I've sold some Model T fenders to a guy in Mass. I'll be shipping from CA. I'd like to know any do's & don'ts. Any help & information will be really appreciated. The whole deal is 2 front fenders, 2 rear fenders & 2 running boards. All the parts are new and I want to ship them safely. I'm not sure who to use for shipping. I got a price from Fed Ex of $ 735 and that's on a pallet. Called greyhound and they said $150 all boxed up with no pallet. All packaged up on a pallet it weighs 140 lbs. What are some of things you all have done to ship items?
Check some local moving companies or trucking businesses. Sometimes they're running one way or the other empty and like to hustle a few bucks on the way. That's how I got my 32 Chevy from Texas to Mass. Cost me just over 600 for a whole car. Good luck!
I've had good luck shipping with Grayhound and have shipped a 51 Mercury door and a Chevelle deck lid among other things. The packages have to be under 100 lbs and fit their required dimensions. On big items it helps if you put something for handholds on the boxes too. Of course the better job you do packing the better shape things get there in with any shipper. Fill the voids in the boxes with chunks of Styrofoam or Styrofoam pellets as they don't weigh anything to speak of and don't run the bill up like cardboard or paper does. I've found that furniture stores are a good source for heavy duty cardboard boxes that will hold sheet metal parts if you go box hunting.
Greyhound & AMTrack are both good options when shipping large items. I've had items shipped by both companies and excellent results and very reasonable prices. I don't know what the Amtrack maximum weight is, but Greyhound usually won't accept packages weighing more than 100 lbs. If you ship by Greyhound, you'll just need to ship the items in two separate boxes. I've found that the best source for boxes is your local body shops. The packages are usually two or three ply and theres most always a bunch of padding material available, as well. The boxes are LARGE (I once found a box that had been used to ship an entire Van side panel). Boxes are easy to cut down to the size needed. Good luck.
I used Greyhound to ship a couple of F1 fenders. I didn't box them at all. I just wrapped the living shit out of them with Visquene (aka Shrink Wrap, like Saran Wrap) and they got there quick, Cheap and in good shape.
I recently shipped a '39 Plym from fender and some other sheet metal to Florida from So Cal... I went to a Tile & Marble Company and picked up one of their discarded marble crates. I wrapped the sheet metal/fender with plastic, put the stuff in the crate, ran a couple of bands around the crate for safety and shipped the crate to Florida via common carrier.... Cost $90.00.. The crate was in Florida in four days, door to door.
I have shipped fenders greyhound, it was slow but they got there. I had fenders shipped to me via USPS the guy I bought them from just wrote my address on each fender with a sharpie...It was less than $100 for both fenders (north carolina to upstate, ny)
Greyhound is the way to go. All my friends have used it and it gets there, sometimes late but it will get there. Good luck
Pre Greyhound: After Greyhounds Tender Loving Care - and these were in industrial strength packaging - three out of a set of four fenders damaged: After two years of fighting and stonewalling by Greyhound I still have not had one cent in compensation for the damage caused by their cavemen...
I use greyhound and have sent over 20+ fenders i sold on ebay never an issue . I would build a crate from fence pickets ,12 pcs and an end plate 5/16 ply along with three 1x2s for a inner edge around the end plates ,then use scrap to atach my fenders at the fender bolt holes , aprox time 30mins each box and keep under 80lbs each , don't use a card board box and paper as earlier posts have done , a good job will ensure never makeing a claim .good luck
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