Greece to Normandy Convoy '09

[Max Hedges]

Chris what is the other side of the mountain and do they go up or down this mountain, I would have my eyes shut firmly.

Max

[Lang]

Max,

Bev and I went up that Semplon road in 2004 with our 1940 Dodge staff car with no difficulty.

On the other side we go down into a really nice valley then along to get the Furka car train through the mountain. The train is interesting but if it is a nice sunny day I will probably drive over the Furka Pass with whoever else is keen. As you can see from the photo, the Furka Pass road is a seriously winding road but very spectacular - open only when the snow melts. The mountaineers will meet the train riders on the far side (car train station down the bottom of photo).

[Lang]

Sometimes it helps to be small. Jim Sewell exiting his Blitz Radio Van while the Sydney boys stroll around their jeeps in the container.

All 15 vehicles are now on the high seas heading for Istanbul It was no easy job getting them from 4 Australian ports plus New Zealand to all eventually set sail on the same ship.

Lang

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Lang

Sometimes it helps to be small. Jim Sewell exiting his Blitz Radio Van while the Sydney boys stroll around their jeeps in the container.

Lang,

What I would like to know, is how did Jim get to secure the back end of the Blitz to the container? With minimum ground clearance, running on rims, not much chance of crawling underneath

[Lang]

Richard,

Jim will probably reply.

I think it was such a tight fit no restraints were required!!!

Lang

[jim sewell]

Hi Richard and Lang
Because I could not crawl underneath or go down the sides or go over the top , the only way I could think of restraining the rear was to make up 2 x C section steel purloin for the rear rims to sit on ( rims may have damaged wood floor during shipping ) I drilled 6 holes in each purloin and welded 6 x 1/4 studs with sharped ends that went into six holes punched in the wood floor , this stopped the plate and rim from sliding side ways ( I hope ! ).

To also help restrain the rear I used 2 x 2.5 tonne tie down straps which were anchored to the rear of the container through a type of pulley mechanism and one end was attached to each side of the chassis, the other end was relayed out along each side of the vehicle to the front of the container where the tensioner was anchored .
The straps were attached to the chassis while the rear of the vehicle was in the doorway and straps were pulled by assistants while the vehicle was backed in , ropes were joined to the straps because the straps were not long enough for this part of the operation .

For the front wheels I used 2 x channel irons for the rims to sit in and welded blocks in them to prevent the rim from rolling to or fro , to fit these I jacked the axle up and slipped them in place .
The front axle was secured by 3/8 chain and turn buckles .

The proof will be when I open the container door in Istanbul , the heart will be in the mouth.

Regards
Jim S.

[Lang]

Jim,

You seriously did not want it to move.

I would have thought with such a tight fit you could have just chucked in a couple of bags of those foam "worms" they use in post parcels and slammed the door!

Lang

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by jim sewell

Hi Richard and Lang
Because I could not crawl underneath or go down the sides or go over the top , the only way I could think of restraining the rear was to make up 2 x C section steel purloin for the rear rims to sit on ( rims may have damaged wood floor during shipping )

Thanks Jim,

I can see a lot of thought went in to that operation.

Some years ago, we shipped a Land Rover station wagon out to Aus for a motor rally we were entered in. It had a full roof rack as well. The container was an insulated or refrigerated type, used to bring perishables over to the UK, they return to Aus empty, so we had a "free" ride through the sponsor. Only problem was a lower ceiling height, we found some 13 inch car wheels with low profile tyres, just for transporting, still it was too high, so ended up with ratchet straps around the chassis and axles to pull springs up. I worked, and no damage caused.

Will see you in Normandy