Just to reverse this: I have a question FOR the general public.

Howdy Infosaur,

Hauling the Smart Car sideways is technically illegal, the bed on my Pete is 102 inches wide, the Smart Car is about 108 inches long but folks have been doing this for many years, I have done it for the last three years. Other folks build their trucks so that they can haul Jeep's or other car's lenght wise of course this means you have to build a longer truck bed. I removed the commercial hitch when I converted the Pete into a "motor home", where the 5th wheel hitch is now mounted I can have the truck 90 degrees to the trailer with out hitting anything, this makes it much easier to get into and out of many campsites or campgrounds.

My over all lenght when motor home is hooked to the trailer is 72 feet. Some people who use a class 8 truck as an RV tow vehicle do so using the commercial hitch, this is NOT a good thing to do as the commercial hitch does NOT pivot sideways just fore and aft, this puts a lot of stress on the RV trailer and in time it will cause the RV trailer frame to crack sometimes dangerously. I use 12 foot long ramps that fold in half so the stored length of the ramps is 6 feet long, the ramps are carried in a protective box behind the rear axle.

Click this link, it will take you to a photo gallery that shows the full build and conversion from the commercial truck that I drove home from Minnesota to western Washington, in the middle of the winter, ( bob tailing such a truck on ice and snow is something I don't want to EVER do again) into a motor home.

My 2001, Peterbilt 379, RV Hauler - Mr-Cob

The last few photos in the gallery show some mock ups of the flames and name of the truck that I am thinking about have installed on it. The truck is an ongoing project, like any toy it will never be finished just in a constant state of evolution.

Dave

 

Howdy Infosaur,

It "is" a working truck, it works hard at making me smile every mile I drive it hauling my toys to wonderful places.

Dave

 

Hello, I’m John Q. Public, pay no attention to the “Rideandrepair”, screen name, I don’t know who that is. But to answer your question is simple. I don’t care about Trucks or Truckdrivers, Unless your delivering some good stuff to me.

 

I would answer. I am part of the public. However, I am not a General.

 

I looked a sumari over real well trying to come up with a feasible way to shorten it enough to fit sideways on my truck. I measured a smart car, but just couldn't bring myself to buy one. lol
The first smart car I ever saw anywhere was not named smart car at all. It was iirc at 100 mile house in BC and they were called fortwo. I parked the truck and walked back to the store it was parked at and measured it. I assumed it was named fortwo, was for two people was all that would fit in it. a year or so later I read about they were trying to start importing them to the us under the smart car name, it seems like chrysler had a lawsuit trying to keep them from it.

 

Howdy starmac,

when I first saw a Smart Car, I laughed and thought to myself who would ever want one of these things. Five years ago I attended my first National HDT Rally, a Rally put on and for by folks who use real trucks to tow their huge RV trailers.

At the Rally I saw many Smart Cars carried behind the sleeper or carried in a toy hauler type trailer. This looked like a great idea so I asked one of the Smart Car owners to give me a ride in the car, he handed me the keys and said have fun. Have FUN is what I did, driving a Smart Car is like driving a Go Kart with air conditioning. I bought a Smart Car hauled in my toy hauler for two years and then built the Peterbilt so I could carry it behind the sleeper. I can honestly say that the Smart Car is one of the most FUN and practical cars I have ever owned.

Dave

 

I know they have to be practical, but I just couldn't do it. lol
I would do a big bike instead. lol
One thing is, where and what I like to do, a 4X4 is needed, and a pretty capable one at that.
I thought for years I would like to get a drop deck furniture type van and build my own toy hauler style travel trailer, and be able to carry a bronco or jeep or something along those lines with me. I can see for general use where the smart car is very practical, even measured that first one for that very reason. lol
I am not physically able to do the things I did just a few years ago, so the smart car is getting more practical by the day. lol

 

Having recently retired and taken up RV ing again we recently went on a long road trip (4800 miles over 6 weeks). My question is ... back in the day if an 18 wheeler passed me, I would flash my lights the truck would move back into the right lane and then blink the trailer lights as a thank you, like wise when I passed a truck they would flash their brights to let me know I was sufficiently past them (extremely helpful when hauling a 40' fifth wheel). That rarely happens anymore??? I understand that y'all don't like regular people using your truck stops, parking spaces etc. but what happened to common courtesy?

 

It died, drivers got to lazy to reach for the switch and started using the dimmer switch instead.