The Czech Invasion.

Glen Millard : Glen “The Duck” was born in Saskatchewan. He has driven trucks for 50 years, mostly long hauling. He’s now retired, that is until another adventure comes along.
Posted By Glen Millard : Glen “The Duck” was born in Saskatchewan. He has driven trucks for 50 years, mostly long hauling. He’s now retired, that is until another adventure comes along. On 2020-09-05 14:18:41

In 1985, while driving a gravel truck, I decided to look for a new job. A car hauling friend said, "Come work with us. They are looking for drivers, and you will get plenty of exercise." I applied, and they hired me. I told them that I knew nothing about hauling cars, but they said that was okay, they would train me.


At that time, you could only haul cars within the province you were licensed for, and since they were all over height and length, you could not haul from Friday midnight to Monday midnight. Great! That meant I had every weekend off! So I learned on company time, and while training, they paid for damages if I had an "oops moment." I enjoyed the work and drove for them for five years before buying my own truck and trailer. All in all, I drove car hauler for 30 years.


We all have had one trip that starts out great and then does a complete 180 by noon. This is one of those. In 1987 Canadian Auto Carriers asked me to haul a load of cars from Calgary to a new dealership in Taber, Alberta. I was excited. New dealerships aren't usually too picky if you have the odd paint chip, a missing floor mat or just a single set of keys. This always made my trips that much easier.


I parked the truck and went looking for the first car and was confused when I saw the odd shape. On the grill, it said SKODA. It was a very small car, and when I finally pried all six foot four of me into the driver's seat, I immediately looked around for the zipper to hold me in. The motor was a rear-engine, three-cylinder, water-cooled powerhouse with the radiator in the front. And, you probably guessed it, the rad hoses ran underneath and were the lowest points of the car. The choke was just a lever sticking out of the floor behind the driver's seat. The little round clutch, brake, and gas pedals were so close together that my boot could depress all of them at the same time. It was obvious to me that it was designed by someone who had never seen or driven a car before.


I finally got it started and drove it over to the loading area. This was a thrill in itself. The old trailers top deck only lowered to about 4 feet above the ground, which put the ramps on a steep angle uphill. The car was extremely narrow, so I brought the ramps as close together as they would go. The tire width was the same as the inside rail of the deck. Any miscalculation and it would fall between the rails onto the lower deck.


The next ten minutes taught me a lot about a SKODA. I got back into the rocket, pulled the choke, but nothing happened. I got some cables and found the battery behind the engine up against the rear seat, lending credence to my theory that the designer had never seen a car before. After boosting the engine, it roared to life, and I started up the ramp only to learn that it did not have enough power to climb it. So I decided to back up and hit it with speed. I felt like this was a one-shot deal. The motor was screaming, and I felt about as safe as Evil Knievel jumping the Snake River when I let her rip and headed for the trailer at mach nothing. (About 35mph). As I headed up the ramp, the hood lifted up and disappeared in a flash, and there was a disturbing noise from under the car as I transitioned from the ramp to the deck.


I was careful not to stop before I got to where I needed to be, then after wiggling out, I saw the hood down on the asphalt. Unlike a cat, that supposedly always lands on its feet, the hood landed paint side down. It was going to be a chore to buff those scratches out. What a job it was to get the hood up onto the deck. Since it was already scratched and I didn't want to lose it, I threw a ratchet strap over the hood and attached it to the fenders. After I got down, I saw a strange liquid (you knew this was coming) leaking from the car onto the hood of the truck. I guess the rad hoses were not as sturdy as the designer thought they were.


The next wonderful thing I found out about the SKODA was that unlike North American cars that have specific holes in the frame for tying down a car – the SKODA has none. So I got creative and tied it down with anything that looked more sturdy than the rad hoses.


After getting all seven cars loaded, I headed for Taber. Arriving in town, I asked at the gas station where the new dealership was, and he laughed and said it was the lawnmower shop just up the road. I drove to the shop, and the owner told me how excited he was to get these cars. I told him of the problems, but he said that was alright, he expected to do some touch-ups. He took the bills of lading from me and signed them clean and clear. The unload went much better, mainly because it was all downhill. After cinching everything down, I headed back to Calgary to see what my next adventure would be.


