You never know when you might spot an interesting, rare or unique find! Well, Reader Andreas D spotted something at his job that he described as “not a barn find, but a rare car” and I have to agree with him. I’ll let him tell you a bit more about this sighting in his own words below!
Andreas – I unload cars from ships as my job. Today we had 100 used vehicles and they can range from interesting mini firetrucks to rare collector cars, with lots of other stuff and plenty that are just junk. This Austin Martin Vantage came off the ship today and is on the dock in New Westminster as I write. Who bought it is unknown but with 19,479 km it looks like it was in a collection. I know it drove well and is in great shape overall.
Whoever is the new owner of this Aston Martin is one lucky person! If you happen to be the new owner or know them, we would love to hear the story behind it. I want to thank Andreas for sharing this sighting with us. It sounds like he has an interesting job and hopefully, he will send in more sightings from the port!
The Legacy GT wagon next to it is a fairly rare car as well.
Love these 80’s Vantage ragtops.
They look like the trust fund cousin of the Mustang.
I’ve bought two cars from Europe using RORO (roll-on/roll-off) shipping. Both times I’ve had issues getting them off the dock. I paid $50-60 for an escort onto port property who drove me 50 yards to my car (easy money, cash only of course). My first vehicle was a Vanagon Syncro from Germany. Once my papers were checked, the supervisor told me to “getitouttahere!” I move the stick shift around to find 1st and the whole lever came out of the floor. Had to get it towed. The clutch was fried. We think the stick broke off while getting it on the ship in Europe and the only option was to drive it in 2nd or 3rd gear.
The other car was an 80’s Fiat 4×4. The battery died and I got a jump start. For some reason it was in 4 wheel drive mode. There is a big T handle in the floor you have to pull up for 4×4 driving. Don’t know why the lever was pulled up. The car took 2 ships to get here from Europe all in 4×4 mode which the owner manual recommends NOT for use on pavement. I hope I don’t have transmission problems in the future.
Well I hate to burst anybody’s bubble??? Notwithstanding “Austin” Martin. I wish I had a dollar for every time I had heard that! Lionel Martin would be turning in his grave.. It’s an “Aston” Martin alright but not a Vantage. From the looks of it, It’s a mid to late 80’s AMV8 Volante EFI model. It may be badged Vantage? But it has a flat bonnet which means it’s a mid to late 80’s EFI model and to the best of my knowledge there were no later EFI models in Vantage trim. The bodywork is not correct for a Vantage spec car either. If it’s a LHD model coming to Canada it’s either from the States or Japan most likely and any “Vantage cars exported to those countries were cosmetic Vantages ( IE: Badged and bodywork ) cos the Vantage spec engine wouldn’t meet EPA requirements. Just so’s ya know..
@ Mike. Importing any vehicle is a challenge and buying site unseen makes it a harsher roll of the dice. Most dock workers can drive anything but some vehicles are more of a challenge than others. New cars today are a bit crazy with keys going the way of the
Interesting post, really interesting comments!
As a teen in the 50’s I read a magazine article about an MG TD that the owner had installed a Buick Dynaflow automatic transmission in so that his wife would drive it. Valet parking guys had great trouble believing it, and then, driving it. Had the shift lever from the MG on the floor, and no indicators of what you were in, which in the early Dynaflows was DLNR (no Park) and R was at the right end of the pattern. Later deemed less safe than the current, just about universal PRNDL, with all sort of variations on the D and L.