In the category of "wish I had a camera..."

Driving home on the DC beltway at 830pm, came upon a small box truck with a minivan inside it, facing backwards. Pretty wierd, since the box truck was hardly bigger than the minivan.

AND the box truck was being flat-towed by a big F750 ex-Ryder frame truck ( they took the cargo box and bed off of it, so it was just the frame rails).

AND on the F750, just sitting frame-on-frame with wheels hanging over the sides, were a Toyota Tacoma and a Pathfinder. No idea how they got on there unless they were lifted on overhead by a crane. Definitely not with a ramp or forklift...

Note that none of these care were junkers, they all looked to be reasonably new.

To boot.... In front of them, a school bus was flat-towing a Maxima.

Felt like I was in a third-world country where hauling stuff is more art form than science....

And realized that this towing was happening at night because in no way could it be safe/legal.

I haven't seen anything that crazy. Just stuff like cars pushed up the parkway-by another car.

I miss the parkway traffic of 10 years ago. Nonexistant on my commute home. Just a random rolled car on fire in the median. Now 11pm is still rush hour.

Not car related but in the mid 70s in Louisville, KY I saw colonel Sanders going into a McDonalds

scariest part was that this confabulation of towing prowess was trucking along at a cool 70mph approaching the construction area where the lanes narrow and shift. I had to stomp on it to get around these guys for fear of ending up a decoration on a jersey barrier.

irish44j wrote: scariest part was that this confabulation of towing prowess was trucking along at a cool 70mph approaching the construction area where the lanes narrow and shift. I had to stomp on it to get around these guys for fear of ending up a decoration on a jersey barrier.

Driving from Fairfax down to Virginia tech, we'd often see caravans off odd towing combinations like that, including skill sorts of pickups flat one or two more cars. Stine nice, done junkers. Never did figure out what they were doing, but it was nearly Every week.

I was driving across Iowa one time years ago, and passed a Ford Escort wagon on the freeway that had a cow in the back. Besides the fact it actually fit, I always wondered how they convinced it to get it in there.

stuart in mn wrote: I was driving across Iowa one time years ago, and passed a Ford Escort wagon on the freeway that had a cow in the back. Besides the fact it actually fit, I always wondered how they convinced it to get it in there.

Now that there is some funny E36 M3e

I've seen convoys like that several times........including the "car in the box van" scenario. All on Rt. 81 going south in lower PA. And yes, always looks scary!

I've always assumed these were unwanted northern cars bought cheap at auction and heading south to be resold or exported.

I got to work later than I expected today, because I wasn't willing to pass a flatbed truck.

He was loaded 8 high with big acetylene tanks, layed on their side, stacked like a chimney. No chocks or wedges holding the tanks. The tanks on top held those below by friction. Just a single strap over the top.

The whole thing towered almost 10 feet over his cab, and he was wobbling down the highway.

I decided to drop back. Way back. And stay there.

stuart in mn wrote: I was driving across Iowa one time years ago, and passed a Ford Escort wagon on the freeway that had a cow in the back. Besides the fact it actually fit, I always wondered how they convinced it to get it in there.

Must be something about Iowa but..............many years ago for me also I saw a pick up truck driving down the street on just the wheels. No tires/rubber just bare metal wheels on all four corners. Probably moving at 40-45 mph. Must have been a trick to stopping or turning that thing.

a401cj wrote:

stuart in mn wrote: I was driving across Iowa one time years ago, and passed a Ford Escort wagon on the freeway that had a cow in the back. Besides the fact it actually fit, I always wondered how they convinced it to get it in there.

Now that there is some funny E36 M3e

I bet the cow didn't think so!

foxtrapper wrote: He was loaded 8 high with big acetylene tanks, layed on their side, stacked like a chimney. No chocks or wedges holding the tanks. The tanks on top held those below by friction. Just a single strap over the top.

I would've pulled over and watched for the explosion in the distance.

stuart in mn wrote: I was driving across Iowa one time years ago, and passed a Ford Escort wagon on the freeway that had a cow in the back. Besides the fact it actually fit, I always wondered how they convinced it to get it in there.

Getting a cow in / up in to somthing is easy. Down and out of somthing is a whole different problem.

I usually have a camera on me, plus one in the glovebox, plus the one on my phone, plus my wife's phone and perhaps one in her purse. I can guarantee you that as soon as I see Heidi Klum in a Ferrari FF, none of them will be working or in the car or charged. It's Murphy's Law.

Here in Arizona it's normal to see a thirty-year-old pickup piled fifteen feet high with junk rollin' on the bottomed-out suspension full of junk. Almost always sporting a Sonora license plate.

David