So I guess this was Peak Car Carrier. Or were there any that topped this? Oh, and that’s a Dodge L-series tractor.
Update: Shortly after I wrote this up, I stumbled into an even bigger vintage car carrier. It makes this one look compact.
Wow. The same company, Convoy, based in Portland, OR. regularly operated this rig that carried 18 Hondas under a special permit.
Of course that doesn’t include China, where they carry cars two wide on top. Looks to be 21 VWs on there. Don’t ask…
There is a decent chance that the Honda carrier would be pulling up to a dealership with waiting customers and no new car inventory too. Does anything available today generate remotely as much excitement as Hondas did when they were made in Japan?
Teslas. Owners even volunteer to help with delivery hand-overs on end of the quarter sales pushes. Even Honda owners didn’t do that.
In my area, I can buy a new Tesla this afternoon. People were waiting months and taking whatever came off the truck when their number was up before Honda Marysville went online. It could be argued that Tesla is now producing in greater numbers than Honda ever imported. Honda’s peak excess demand lasted about four years. After that, there were a few models and sub-models that invited waiting lists and gouging, but it was nothing like the years immediately following the introduction of the Accord.
I worked at a Honda dealer in 1989. The long-time sales force still reeked of the arrogance that permeated them before US production started. We’re three years into Tesla playing shell games to create the impression of inexhaustible demand. I wonder how long it will take them to start treating customers with some semblance of respect?
Not terribly relevant, but a few days before social distancing entered the lexicon, I was in my hometown and met someone in a bar who is a sales manager at the latest iteration of that Honda(then Oldsmobile, Chrysler-Plymmouth-Dodge, Saab, Subaru and now Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram Subaru) dealer. He said they sell 44 Hondas a month, the month in question being February IIRC. In 1989, we sold about 70 Hondas to a town that was then half the size. I bought one of my Hondas from a salesman in Arlington, Virginia who was selling over 70 new Hondas a month in 2007. Honda is going to like blaming its problems on the pandemic.
The shortage of Hondas was because of the Voluntary Export Controls, period. The free market for Japanese cars had been totally overturned for some years. Once their US plants caught up to demand, the shortage was over.
No correlation to Tesla. And Tesla has been at it for more than three years, by the way. But don’t let facts get in the way of your emotions.
VEC I totally agree. To add to what you already said, I just watched an old 1970 Datsun promo where they said they had now total 5 Datsun car transporter ships online in their fleet. However, it was obvious this was a “global” English speaking film not just intended for the US. That said, I tried to google what type of capacity that is? It sounds like 8,000 per ship, but that’s today, not then. How many cars could a company really export then (globally)? Something I never thought about before, unless they also contracted out, but that sounds odd if they tout their own ships? I’d wager building those container ships versus US production plants became a thing if so? The VEC is so fascinating to me on multiple levels, or I just don’t grasp certain parts to it.
Not sure what point you’re making. Honda was unable to make enough cars to meet demand. Voluntary Export Restraints introduced in May of 1981 caused them to invest in US production rather than increasing their Japanese capacity. By that point, they’d been selling anything with an H on the hood before it started being built for almost four years.
Teslas have been shuffled around holding yards since at least 2018, and nobody was propping up Honda to try and create the illusion of a business case for making Civics, Accords and Preludes. Let me know if there is ever a PER justification for holding Tesla stock.
I waited 1 weeks to get my first NEW car. It was a 1986 Honda Prelude and you could hit find them anywhere. You put down your deposit, got on the list, and waited.
By 1989, Preludes were not one of the Hondas in short supply. We had one on our lot long enough to have a secret dealer incentive and a greedy sales-manager shoot himself in the foot when he thought there was a buyer. I think the only ones that were oversubscribed at that moment were hatchback Civics and AWD wagon Civics. Accord SEis were very strong sellers, but I think Honda was just about keeping up with demand.
