Where's Winston?

[Mike’S-a-loon]

For those that are interested, (Vince!), my P5b Saloon is currently en-route from Melbourne Australia to Portland, Oregon USA...

He is on a bit of a world cruise: so far the ship has docked in Port Kembla NSW, Brisbane QLD, and is currently on its way to South Korea. I have no details about where they are off to after that, but I assume possibly Japan to pick up some new Toyota's and Mazdas to join the Kias and Hyundais from Korea. Probably a bit of a young crowd for Winston, but being the old guy he'll probably be the life of the ship...

ETA into Tacoma, Washington is November 9. Hopefully I will be able to drive him home to Portland (3 hours) on a temporary registration.

Fun times, and just in time for winter...

Now I am figuring out how to arrange my 1.5 car garage/workshop so I can house the old boy while still being able to build furniture through winter. 

Does anyone have any special tips for driving a car with the steering wheel on the "wrong" side?

Here he is leaving storage in Melbourne, heading for the ship:

[enigmas]

Well Mike, I'm pleased to hear that Winston is finally going home to you, albeit in the northern hemisphere. Do be gentle with the old boy and warm the engine and transmission before putting the pedal to the metal.

As for driving on the wrong side of the road, just ensure that when you look out of the driver's side window you see the pavement (footpath) and not the centre medium strip.

As an aside, Eddie's rebuild of your steering box and pump is one of the best I've experienced in use alongside that extra 3° of positive caster added to the steering. It'll be a lot more directionally stable at speed along those extensive multi-laned freeways. Cheers ~ Vince 👍

[Mike’S-a-loon]

Looks like Winston will arrive in Seoul tomorrow.

Not quite sure what the MPG is for this trip, but I suspect a 75tonne, 250 metre long ship makes a P5b look quite fuel efficient... 



Attachment Deleted

[djm16]

Did you mean 75,000 tonne?

[MK IA Norway Viking]

If Winston is alone on this ship his MPG will be 350.000 litres per day divided by 576 nautical miles at 24 knots sailing speed = 950 km per day  = 368 litres per km = 97 gallons per km. = 60 gallons per mile 

[Mike’S-a-loon]

Yes, 75,000 tonne! 

60 gallons per mile. That's food for thought. Thanks for doing the calculation!

However, the ship is a lot slower at around 12-14 knots...

[enigmas]

A bit of black Aussie humour and a hyperthetical.
Lets hope Kim Jong-Un stops lobbing ballistic missiles over South Korea and Japan willy nilly. It would be very upsetting if he accidently took out the cargo ship. All of Tony's and my good work down the gurgler!

[David]

This story would make an interesting article for Take Five  ;-)

[Mike’S-a-loon]

Ok, so not as expected! Looks like he's on a slow boat to China...

Next stop, Dalian, China.

[Mike’S-a-loon]

The saga continues...

Having popped across to Northern China (near Pyongyan, N.Korea), he then tripped back to S.Korea (Busan), then across to Japan (Nagoya).

The ship was originally due to dock in Tacoma (Seattle, North West USA) on around the 9th of November.

However, it is currently steaming to Panama, due there around November 18. Now I don't know much about shipping routes, but that would seem to indicate that the ship will pass through the Panama Canal and head up the East Coast of the US. Perhaps not, maybe there's an MBG they have to drop off in Panama on the way.

Anyway, hopefully Winston is enjoying his world tour. Shame he's down in steerage.

[percy]

Is she lashed to the foc'sle? 🤣🤣

[enigmas]

That's one extensive ocean voyage Mike. Hope Winston fares well.

[Mike’S-a-loon]

So, it appears Winston jumped ship in Korea. Presumably he had a good time and missed the ship, but happily made it onto another one which happened to be heading to Tacoma!

Eta November 14. 

Roll on and roll off.

[Mike’S-a-loon]

Current position of the ship: "Aground".

Slightly disturbing description, but I suspect its a nautical term meaning "docked". Hopefully...

A week or so for clearance, then we're hitting the wide open roads of the Pacific NorthWest!

[Ken Nelson]

Sorry to say, but the dictionaries of the world leave little doubt as to the usual meaning of the word 'aground', and it doesn't mean docked in port. Hopefully all will yet be well as we wait expectantly.

[Mike’S-a-loon]

Current situation: He's on solid ground, an additional US$1800 paid (extra shipping charge/duty/bond), pre-clearance done, now awaiting the cavity search for illicit substances, etc. It's now the Tuesday night before Thanksgiving (holiday Thursday/Friday), and no update yet, so definitely no emotional reunion before the weekend. Roll on next week!

ps, not sure what the US$300 "bond" charge is. I mean, he's not an Aston Martin DB5...



