Drive yer TIV in Uncle Sam's back yard

[cutmonster]

Pistonheaders

I'm planning a once in a lifetime trip for the whole of next May and June. Always wanted to do this and, well, you only live once...
...shipping out my Chimaeara (£1200 there and back or thereabouts) and drive (legally) around the good old US of A...

Any tips? I have not had any real problem with the car in a year or so of ownership. Plan would be to have a big service before I go (David Batty would work his magic on the car) but should I take spares of any sort with me?

All this assuming bank manager (and employer) willing

David.

>>> Edited by cutmonster on Tuesday 23 July 17:07

>>> Edited by cutmonster on Tuesday 23 July 17:42

[Don]

What a trip! Cool!

I'm no technical expert but I'd have thought the most important stuff would be parts not easily sourced from anyone except TVR...and perhaps a fan belt, throttle cable, set of blubs, Tyre Weld, mobile phone that works in the USA, US breakdown cover and insurance, errrrmn...

Now you need Steve Heath's book....

>> Edited by Don on Tuesday 23 July 17:39

[plotloss]

£12K!!

I hope thats more than just shipping (or is it air freight??) as $2000 would be about right from what I have seen.

Matt.

[cutmonster]

Oops, Matt. Added an extra nought! It isn't gonna cost me £12K. It's gonna work out £600 each way (by ship, 8 days) which ain't that bad in the scheme of things. I'm trying to work out a way of selling the Chim over there (I planned to get at Tuscan S anyway) but that plan seems to have been scuppered by US laws on crash testing etc

[plotloss]

quote:
Oops, Matt. Added an extra nought! It isn't gonna cost me £12K. It's gonna work out £600 each way (by ship, 8 days) which ain't that bad in the scheme of things. I'm trying to work out a way of selling the Chim over there (I planned to get at Tuscan S anyway) but that plan seems to have been scuppered by US laws on crash testing etc

Phew! Thought that was a bit steep.

Whereabouts are you planning on going NY to LA?

Matt.

[cutmonster]

The car would land at Jersey City. I would drive up to NYC (I used to work there so would spend a couple of days for old time's sake in the Apple), then down to Washington. Then Richmond, Va and through the Carolinas to Atlanta.

Then across the Deep South to Birmingham (my home town, at least the West Midlands version is) Houston and Dallas up through Monument Valley (heater fans on), Las Vegas, LA, San Fran, West Coast to Seattle, Vancouver...
...then a short hop to the Great Lakes, Chicago, Boston and back to NYC.
I have no idea how long this would take but reckon with a fair mix of press-on driving and leisurely sight seeing, I could do it in 8 - 10 weeks.


At least I hope I can!!!!

[maranellouk]

Good luck with everything. When I have time to get back to London and choose my TuscanS it will be sent out to NYC right away(after a thorough checking that is). Aiming for December shipping and February drive from NYC to SanFran.

Got a bit jammy with our new apartment in the village as it has a garage. Keeping it in the village and SanFran for a year so it's bound to cause a stir everytime it comes out to play.

If you are going to be coming though N.Y mail me to see if I'm around. Hopefully we'll get a chance to show the apple what real cars sound like.

[simpo one]

I think the editor of a certain magazine beginning with 'S' would like to publish a feature - or serial - of your advernture. Take a digital camera and mail in a report + photos each month!

[cutmonster]

Simpo One. I certainly will!! Will contact Sprint shortly. But before that, it'll be cap in hand time to the old employer for some unpaid leave. And on bended knees to bank manager!

Maranellouk: I cannot think of any better place to live than NYC and with a Big Tuscan to hand too! All the best with the shipment across! I will let u know when plans firm.

>> Edited by cutmonster on Tuesday 23 July 20:36

>> Edited by cutmonster on Tuesday 23 July 20:37

[apache]

I've just got back from LA and they love their cars, all I could think was 'wish I had the Griff, wish I had the Griff' ...you are going to have a seriously cool time taking on the stangs, vipers and vettes, traffic will be a bit busy there but in Arizona or Nevada wahaaaaay

[tivhead]

David

I did more or less the same trip around the states in 94. 4 of us hired a Ford Explorer for 6 weeks and we covered 11,650 miles. What a trip!! You will have a such a great time in the griff on those open roads.