 About three years later, SKODA closed all their so-called dealerships and sent the remaining unsold stock back to the manufacturer. I was lucky enough to haul a full load of these unsold cars from Calgary to Vancouver docks. The dust that rose when these cars were started was unbelievable. They had been sitting for so long. The most mileage on any that I loaded was 385 miles of test drives over 3 years. Not a big seller, and with all my years on the road, I can't remember ever seeing one.  


Previous Blogs

Bella Coola by Glen Mallard

Hole in One by Dave Madill

On The Wrong Road by John Maywood

Wildlife by Colin Black

On the Road Again by Myrna Chartrand...

Cooking Class by Scott Casey

Know Your Limits by Ed Murdoch...

2020 Vision by Greg Evasiuk...

Jokes

With 35 years of combined publishing experience, you will see this unique and much improved trucking magazine called Pro Trucker Driver's Choice Magazine

Getting Started

Lawful Torture

Little Star

It's Now Or Never

Winter Blues

Sheep

The First Time

Let's Block the Road!

In the Face of History

Human Trafficing

Nature’s Child

Distracted Driving

WE EXIST TO ASSIST

The Virus

"What do you look forward to?"

“Fuel Tanks”

You want me to go where?

From Zero to Hero to Zero

ELD’s and Speed Limiters – Are They Really Safe?

The Dream (July 2005)

The Lonesome Camaraderie of the Transportation Industry

Strange Times

Lockdown Toilets

Life goes on

The Czech Invasion.

A Steep Learning Curve

Fools Casting Calls

We Are All In This Together

How to get Time Off

A New Year

Added Benefits of Trucking

An ill Wind

Loving the Road

Insecure Loads

Memories

All Things Shiny and New

B-Trains

The Good Ol’ Days

Cold Trip

Brexit

A Moment’s Distraction

Have or Have not

Music and Me

Travels With Ringo

Distracted Driver

Changes

ELDs, Roads and Covid

Female of The Species

The Switch

Flood of 60

Crimes Against Humanity

Training Hours

In the Truck’s Clutches

Attitude & Altitude

Wide Open Spaces (and closed in places)

Trucking is a Trade

A night to remember

Loading Heavy Equipment

CLIMATE CHANGE & TRUCKING

Truck Routes

Then and Now

Attitude & Altitude

A Girl Just Wants to Have Fun…

The Weekend!

Unity

How I Write

In The Beginning Part 3

Tires and Unions

Stay Safe

My Rant…

Isolation

I learned a New Trick

It ain’t the years - it’s the miles.

It’s Time, Gentlemen, Time

Coincidences

The Brain

Blind Man's Buff

Editor's Note

The Flitting

Eastbound

What I Did This Summer

Pictures

Adventure

Show Ready

Trolls

Big Rig Weekends

Love and Trucking

Books and Covers

Like a Boss

It's a Wonderful World

Common Sense By Glen “The duck” Millard

Dad meets a “Bear.”

All Experience isn’t Good Experience…

The Weather Outside is Frightful…

Common Sense

Bad Breaks and Good Luck

Driving Through My Memories for January/February 2023

Service???

Time to Reset!

Halcyon Days of Trucking

All Experience…

The Piggy Bus Encounter

Sports and Life Lessons

Winter Storms

Humboldt Tragedy_MELT program

Driving Through My Memories

On The Road Again

Wait Over Weight

I Write

Elliot Lake

The Good (?) Old Trucks

Canadian and Proud of it

Six Cans for Buffalo Joe

Monkeys and Peanuts

Safety First

30? 60? 90? Late Pay

Nothing New

Technology

Has anything changed?

Holidays - Then Back To The Grind.

Old Trucker Troubles

Loose Moose

Some of the Trucks I've Seen

The Last Ride

Cold Load Home

Make it a Holiday

Winter Wonderland Trucking

Thinning the Herd

Just Be There…

And to All, a Good Night!

Dumb and Dumber

Helping Out in a Clutch

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

Driver Retention Matters_ New Volvo VNL

Consistency

Tires and Trouble

Idle time

Dinner on the Road

Load Security

Tourist Trucking

The Last Ride