Race transporters are more than just big trucks for carrying fast cars; they're also a way for rich car collectors to spend even more money on immaculate restorations of 1950s and 1960s vintage automobilia. Here, though, are ten transporters that would warm the heart of even the coldest cynic.
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10.) The Scarab Transporter
Suggested By: Jcay
Why it's cool: Having provided services for Formula One elite like Lotus, the Scarab ended up
in the hands of Carroll Shelby for service as team transport to the beautiful, beautifully fast Scarabs. Like
many transporters on this list, the Scarab ticks off all the right boxes: gorgeous, vintage, and capable of
trucking around some undeniably gorgeous race cars.
Photo Credit:dryheatpanzer
9.) The Space Shuttle Transporter
Suggested By: Size15shoe
Why it's cool: Because our inner elementary schooler knows that it's awesome and the space race was a race, too.
Photo Credit:toptechwriter
8.) Airplanes
Suggested By: nibby560SEL
Why it's cool: The old ones have the same kind of Gestalt as their ground-based counterparts and the new ones play the perfect foil to the world's fastest things on four wheels.
Photo Credit:glasgows</ em>
7.) A School Bus
Suggested By: Jstas
Why it's cool: There are plenty of cool cars and trucks that serve the role of race transporter, but cool as a street-driving BMW is pulling an evil-twin BMW racer, there is little to trump a repurposed school bus. Sometimes the best answer is the one that involves tearing down the inside of a school bus to put a race car in it.
Photo Credit:racoles
6.) The Cheetah Transporter
Suggested By: frogberg
Why it's cool: Inspired by the iconic Mercedes race transporters of the day, the Cheetah re-
imagines the postwar West German cool of the Uhlenhaut truck in the freewheeling style of the late 1950s
American racing scene. One part Mercedes with two parts hot rod is a recipe for excellence. Read more
about the Cheetah Transporter here.
Photo Credit:Mojo_rising_71 via Photobucket
5.) The Bonneville Boss
Suggested By: stöke
Why it's cool: It has all of the "we can rebuild America with a Toronado drivetrain and rocket boosters" spirit of '76. Designed to hold a land speed record rocket car that was never completed,
the Bonneville Boss nonetheless captures the innocent, determined fantasies that coalesce around
inadvisably high speed.
Photo Credit:Matt Howell
4.) Ferrari Race Transporter
Suggested By: Brian, The Life of - 3%er
Why it's cool: An old Fiat truck might be a bit of an interesting curiosity on its own, but when given the bright red Midas touch of Enzo Ferrari, these trucks became legend.
3.) Pegaso "Bacalao" (Codfish)
Suggested By: Guacaturbo
Why it's cool: Pegaso, the strangely alluring Spanish sports car maker of the 1950s, could do no wrong when it came to automobiles. Their Z-102 racers were fast, fine handling machines, and little can touch them for obscure mystique. The same can be said of their race car transporter. The driver sat in the middle, piloting one of the stranger experiments in automotive manufacturing. If you want to know more, your curiosity can be sated here.
2.) A Citroën SM pulling another Citroën SM in the desert
Suggested By: Les Spiegerable
Why it's cool:
Jalopnik touched on this strange French oddity a few years back and Davey G. Johnson had this to say: "The SMamino may be the greatest car ever because it's a little bit of everything any sensible enthusiast should stay away from: It's French, it's Italian it's a pickup and it's front-wheel drive. Therefore, game/set/match SMamino. Dare to front and an atomic wedgie is in your future."
Photo Credit:sherlock77</ em>
1.) The Uhlenhaut Mercedes Race Transporter
Suggested By: Fodder650
Why it's cool: There's something wonderful about der Mercedes-Renntransporter. Nicknamed "the blue wonder," it's an astounding design, but really anything with some curves that hauls around 300SLRs is going to be wonderful.
Photo Credit:pilot_micha</ a>