Cruising in Europe.

Asphalt_Gundam said:

Sounds like the perfect opportunity to sell a car...

Step 1. Buy desirable American car

Step 2. Cruise ship it to Europe and travel for 2 months

Step 3. Sell car to pre-arranged buyer for big profit

Step 4. Fly home

I haven't seriously looked at this in the last couple years but it was a legitimate thing that could be pulled off like 5 years ago considering what American muscle cars were selling for at auction here only to be shipped over to Europe and the Middle East. At the time the math was working out to the car profit being able to cover at least 2 or 3 months of traveling modestly as long as you weren't trying to road trip daily. 

Well,  the event is for Pre WW2 cars.  While there is a big and growing  interest in those cars in Europe . Plus a surprisingly large turn out of them for these events.  
i haven't  heard of such events for muscle cars. 

Years ago I tried to organize an event like this on the island of Crete. Gorgeous roads winding though mountain villages and seaside towns. The goal was to get 5 cars together from Istanbul (where my family is), ship them to Crete (which isn't all that far), and book a 5-day driving tour and holiday ... making deals with local hotels and restaurants prior to the start.

My girlfriend at the time was an expert on Crete (she had completed a PhD on the history of the island) and was very well-connected there. My cousin owns a tour company based in Istanbul and is himself a car nut. Figured we could pull it off.

Even then, we were never able to get the logistics sorted and the whole thing fell apart. Can't imagine putting something like this together for 1000 cars shipped from the USA! 

Lol, rethinking this, I'm curious as to the count of currently running prewar cars that would be in good enough shape to drive ~500 miles in the US even with 2 years prep time.

If you really are silly enough to send these promoters a chunk of money  try and figure out how to make an escrow account or something to protect yourself  , 

RoRo shipping is a normal thing , but do not believe the dates they tell you, My buddy sent his race car over to England for a race in Belgium  a few weeks later , 

The ship was delayed on the USA East coast , then it did not go to Southhampton as booked but went to Northern Germany !

He finally got it to the race track Saturday afternoon and was able to run it on Sunday , 

So just give yourself extra time and have back up plans if things go sideways !

I like the idea of selling a car over there. It's been many years, but I knew a guy whose annual vacation - usually to Sweden would be paid by sending some piece of American Iron there, puttering around for a couple weeks and passing it on to the new buyer (The transaction would be done in advance). Ironically, while he ultimately met and married his wife on one of these jaunts, she put the kibash on them, because she didn't have the same desire to tour Europe, and she knew what a horndog he was.

In reply to californiamilleghia :

I've decided that there are too many things I don't like already  ( the potential for it to be massively more than was discussed).   My wife can't be with me,  and finally the long lead time.  

johndej said:

Lol, rethinking this, I'm curious as to the count of currently running prewar cars that would be in good enough shape to drive ~500 miles in the US even with 2 years prep time.

The engine is the MGTD was first used in the 1930's. That and the style  of the car I really do fit in. 
  Give me a 2 week notice and I could be extremely confidant of  reliably  making that trip.

  A Ford model T?  Nah,  Ford model A or newer? Sure!! It would be fun.    Since so many cars would strain to do 50 mph that would need to be the max target speed and several hours at less  so  around a 40mph daily average for no more than 8 hours a day. Time 5 days a week. 

LanEvo said:

Years ago I tried to organize an event like this on the island of Crete. Gorgeous roads winding though mountain villages and seaside towns. The goal was to get 5 cars together from Istanbul (where my family is), ship them to Crete (which isn't all that far), and book a 5-day driving tour and holiday ... making deals with local hotels and restaurants prior to the start.

My girlfriend at the time was an expert on Crete (she had completed a PhD on the history of the island) and was very well-connected there. My cousin owns a tour company based in Istanbul and is himself a car nut. Figured we could pull it off.

Even then, we were never able to get the logistics sorted and the whole thing fell apart. Can't imagine putting something like this together for 1000 cars shipped from the USA! 

I'm sure I could do it on my own.  But to keeping 1000 cars together?  
   I agree with you. Too difficult.   Plus in any group thst big there will be a few jerks