Elan Moving

PostPost by: GrUmPyBoDgEr » Tue Apr 26, 2011 1:30 pm

Looking for some bright ideas guys!
The company that will move my stuff from Germany to GB suggested putting my Elan in the back of the removal truck.
They've done it before but only cars with good ground clearance.
With the minimal ground clearance of the Elan very long ramps or maybe a loading bay would be needed & are not available.
So a bit of lateral thinking is needed here; any suggestions.

No I don't want to drive or trailer the car to GB but it may be a last resort.
I want to get it on & off that truck some way as it's the cheapest alternative.

Cheers
John
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Editor: On Sunday morning, February 8th 2015, Derek "John" Pelly AKA GrumpyBodger passed away genuinely peacefully at Weston Hospicecare, Weston Super Mare. He will be missed.
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PostPost by: oldelanman » Tue Apr 26, 2011 2:31 pm

Hi John,
My suggestion would be to use a slide-back breakdown recovery truck to transfer your car into the removal vehicle. You can load your car onto the tilted deck, winch the deck up level as you would to recover the vehicle, back up to the removal vehicle and just drive your car in. Simply reverse the procedure at the other end. I've used this technique in the past to ship vehicles to shows one inside the other - saves on drivers and fuel. You just need to hire a recovery vehicle for about 10mins at each end of the journey.

Regards,
Last edited by oldelanman on Wed Apr 27, 2011 6:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
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PostPost by: Ross Robbins » Tue Apr 26, 2011 10:57 pm

Another possibility...is a loading dock nearby?
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PostPost by: 1964 S1 » Sun May 01, 2011 8:46 pm

10 - 4... The loading dock is simplest.
When I picked up my +2, I put it (illegally) in the back of a Hertz box truck. I bought the car from a dealership that had an alignment lift, we put the Lotus on that and rolled it in the truck.
Back here at home I backed the truck up to a loading dock that had a ramp off to the side and drove the Elan out.
Make sure to secure the vehicle in the truck as its backdoor wasn't enough to hold it in. I tied the +2 in through open side windows.
It was easy. Good luck.
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PostPost by: GrUmPyBoDgEr » Mon May 02, 2011 8:09 am

Hi Guys,

tons of thanks for the hints & tips.
Our LotusElan.net friends here in Germany have also been incredibly helpful & I now have a couple of very generous offers to transport my Elan, either in the back of a van or by trailer.
This is a great community to belong to :)

Thanks to you all
John
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PostPost by: elanner » Wed May 11, 2011 1:07 am

I'm very pleased to say that last weekend I completed moving an Elan that I have purchased. More postings on that later, no doubt....

As to moving, the seller convinced me that putting it in a truck was superior to putting it on a trailer. Needless to say I was concerned that getting it into the truck, securing it, and getting it out would be difficult - especially in a U-Haul truck with nothing on the aluminum floor to tie it to. Of course, the driving part would be much simpler, with no risk of a fish-tailing trailer behind an empty truck.

So, into the truck it went. While I was flying to collect it the seller did a spectacular job of getting into the truck. He constructed a frame around the walls of the interior, and then a pair of tracks for the wheels. The wall frame was held down by struts attached to the chair rail. The floor frame was not connected to the truck at all, it was just a good, tight fit. It was all built of standard 2x4s and a couple of 2x6s for the outer sides of the wheel tracks.

A pair of 2x10s, each strengthened with a 2x4 underneath, and supported on little legs, provided the ramp. Once the Elan was in, chocks were used to lock it fore and aft. It was not tied down at all and, trust me, it was clearly going nowhere. It would have needed to jump 6" and then sideways, to get out of the tracks. Even the potholes on I-95 in Massachusetts aren't capable of creating that much movement.

My flights got messed up so I missed the construction and insertion - yea, I know, I owe the seller big time. But I drove it 750 miles without a hitch and got it out of the truck. And took the attached photos. You need plenty of lumber, a good power screwdriver, lots of 4" screws, a tape measure, and a power saw. And several hours, at each end. The truck cleaned up perfectly.