You’re right inasmuch as VER didn’t affect Honda in 1974-1980. They simply didn’t have enough capacity. But even after they opened Marysville, they were still capacity restrained for a number of years yet, which explains why folks lined up to wait for their Hondas on saturday mornings well in the ’80s.
Anyway, I answered your original question: Does anything available today generate remotely as much excitement as Hondas did when they were made in Japan? quite effectively. I have no desire to debate Tesla with you. Been there; done that.
Lots of hi-tech/hi-growth stocks have no PER basis for their prices. It’s a bet on their long term future, not on their next quarter earnings. Tell me about Amazon’s PER until a couple of years ago. Netflix?
Coronas! Back before the Corona Virus and Corona Beer, we had Toyota Coronas. Mine was a 1971 Jutland Yellow one. Maybe the exact same one second to left on the top?
Who knows?
I know someone whose maiden name was Corona… fortunately her family is taking their name’s newfound notoriety with good humor. I was talking with her recently and she mentioned that she used to own a Toyota Corona too — said she loved that car, and was sad to see it go, not just because she shared a name with it, but because it was a great car.
Or it could be my grandfather’s yellow Corona, it looked just like that one as well.
One more use of the word CORONA–
It refers to a set of floral structures, as seen in the Passion Flower.
There are also floral structures known as the COROLLA.
And a structure of the sternum of birds is known as the CARINA.
No doubt, back in the 60’s & 70’s, there was a top Toyota admin., with an interest in Biology.
Toyota also made the Crown and Tiara.
In early Latin Corona and Corolla meant “wreath, garland worn on the head as a mark of honor or emblem of majesty,”
The early Corolla emblem is actually a C with a crown of flowers. http://www.autopaedia.com/en/galleries/Toyota/Toyota_Corolla/Toyota_Corolla_2nd_generation_1970-1978_(1970_KE20_sedan_2d_DeLuxe)_(01)_-EA1-.php
I think Carina was derived from Czarina which is the wife of a Czar, so again royalty related.
So I think they weren’t interested in Biology, but instead interested in Royalty.
The Carina is named after the constellation in the southern sky; the stylized • in the i of the nameplate badge hints to this. It aligns with its platform sibling in that Celica is supposed to mean celestial, via Latin… Anyway, the Celica’s dragon boat badge also hinted at this, and included two similar stylized • symbols similar to the Carina.
People have carinas, too. On the upper part of the sternum, IIRC.
Then of course there’s Adam Carolla, which apart from his being a big car guy, is apropos of nothing.
Interesting. In the top photo, the Toyotas look like their bodies are strapped down and are compressing the suspension. They look like they have been lowered.
They are strapped down, and for good reasons.
Besides the fact that you don’t want them coming loose, you want to crank the suspension down far so that the car and trailer don’t get beat up on bumps. If the suspension is loose it will compress on bumps and then slam back up against the chains.
Here they now strap the wheels onlyv so the cars bounce on bad roads a highly unstable load car transporters falling over isnt unknown.
Wheel straps are common now here too.
Exactly. I had a part-time summer job while in college working for a VW importer at the Dundalk Marine Terminal in Baltimore. Most of the Beetles were shipped out on tri-level rail cars. One of the jobs I had was ratcheting down the cars tight. There wasn’t much clearance on the first and second levels and you didn’t want any roof damage from the cars bouncing around.
When I was a kid, I marveled how cars could arrive undamaged. I couldn’t even figure out how the unloaders could open the doors to drive the cars off.
Now I see Audi car carriers with maybe six cars; all cocooned.
How times have changed.
Not an apple to apple comparison, but it reminded me of how they transported Vega’s on their nose in rail cars.
I think that was because their aluminum engines needed to be close to the earth’s core. It stopped them from disintegrating or something. I’m not sure, it was a 70’s thing…
Crosleys were also shipped side-by-side in rail cars, and like Vegas their design was partly sacrificed to save pennies on shipment. The body, already too small for most people, lost a couple inches of width. Not as bad as the multiple engine-ruining compromises in Vega, but still not worth the trouble.
