MJP6B
Member
Car Exports to USA 1960`s Nostalgic memories
In the mid 1960`s I was in the Merchant Navy and my company carried lots of UK built export cars to the USA – mainly to New York, Wilmington & Philadelphia on the east coast and New Orleans and other Gulf ports - including the 1966 LHD P6 Rover 2000
amongst many others.
This was way before “containerisation” so the cars were stowed individually in the ships holds, arriving at the docks on car transporters and thence driven to the crane lifting position and driven/manoeuvred under their own power to their final stowed position in the ships holds, before being secured in place by a special team of stevedores so they did not move during the Atlantic crossing.
Unloading in the US was a reverse procedure, surprisingly, despite their vulnerability, very few cars arrived damaged in any way, it was one of my responsibilities to check cars inside and out for damage, missing items/paperwork etc, I can still recall the unique smell of the interior of new Rovers – and latterly of all the British Leyland group cars - a fond memory (Ford, Rootes Group etc. had a completely different smell)
The ships returning to the UK with rolls of print paper, plus Rolls Royce , Bentley and other high value cars belonging to the US wealthy and famous, who required their vehicles to be “serviced” and/or repaired in the UK (was it a case keeping the service record consistent - I was never sure? but the shipping costs both ways, even then, was considerable)
My one (slight) regret now is:
Turning down a US Ford dealer offer (in Galveston,Texas) of a new `65 Ford Mustang V8 4.2 ltr manual gearbox for £1500 (at the then exchange rate) plus virtually free shipping to the UK as I was a company employee of long standing.
Unfortunately I decided it was stretching the budget a bit too far - at the time -
In the mid 1960`s I was in the Merchant Navy and my company carried lots of UK built export cars to the USA – mainly to New York, Wilmington & Philadelphia on the east coast and New Orleans and other Gulf ports - including the 1966 LHD P6 Rover 2000
amongst many others.
This was way before “containerisation” so the cars were stowed individually in the ships holds, arriving at the docks on car transporters and thence driven to the crane lifting position and driven/manoeuvred under their own power to their final stowed position in the ships holds, before being secured in place by a special team of stevedores so they did not move during the Atlantic crossing.
Unloading in the US was a reverse procedure, surprisingly, despite their vulnerability, very few cars arrived damaged in any way, it was one of my responsibilities to check cars inside and out for damage, missing items/paperwork etc, I can still recall the unique smell of the interior of new Rovers – and latterly of all the British Leyland group cars - a fond memory (Ford, Rootes Group etc. had a completely different smell)
The ships returning to the UK with rolls of print paper, plus Rolls Royce , Bentley and other high value cars belonging to the US wealthy and famous, who required their vehicles to be “serviced” and/or repaired in the UK (was it a case keeping the service record consistent - I was never sure? but the shipping costs both ways, even then, was considerable)
My one (slight) regret now is:
Turning down a US Ford dealer offer (in Galveston,Texas) of a new `65 Ford Mustang V8 4.2 ltr manual gearbox for £1500 (at the then exchange rate) plus virtually free shipping to the UK as I was a company employee of long standing.
Unfortunately I decided it was stretching the budget a bit too far - at the time -
.