LaunchPad's new car hauler

[LaunchPad]

I did good at my auction addiction this week and picked up a freightliner with a 24' box and lift gate rated to 4000 pounds for an insanely low price. i have to figure out how to get'er home in the snow that we got for Thanksgiving and is still coming down now. . . but i have big plans!

View attachment 54739


#1. get er home
#2. get a CDL. .. lol.
#3. that lift gate is turning into a full-blown elevator for a car!

 

[Rttoys]

Toterhome time.

 

[ah.b.normal]

I did good at my auction addiction this week and picked up a freightliner with a 24' box and lift gate rated to 4000 pounds for an insanely low price. i have to figure out how to get'er home in the snow that we got for Thanksgiving and is still coming down now. . . but i have big plans!
View attachment 54738View attachment 54739


#1. get er home
#2. get a CDL. .. lol.
#3. that lift gate is turning into a full-blown elevator for a car!

That is soooo cool! Under 25K I am pretty sure you don't need a CDL so long as you are not running a biz. RV specs may apply!

 

[LaunchPad]

33,000 gvwr so class A CDL hopefully before Goblin fest! thing only had 67,000 miles on it! and the price was absolutely insane too. hardly had bidders for it

 

[Hayden2053]

cant wait to see what you do to this thing!

 

[LaunchPad]

I got it home last week despite the snow and charged the batteries so I could play with the lift gate. this morning the title showed up from the auction house and I now need to run up to the county seat to pay taxes on the thing and get the title in my name.

that tree in the picture dropped a branch during our thanksgiving snow storm right across the windshield and ran a crack a-pillar to a-pillar so i will need to replace that before my CDL skills test.

my first priority needs to be finishing my goblin. . . too many distractions around my place these days. I really want to drive my goblin in the spring and take it to goblin fest. . . in an ideal world both will be usable by then.

 

[LaunchPad]

a little update on the project. it is officially alive and running. let the ordering of parts commence! The truck was sold on auction as "non-running at time of auction" due to "some bad fuel" turns out someone had sabotaged the truck by draining the diesel and pouring at LEAST 7.5 gallons of paint lacquer in the tanks. the sod farm i bought it from may have some disgruntled employees, and ex or something.

Like I said, I got er running . . . but needed to drop both tanks (will be replaced) and replace the filters/ several hoses and the priming pump and lift pump. next up are some new seats for the cab and some fuel tanks. total expended so far is under $6K including purchase and taxes so I think I am still well ahead if i flip it.

Meanwhile, I got distracted this morning on another auction and got this bad boy with only 38,400 miles on the ticker:

my wife says i need to stop with the auctions. lol

 

[Rttoys]

My wife has a new rule. I can’t buy another vehicle unless I sell one. But she can’t stop me if she’s at work.

 

[LaunchPad]

mine has been saying for the last year everyone i get two must leave. . . .so i been going big. lol.

dang trucks are too big to fit in my shop. it is only 40 foot front to back. the fire truck says it is 41'9

 

[Rttoys]

That just means you need a bigger shop.

 

[LaunchPad]

That just means you need a bigger shop.

exactly!!! lol. one of these days. maybe once i flip the last two big purchases.

 

[Ross]

What is that ladder truck worth??? I'm guessing $700K new, but I haven't shopped around for one, so it is just a wild @$$ guess.

 

[LaunchPad]

What is that ladder truck worth??? I'm guessing $700K new, but I haven't shopped around for one, so it is just a wild @$$ guess.

well my answer is almost always going to be: "whatever the market can support". lol

it is 1997 Pierce quantum with 38,400 miles on it. new are running 2 million right now says google AI and their website! but this is certainly not new either. I can list it for a $250,000 once I get er home I suppose on sites specifically for large trucks/fire trucks- but man I am dreaming of an even better RV/car hauler truth be told- if I sell the pumps, tank, ladder and tool boxes. can we put links here? there is a youtube of it doing its thing for the auction. so it all works.

so funny thing. . .same auction where I got the van truck the day before Thanksgiving. . .I was bidding on the SAME firetruck and jumped out at $10,500 and got the van truck for $3700. (now have ~6 in it) the next increment won the auction. and the guy that won ended up defaulting on payment of $10,750. Then because of the holidays the auction company didn't let me know in time that as second bidder I was actually the winner and could have had it at 10,500 . . .so they re-auctioned the truck and today I got it for $8100. So i guess within confines of the auction it is worth $8100 because I was silly enough to buy something so impractical ??? it sure should have more gumption than the box truck. . .and it currently seats 9 if the pictures dont lie. lol

