There is a story...

..there is always a story.

But sometimes you see things on the road that make you wonder.

Like this huge Mackie Auto Transporter - with ONE lousy car on it.

Well, it wasn't a lousy car - it was the pace car for the Volkswagen Rabbit race series that ran at Mosport last weekend. I spotted the rig heading west on the 401 near the 403/410 interchange Monday afternoon.

But ONE car? On a rig that could take - oh, I dunno, six or seven cars?

Doesn't seem very environmentally friendly to me.

OK, you probably wouldn't have strapped the rig to the VW and have the towing go the other way.

But you might figure they could have slapped a licence plate on the VW and just drove it wherever it had to be.

Or used a single flat-bed trailer.

I wonder - does anybody out there KNOW the story, why they sent this big rig out with just one car on it?

If so, post away.

Comments

[transportfool]

That hauler can carry 10 cars. He may have just picked up the one and had several more stops before he was loaded.

[Jim Kenzie]

RE: post from 'transportfool":

Could be. But if so, why would it be loaded at the very END of the rig? Wouldn't they start at the front?

Jim

[Rpb]

Jim you've borrowed cars from VW before. I'm betting it was a US car brought up here specifically for the race, and they couldn't get it plated. They have limited dealer plates, I remember a certain situation involving some American A8Ls and the Toronto Film festival where I had to run around to 6 local Audi dealers and borrow plates for the weekend.

Short notice, they probably just called a number from the PR book that handled car hauling, and that's who they ended up with.

[Obediah]

Jim,

A lot of times trucks have to run several hundred miles to their next pick up. They call this type of run a 'dead head'. With a closed trailer, the public never sees this but on a specialized trailer like a car carrier it is glaringly obvious. He may have picked up this one car just to cover his fuel costs to wherever he was headed. I was a long haul trucker for 16 years and I've run home empty from as far away as Memphis TN. Although nobody likes running empty miles, it is a fairly common practice. Hope this helps!

[JimJ]

I looked at this the other way around. He started out with 10 on board and this was the last one.
Du ya think?? :)

[Gord]

Jim,

Not sure if you have ever noticed but the 401 is right outside my window and I watch trucks going east and west all day long. I see many going east empty and west loaded and vice versa, spotting the same unit 2/3 times a day. Hats off that he is not completely empty.

I think I am more concerned about you traveling on a 400 series highway taking pictures when you should be driving. Do you have a cell phone as well?

[Jim Kenzie]

Hi Gord:

I do have a cell phone, which is (almost always) turned off when I'm driving. And I pulled off onto the shoulder to take that photo! Funny; I thought more people would react to that...

Cheers,

Jim