After the stories of the trials and tribulations Bruce (of the British-cars
list) went through with his TR7 engine rebuild, I figured I'd give a try at
telling the story of my experience importing a 1974 Commer AutoSleeper from
England.
It all started innocently enough, with a second-hand post to the Hillman
list from a chap in England with a Commer AutoSleeper he was looking to
sell. The AutoSleeper is a van-bodied camper conversion with a pop-up roof,
very much like a VW camper from the 60s or 70s. It had belonged to his late
father, who had amassed a large amount of spares that were also to be
included with the vehicle. It had last been MOTd 5 years ago, but he
replaced the battery and drove it about a bit to make sure it was still
driveable. I checked with the authorities, and a 25 year old vehicle is
exempt from DOT and EPA regulation, and Nebraska doesn't even have safety
inspections. Not being one to turn down an unloved Rootes Group product,
and having the necessary purchase price on hand (100 pounds), a deal was
struck and a checque sent. Now, I just had to figure out how to get it to
America!
I have some connections through where I work, but they're all in
Germany. Transporting the camper to Germany was just too expensive, so I
checked with a number of shipping companies. The best deal I could get was
through a British company, since the dollar is strong - 750 pounds to ship
it to the port of New York, which is really in New Jersey, where my brother
lives. That made picking it up easy, and the freight could be paid at the
docks. But, I had to get it from where it was, (the far north of England),
to Southampton, which as it's name implies, is in the south. Having it towed
would add 450 pounds to the shipping cost (YIKES!), but by chance the fellow
I bought it from has a trailer. He offered to tow it to Southampton for the
fuel cost, which was about 150 pounds worth of diesel fuel for his Range
Rover. So, another checque was sent.
The ship was scheduled to depart December 13th - I should have taken
that as an omen. The camper was duly trailered down to Southampton, and
delivered to the docks. Good news, it made it safely and on time. Bad news,
the pop-up roof escaped somewhere along the way. Blown right off , and no
sign of it anywhere along the highway on his return trip. It vanished.
Fortunately, the shipper was very accomodating, and put the van indoors
until it could be put aboard ship. The seller also reduced his selling price
to 30 pounds.
The actual voyage was very uneventful, I didn't hear anything until
about a day before it was scheduled to land. It seems they decided there
wasn't enough cargo to warrant actually docking the ship at the New York
port. They decided to offload everything in Baltimore, and send whatever was
due at New York there by truck. Of course, now that the roof was compromised
(ok, missing), sitting around outside was a bit of a problem. I was assured
it would be covered until it went on the truck, and that they would get it
done as quickly as possible. The customs agent had already cleared all the
paperwork, so there were no problems there.
The ship docked in Baltimore on January 4th. Many phone calls back and
forth, it's now the 10th, and I'm told the camper has just been put on the
truck, and it WILL be at the port in NY/NJ on the morning of Friday the
11th. I plan on my brother picking it up that afternoon, just to make sure
they have some extra time, and leave orders for them to call me if there are
ANY problems.
Friday arrives, all looks good, no phone calls. My brother goes to the
docks, and they can't find the camper. They call all over, calling each of
their trucks on the road, and find nothing. Finally, they call Baltimore.
It's still on the docks! "There was trouble with the hydraulics on the
transport truck, so they had to unload everything." Now it's getting a
little ridiculous - the 50 mile trip in New Jersey is taking as long as the
transatlantic voyage!!!
After quite a bit of haggling on my brother's part, the shipping company
agreed to drop off the camper at my brother's house, which is 50 miles
closer to Baltimore anyway. Dock workers don't work on weekends, though, so
it can't happen until Monday the 15th. Time to wait. Again.
Time for a new fly in the ointment - someone (still unknown) at the
shipping company orders the delivery manifest changed so that it shows
vehicle discharge at Baltimore. That paperwork hits the docks Tuesday
morning, so when the truck arrives to pick it up, they have US Customs
release papers all ready that say New York, but now the bill-of-lading says
Baltimore!!! "The papers don't match, we're a bonded carrier, you have to
straighten this out before we can move it."
Many, many phone calls and one day later, Customs in Baltimore approves
the New York papers, and re-stamps them with their Baltimore stamp. Now, the
trucker is happy, customs is happy, all should be well. Except, the camper
won't start when they try to load it on the truck. It's been almost 2 weeks
since it came off the ship, and they only just NOW tell me that they had to
tow it off the ship, it wouldn't start then either. My guess is whoever
drove it on the ship, left the key on, and ran the battery flat. Easy enough
you say, just jump start it? One problem - they can't find the battery. I
explain where the battery is, and they still can't find it. They look at
pushing it onto the carrier with a forklift, and realize that the front
wheels are too narrow to fit the rails on the car carrier, even if it DID
start. Excuse me, didn't they notice that LAST time, when the truck had
hydraulic problems??
By now, it's Thursday morning, 2 weeks since arrival in the US. The
trucking company is charging the shipping company for the entire day wasted
on Wednesday, and want to bring in a rollback flatbed to pick up the camper
and get it to my brother's house. The weather forecast for Friday through
Tuesday is for heavy rains, so I would like to see this happen as quickly as
possible. Of course, it doesn't. It takes most of Thursday to get the
official OK from the shipping company for the flatbed, and now it can't pick
up the camper until Friday morning. I also discover at this point that
contrary to what I'd been told all along, they never put a tarp over it
while it was at the docks, so who knows how much rain got inside during
those two weeks.
Friday - finally. By 11am I've confirmed that it was picked up, and at
about 5pm Eastern time, they finally arrive at my brother's house and drop
it off, in the pouring rain. My brother gets it in the garage, where it can
dry out, while I figure out the next step - how to get the replacement roof
(that I bought in England, and is still there) and the camper to the same
place at the same time, and how to get them BOTH from New Jersey to
Nebraska!!!! But, that's ANOTHER story......
Jon Arzt, Rootes Group Sanctuary (or so I've been told)
Omaha, NE USA
1957 Hillman Minx saloon (anyone want a REAL project car?)
1958 Hillman Minx convertible
1961 Humber Super Snipe saloon
1966 Humber Super Snipe estate
1966 Sunbeam Alpine
1967 Sunbeam Funwagon (haven't decided whether to keep both campers or not)
1974 Commer AutoSleeper (that even after all this, I haven't even SEEN
yet!!)
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