My wife can be brilliant.
Or maybe I am so dumb she just looks that way when compared to me.
Get this....She works at a large furniture store - with a big loading dock..... and trucks that come in and out all day.......Some of them from California...
You thinking what I am thinking?
She gave me the phone number of a logistics guy that lines up trucks for the company. I spoke with him on the phone briefly about what I was trying to do. He said that it probably shouldn't be too hard to arrange to get the car brought out on a load of furniture. It would just be up against matresses and dressers and covered with packing blankets!
Then, I would drive out to my wife's work with my lil' pickup truck and a borrowed trailer and pull it home.
The rest of it would just be to figure out how to get the car onto the truck in the first place. It would have to be a residential pickup (no loading dock or forklift!) so that might be slightly tricky. As long as the truck had a good ramp, the car could be winched or possibly even pushed? up the ramp. I have heard that they can run on as little as 24V, but that might just be the contactor controlled ones. This one has a PWM controller. Most of the PWM controllers are 24-48 or 48-72V, so maybe it COULD just run on 2 car batteries?
Still would have to work out the details and wait for a call back from this guy next week, but it's the most promising lead I have so far!
PS: He said the estimated cost would be $450-$500 - less than the price of gas to drive it myself!