Cobra kit) into Australia were just too great, so I had to change direction. It has worked out well so far

Again, best wishes for your build, and we all look forward to a great build thread!

Cheers,
Glen

[oilerfish]

Originally Posted by xb-60

Best wishes for your venture Robby.

Some background on my comments, and also on my Cobra journey .... before going down my current path with a PACE 289FIA build, I had very seriously considered an ERA 289FIA - in fact I had already paid a deposit to Peter. The import hurdles and costs involved in getting an ERA kit (or indeed, any other Cobra kit) into Australia were just too great, so I had to change direction. It has worked out well so far

Again, best wishes for your build, and we all look forward to a great build thread!

Cheers,
Glen

Thanks for that Glen!

Read your thread a while back, wow, what a great job on everything!

I considered many options before going with ERA but they were always at the top of what I wanted. Being so far away from the source of parts etc. i wanted a kit that had most of the pieces included. I visited ERA 4-5 years ago when over for business and the experience sold me.
When self build rules here in Norway changed a couple of years ago, I was pretty quick to make up my mind and put a deposit down with ERA.

Plan is to build over a couple years and try to do everything myself. I work offshore in Norway with a nice schedule that gives me plenty of garage time, so it might just be finished quicker

My youngest daughter is studying in Australia, she's been 2 years in Brisbane and now she's in Melbourne for another year or two. She loves Australia and we are not happy about that Never been myself, but plans afoot to visit in January.

Robby R