Saw this "thing" on I-40 ...



... strange that they were towing it on all-fours and not on a proper trailer.

Also passed a convoy of new Mercedes-Benz GLs (all assortments >> 450, 550 and 350 diesel) all were 4Matic versions. One had "Mercedes-Benz Service ... " (and something else, though couldn’t make it out as I was overtaking them rapidly) written on the doors. I guess the dealer they were from was having a "mountain demonstration".

I don't think that's legal in Spain hmm

I think so, if the rules are really identical in Europe now.

In Germany it's possible only, if the driver of the car has a truck-driver-license, because it's seen as a trailer with two axles. With the regular car-driver-license you are only allowed to tow trailers with a single axle (double axles, closer than 99 cm to each other are seen as one axle).

If you hade made your license after 1999, you have to make (and pay) extra lessons for towing a trailer. Before 1999 it was included.

The German rules about driver-license are now identical with the other EU-countries. Before that we had a few different ones. So with a normal license now you are allosed to drive light trucks up to 3.5 tons max weight. Before 1999 it was up to 7.5 tons.

The rules for motorbike-license were changes many times. Now it depends on the engine-power. Without any bike-license, max 50 ccm-bikes are allowed. Before 1980 it was 250 ccm.

One German rule is still unique: a driver-license is valid unlimited (except those for buses and truck, but this is a newer law, too). So it's not as in the USA.
A strange result is, that very old licenses, are still vaild, so that ones, made in the GDR, even them from the pre-1957 Saar-area (which belonged to France), even the very few left over pre-war-licenses are still vaild! But only civil ones, not the Wehrmacht- or NSKK-issues.

A old, old car. Looks as if its in mint condition. Probably going to/or returning from an antique car show or something.

It's called "Flat towing" or "Dingy Towing" This is how I tow my Tracker to Uwharrie to go off-roading. The advantages are that the weight is distributed evenly as all four wheels are on the ground so there is less tongue weight.

Here is a picture of one of my Troopers towing my Tracker this way.

But do you make someone go inside the Tracker? otherwise whenver you brake the Isuzu the Tracker would rear end it, wouldn't it? how do you do it?

no no one is in the Tracker. The tracker has a (removable) tow bar that is attached to the front which for all intensive purposes turns the Tracker into a trailer.

I don't have a picture of my actual tow bar but if you look at this pic of my Explorer towing my Tracker you can see a little of the tow bar.


EDIT: here is a pic of one I found online.

I see and understand now, thanks by the way, how many SUVs do you own?

Today I saw a big bus - with the diplomatic plate "251 D 141" from Britain. Very strage, I've never seen a 50-seater-bus with that. Unfortunately I couldn't see, from which country's embassy it was. When I passed it, there was a little sign behind the driver's door (it was LHD), but I only could identify "....Embassy" and as adress "Kensington Gardens"

Is it possible at British diplomatic plates, to identify, from which embassy the vehicle is?

Yes, the first three digits identify the country. Wikipedia has a list.

251 D 141 is from the Russian embassy, which has prefixes 248 to 252. The embassy's address is 6/7 Kensington Palace Gardens.

350 to 400 can be used by any embassy for security reasons, so it will not always be possible to identify the country.

P.S. I found a photo of another Russian embassy bus.

Well I have actually sold most of them (I don't keep anything very long)

Right now I have (SUV Wise)

94 Isuzu Rodeo, 00 Rodeo (lent to my Sister), 02 Jeep KJ (bought for my mother) and 05 Explorer

Lucky you being able to change cars so frecuently

yeah the joke around my house is that everything I have is for sale My wife however hates it, when we got together she was still driving her first car. We have been together for 5 years and she has had 10 different cars.

I figured I could show a couple of my Canadian only trucks:

GMC Tracker (black next to my Geo Tracker):




1997 Pontiac Sunrunner:

Tonka did you or someone in your family go to Virginia Tech? (I noticed the VT sticker on the Explorer)

I had a few cousins that went to VT and a few of my close friends also. That pic was taken right after the VT shootings (1 cousin was there then but unharmed) I was showing my support with those magnets.

I see, glad your cousin was ok. There are still haunting photos of the killer on the web with his guns.

Wow big collection!! what do you do with so many SUVs!!! what's with Virginia Tech??

For a while there I was buying all the Suzuki Sidekicks and Trackers that I could, some were just for Off-roading, others I bought to resell. I have sold all of them now(mostly to an exporter who shipped them to Costa Rica)

I made quite a bit of money buying fixing and selling these

I also had fun playing with them






as for Virginia Tech here is a link to wikapedia's article on the massacre:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vt_shootings