 

[LaunchPad]

just got the invoice in. after buyers premium and title fee it bumped up to $8635.00. taxes here are going to be um 7% of that i think. so ~$604.45. dang thing is still less than 1/4 the price of the wife's new kia. lol

 

[Rttoys]

Noice

 

[Ross]

That sounds like you stole it. It would make a nice car hauler, but probably worth more at some cities fire station.

 

[LaunchPad]

That sounds like you stole it. It would make a nice car hauler, but probably worth more at some cities fire station.

I can sure understand what you are saying. I am all out of operating capital now having the two trucks and many of the other goodies I acquired on auction since Thanksgiving. I do intend to actually list both trucks in various locations for the time being to see if there are any real bites but I will also be listing them for several times what I paid for them and in the case of the fire truck it does feel like I practically stole that chassis- I am not sure what a larger market than an auction on a holiday period would bring- but considering the features I think it would have to be a bunch!

The down side to flipping the fire truck is even the department that sold it was that it was TOO MUCH truck for them being a 105ft ladder truck in a small town with nothing near that height except a grain silo (they have own ladders/stairs exterior to structure). Fort Calhoun used to have a Nuclear Power plant that shut down years ago and would have been relevant. Also the truck is a 1997 and now 28+ years old. in 2 more years Nebraska considers it an official antique vehicle!! Most towns/ cities with buildings big enough for the ladder have the budget to go buy new with all the bells and whistles, also many places are facing the new emissions rules for government vehicles which this does NOT have (no DPMF). I think realistically speaking the box truck has MUCH more "blue book" value than the fire truck- but is hardly ideal for my dream car hauler. if other trips this year do not interfere I may take it to the state summer fire school and see if any departments might bite. I was on the VFD here where I live and they and all the mutual aid departments would opt for tanker trucks long before considering this size ladder truck even if I just gave it to them.

For ME, the chassis under the fire truck has features I could only ever dream about quite literally for having available to incorporate into an RV/ toy hauler type of thing. As it is it will cost an amount I am unlikely to have in hand to finish how I would want to do too without considerably growing my business. The thing is I am at the age I really do not want to grow a business with no one to hand my business off too in the future, i don't really even want to be in business, I want to spend time doing those things with the family I haven't had a chance to do previously and that is following some CRAZY dreams and traveling and enjoying the cars I currently have - that include hanging out with you great folks at Goblin fest and what ever the out come a car hauler will not be ready by September of this year!!

 

[LaunchPad]

some of the really dreamy features of the fire truck:

GVWR- 69,500 pounds vs box truck 33,000pounds
6x4 drive line with possi in BOTH rear axles - box truck plain axle
6 wheel steering so despite the much longer length it turns in a tighter circle than the box van
more than 2 times the HP
independent suspension/ huge wheel & tire combos- I can do off grid type of adventures with my dirt bikes and 4x4s too!
4 door cab so I can tote more than 1 person. right now actual 6 seats in the cab. room for 8 captains chairs!!!
Automatic tire chains!
Automatic 5speed Allison transmission- I love stick and all but for a big truck this makes things super convenient and this is the top of the food chain transmission. the box truck is a manual.
Power window, door locks, mirrors, steps to the cab. box truck is all manual and wife hates climbing up in it.
more than 12feet length to chassis behind cab than box truck (more if I use the full rear overhang). the box truck has a 24'box and that is the same as my race trailer that I took 2 small cars in STACKED to this years goblin fest and no room for anything else. so fire truck could have room for RV bathroom, kitchen and beds.

I do see recent transactions of water pumps (alone) going for way more than I paid for the fire truck. . .so parting the things out I do not want on a car hauler and possibly the box truck could very well give me operating capital in spades to finish a car hauler . . . .eventually.

and of course the shear coolness factor. lol. what can I say, I am an over grown boy.

 

[Joebob]

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Fire truck cab on the front, box on the back - and a 'sleeper box' in between them. That extra room (12 feet) could be a nice sized space for accommodations. I'm sure you could find something like that.