Kirkham vs Shelby

[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.

[Dominik]

You won't find a minimum wage mechanic in SA.

Don't know their location costs in St. Alban, but work on $30 per hour.
OEM charge $40 to $60 per hour to service your car.

[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!

[nkb]

Originally Posted by 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!

Rick,

Wow. That's a sad story I hope to not see repeated!

Latest on my saga is that the schedule has changed. Different ships now assigned from India where the container has already landed. Now going through Singapore, instead of China. But, the ships are not coordinated to meet up so a delay of 11 more days now forecast. Won't arrive until February now.

But, what concerns me is that the ship that is supposed to pick up the container in Singapore is still in the Mediterranean and scheduled to go through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea where rockets are flying and most shipping companies have curtailed operations. So I really wonder if the assigned ship will actually arrive to take the container from Singapore to the US.

All out of my control. The daily tracking is a geography lesson and a window on the uncertain state of the world.