The Wacky Ways Car Haulers Worked Under Restrictions

The Crazy Way 1950s Truckers Fit 5 Cars On Short 35-Foot Car-Haulers https://t.co/6CCK7h1bXz

— The Autopian (@the_autopian) March 6, 2025

In the early history of automobile sales, cars were delivered by train or by driving them from the factory to the buyer, depending on whether there was a road to use. After World War I, cars began to be delivered by truck to preserve the newness of a new car, since they had to be delivered from a train station anyway. However, this wasn't so easy everywhere. In the 1920s, many states enacted new laws restricting the weight, width, and length of trucks using their roads. The most restrictive length was in Illinois, where truck couldn't be more than 35 feet long. That's half the length of today'a car-hauling trucks! Trucking companies were challenged to find a way to get enough cars onto a truck to make the trip worthwhile.

Believe it or not, there were trucks specially designed to fit five new autos onto a 35-foot truck. The patent sketch above from Donald Mettetal, Jr. is for the DeArco car carrier. Your eyes do not deceive you- the truck cab was lifted high above the drive train on the front of the truck, so that a car could be shoved into that space! Despite filing for a patent in 1950, it wasn't granted until years later, and other trucking companies used the same scheme to carry more cars in a shorter truck. Read the history of car carriers and the weird things those restrictions led to, with lots of pictures, at The Autopian.