Let’s get this out of the way right off the top: needing a truck is not a requirement for owning a truck. We are PRO CAR here at The Autopian, and the “car” refers to anything you can get in and drive. If you want to get the biggest, toughest, off-roadiest 4X4 that money can buy, dump beaucoup bucks into it to make it even bigger, even tougher, even off-roadier, and then just drive it to the office, that’s fine. Whatever makes you happy.
“Wildest load transported in a car? Who needs a car?” Jason snapped this hero on a visit to India.
THAT SAID, there’s a whole lot of truck-stuff you can do without actually having a truck, especially if you’re creative and/or desperate when faced with a not-optional need to move a thing (or many things) from A to B. Move an entire apartment in a Taurus wagon? Done it. Two kayaks in a hatchback? You bet. So much mulch my RAV4 was on the bump stops and I couldn’t close the hatch and I got pulled over but the cop was cool about it because I only live like a mile from Home Depot? That was last weekend.
You tell us …
What’s The Wildest Thing You’ve Transported In A Regular Car?
To the comments!
Jesus got 12 disciples in one Accord.
Good catch. It’s easy to forget this one, for He did not speak of His own Accord.
I transported a 100+ lb ski chairlift chair in the back of my 91 Acura Integra. it stuck out the back of the hatch for the 65 mile drive home in 20 degree temps.
Back in 2016 I decided that the pine tree in my front yard was getting a little too scruffy looking, so I decided to trim several of the branches. But since I’ve never owned a pickup or anything, I had to make do with the next closest thing: my 1985 Renault Encore.
https://scontent-msp1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.18172-8/12977254_10101640598958970_2182876033689390262_o.jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=vOxnlpO09cIAX9UnE45&_nc_ht=scontent-msp1-1.xx&oh=00_AfC4ujBoGRSv4ZMfCUZeRCKX_CO7msUKI4AOjz8wl1koyw&oe=648638E5
Had an 80s Buick wagon that could fit 10 foot lumber in the back with the seats down (it would sit on the armrest almost touching the dash). Not super weird but amusing to see how big the car was inside.
I regularly do exactly that in my Accord wagon that I’m sure is much smaller than that Buick. Wagons are good.
Not super crazy but I know a charger scat pack can hold at least 32 2x4x8s. Probably could’ve fit more in if I tried
Oh, this is easy. I bought my MX-5 when I was living in Hobart, Tasmania. My partner and I eventually decided to move to Brisbane and the way to pull it off was to be to roadtrip it. We both had a lot of stuff, so we filled out ’94 Accord to the roof and then I tapped in to years of Tetris and crammed every single item I could into any space I could find in the MX5 and drove it the couple of thousand kilometres to our new home.
I once loaded a disassembled Ikea futon in the back of a ford focus hatchback.
Not me personally, just a random background car from IMCDb, but I still marvel at this guy apparently running his freelance arc welding enterprise out of a Datsun B210 Coupe in 1995: http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_331480-Datsun-B210-Coupe-KPB210-1976.html
Used to carry my riding mower in the rear hatch of my 1980 Omni 024. And the ramps to drive it in to hatch. That was the year the decision was made. Next vehicle would be a real truck.
Another post reminded me. Two fighting hookers. Both asked for a ride to the same bar seperately. Didnt know they were hookers. It happened when i 1st moved to Greenville MS. Apparently they were argueing who would have the pleasure of leading me out back to be be robbed. I went into the bar was forewarned and left after they came in the bar and started fighting.
It wasn’t me but back when I worked at Harbor Freight, I watched some guys somehow manage to fit one of the big, stand up 20+ gallon air compressor into a late 90s Honda Civic sedan. They reclined the passenger seat all the way back, then somehow managed to snake the compressor inside the car and then laid it on the passenger seat. That compressor ended up taking up the whole passenger side of the car.
Moving from Clermont Ferrand to Paris in a Citroën AX. With Ikea IVAR shelves structures tied ot the ski rack on the roof, and the shelves themselves ( and assorted other stuff, main books & computer stuff ) in the AX. ( with the back bench down )
The whole roof thing tied with Alpinism ropes, carabineers and well more Alpinism/rock climbing stuff.
In retrospect I’m glad I didn’t meet any Gendarme.
Well either a convertible sofa on the roof of a 1974 Plymouth Valiant a few blocks, or a queen mattress and box spring on the roof of an Isuzu Amigo? I assume on counts? I am leaning towards Amigo as it was transported from the East Coast SC to west coast Eureka Ca. Plus the remnants of a 1 bedroom apt. I could fit inside. A suggestion put the mattress 1st the box spring on top and tie down. Otherwise mattress likes to fold over and cause massive drag on a vehicle with little power.
While I lived in LA I moved my entire apartment, including dresser, desk, futon, bookshelf, etc., in my ’66 Mustang convertible. I had to make a number of trips but the move was less than two miles so no big deal.
Challenging the limits of a 2003 Renault Clio with 9 people in 150 km trip. Or loading up a 2009 Honda Fit with a washing machine and two household AC units.