Neat finds and pics. Especially, the circa 1980 transporter. The Preludes featuring their standard moonroofs.
I grew up near Highway 7, the Trans-Canada Highway between Toronto and Ottawa. Where transporter traffic was quite heavy in the late 70s. Mostly GMs from Oshawa. Notably, I recall they often travelled in small convoys. Two or three standard sized trucks together.
Daniel;
Sounds like we were in the same area. I too grew up on highway 7 east of Peterborough and remember the transporters rolling by trying to pick my favourite car before they were out of view. Pleasant memories.
They also used to be a lot more colourful. Instead of 14 shades of gray there was a real vibrancy to them. The first Plum Crazy Mopar I ever remember was on the 401 going to Toronto on the top of one of these rigs.
William, it sounds like you grew up in the Havelock, Madoc, Marmora area?
I grew up near Perth. So, I was much farther east.
Perhaps you recall the major freight train derailment that occurred in September 1979? Many brand new full sized Cadillacs, Pontiacs and Buicks were destroyed. This was an eastbound CN train that hit a transport trailer near Silver Lake Provincial Park and the village of Maberly.
Back then Highway 7 was the main route between Toronto and Ottawa, and traffic was heavy. Until the 416 opened in the 1990s.
I grew up in Havelock Daniel. Dead on!
I don’t remember the train accident at this moment but having turned 16 that year and being the owner of a freshly minted “365”, I’d have been all over anything car related.
The stretch of 7 East from around Kaladar towards Ottawa always seemed like the longest and most boring road in the world when I was growing up.
Seeing the sign for Perth was always welcome because you knew you were getting towards the end of the drive.
Boy, but do I ever want that green Civic wagon right in the middle of the Honda truck!
Made me think of Ed Snitkoff getting his Taurus with just a tad of road grit on the hood of his car. I hope they at least plastic coated the hoods and rooves of those poor Civics.
With the Prelude there, I assume the Honda carrier picture is model year 1983. But the Civics look the same as the 1982 refreshed, rectangular headlight version that I owned, and the second one from the left on top looks just like mine. With one exception, I rarely see car carriers on the roads over the last few years, and that exception is Tesla.
The would be 81 at newest based on the Accords on the trailer.
I love those late seventies Honda accords! How I would love to have the sedan version with a five speed!
Very impressive, a neat and tidy package, especially the one in the first picture.
Such posts always make me curious to see how specialties like these look in our days. The max I could find (on my side of the pond) is an 11 cars-transporter, made by the Rolfo company from Italy. And certainly not “Fiat 500s only”…
In the late 1970s I drove for Anchor Motor Freight, part of Leaseway, out of Lordstown, Ohio. Good times for a young guy earning Teamster Union wages. Company paid for decent hotel each night, not out of goodness of heart, but because non-sleeper cab allowed squeezing on one more car within 55 foot length limit east of the Mississippi. Drove these Chevy 90 series trucks with the Detroit Diesel most of the time. Company also had small number of Chevrolet Titan/GMC Astro 65 foot rigs for routes west of the Mississippi, which I drove a few times.
in Holiday Inn parking lot with 9 Chevy Monzas. As mentioned earlier by Paul, all vehicles are cranked down hard on suspensions “for good reason”! East of the Mississippi, there are a lot of old, low bridges. Depending on the load, you had to work hard to crank down all cars to stay under a 13′ 6″ height limit, measured before you could leave terminal. Not a problem with a load of Monzas, but tougher with mixed loads that included heavy duty vans or pickups.
Looks like railroad crossings could also be a hazard. Do modern transporters have airbag suspensions that can be cranked up when needed?
Some tasty looking Toyotas on the first photo, with not a SUV in sight.
