I am considering purchasing a 68 Pointiac Firebird restoration project. The vehicle is located in Los Angeles and I would require shipping to Fremantle, Western Australia. The vehicle is not running.

Has anybody on the forum got experience with storing vehicles in the USA prior to shipping overseas?
Anyone got recommendations for international shipping agents?
Also as the vehicle is a project I would like to have the engine and gearbox rebuilt prior to shipping or I would purchase a crate engine. These items along new many new parts (complete interior, windshields, would also require shipping.

What would your best advice be on getting both the vehicle and the parts over to Fremantle Western Australia?
Considering I have no contacts or facilities in the USA.
Anyone in LA got rental space?

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

I shipped my Bird from LA to Rotterdam with California Shipping. For information, pics, etc go to:

http://www.calship.com/

They ship to Australia as well. I was very satisfied. They picked up the car for 100 dollars, and shipped it for about 900 Dollars to Rotterdam. I erranged everything through e-mail and one or two phone-calls.

These guys are professionals. they store the car for a while untill the ship leaves. They sail once a week or so, don't know how often to Austrailia, but a simple e-mail to them would clarify a lot.

Good luck!

I shipped a 67 from Kansas to the UK. I went with a middleman that arranged everything for me, so there was no hassle on my behalf. The sea-freight company they used was Schumacher Cargo. If I were to do this again, I'd definitely use a freight company directly, as most will offer a door-to-door service, and as no registration paperwork was needed in my case (car undriveable) the middleman I used was probably not the most efficient way of going about it.

If the car doesn't run it's no problem, the transport people will be able to load it. It means that you'll have to use a container though, not a RORO (roll-on-roll-off) ferry.

You would need the original certificate of title to be able to export and import.

You do have the option of air freight, but from the quotes I got, that's about twice the price of by sea - a lot quicker if you can afford it though.

The company Wouter recommended is a lot (LOT!) cheaper than what I paid, and a greater distance to travel than mine, so I'd look at them first.

For parts I've used 2 catalog companies, Classic Industries and National Parts Depot. I can't compare the quality of parts from each company but I'm pleased with everything I have received. NPD was by far the quickest to respond to emails (matter of hours, compared to days with Classic)...both offer international air-shipping. If the parts are with the car already you can just ship them with the car in the same container.

contact Hansi in Norway....
hansi@barentsnett.no he might have some insight
...he bought and shipped a 69 vert from the US to Norway a few years ago...
but your biggest problem is going to be that its non driveable...will cost you more...harder to take to shipper, harder to load/unload etc


and currently Hansi bought a 94 Caddy here in Houston last week,that I checked out for him, and I took his cash to seller , its currently sitting at the sellers, I will take it to get new tires on it tomorrow and next week I`ll take it to shipper at port of Houston...
the shippers home office is in Los Angeles and I can give you the womans name, whom he has been dealing with..


Wendy Gomez

Schumacher Cargo Logistics, Inc - LOS ANGELES - HOUSTON - MIAMI - NEW YORK

Corporate Address: 550 W 135th St, Gardena, CA 90248

Tel: 562 408-6677 - Fax: 562 408-6636

E-Mail: wendy@sclusa.net Web Site: http//www.sclusa.net

other than that I shipped 10 yrs ago a large Volvo tp21 Miltary vehicle from Gothenburg Sweden to Galveston ,Tx..."oversized" vehicle (extra tall w off road tires and raised) , but driveable...was $1100 back then...port to port, friend deliverd in Sweden, I picked up here...

The guys at california shipping erranged everything. Then picked it up with a lorry. I wasn't sure the car was running, bnut that was no problem. Also unloading it from the container was no problem: the car wouldn't start. If it rolls, there should be no problem.

Don't store any loose parts or anything in the car though, çuase a lot gets stolen. They also steal (or drain) all the gas in the tank. For fire hazzard, but also cuase the guys at the port get some gas that way, supposably..

I would definately go for California Shipping again if I was to import another car.

Thank you all I am awaiting replies to an email enquiry to California shipping. I'll also contact Wendy as Bjorn suggested. My biggest problem though is I want to add parts to the container so I definately need some flexibility with storage and the ability for the shipping company to add the parts once I have bought them. I was finding it really difficult to organise and even find suitable companies so thanks very much for your input and experiences.
Nigel

best of luck Nigel!

G'day Nigel,

we just had another member join up from GB who had a car shipped across the pond. He didn't have any problems with the shipping overseas. And one would think there's always goin' to be a snag.

Contact Lloyd aka firebirdsixtyseven here, or through his web site: http://www.firebird67.com/

As for the storage and assembly you'll have to keep doin' some more research. Best wishes for ya mate.

Lloyd posted his shipping info in this thread already.

Welcome Nigel,
by the way, as mentioned in the other thread, be sure to verify that the original engine is in fact numbers matching AND rebuildable. Also check the numbers on the transmission and rear axle. Not having these match would significantly change the value of the car.