Maybe not the wildest, but I once drove my 1983 Subaru GL Wagon from Maine to Minnesota with a 1600 dp VW engine in the back. I kind of liked the idea of flat fours at both the front and rear of the car….
Both front fenders, core support and hood for a 1990 Cadillac Brougham in a 1984 VW Rabbit diesel. When I went to get the parts guy asked where my truck was I pointed to my Rabbit and said right here. Of all the vehicles I have driven I never got more looks then that day driving from Joliet to Chicago.
How about a goat in an MG?
When I was about nine years old or so, we had a pet goat, and we took her to a goat farm to have her breed in an MG 1100 sedan ( similar to an Austin American ). The goat and I were sitting in the front seat of the MG, because she wouldn’t get in to the car unless somebody was in it already, and there is no way to get anything into the backseat if you were already sitting in the front seat.
Anyway, we were driving along and stopped at a stoplight next to a sheriff’s deputy in a canine unit car with a German shepherd in the back. The goat looked out the window at the German Shepherd, the German Shepherd looked at the goat, and the German Shepherd promptly went totally apeshit. The goat, being much smarter than your average or at leas this particular German shepherd promptly ducked down into the foot well. The sheriff’s deputy was trying to control the German Shepherd, and we sort of shrugged. The light turned green, and we drove off, and eventually the sheriffs deputy got things settled enough that he drove off and caught up with us a few minutes later at another red light. Goat looks at dog, dog looks at goat, and dog goes totally apeshit all over again. I can’t imagine why we didn’t get pulled over.
A few questions.
1. Pictures?
2. Why did you want the goat to breed in an MG?
3. WERE you and the goat able to successfully breed?
4. Once again pictures?
She’s breeding in an MG but not a Chrysler LeBaaah-ron.
I presume she flat out refused the Dodge Ram.
A friend and I hauled an 8 foot long couch in an ’85 Cadillac Eldorado back when I was a dumb/broke college student. We wedged the end of the couch in the trunk and the rest of it (~6 feet) stuck out behind. My friend walked behind the Caddy holding up the couch as I drove at walking speed. We moved it ~3 miles this way. I’m not sure why we thought this was a good idea.
I took the backseats out of my 90 civic hatchback and transported one of those old 90’s console big screen tv’s. I couldn’t close the hatch completely, but enough of the tv was in the car to keep it from falling out.
I transported about 1600 pounds of dog food that was a donation to a local pet shelter in my ’06 Explorer from Atlanta to Columbus, GA. The only open space was the driver’s seat. It handled it like a champ and the highway fuel economy was pretty much the same.
Passat Variant with an IKEA three piece wardrobe in many boxes of 2m50, I stowed them so that I had a small hole next to me to watch the outside passenger mirror, the rest was loaded to the roof. My friend was sat behind me to gain space on the one half of the car. On that same Passat: a panel for the restoration of my Vanagon, I strapped it to the roof. My current car became a small van for practicality: a VW Caddy. A washing machine fits perfectly together with a lot more furniture and loose stuff for a friend’s move. A cutter for a Kubota tractor also fits. Two wooden stoves … I can load up to 1 ton (!) so I show no restraint.
My VW Vanagon also saw a lot of use, especially 1 ton of bricks in a 57hp diesel 🙂 or just filled up to the roof with hay bales. I choose my daily cars to load them up but never buy a truck because it uses too much gas and we don’t need the 4wd in Belgium anyway. For the big unwieldy stuff, I have a trailer.
ooh yeah, I had a Passat that I somehow managed to get a 300 lb pit boss smoker/charcoal/gas grill into and home in one trip. had to basically remove everything from the box and play Tetris to get it to fit, but fit it did.
Oh and my first car, a Passat B3 Variant: payload capacity of 450kg, I loaded it up once with 600kg of bricks and sand, the front wheels barely touched the road and I drove it very slowly but made it home 15kms later. The stupid things we do when young…
My folks had a 66 Bus. The old man was using child labor to put in a new custom old brick driveway and walk. For 2 years we had to haul tons of used bricks from wherever to home. That poor bus was totally at the bottom of any possible suspension travel. Thanks for the PTSD flashback…
Then we hauled a new fridge home standing up thru the sunroof.
A trebuchet on the top of an ’86 Olds Cutlass Calais.
were you going to help Ash battle the deadites?
At my age I have forgotten most of the stupid S*^T I have done but I remember having 18 grown adults in a 89 grand caravan on the way to a MN v WI hockey game.
One day I took the motorcycle to my dentist appointment and decided to swing by Harbor Freight after that and they had a really good deal on an electric chainsaw so I ended up riding home with a chainsaw AND a toothbrush precariously strapped to the back of my bike.
I’ve got photographic evidence of this happening but we’re not quite there yet.
I brought home 4 10′ lengths of PVC pipe on my 1981 Kawasaki KZ 440 LTD. That was exciting. I kept expecting to unintentionally pole vault at any moment.