AUTO TRANSPORT NEWS, INFO, TECH & BUSINESS

Welcome to my "BLAMBLING" !

Since this will resemble my personal space to "ramble" more than a "weblog", I took it upon myself this rainy Christmas Eve, to contrive the above word. Maybe in a year or so, it will be an acceptable and frequently used part of American articulation and Mr. Bill O'Reilly will utilize it in his "Word of the Day" segment broadcast on Fox News Channel. I can hear it already..."When writing to us here at Fox News...don't be a (ding!)...BLAMBLER!" You're welcome, Mr. O'Reilly.

I intend to use this blog as an avenue to reach out to others in the automobile transport field and related areas of trucking in America today. Along the way, maybe I'll be able to find some of the old acquaintances I have made over the course of some 30-plus years doing this ridiculously demanding job. From the old Automobile Transport Inc crew based out of Wayne, Michigan & across the eastern U.S. to the now defunct Dixie Auto Transport crew down on Talleyrand in Jacksonville, Florida...many, many good friends were made and enjoyed but now have become fond memories. Maybe some of them will find this little corner of the vast blogosphere and drop in to share what I came to know as some of the most enduring American personalities one could ever hope to meet.

There are plenty of sources for general freight transporters, flatbedders, reefers, tanker "yankers" and such but not so many car haulin' blogs. Yeah, a Google for "car hauling blogs" or "auto transport blog" will net you many pages but once you dig in to them, seldom are they much more than a prop for a carrier's website attempting to direct traffic their way. To be truthful, I am in the biz myself and currently operate a late model full-sized "stinger-steered" Peterbilt hitched to a Cottrell trailer and yes, I do have a small web presence but that is mainly for introduction aid to my existing customers and the referrals they send my way. One man and one horse doesn't need a lot to keep them busy and a steady base of buyers and exporters keep me hopping. So I say to the car haulers out there, join in and get a piece of this blambling...we may learn something along the way and at the very least, maybe we'll make some new friends.

So, bookmark us, visit us when you can and feel free to send us your comments and ideas along with images, stories, etc and we'll add them (with your permission) to this blog. Bear with us as I ease into this blog format and try to learn some new tricks. And THANKS for dropping by!

COTTRELL TRAILERS MODEL C-10LT REVIEW

The following is an independent, unbiased review and commentary by CB Stephens of Carl's Car Carriers Inc and is based on regular, everyday usage of the equipment in the course of automobile transportation activities for which this trailer was intended. CB Stephens is a 33-plus year veteran in the car haul field as an independent owner/operator and small fleet developer. Carl's Car Carriers Inc. is a Tennessee-based automobile transportation service chartered in 1991. Cottrell Trailers can be visited by clicking this link: CottrellTrailers.com

After working with this "post forward" design high-side automobile transport trailer for some 225,000 miles, I thought I would share a personal experience review for others considering a new high-side Cottrell Trailers purchase.

I ordered a new C-10LT A (short decks with flippers) in early 2007 after speaking to a factory rep that informed me they had one opening available due to a customer declining a previously placed order. It was explained to me that the Cottrell factory order process includes fabricating, cutting and preparing all parts and specifications about 30 days in advance. That means after that 30 day window, a customer cannot make many changes to the spec'd trailer order. Maybe paint, tire brand, etc? That was early 2007 BEFORE the Wall Street bust and the current economy woes that hit most all industry pretty hard. Car hauling was no exception and possibly was hit as hard as any. At the time of my order, there was still quite a backlog on getting a new trailer unless someone opted out of an order and you were Johnny-On-The-Spot or one of the larger companies that handled a number of trailers on a regular basis. Being a single trailer purchase, I got lucky when Motor City Auto Transport changed their mind from a high-side post forward model to another model, leaving that pre-cut trailer within the 30-day window looking for a buyer. I was at the right place at the right time and my name was placed on that trailer schedule. A Viper Red paint choice and a few small changes moved me up from a 3 to 4 month wait to a 30 day delivery ETA at the Cottrell Trailers factory in Gainesville, Georgia.

