With the help of a number of SOLers, Pat and I now have our '53
Alpine sitting in the garage next to the Talbot, a very handsome couple, if I
do say so myself!
On Thursday, Oct. 13th, we left Halifax in a rented "94 Dodge Ram 1/2
ton with a U-Haul auto transporter on behind bound for Stoneham, MA (Boston)
to meet Bob Lang by 11:00 am Friday, which we did. The car had been on an
auto transport truck for ten days coming from Marina del Rey, CA via Texas
and up the Eastern seaboard. Bob had heard from the driver that morning and
he was in R.I. and expected to be in Stoneham at about 2 pm. Great!!
We chatted with Bob a bit before he had to go earn some money. We had
lunch and headed to the pre-arranged meeting point to take delivery of the
Alpine, the Stoneham Arena, at the foot of Bob's street. At about 1:15 the
truck came down the ramp off I-93 and turned into the empty parking lot. What
a thrill to see the car at last. It had been just like a pre-arranged wedding
when you hadn't seen the bride and weren't quite sure what you were getting!
Don Lepore, who also monitors this list from CA, had generously spent a hour
or more going over the car for me over a month ago and sent me a detailed
report on the condition of the vehicle and this is what I based my decision
on to buy the car.
The car had been sitting on the very lower deck of the trailer with
other older cars above dripping all kinds of various fluids over it so it
wasn't a very pretty sight at first. Actually, kind of depressing, but after
it was unloaded, I could see that it would all wash off without a trace.
During the unloading procedure, an elderly lady who was the manager of the
arena, stormed over to where we were unloading the car and demanded to know
who gave us permission to use their lot to unload the truck, saying she had
received three complaints already. I explained that we were from Nova Scotia
and that I had waited close to thirty years for this event so please don't
put a damper on this occasion, we would not be doing this ever again in her
parking lot and she would never see us again. She calmed down a bit but I was
expecting to see the local "Mounties" arrive any moment. Just as a side note,
this is the skating arena where Nancy Kerrigan practices, and the entrance to
the parking lot was named "Nancy Kerrigan Way"!
With the car temporarily loaded on the U-Haul, we went back to Bob
Lang's place and secured the car properly for the trip to Halifax. The
remainder of the trip was great - the weather was sunny and warm and just
looking in the rear view mirror of the truck gave me an incredible rush!! An
Alpine at last!
Crossing the border into Canada was not a problem but anyone
contemplating exporting an antique car from the U.S. should keep in mind that
the U.S. Border crossing must be notified 72 hours in advance of your leaving
the country. Just one of those rules! Of course, the Canadian guys had to dip
into my pocket for the 7% "Goods & Services Tax" (GST) on the price I paid
for the car (the U.S. $ converted into Canadian dollars, 35% premium), even
though it was purchased in the U.S.
If it wasn't for the help of those on Internet, and in particular,
British-Autos listserv, this event would not have likely happened. Thanks to
all. I may upload an image sometime soon if I can get some tutoring on how to
do it!
Now all I have to do is give the "California Girl" (the other woman!)
a little sprucing up and she'll be fine, and change all her fluids, etc. We
can expect an early snow anytime now so we'll have to wait until next summer
to do any serious travelling.
Regards,
Bob
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Robert A. C. Hamilton, Waverley, N.S., Canada
E-mail: rhamilto@fox.nstn.ns.ca
Date: 10/24/94
Time: 23:33:18
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