Pacific Auto Transport Crash

This made 2nd page on Reddit. Driver in empty three car wedge jack-knifes on the interstate. (skip ahead to :32) Happened right in front of the guy shooting the video!

Wheel straps with removable rubber tread grabs?

Here is a new thing Gunnar invented. I jokingly referred to it as "The Franken Strap". The rubber tread grabs can be pulled off over the one inch material. Patent pending approval of this monstrous wheel strap design!

United Road Services Sold?

This just came up in my news feed: "Goodwin Procter Advises Charlesbank Capital Partners on LBO of United Road Services. [. . .] Getting to know the exceptional team at United Road and assisting Charlesbank in this strategic acquisition was extremely gratifying, and we look forward to helping Charlesbank achieve their long-term investment goals. (said Jon Herzog,partner in Goodwin's Private Equity Group. Read their press release. Hmm... sounds like this transaction occurred in December of last year:
http://www.charlesbank.com/news/2012/12_14_12.xml

NY Auto Salvage and Super Storm Sandy

Just had a customer in Long Island, NY tell me that the insurance auto auction outfit has signed a one year lease on some property on Long Island, and they've got about 20,000 cars that were damaged by Super Storm Sandy. He says there are POVs and new cars that got hit by the storm at the port as well as dealerships. Car haulers are keeping busy in that area hauling for the auction as well as hauling used cars in to the dealerships, because all those folks whose car got totaled by the storm now need cars. In a weird way, this storm may provide a positive jolt to the economy as people go about putting their lives back together. My Long Island customer told me there are construction contractors coming from as far away as Texas for work. You think about the building supply stores, the contractors, plumbers, roofers, window guys, siding guys, painting guys, carpet guys... and then there are the furniture stores, clothing stores, etc. We know the bad news about the storm, all that damage... but the good news of the stimulus to the economy is that it won't be just one sharp jolt. It's going to take a lot of time to move the thousands of cars and rebuilt all those homes. The insurance auction place signed a lease for a year, after all. Now if we can just get the insurance companies to move with all due haste as well as the federal, state and county governments... That'll help the people who suffered losses from Sandy, and it'll give the economic recovery a little more juice as well. Could be just the thing to finally lift construction employment off the floor!

California 3 car hauler trailer owners beware!

One of our customers is a shop teacher down in southern California. He told me that he got some useful information from a CHP trainer the last time he went to the Golden State Truck Show (formerly the Latin American Trucking Show) at the Fairplex in Pomona, CA. The recruiter said that any time they needed to have someone to pull over to demonstrate how to write tickets for the new recruits, they'd just wait for a wedge trailer to come by with three trucks or SUVs on it. He'd pull them over, ask them to follow him to the scale: bing, bang, boom-- easy demonstration for the rookies on how to write up someone for being overweight. Another thing they write tons of tickets for is anybody in one of these trailers that doesn't have his electric brakes hooked up.

Sky Ramps

Amazing new product: self-levitating auto loading ramps. These were photographed levitating under an RTR Mustang.

More BMWs to haul in the US

With European sales at a 19 year low and American inventories down to a 34 day supply, BMW plans on shipping thousands more vehicles to the US. Source: Automotive News Click here to see the Automotive News story.

Shady Auto Sales

I drew this for one of my old customers who missed my cartoons of dying hydraulic cylinders.

Wheel straps for antique cars

This was on a turn-of-the-century Buick. If you need basket straps for old cars like this, better call Gunnar: (810) 814-2480

Detroit Auto Hauler Accident

4 Hospitalized After Alleged Drunk Driver Smashes Into Auto Hauler « CBS Detroit

drunk driving at 7 in the morning?  Jiminey Christmas!

Allied Systems Holdings Files for Bankruptcy Protection - Truckinginfo.com

Allied Systems Holdings Files for Bankruptcy Protection - Truckinginfo.com

Here is another article.  Says they're going to keep paying people.

Allied Bankruptcy

Yucaipa car hauler Allied Systems files Chapter 11 | Reuters

* Allied had faced involuntary Chapter 11 by lenders

* Yucaipa has 63 percent Allied stake -- filing

* Falling revenue, litigation led to restructuring

By Jonathan Stempel

June 11 (Reuters) - Allied Systems Holdings Inc, which hauls cars and trucks to dealers from manufacturers and is majority-owned by private equity firm Yucaipa Cos, put itself into bankruptcy protection, less than one month after facing an involuntary Chapter 11 petition from creditors.

The Atlanta-based company and 18 subsidiaries, including its Canadian units, sought protection late Sunday night in the U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware, citing its worsening financial condition as well as litigation by unpaid lenders.

Car Hauler Jobs

Companies advertising for car haulers can be found here.Generally, companies hiring car haulers want a minimum of two years experience hauling cars, plus OTR experience, plus clean CDL, clean criminal record.

Universal e-track wheel strap for car haulers

OK, there are lower-profile solutions for wheel-strapping to e-track, but this little beauty allows you to use the same wheel straps on both vertical and horizontal e-track. See this strap



Design allows idler to swivel AND bend at the central pivot point.