And I spy some nice colours and body styles never available in Oz (thank you knuckle dragging local executives for giving us so much choice.. ) which makes it even more interesting.
Trailers had airbags as part of suspension back in the day, but not adjustable. Don’t think modern ones are either. You just had to be careful not to high-center. Low bridges in cities a bigger concern. Most have height labelled, but the road might have been re-paved a few times, adding an inch. Also, clearance in one direction can be adequate, the bridge is not exactly parallel to the road, you partially unload, rig rides a bit higher, you still have a car on the head rack, and you come back in the other direction … guess how I know.
Ouch!
Bridge hits happen quite often, I worked for the Minnesota DOT and some of the bridge hits were really crazy. A dump truck hit a bridge with the box up, truck separated from the box and rolled on its side and the box was wedged under the bridge standing on end. Had to get a loader on the scene and push the box out from under the bridge, initially tried to pull the box out but the chains broke. Rear drive axle housing bent so bad outside tires didn’t touch the pavement. Frame rails were bent down at around 30 degrees. Driver OK, a little bruised up. Another one was a backhoe loaded on a trailer. The hoe was up to high and facing forward, the knee joint of the hoe is the highest point and it cut about a third of the way thru the beams and road deck before it stopped. I wish I had photos of that one. Driver OK on this one to had some chest and facial bruising.
I’ll never forget approaching that bridge, thinking, well, you stopped to check clearance coming the other way, and it was a good 3 inches, so … proceed … brrruuuummppp! Pulled over, climbed up, saw dished down roof of the poor little Monza. Was able to unload after hours at dealer to avoid facing the music. Surprisingly, it took a few weeks for simple written reprimand to show up with my pay stub, but nobody said boo.
Great pictures, and thanks for sharing your experiences.
Can’t say I remember seeing a tripple deck hauler before. Certainly can’t get away with that now with the proliferation of trucks, SUVs and CUVs.
I can’t get over how small the cab’s of those trucks are. You don’t see anything on the road like that anymore!
The Chinese rig is quite interesting, two Jettas (made by FAW?) side by side likely aren’t all that much wider than the rig itself, and if mainly for the trip from the plant to regional distribution centers that seems quite efficient for highway use. The length of that rig is astounding though with the rear overhang a full two car lengths. It’s like the tail of a dragon around a turn!
I spy an Audi A4 on the top rack as well, the pic is likely from around 2011 or so, I suppose.
The two Jettas alone are 12′ wide. And it looks like there’s a good foot or more in between, as per the guy standing between the two rows. That makes 13+’. That’s definitely “Wide Load” material here, with a pilot car in front and back required.
You can go big, or you can go small. This Thames Trader in NZ would have struggled with this many cars, let alone 13 or more!
Lucky for the old Thames cars are not heavy they werent back in 64 when that was shot and they arent now theres less than 7 tonnes payload in that lot,
The Chinese double wide could be scary to drive as the wide load is at the top not great for stability.
There’s an episode of The Simpsons where Homer & Bart join Fat Tony’s mob and claim they got a truck that “fell off a truck” which “fell off a “truck truck truck”. The BIG truck can hold up to TWELVE 6-car carrier trucks on it!
Truck scene is at 1:30 in the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt8_B1vx9Xg
I like old Japanese cars, but that Dodge LNT-1000 is more interesting. Not too fancy like contemporary a Kenworth and Peterbilt, but solid rigs with typical Chrysler engineering touches. The leaned the Cummins N series diesel over to the right like a Slant 6 on those trucks to reduce the height of the ‘doghouse’ in the cab. Instead of giving up on commercial trucks in the mid-70’s, I thought at the time they should have given up on their domestic cars, imported Mitsubishis to replace them, and stayed a full-line truck manufacturer.
Alright, how do you make a right turn?
I drove for anchor from 1973 for 35 years. Trust me their trucks were junk but they paid well. It was a tough job