I actually don't care, I just want the old boy safely in my garage.

[enigmas]

Winston's almost home Mike. Happy days. I don't think that small box of Bon Ami cleanser I left in the corner of the boot should cause any issues.

[Mike’S-a-loon]

Thanks, Vince! 

My wife visited Winston when she was back in Melbourne in August and had a (not entirely joyful) cleanout of everything in the car, which she then sorted, boxed and mailed home to Portland, so I'm fairly confident he was well prepped for shipping! Apparently for RoRo shipping there's nothing allowed in the car, which adds to the total cost of the exercise...

[enigmas]

Well, I'm sure you're looking forward to seeing and driving Winston again after such a long separation. Yeah, there were still a fair amount of new, spare and useful parts and pieces in the boot after the recommissioning was sorted, but as far as I'm aware, the interior was clean and tidy when Winston was returned for storage in Moorabbin until shipment. So I hope all is well in that respect.

The boot, illustrating remnant parts/pieces in tubs & boxes when the car was returned to storage.

[Mike’S-a-loon]

Hi Vince,

Don't worry, no complaints here!

Mary removed everything from the boot and sent it separately.

[Mike’S-a-loon]

Final countdown! In 24 hours I will be collecting the Rover from the Port of Tacoma, then driving it home to Portland.

I am currently putting together a list of items to take with me (fuel can, jump leads, towel, etc), I have made an appointment with the DMV to arrange registration and title, the weather doesn't look too crappy, the paperwork is all in order, insurance arranged and paid, Vince has given me a pep-talk via DM, leave application in for the day off work, garage space clear(ish). 

Roll on tomorrow! 

Hopefully no damage happened to the old boy enroute...

[thomashb]

Now that we know the 'where', may we also hear about the 'what was done to Winston story', and by whom here in Australia?


Any tips for P5B-enthusiastic mechanics locally always gratefully received.

[MK IA Norway Viking]

Hi Mike,
firstly, congrats with bringing Winston home. There will be many "groupies" gathering around him to admire and maybe tag along. Rest assured Winston shall always prevail !

I could not help but look at the photo showing the stuff loaded in the boot / trunk.

Two things you might want to consider is fitting the metal frame (sitting on top of the battery) and secured with two fixing rods (tying the frame to steel fastening lugs sitting just above the glassfibre tray onto which the battery sits).

That's to keep the battery tightly in place and avoid risk it will "jump around" as you go over bumps in the road, or brake hard. In addition, to get the metal cover that goes over the battery, to prevent luggage in the boot / trunk from getting in contact with the battery and short-circuiting it.

Happy Rovering !!!

[Mike’S-a-loon]

Hello, yes I am well aware of the battery securing setup! The clamping bracket went awol while the car was in the panel shop for the respray, and it seemed dangerous to cover the battery with the metal cover box while the battery was able to move around and potentially have the positive battery clamp contact the inside of the box! I have since located a battery securing frame/bracket, so I will attend to this shortly.

[Mike’S-a-loon]

Where's Winston? Why, he's parked in my garage!

This morning my lovely wife and I drove 250km north to the Port of Tacoma to collect him. We arrived at 10am, and were out and on the road within an hour: a quick inspection showed he had no damage from the shipping, which was a big relief.



We then convoyed south, stopping for lunch along the way. It was a very cold day, hovering around 1-2degrees C and very windy, so I was cautious on the freeway. He performed well, particularly once we had been going for an hour or so and had the cobwebs blown out of him. I was initially pootling along at 50mph in the slow lane with the trucks, but by the end of the trip he was ripping along at 60-65mph.

We had an incursion onto a military base after the bonnet popped up to the safety catch. I was near a turnoff to a "park", so I exited the freeway to inspect the bonnet issue, and was confronted by a group of armed military guards. Turns out I was on a military base. The chaps were very nice, admired the Rover and we were on our way again. No recurrence of the bonnet latch issue, I suspect it wasn't completely closed after the import inspection, but I will give it some close attention over the coming days.

The balance of the trip was uneventful, and we arrived home safely.

Attachment Deleted

After a bit of a clean and inspection, as well as a couple of neighbours popping over to greet the old boy, I managed to squeeze him into the garage, which helped me to figure out the best compromise re workshop arrangement.

Next steps are arranging Title and Registration, which could easily take until January given the holiday season is kicking off! So, no road action for Winston until he is legally allowed.

For some reason I have a 2 photo limit per post, so I will post the last pic in a new post.