Hey guys , may be making my first trip stateside soon on a car buying mission in the San Fransisco area and got a couple of questions if anyone can help out . The plan is to fly over , hopefully do the deal on the car (An early '60's Chevy truck) , then spend a week smoking around the area searching out some more bits and doing the tourist thing before dropping the truck off at the docks to ship it home . So , anyone know how I'd go about getting short term insurance cover for the week ? Rather not spend my holiday locked up in a police cell ! Also , whats the over-the-counter availability of spare parts (Mainly service type items) for a 60's truck , want to leave the credit cards alone so mail-order is out really . Also , any must see's in the area ? Guess I'll do the tourist spots a bit , but rather drop into some cool shops and any cruises / meets while I'm there . Doing this trip on a tight budget but want to pack in as much as I can ! Hoping to head over some time in November . Any advice / offers of help / beer gratefully recieved Cheers , Ratty ...
I'm not from Ca,but if you can swing it,you need to get to the Peterson Car Museum in LA (I've never been myself),and to the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum in Auburn,Indiana. I have been to the A-C-D Museum,and I can't recommend it highly enough. They have a web site if you want to go look and see what they have. BTW,is there any particular reason you are going to San Francisco to buy a truck? Early 60's Chevy trucks are common all over the country,and there is no real reason to go all the way to Ca to find one. Find one on the east coast and save 6,000 flying miles. PLUS,you could still easily visit the A-C-D Museum in Indiana,and even go visit the Gartlits drag racing museum in Florida. Hell,look for e early 60's Chevy pu in or near Indiana,and drive it to Florida to see the Gartlits Museum,and then put it on the boat there to ship back to the UK. You could even buy your ticket that has you leaving out of Ocala,Florida to fly back to the UK
Cheers Arthur , the reason I'm thinking of heading to CA is I've already got a car in mind and thats where it is . Believe me , I've seriously thought of driving it back to the East Coast , I'd love to do a road trip like that , but finances just won't stretch that far ! Thanks for the pointers though , I'll keep them in mind ;-)
I bought a '56 Ford Half Ton in LA back in 1975 and drove it crosscountry, had a great time, everyone should make that drive! If you plan to drive from San Francisco to the docks in Long Beach be sure to take the Pacific Coast Highway, plan on a half day at the Petersen collection.
Contact Limey on here. He drove his 39 around before shipping it home, he should now about insurance.
Check out the Wally Parks museum in Pamona also by Calif. Law you have 10 days to purchase insurance after buying a used vehicle so you should be OK, you can call DMV to make sure.
That's ***uming you already have insurance in place as in trading or replacing the ride you now have. He won't have any insurance. I would certainly look into getting some kind of coverage. You know.........plan for the best, but prepare for the worst. J
Could you pay the previous owner to carry insurance for you for a week or so? I think most of the time, if someone lets you drive "their" car, their insurance coverage also covers you... may be something to try, if nothing else looks like it will work out. Ben
Ratty - you're meant to drive Rt66 back east & ship the car so you can stop by my place in Albuquerque!!! Sorry mate, no help on the insurance - been away too long to know what's what & never lived in CA, so can't speak from experience there. Having said that, bcarlson's advise might work. The trick is on the liability side - may not be willing to do it. Cheers!
As far as insurance goes you may be able to pick up something short term to cover you while you're here through onw of the "name" companies. Heck, you could also get insurance and just cancel it after 10 days or so Also, as info 'cause my family is from your side of the pond as it were. Frisco to LA is like an 8 or more hour drive. I realize that distances become an issue as when we had folks visiting they wanted to see Niagara Falls, GRand Canyon, San Francisco and many other spots. All in 2 weeks....... When I told them to get in the car and drive for 48 hours straight and they would be in Arizona they looked at me sorta funny like. Anyway, glad to hear you're coming over and we hope you get a great deal and have a good time. Cheerio!
bcarlson , I'll look into that , good idea ! Love to do 66 Ernie , but like I say , money is tight Brian , yeah , had a look at the distances , don't mind a day on the road provided its an interesting journey (Used to drive trucks to Russia for a living !) , but I take your point . Its kinda like people ***uming I'll know Bob from London cos its only down the road from me ! Depends on the flights too , I can ship the truck from San Fransisco or LA , so stuff within a days drive of SF is best for me . Thanks guys for your input , this is real helpful
If you're gonna be in the Oakland area, you really should stop into Moal Coachworks and Brizio's shop. While niether one might be considered tradional, tehy both build great cars and Moal has some of the best metal guys around working there. Vance
Do you have insurance in the UK? I ***ume you already thought of it but maybe your insurance will cover it.
Silly boy - Bob is in Thurston, but you knew that?! Drop by in the week if you have time, I'm only downthe road....
I just Googled "short term car insurance". There seem to be a lot of options. Here's the California Department of Insurance web site too... http://www.insurance.ca.gov/
I have a spare room....and the shipper in Oakland that took Kev & Rods 39's home too.... Send me an email
You MUST see the Blackhawk Museum. Danville, CA About an hour East of San Francisco. http://www.blackhawkmuseum.org/ Other than that, the Bay area's going to look a lot like Liverpool...Just a bunch of overcrowded harbour towns, like Los Angeles area is too, only it rains more up there. If you can get out and drive up the coast a bit, drive through the Napa Wine country and the Redwood Forest that's about half way up to Oregon. You can't go to SF without driving over the Golden Gate Bridge anyway.
I second the Blackhawk museum since your in this neck of the woods and spending all of your vacation time driving and not seeing things, ain't fun. Napa is good, but rain season is coming (even though its not major rain, still rain, especially if you head north of SF.) Santa Cruz, Soquel, or Half Moon Bay area are nice road trips from SF area if your staying up there. You could head down the coast to Monterey, Carmel, San Luis Obisbo, Hearst Castle in Cambria, Santa Barbara, etc. Highway 101 and 1 and senic routes. You can come down to SJ and see a couple of HAMBers shops - Willie's place, Gambino customs. Jon
I don't know about short term insurance, but here's what I do know. I've called Hagerty Collectors Car insurance and had a card in my hand later that day after giving info and payment over the phone.... You buy a policy that ends on December 31st. They will pro-rate it. It would likely be under $100 US dollars I've also sold a car before the year was up and they sent me a refund check of the un-used days.... So My thinking would be get a policy over the phone. Get your card.... then cancel it when you leave and get your remaining refund back.
Has any thought been given to plates? Unlike the UK were the plate stays with the vehicle over here the new owner gets a new set of plates. Emissions & inspections are other things to think about.
Yes, Ratty, no "bumming ***s" whilst in SF...definitely a no-no! OK, I'll buy the beer then! Even got a spare room!!
Thanks guy's , I really appreciate all your replies (Except Phil's ) Gonna have to hit google up for an hour or two I reckon , thanks for the links too . Anyone tell me more about The37Kid's point about plates ? Any more tips more than welcome , getting excited about this now
I have usually found better sheet metal in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas than San Fransico ... Lots of trucks in Texas ... and a higher per centage of the 60's models have A/C than other parts of the country ... better optioned too ... Dry rust free trucks in the 4 corners area too ...
I found this site a while ago when I was wondering about the same thing. It is in Seattle, but they say they can organise insurance for visitors ... http://www.autotourusa.com/index.html
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