Anyone ever try this?

P

Pat Post

Here as soon as I find a place to call home I will need to bring my 1973 Superior 54" Ambulance home. I was thinking about renting a Uhaul truck and dolly. Will the car fit on the dolly or is the track width to wide? I've pulled a '73 Ranchero with one so I think it will work.
 
no dolly

Pat,
under no circumstance try to use a tow dolly to transport your coach. Dollies are not only too narrow but they are not designed for the weight of your coach. I don't know about AAA but ther are many transporters out there that can get the coach home for you. My 61 M-M was brought home by transport from Georgia after the trans went out. No problems. There were several companies with several prices. We used SanCrest Transport. I was 100% satisfied with the service and the price. They were recommended by a PCS member.
Mike
 
Call Rich at Lilli Auto Transport in Sioux Falls, SD. Great people to deal with and have hauled several inop cars that I have sold to the East coast. They do a great job and don't bitch about them being inops. Rich hauls to the East coast nearly every week. He can be reached at 605-759-3463.
 
I can certainly understand and that. Know any buddys with a decent 18 ft car trailer and a pick up? That'd more than suit for a 2 hr journey
 
less than 2 hours

If the coach is less than 2 hours away I would just get a tow company with an extra long rollback. No hooks or wheel carriers. Rollback only. Tell them the wheel base and the overall length of the coach. As soon as you tell them Cadillac they will stop listening and tell you no problem. You want them to understand that your car is not the typical Cadillac they have dealt with in the past. Then you should have no problems.
Make sure you read Danny Ryders story of the pick up and trailer glitch when hauling a coach.
Mike
 
Check the "services" section on your local craigslist. May be someone with a trailer making some hustles. In the "Labor Gigs" section you could even post an ad for needing a car moved. I had a car hauled from a guy on CL once. Would do it again too. Worth a shot.
 
To echo Mike, I always request rollbacks/flatbeds for my classic Cadillacs and especially a big CC. It's also my understanding from talking to a number of tow truck drivers that towing any RWD car by the front wheels with the rear wheels on the road can cause damage to the differential. Don't know if anyone has heard the same??

Pat Post said:
How good is AAA with towing a non-op vehicle?
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Registration has to be current. But more importantly AAA will not tow procars, regardless of private plates, private use, private ownership or anything else. Yes, I have tried and no, it is not in writing anywhere but they still won't.

If one wanted to pursue that route, maybe call your local AAA-endorsed towing company first and put your service call in through them??
 
Call a local tow company or better yet stop in and visit them, work a deal for a set price beforehand. This is what I always do and it works out great. I've had many hearses hauled 2 hours one-way (and even rode with the driver to retrieve) and it never cost more than $200
 
Clark N. Vineyard said:
To echo Mike, I always request rollbacks/flatbeds for my classic Cadillacs and especially a big CC. It's also my understanding from talking to a number of tow truck drivers that towing any RWD car by the front wheels with the rear wheels on the road can cause damage to the differential. Don't know if anyone has heard the same??

If the car is an automatic, the drive shaft needs to be disconnected because when the rear diff turns it causes the pump in the transmission to turn , which will burnit out. If its a standard transmission, it needs to be put into neutral. But I would'nt want to go very far like this. Its much better to ROLLBACK it. Just my shadetree opinion.
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truck haulers

You could always call a local towtruck firm that deals in truck and heavier vehicle hauling. If unsure call your local big truck garage, the ones that deal with snowplows, dumptrucks etc and ask for advise. I was able to get the IH taken to the garage with no problem on flatbed by one here when I explained the size and weight.....We haul our type III ambulances on them all the time at work and they are at least the weight and length of a traditional procar.
 
when I brought my 78 Horton Ambulance home I went to a wreaking yard and hired one of the drivers for cash.....it cost me $ 100 to transport the Horton type lll Ambulance on a rollback and that sucker is over 10,000 lbs
 
AAA towed my 1971 M-M Volunteer from my home to a repair shop 12 miles away on a flatbed. No extra charge. That was two years ago. Picture of it leaving on the truck was posted here at the time. I think they called it a Cadillac Fleetwood for their logbook. When I ordered the tow, I called the local tow company directly, not AAA dispatch. They were very clear on what they would be hauling and they knew the length and weight. Looks like there is no consistency around the country. In my case, it was treated as a basic tow plus miles from my address to a verifiable auto repair garage. A simple phone audit by AAA would have verified they received my Cadillac but not that it was a commercial chasis car.
 
Towing is nerve wracking

I think the majority is very clear with the above warnings. I went with a friend to get my Lifeliner a few weeks ago. It was about 650 miles away, and sitting on a trailer I had recently bought. Because the rig was face first, and the motor was out (in the bed of the pickup) there was too much weight rear of the trailer tires. We had to go 50 mph most of the time and the round trip ended up being 26 hours. It might be worth the aggravation to have it professionally moved.
Good luck!!!
 
PS IF you have classic car insurance

I have Hagerty insurance and they once told me if I was ever going to have to pay for transportation out of my own pocket, I should let them make the arrangements. They felt I'd get a better price through them.
 
I have used AAA for breakdown towing, and if you tell them it's a "Cadillac station wagon", they are OK with it. I tried telling them it was an "ambulance" once and they refused, because they don't tow commercial vehicles (even though I told them it was privately owned). What the dispatcher doesn't know won't hurt them. The drivers have always been fine.

As for using a trailer, make sure it's at least 20' long. An 18' trailer won't make it. Also, make sure the trailer and tow vehicle are rated for at least 10,000 pounds, as some regular car trailers are only rated for 5-6000 pounds as that's all you need to haul a Honda. A rollback should probably be at least 22' - around here, most are anyway.

The easiest option is probably just to call a local tow service and make the arrangements for a rollback directly. They may be flexible in pricing if you schedule it for a time when they aren't too busy. It's also good to make a friend there as you *may* need to use them again.
 
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