I have had extensive experience with many manufacturers of auto transport equipment over my car haul career that began officially for me in the early 1970's. Even before that, my Dad, Claude Curtis Stephens, was a well-known, well respected car hauling professional for many years and I grew up around his trucks and trailers...all "high" 5th-wheel models. For much of his career, Troyler Trailer out of the Scranton, Pennsylvania area, was some of his favorite equipment but keep in mind this was a different day and there were some pretty stringent regulations for car carrier equipment back in those days. I remember maximum length limits of 55 feet overall in most states...8 feet wide was the limit before the 102" allowances came along with the STAA (Surface Transportation Assistance Act) of 1982. Stinger-steered trailers (described mostly as a tractor/trailer combination where the kingpin is 5' or more behind the rear axle centroid) were around then but the companies my Dad was leased to operated mostly high-5th wheel trailers and utilized a single car headrack (the super-structure custom fitted around the cab/roof design of various truck/tractors to facilitate the loading and transport of an automobile). It was not unusual in those days for heavy modifications to be performed on trailers as regulations changed to accommodate the maximum load potential. Steel frame rails in those days were substantially heavier and stronger and lent themselves well to complete frame stretching with a multitude of design options and changes per the operator's ideas.

On to the C-10LT A review...it is my desire to provide an unbiased perspective on this trailer model with NO hidden agendas. I have no connection with Cottrell Trailers other than being a current user of one of their models and having used many different models of Cottrell trailers over my 30-plus year car haul career. I also have owned and operated Delavan trailers, Boydston trailers, Stuart trailers, Troyler trailers (both highly modified and factory 10-car units) and a host of other cut, hammered, chopped and stretched pieces of auto transport trailers as I did my best to put food on the table for my family like Dad taught us.

This particular Cottrell model C10-LT has the unique distinction from the earlier CS-12 models that include the "post forward" design which simply means the first 2 upright posts have been brought closer to the front of the trailer and at slightly less angle than the CS-12LT.

These images reveal this feature at the locations of the red arrows...the first being a 2000 model CS-12 with traditional post positioning while the second image is the C10-LT A 2007 model "post forward" design.

I have owned and operated about half dozen various CS-12 trailers prior to this newer design. It is this author's opinion that the Cottrell high-side trailers are at the highest level attainable in the auto transport industry today as it applies to design, versatility and current regulatory limitations for size, dimensions and weight. Most of my own business will include used car dealers buying a mix of cars, large and small, and sport utility vehicles along with minivans and light trucks. This requires the versatility of the high-side design, again...my experienced opinion...where load potential can be maximized AND in the case of split buyers/split loads...requiring a minimum of loading/unloading to accomplish the task of delivery. With this design and the CS-12 models, it is possible to bring a unit off one of the top forward positions without unloading the top rear positions in many cases. While there are those times when this cannot be accomplished due to the size and dimensions of a particular unit on these trailers, there are many times I have been able to save double handling of cars just to get one unit off. This is enough to keep me in the "high-side" market alone but there are other reasons I personally choose to run one of these trailers. Versatility is the chief reason for a high side model as far as my car hauling niche goes. If I were operating short haul and quick load/unload was a priority, I may consider a 9-car quick-loader or comparable offering. I would be shorting myself if I went with any other design for my current customers.

I will continue my review of this trailer and include various load images, etc on subsequent posts here in this blog. If you have comments or images of your own, please forward them to thetruckist@gmx.com and I'll see what I can do about including them here.

You just can't make this stuff up...and I couldn't if I wanted to. I would like to share a few of the very funny stories that could only happen to a car hauler as he or she goes about the daily duties of being a "portable parking lot" operator.

One of the most amusing stories I have personally encountered during my 33-plus years of auto transport involves a young man from eastern Tennessee. "Stevie" was a car hauler for many years...raised in the biz much like I was, taught by his father whom I knew to be one of the better car haulers in the country. My father, Claude, was simply the best and Stevie's dad worked along side my own father for many years. Both eventually would train many new recruits to the business, teaching them "old school" ways of making this difficult job successful. They were owner/operators in addition to the tough job of hauling automobiles so they had much to be attentive to if they were to survive the tests of many years down the road.

