Kirkham vs Shelby

[nkb]

Status as of December 6, 2023

Almost to the day, 2 years after placement of my order, my CSX alloy roller has just departed Hi Tech in South Africa. Headed east with stops in the UAE, India and China before arriving in Los Angeles. Seven weeks in transit with 3 different ships. In a 40 foot container with another CSX 8000, a CSX 7000, and a GT40.

Current position by satellite on the open sea is between Mozambique and Madagascar.

By the time the car gets to me it will have more than circumnavigated the earth. Poland to Provo, to Norfolk,VA to South Africa to India to China and back to the US. Well over 30,000 miles before it ever hits the pavement.

I don't know exactly when the body/frame was created by Kirkham in Poland as the roller already existed in Utah when I placed my order. But, from scratch it has probably been on the order of 2.5 years and counting. By the time it gets here for finishing (including drivetrain, paint, SB 100 registration) it will easily be 3+ years in the making.

The current process to supply an alloy Shelby CSX is incredibly inefficient and time consuming. It took 7 months alone to accomplish shipping the already partially assembled roller from Utah to South Africa. Then another 17 months on site in South Africa.

Along the way I was promised a much, much shorter time frame by the powers that be. Still to go, 7 weeks transit to the US and then further outfitting in Irvine of the Kirkham diff, wheels/tires, seat belts, etc. And then finally to my garage in Northern California where I can get to work fitting the drivetrain and finishing everything else.

Carroll accomplished the production of an original alloy Cobra much, much faster 60 years ago! Incredibly, the entire production of 655 original leaf spring CSX's took substantially less time than my single car!

[twobjshelbys]

Originally Posted by nkb

Status as of December 6, 2023

...
In a 40 foot container with another CSX 8000, a CSX 7000, and a GT40.

Current position by satellite on the open sea is between Mozambique and Madagascar.

I'm having visions of the ship getting attacked by Somali pirates and seeing 4 Shelbys sprouting sand roostertails driven around the desert.

Patience is a virtue!!!

[nkb]

Originally Posted by twobjshelbys

I'm having visions of the ship getting attacked by Somali pirates and seeing 4 Shelbys sprouting sand roostertails driven around the desert.

Patience is a virtue!!!

I did in fact think about Somali pirates as the ship will be off that coast. I quickly determined that the piracy has been sharply curtailed over the past 2 years. Hopefully that holds.

But I did also determine that the current ship was involved in an accident in August and taken out of service. Now recommissioned with the cars onboard. Also, hopefully all is ok.

It’s a fraught world.

[CSX2345]

Houthi Rebels are going after cargo ships as well. Multiple commercial ships have been hit with cruise missiles recently.

Hopefully yours stays clear of the Red Sea.

Your aluminum 289 looks great, btw.

Why did it need to ship to Hi Tech?

I would think the good folks at Kirkham could have brought the car up to a full roller state in considerably less time and keep it somewhat local.

Cheers

[nkb]

Originally Posted by CSX2345

Houthi Rebels are going after cargo ships as well.
Why did it need to ship to Hi Tech?

I would think the good folks at Kirkham could have brought the car up to a full roller state in considerably less time and keep it somewhat local.

Cheers

These were my thoughts as well, to have the car done by David Kirkham. I made the same argument with Shelby that the car did not need to go to Hi Tech. Especially since I was not having it painted. But, I could not convince them in the end because apparently it would cut into (possibly wipe out) their margin. Production at Hi Tech apparently being less costly.

I will say that I believe that Hi Tech has done a nice job on the car from what I can tell from afar. I chose not to paint the car there although they are known for excellent (and reasonable cost) paint. I didn't want to choose the color yet and I also have an excellent painter local to me. Kirkham also recommended painting the car after my assembly to avoid likely blemishes from the installation process. I will be drilling/modifying holes in the body for various original items not included on the standard roller (Ceandess gas cap, correct central mirror, NOS screen jets, grab handle, Talbot Berlin Jr side view mirror, Shelby teardrop bonnet locks, ...) .

[CSX2345]

Too bad Shelby wouldn't work with you. Hi Tech's labor rate must be $5 hr. to balance out all the shipping back and forth around the world.

I'm sure your car will come out great. I watched a video on CSX2190 recently. Can't go wrong with Guardsman Blue with black interior.

[sunman]

Minimum wage is $1.35 in South Africa.

[nkb]

Originally Posted by CSX2345

Houthi Rebels are going after cargo ships as well. Multiple commercial ships have been hit with cruise missiles recently.

Hopefully yours stays clear of the Red Sea.

The container with my car cleared any Somali pirates and avoided the Red Sea. The Suez Canal is effectively closed now with most major carriers suspending operations in the area.

My container just docked in Dubai, having made it from South Africa, and is now headed to India to be transferred on to a Chinese ship. Then to Shanghai area to be transferred again to a Liberian registered ship bound for the US.

It also turns out that the Panama Canal, if the container had gone west from South Africa instead of east is suffering significant congestion and delays because of drought and low water levels.

What a struggle !

[CompFi]

Originally Posted by nkb

What a struggle !

NKB - sorry to hear of the ongoing Odyssey for your car.

Glad to hear that it has cleared the pirates!

And easy for me to say since I am not the one enduring the extended timetable, but not only will this experience enhance the stories you can tell at meet ups, but hopefully enhance the value too.

As in, who else will want to repeat this ordeal??

[Mark IV]

Not so bad. I had a container of Superformance cars I paid for arrive in Newark. Customs cleared them before they land as usually happens. Container gets into the port storage. Container is marked as "unloaded" despite it not being so. Container is now loaded on a ship as "empty" and sent to Singapore. Realization of FUBAR happens and now container goes to Asia, gets offloaded, reloaded and finally returned to West Coast. My fault, no, but I must pay container "demiurge" fees and other costs! When they have you buy the stones, you are theirs!

[Harpoon PV2]

Originally Posted by nkb

Status as of December 6, 2023


Carroll accomplished the production of an original alloy Cobra much, much faster 60 years ago! Incredibly, the entire production of 655 original leaf spring CSX's took substantially less time than my single car!

The first letter from Shelby arrived at AC Thames Ditton on September 8, 1961. The engine arrived in early November, and work started on what was then called Ace 3.6 a couple of weeks latter. A quick shake down run of what was then called, CSX2000 and off to Heathrow, on February 16, 1962, bound for LAX and finally, Dean Moon's shop, to stuff the engine and tranny, plus lots of tuning! Man, don't you wish we could get any new Cobra that fast? Cheers, Dennis