Now find that picture but of a 53 footer in Mayflower colours, being followed by a loaded 74 Ecololine pulling a fully loaded 16 foot trailer, followed by a 67 Mustang pulling a 63 Studebaker, both also full, and you've got a picture of me moving in 1977. And we had only sold the Cessna the previous week. Also it took the big rig over a mile to get out of second gear... gotta love mountain roads.
I helped move a friend of a friend to Wisconsin with his 3 cars on a 40' flatbed, with a bunch of his belongings piled in, around and on top of the 3 cars. This was in the late '70s. At Litttle America, Wyoming another trucker walked by while we were fueling up and said "You guys look like something out of The Grapes of Wrath". Another guy walked by and said "Jeez, what a bunch of Gypsies".
It snowed on us the entire trip, from California to Wisconsin to Kansas City (for a back haul) and home again. The overall length of our truck and trailer was just under 60', with the bed of a Corvair pickup hanging off the back, covered by a tarp. When we hit the scales at the Nebraska port of entry we got red lighted, so we parked the truck and went into the scale shack, whereupon we were informed by the state trooper that we were over length.
Imagining what it would take to get legal we were wondering how we would unload a Corvair pickup off the back of a 40' flatbed in the middle of a snowstorm in the middle of the night.
When we went back outside the trooper took his tape measure and when he got to the back of the trailer he looked up underneath the tarp and said "Oh. That's a car". To which we asked "Does that make a difference?" To which he replied "Yeah. Car haulers are allowed 4' of overhang. Okay. You guys can go".
Now find that picture but of a 53 footer in Mayflower colours, being followed by a loaded 74 Ecololine pulling a fully loaded 16 foot trailer, followed by a 67 Mustang pulling a 63 Studebaker, both also full, and you've got a picture of me moving in 1977. And we had only sold the Cessna the previous week. Also it took the big rig over a mile to get out of second gear... gotta love mountain roads.
ReplyDeleteDoes there seem to be a problem officer?
ReplyDeleteWhere I live this would be regarded as underloaded.
ReplyDeleteI helped move a friend of a friend to Wisconsin with his 3 cars on a 40' flatbed, with a bunch of his belongings piled in, around and on top of the 3 cars. This was in the late '70s. At Litttle America, Wyoming another trucker walked by while we were fueling up and said "You guys look like something out of The Grapes of Wrath". Another guy walked by and said "Jeez, what a bunch of Gypsies".
ReplyDeleteIt snowed on us the entire trip, from California to Wisconsin to Kansas City (for a back haul) and home again. The overall length of our truck and trailer was just under 60', with the bed of a Corvair pickup hanging off the back, covered by a tarp. When we hit the scales at the Nebraska port of entry we got red lighted, so we parked the truck and went into the scale shack, whereupon we were informed by the state trooper that we were over length.
Imagining what it would take to get legal we were wondering how we would unload a Corvair pickup off the back of a 40' flatbed in the middle of a snowstorm in the middle of the night.
When we went back outside the trooper took his tape measure and when he got to the back of the trailer he looked up underneath the tarp and said "Oh. That's a car". To which we asked "Does that make a difference?" To which he replied "Yeah. Car haulers are allowed 4' of overhang. Okay. You guys can go".
Talk about a 'PHEW' moment, that was it.
one engineering feat, deified gravity
ReplyDeleteA 1x6 and a 2x4 inside the straps to keep the davenport from flattening the car behind.
ReplyDeleteHe's done this before.