There was a time when Stevie became a driver/operator for one of the independent owners that had a truck leased to Carl's Car Carriers many years ago. At the time, southern California was a route that we serviced from several of the northeast U.S. automobile auctions. Stevie was dispatched on a load from the Newburgh, New York area destined for El Monte, California. Back in that day, mid 90's Ford Thunderbirds & Mercury Cougars were a favorite model for this particular buyer. These cars also had the dreadful trait of trunk lids mysteriously popping open during transport when loaded in a "back on" position. (This eventful personal discovery was not a pleasant one for this author, I might add.) To be sure, I don't think the engineers and designers at FoMoCo in Michigan had planned for these cars to go down the road at 65 miles per hour...backwards! Not all of these cars had this problem...seems like every now and then one would just open but when it happened, it was usually a costly problem as the wind forced it up and back, bending hinges and sometimes breaking that cute little rounded rear window, spraying shards of safety glass all down the following cars on the trailer.

This mixed load of used cars headed into the Los Angeles basin just happened to contain one of these particular model cars and Stevie chose to load it first...which meant it went on the top, front position out over the cab/hood of the shiny red Peterbilt car carrier he was driving. This placed the trunk facing forward, catching all the turbulence of some 2500 miles cross country. It was a cold night, as told to us the next day, when Stevie pulled out of Newburgh, NY and began his journey south. It wasn't far down the road and he received a CB call from a passing truckdriver advising him that "the trunk on that first car is open!" Stevie pulls into a rest area to check things out and sure enough, the trunk lid is popped and now sticking straight up, hinges bent and fortunately the rear glass had not been broken.

There is no way to access this one position on a car hauler from the front...obviously it is resting some 13 feet off the ground with nothing to stand on. The only way to access it is to climb the ladders and carefully "hug" the car as you inch along the side of the car, holding onto door handles, windshield wipers or anything you can grab onto for support. Stevie accomplishes this task and sees that the hinges have been bent and the trunk will not close back completely without some force. Hanging from his precarious position and attempting to slam the trunk lid down proved to be difficult but he did get it to latch...only to have it pop back open again. Stevie decides he needs a few tools to check out why the latch mechanism is not working and holding the trunk lock securely. After gathering a few tools, he climbs back into position but is unable to reach the locking mechanism from the side of the rack. His next move placed his head, arms and upper body over the edge of the open trunk as his legs slid in behind him. Inside the open trunk, now he had good "safe" access to the lock mechanism and he began his investigation and adjusting. Are you still with me here? Do you have this picture in your head? It is cold...dark...frost is covering the car surfaces...a man is sitting cross-legged inside an open trunk on top of a car carrier 13 feet in the air in a rest area parking lot at some early wee hour in the morning...holding a flashlight in his mouth while he tries to repair the lock so the trunk lid will stay latched as he makes his way to California.

Stevie felt he had found the problem and made a simple adjustment to the catch by bending it so the lock would hold. Before he got out of the trunk, he wanted to check it to make sure it would line up. Yeah...you are ahead of me here...I can tell. Stevie decides to lie sideways and pull the trunk lid down while observing with his flashlight from the INSIDE of the trunk. His words were..."I knew I was in trouble when I heard the trunk latch click on the first attempt." Yeah, when I heard this story, I gasped too at that moment. It is one of those impossible to make up stories. I did not discuss with Stevie about his claustrophobic nature...I was laughing too hard at the time. Scary, for sure, but at the telling of the incident, I was aware the man had survived the ordeal. He could have been locked in that trunk for days until the truck was located and even then, I don't even want to imagine what would have led an investigator's K-9 companion to the trunk of a car loaded backwards on top of this car hauler.

The good ending to this story is that Stevie kept his head and was eventually able to bend the latch assembly with the small screwdriver to get the trunk to pop open once again. He said he spent some very scary, uncomfortable time inside that cold, dark trunk that night. I can only imagine.

A few years ago, car manufacturers began installing pull tabs on the inside of trunk cargo areas so this kind of problem could be avoided. I'm sure they weren't thinking of an ill-fated truckdriver or carhauler when they came up with this idea but we can pretend...