I'm fully convinced - for a long drive, especially with an overnight stop at a strange hotel - in the truck is the way to go.

Nick

P1030499.JPG and


P1030505.JPG and
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PostPost by: GrUmPyBoDgEr » Wed May 11, 2011 7:58 am

Hi Nick,

thanks for the idea & especially for the Photos.
I think that the van method is the way my car will get to England.
A kind member on here has done it before but with vans/trucks that do have attachment points for ropes/ straps; so much easier than having to make that wooden frame.
My new found friend has to go to GB empty in order to collect a car there so my share of the costs will help & my Elan will end up in its new garage hopefully.
Another Elan.net friend here in Germany has also made a similar offer of help.

You're a great bunch!
Thanks
John
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PostPost by: oldelanman » Wed May 11, 2011 8:21 am

Here's how you do it.......

http://youtu.be/ifaUFMYsESM

Good luck John.

vorsichtig !

Regards,
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PostPost by: GrUmPyBoDgEr » Wed May 11, 2011 8:44 am

oldelanman wrote:Here's how you do it.......

http://youtu.be/ifaUFMYsESM

Good luck John.

vorsichtig !

Regards,


No, no, that will definitely not happen to me!



Will it? :roll:


Cheers
John
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Editor: On Sunday morning, February 8th 2015, Derek "John" Pelly AKA GrumpyBodger passed away genuinely peacefully at Weston Hospicecare, Weston Super Mare. He will be missed.
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PostPost by: ardee_selby » Wed May 11, 2011 10:04 am

GrUmPyBoDgEr wrote:I think that the van method is the way my car will get to England.


Failing that a horse box does the job great. They have super ramps and many are used to carrying thoroughbreds!

But, as I've said on here before, the only downside was getting the horse sh*t out of the tyre treads, although the neighbours curtains twitched a bit when seeing it backing up to the garage :)

Cheers - Richard
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PostPost by: GrUmPyBoDgEr » Wed May 11, 2011 10:22 am

ardee_selby wrote:
GrUmPyBoDgEr wrote:I think that the van method is the way my car will get to England.


Failing that a horse box does the job great. They have super ramps and many are used to carrying thoroughbreds!

But, as I've said on here before, the only downside was getting the horse sh*t out of the tyre treads, although the neighbours curtains twitched a bit when seeing it backing up to the garage :)

Cheers - Richard



That's a pretty good idea Richard, but trailing will be slower due to speed restrictions & more expensive crossing the channel due to length.

But hey, considering my car will one day soon be scorching along Somerset lanes maybe we should start investigating which tyres cope best with horse 5hit, or even the dreaded cow muck :lol:

Cheers
John
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PostPost by: ardee_selby » Wed May 11, 2011 10:52 am

Doesn't have to be a trailer... :wink:

Cheers - Richard
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PostPost by: oldelanman » Wed May 11, 2011 11:51 am

GrUmPyBoDgEr wrote:
But hey, considering my car will one day soon be scorching along Somerset lanes maybe we should start investigating which tyres cope best with horse 5hit, or even the dreaded cow muck :lol:

Cheers
John


I think the touring caravanners will limit your "scorching" speed to a brisk walking pace so any old tyres will do. :lol:
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PostPost by: GrUmPyBoDgEr » Wed May 11, 2011 1:22 pm

oldelanman wrote:
GrUmPyBoDgEr wrote:
But hey, considering my car will one day soon be scorching along Somerset lanes maybe we should start investigating which tyres cope best with horse 5hit, or even the dreaded cow muck :lol:

Cheers
John


I think the touring caravanners will limit your "scorching" speed to a brisk walking pace so any old tyres will do. :lol:



Oh dear, I'd forgotten why I'd enjoyed living here for so long.
And there was I thinking that the removal of the Gatso's was going to make life on "the Island" so much more palatable. :)
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PostPost by: GrUmPyBoDgEr » Wed May 11, 2011 1:24 pm

ardee_selby wrote:Doesn't have to be a trailer... :wink:

Cheers - Richard


You could get 3 Elans, stood on end, in that :lol:
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