Keep to the speed limit ESPECIALLY in Texas. We nearly got put in jail cause the Ozzy guy in the party got caught speeding.

If you need any pointers, mail me.

Tiv

[mikeboz]

Best of luck.. my best trip of all was a drive last fall from Miami ,where I had just picked up my newly purchased (Canadian registered)4.3 Griff and drove, top down ,to Toronto.
(about 2500kms)Every time we stopped ,we would have to spend an hour educating the mobs of people wanting to know "what the hell" we were driving.Drove my wife absolutely Crazy!!! expect to answer questions all day long...even when you are cruising at 90mph...I mean 55mph...

[Shamus1972]

I too am thinking of taking the tiv to the states - it's only in the "dreaming" stages at the moment, but next may/june sounds like a good time.

I only get 4 weeks holiday a year, so I would probably only allow 2 weeks for the trip, but it would be great to meet up with a few people en route! Any tips on places to go/stay would be greatly appreciated, and wouldn't it make a cool story for "Sprint" - a few TVR's in the states at the same time - if we could get some sponsorship and do it for charity we might even cover some expenses!

Anyone else?

[Leadfoot]

"Car" magazine - this months I think - took a smart to the US for the NYC/LA trip (different car but same hassles I s'pose, so may be of help).

[plotloss]

Excellent!

Well if you need any help when going through Atlanta or want some pointers on places to go when there give me a shout(used to live there )

Matt.

>> Edited by plotloss on Wednesday 24th July 01:37

[thirsty]

My only question is about the legalities. The U.S. Car police are notorious for impounding cars that are being imported, and not meeting the existing pollution standards, etc. What about insurance?

I have a friend who took back an old E Type, but it was more than 25 years old and was not subject to strict import laws.

[Terminator]

I've only driven rental cars in the US, most recently was a Sebring convertible when I was in Vegas for a few days. Longest trip was from DC to New Orleans and back in a Ford Contour (Mondeo).

Tips: 1. Join the triple A before you go (assuming they accept non-US citizens and non-US cars 2. Join the TVRCC NA, members will be only to pleased to know where you are and give you regional phone numbers for assistance. 3. If you're going to be there for two months, it's better (and a lot cheaper) to buy a US pay-as-you-go phone over there rather than buy a tri-band over here. I have a tri-band but any calls that you make from the US cost about £1.50 a minute!

There are many TVRCC NA members who read this so if your trip does go ahead next May, you should generate a lot of interest.

[cutmonster]

Folks
Thanks for all the comments. I'VE JUST GOT TO DO IT NOW!!! Just thinking about it is making me well excited.
Thirsty : you can import a non-compliant car (which a TVR would be) for use by a non-US resident for a year. It's an easy process, so I understand. Cars over the age of 25 are exempt.
Insurance: gonna be a problem. My broker (Sunninghill) says no UK insurer (other than Lloyd's but for a big fee) would quote and this may be a headache. Any thoughts?
Mikeboz: can you help?!!

David.

PS Anyone know the guy who took his Tuscan to the Gumball Rally and the Chim driver who took his Chim over as reported in TVR News during may. I presume they faced similar hurdles. Ted: can you help?!!!



>> Edited by cutmonster on Wednesday 24th July 11:40

>> Edited by cutmonster on Wednesday 24th July 11:44

[diesel dougal]

GB rally, that'll be me,
mail me offline at [e-mail] or on here.

I could not get a UK insurer to quote me for the UK, most of the European cars got cover from Hagerty Insurance, www.hagerty.com, I dealth with a gal called Teresa Leach, max they would insure for was US$100K, a rather new Bentley did a u-turn at the port in Jersey because of this. Tried a few other insurance Co's but they just 'ed.

If you are planning going through New Mexico and Arizona I would recommend that you fit a manual switch on the fans - it's hot out there. When you are planning a route pay attention to the altitude and if I was doing it over again I would try and get advise on where to go to get decent fuel.

DD

[mikeboz]

My griff is One of only 8 registered griffs in Canada..
insurance is no problem here and for use in the USA...
But...I inquired about driving my Canadian registered Tasmin in Europe last year...and I could not find a Canadian company to insure me..
There has to be somebody who will...I will bring it up with my "State Farm" agent next time I send him another large clump of money...