After my last post, I'd not heard from the transport broker and had given up hope of getting this car on a transport at this time. I'd called earlier to let them know that I already had plane tickets for the following morning. If it did not happen today, it was not going to happen. The day was winding down. I'd taken the dogs out for their late afternoon walk. When I returned, my wife said my phone had rang and she coordinated the driver to pick up my car. My good friend had prepared my car, drove it around the block a few times to shake out the cob webs, and then positioned it to be picked up.
Later that evening it was loaded onto a transport and was soon headed off to Texas.
The broker charged me $129.00 to align drivers and to see my work order. Then the driver will take the balance of $900 upon delivery. Most of these drivers do not take checks or credit cards. Some will take Venmo or Zell. But that is coordinated between the driver and myself. So I decided it was easier to just pay in cash.
I flew out the following morning and all of the driver contact information was sent to me by the broker.
As scheduled, the driver contacted me on the anticipated day. I met him at a place where there was enough room to unload my vehicle - which was positioned on the upper level of the transport trailer.
There are a few considerations when positioned in this way. My manual transmission poses several issues of unloading. The driver cannot unstrap my vehicle and disengage the parking brake when the trailer is in the unload position. This is because of the severe angle of the ramp when unloading. So the driver attaches the ramps to the back of the trailer, then unhitches 3 of the 4 tie down straps, then lifts the platform level before unstrapping the last tie down. This way gravity doesn't pull the car down the ramp until he has control of the vehicle from inside the drivers seat. Once in the drivers seat, he can stand on the brake and using a remote control slowly lower the entire platform down while he carefully backs of the trailer. The lowered stance of the Corrado adds some challenges to the clearance of the ramps. But this driver knew what he was doing and timed the descent and the angles precisely so that the spoilers and the lower extremities of the Corrado do not make contact with the trailer. Once on the ground, we inspected the car for any damage, signed the receipt, and I paid the driver in cash.
I was relieved to have the Corrado on the ground. I drove around the block to its new hiding place in my garage. I'd swept out the area and prepared the location where it will reside moving forward.
All this was done in the pouring rain. I was pleased to discover the inside remained dry with no leaks. The Endless Corrado G60 Project is now safely in its new home in Texas.
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