bonus photo

This is the "big" truck my dad hauled cars with to afford to farm. Complete Auto Transport out of Ypsilanti. That is/was a 5 car unit. Five full size 1960 Chevys running the humps into West By God with vacuum brakes. YEEE HAAA! And yes the picture was taken between Charlevoix and Petorkey MI on the shore of Lake Michigan not in West Virginia. Sorry about the double, but it won't go away.

Thanks, Ian, those are neat pics!

you have some really great old pictures;;Thank you so much!!!

5 car haulers were pretty new at that time.

That is a pretty good size Rattle Rack.

Started out with 5 cars, last truck was 13. Cars were a lot smaller though, though still packed a lot tighter. The truck in the picture has a 327 small block, his last truck was a 60 series Detroit that he said "sounds like a Cummins". One of the last trips he took in the brand new truck, he got not that far and the truck shut itself down. Waited for the service guy to show up, found the thing was a gallon low on antifreeze, not overheated, just low. Computer had shut the engine down. He said that was enough road time for him. Teamsters tried to short him some years, but he'd kept all his log books and was able to his full time.

That's a very neat picture and story thank you for sharing? I'm going to guess its a 59' chev? Any idea what it had for an engine & transmission?

I've heard some of the old truckers stories!

Took a long time to get up to speed, and better plan the stops way in advance! LOL

Didn't they call the drivers "Tree limb dodgers" back then because there was no insurance?

Several in this area hauled 4 cars for C & J to Hayti, MO. They had 6 cylinder with 4 speed. No two speed. One guy told me that some times they never got out of third gear. Plus, they stopped in Farmer City and had the valves ground. It was a good thing that gas was cheap.

Great photos, Brought up a few memories of dad & I counting cars when we saw them on the hiway. Passed the time when traveling. I do remember some of those 5 car rigs. when I was a little kid.
Thank you for posting them. clint

I can remember back in the 1940's and later when 100 or more of those "Haulaways" (auto transports) went through my hometown of Jonesville, MI every weekday on U.S. 112. (now U.S. 12 since I-94 was opened on the old U.S. 12 roadway route). Many men from our area drove haulaways for E and L, Associated Carriers, and Commercial Carriers to mention a few I remember, Most of the tractors were gas stub nosed cabover Dodges, GMC's, and Chevys and a few Fords. We had 3 or 4 usually busy truck stops in our county frequented by the drivers. (One speed trap in Allen, Mi) but the limit was just 35 there past the school, so it was not too "famous". State Police Post in Jonesville right on the highway and 3 or 4 Justices of the Peace along the route......24 hr. Service, lol....Lotsa fuel service stations in every burg and major crossroads and several wrecker/tow truck outfits too. Those trucks and drivers were a part of our economy and way of life. Our home was less than a mile and a half from the "turnpike" so we heard them over there every "quiet" evening into the night slam bangin' along on that cement slab road. Several places had cabins for rent too, no motels until about 1950 though that I remember.

That's up in my neck of the woods, but long before my day.

I worked 35 years for a union Freight Carrier that was next door to Complete Auto in Flint. I too made enough to play farmer and I have a decent retirement but I always envied them car haulers. I use to talk to allot of them on the CB on the road and got to know some of them. I had a chance to hire in in the seventies but my wife didn't really want me too. We knew a few drivers that fell off and got hurt pretty bad loading and unloading. Now days there is just a few drivers left there in Flint who haul the HD Chev pickups which is the only vehicle assembled in Flint now days. Most of the car haulers along with the freight carrier jobs have left Flint. In 1975 there were over 3,000 car haulers working out of our local union there alone.

Great photos! Thanks for sharing.

Nice picture

My Dad was a mechanic for United Auto Transport and he would travel 5 states and sometimes change the engine from below in those GMC/Chevy 6 cylinder cab overs on the side of the road, with a hoist supported by a timber thru the cab doors. What a lot of hard work for so few dollars! 50's dollars though.