After a voyage of 34 days, the ship arrived in Southampton. The vessel was the Tampa, part of the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Line.
Once the ship had docked, the car along with many more was unloaded. UK customs then got to work to check out the vehicle and make sure that all was legitimate. We used a company called Penguin Shipping to handle all of the work this end.
They sorted out the port handling charge, £40.00, UK customs clearance, £65.00 with a small £25.00 fee for administration. They also sorted out the payment of the freight charges to Seabridge International.
After paying all the fees and paperwork checked, I was handed the piece of paper that said I could now go and collect her. There was a feeling of both eagerness and anticipation. I handed the receipt over to the dock worker who then went off to find the car with the words 'Back in a mo!'
Seconds turned to minutes, tens of minutes. Eventually, about 45 minutes later this little VW came chugging into view. The driver was obviously fighting to keep the car running. My heart sank. What on earth had we bought? When I picked up my Corvette it was a case of jumping in, turn the key and she roared into life. Sadly not the case with the little ghia. We managed to keep her running just long enough to get her on the trailer.
He she is, all loaded up.
Bumpers on loosely, chrome nostrils painted black, paint looking even worse than expected. Remember how I said the Californian sun made her look nicer?
Body quite straight on the sides, nice even gaps around the doors.
Lots of filler or bondo as the Americans call it. Slight surface rust in front of rear wheel.
Californian plate, scripts painted black, reversing lights loose and not connected.
That dent, up close and personal. Lots of filler in that wheel arch.
Nice gaps again with slight amount of surface rust to rear of door.
Cracked paint on the front fender.....
Eek! look at that badly cracked paint, this whole area is covered in filler and hides a very poor repair. A new fender may have been fitted at some point and the poor welding underneath is rusting and coming up through to the surface.