Forgive me, you’ll have to use your imagination for this as I couldn’t safety take a photo. I was driving down a local road in NJ at 45 mph when I saw a compact or mid-size sedan approaching from the opposite direction. Sticking out way, way into the air was a rather long extension ladder.
If you’re thinking that the ladder was strapped on top of the car’s roof, think again. The ladder was sticking out from the sunroof. Maybe 3-4 feet of the ladder was inside the car, resting against and partially supported by the rear seats, while a good 8-10 feet (or maybe even longer!) projected up and out at a 45° angle.
I understand that there may come a time when one needs to be creative in how they transport large items from point A to point B, but there’s a limit as to what’s considered reasonable. It was hard to tell, but it looks like the guy was traveling at full speed with no blinkers.
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Joe 'the Pro' Sainz
I’ve seen that before, and it sure scares me. Too many people seem to think they can get away with an unsecured load, or something like your describing here. It doesn’t work people.
DW
About 16+ years ago, I worked at Sears. I filled in from time to time at merchandise pick up. People put all kinds of things they shouldn’t have in or on their cars. My personal favorite was a ping pong table on top of a Hatchback Dodge Colt. No, I wasn’t allowed to participate in loading these adventures. We had a special waiver to sign and a box of twine to drop at their feet and a hearty “Good Luck with that” to issue.
My second favorite were 32 inch TVs(the CRT variety) in similar sized cars. Oddly enough, Aerostars were particularly worthless for hauling anything large easily. The seats in all the models that came my way had the seats securely bolted and didn’t fold or move enough to be of any help. Worst Minivan ever.
But hey, they saved a few bucks on delivery!
Tom
That is almost as bad as the guys who hold onto a mattress on top of a car. No tie downs, just two guys holding on out the window. One of them driving.
Chuchundra
I am very sad that there is no picture of this.
Maikeru
That driver was one emergency stop away from turning his car into a makeshift spear launcher.
I recall the one time that I had to help a friend secure a mattress to the roof of their car while at IKEA. By the time we finished it looked like the thing had been attacked by a giant spider!
Stuart
Chuchundra, if there was a way I could safely have photographed the ladder-car, I would have.
I’ve seen people secure mattresses with a single strap or loop of rope, and supporting it further with their hands. Ridiculous.
DW, I’ve been known to creatively load larger items into my car, now my SUV, but never to that extreme. The most was a folding treadmill that we unboxed and slid into the trunk and over the folded rear seats. I don’t think I’ve ever needed to drive with my trunk open and held down with twine.
A ping pong table on top of the hatchback? Yikes!
DW
Treadmills were another thing, but they usually got in a position like you did, yeah some of it is out the back but the vast majority of it is inside. not especially precarious. Unless you get rear ended… A few table saws left in situations that would go very bad in an accident. The biggest one we stocked at the time, not a cabinet saw but still 270 pounds. Just sitting on the back seat…
This was back in the day when Sears would take back way more stuff. I saw S shaped breaker bars, tools that if you call them abused, it would be like calling a hurricane “precipitation and breezy”. The thing that amazed me was the squeaky wheel returns. If you threw a big enough fit, they will take it back, no matter what the warranty was. There was this lady and her $99 bare bones gas lawnmower, had it for a little more than a year(90 day warranty on things like that). The thing looked like it had been mowing every lawn in town, every day of its miserable life. Engine shot, she got a brand new one in exchange…
wantedabiggergarage
Two words:
Low Bridge. LOL