Another had their 1968 Chevy Impala wagon shipped on the Leo Da Vinci to Italy and back for a 2 month vacation. It got a lot of stares since it was so big and vulgar. Little kids thought of it as a caravan.

Olympia had a garage for 20 cars as did Rembrandterdam. Later the areas were turned into other storage.

A few Chrysler concept cars, the Norseman in particular went down on the Andrea Doria.

To my understanding, the gas tank of the car has to be drained. Further the car is searched by hand plus bomb and drug sniffing dogs.

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Originally posted by desirod7:
To my understanding, the gas tank of the car has to be drained. Further the car is searched by hand plus bomb and drug sniffing dogs.

They are a greater terrorist threat than old ladies from Boca in wheel chairs.

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On this side of the Atlantic, this is simply impossible, David. Here in Europe we have ferries transporting 700 or 800 cars which need to be embarked in often less than an hour. There are often a few customs officers with dogs, but they can only control 10 or 20 cars at most. And unless the dog smells something, there is no search by hand. Draining car gas tank is impossible as well as it would require having gas station on the docks to resupply the disembarking cars. More over all this would be a very long operation. Can you imagine the traffic jams ?

In more recent decades, with drive-through side hatches, such as on QE2, the autos were simply driven on board, like on a ferry, and the gas tanks were not drained.

As I know QE2 is still the only ship to offer this service and now that she doesn't do T/As (regularly) the only other option is freighter - which could take weeks.

I remember when QM2 was being designed the question came up )from Sales People at a Sales Meeting - so take it for what it is worth) and the decision was made not to continue this tradition....

[ 09-30-2006: Message edited by: Jekyll ]

When people moved overseas in the 60s etc they nearly always took their car.. does anyone these days? There are plenty of US plated vehicles around here, but that's because the US forces bring them over at no cost for their personnel on I expect US Navy ships. I doubt there would be any if they had to pay.

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
Cars have almost become 'consumables', plus car hire is now common place.

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Nowadays you can practically lease any new brand of car on either side of the ocean. If for some reason you want your very own car with you I guess it would be better to ship your car via container in advance and fly over when it has arrived.

That reminds me of a picture taken on CRISTOFORO COLOMBO, her promenade was wide enough to have a car parked there without being an obstruction to the passengers (wonder if it got a parking ticked)

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Originally posted by steeplechase:
I posted the question only because I have a 1969 442 Converble that I would like to tool around in Europe then maybe sell it there. I know I can freight it but a Ocean liner would add another cool story to a car.

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This is precisely what I meant - one can of course buy or rent more or less ANY new car on both sides of the ocean (in the extreme case on would have to import it in advance) - but there are actually quite 'a lot' of people who have special cars - old ones, modified ones etc. - and I bet this clientel would like the idea to be on the same ship as their car.

I am surprised that Cunard came to the conclusion that it is not worth offering such a service.

This is a Mauretania Class car carrier. Seems a few may have been lost, judging by the number of tyres hanging over the side

Pam

[ 09-30-2006: Message edited by: PamM ]

Unfortunately not. We decided against a car garage for a number of reasons. It uses an awful lot of space which could be utilized for cabins. The MCA regulations are a lot tougher now and the fire suppression system would have been very expensive and complex. There are not that many people taking them anymore and it does not earn much money on QE2.

[ 09-30-2006: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]