Trailer rental for your Ferrari? Anybody have experience here?

Hi everyone!

I'm new to the Ferrari world, and just a couple of months ago picked up my first Ferrari -- a 1986 328.

So now I'm beginning to live "The Ferrari Lifestyle" (in sarcastic reference to the thread of the same name in the Ferrari Discussion forum) and, as required by "TFL", one of my mechanics is a 2-hour drive away from where the little red car normally sleeps at night.

Also, in keeping with "TFL", after only a short period of ownership, my new baby seems to have sprung a fairly substantial coolant leak in a fairly inaccessible spot. I don't think it's too serious (hose replacement) but I'm now beginning to realize that I need to find a way to be able to get my car to and from my mechanic's shop by myself -- coordinating with friends for the delivery and pickup of the car to and from the shop for the 30K major service turned out to be harder than I imagined, and if I keep this up I'm going to run out of friends quite quickly...

So, I'm wondering if any of you CT F-Chatters have a source for a car trailer rental locally? I'd love to hear your suggestions and tips and tricks for trailering your cars...

Who are the good vendors for this type of thing in the central CT area?

How do you get the car onto the trailer? What are your "best practices"?

Is clearance a problem with certain types of trailers? What do I need to look for there?

What are your methods for securing the car to the trailer?

Anything else I need to know about this process?

I think I have an appropriate tow vehicle, so that's a good start -- Chevy Tahoe w/ the tow package. This'll work, yes?

So what do you all think? I look forward to your responses.

Chris

 

Hi Dennis -- I ended up going with Bill Pollard out in Gaylordsville. He performed both the PPI and the 30K on my new toy. Great guy, great work, knows his stuff and was very thorough.

Normally I wouldn't go to the trouble of getting the car back to Bill's for a hose replacement (I'd either attempt it myself or head to F-40 -- they're pretty much right next door) but, since he has a vested interest in the 30K he just did I wanted him to make sure the coolant didn't get anywhere where it'll do damage (i.e. timing belts, tensioner bearings, etc.) and I want him to take a look at a couple 30K related things that might need to be tweeked up a bit.

A follow-up question for you and Prova85 on the 2x8 car loading trick: Do you know how many "layers" of 2x8 I'll likely need? I'm thinking three, which would give a 6" rise to the front wheels prior to hitting the ramps. If I arrange the boards so that the 6" rise occurs over about 8 or 10 feet do you think that sounds reasonable?

 

Many thanks, guys!

I have a U-haul trailer reserved for pickup tomorrow morning, and went out today and got a bunch of lumber and plan to be diving into this project first thing in the morning... Unless, of course, Mr. Vest has a completely different idea

Charlie, you've got mail!

Chris

 

I gotta say I love F-Chat. And the Ferrari community. And Charlie Vest (well, ok, love might be a bit of an overstatement, but he's a darn cool guy).

Charlie called last night and offered his assistance, advice and his own personal trailer and in one fell swoop solved my problem of getting the 328 out to the shop this morning!! The kicker is that we hadn't actually met until he was in my driveway at 9:30 last night, trailer in tow. Wow.... I'm still speechless.

Who knew a car would restore my faith in humanity??!?

Thanks, Charlie. I owe you big time! And I'm on the lookout for my own opportunity to "pay it forward."

Chris