In a message dated 6/11/02 05:57:38 Pacific Daylight Time,
rmeismer1@aol.com
writes:
>
Rolland, They make a set of straps that consist of two ratchet straps that go
around your axle and another two axle straps, this is what I use when I have
to trailer. Another one of our chaps has four loops that go around his
spinners and then he honks it down with ratchet straps......but what ever you
use, please make sure you have plenty of tongue weight.......see below, the
cause of this accident was lack of tongue weight, not a gust of wind from an
18 wheeler
Wind rolls classic Rolls
Tuesday, June 4, 2002
BY NATE DEGRAFF
KALAMAZOO GAZETTE
Phillip Tatarowicz's 1933 Rolls Royce has traveled the European continent,
sailed on a Greek ship and spent a good portion of its life in Africa.
But perhaps its most taxing adventure occurred in southwestern Michigan.
Tatarowicz, his wife and the $250,000 automobile, a rare Phantom II
Continental, had just left a classic car show Sunday at the Gilmore-Classic
Car Club Museum in Hickory Corners with two high-profile awards, including
the prestigious Gilmore Award. The Rolls Royce, purchased by Tatarowicz last
year, sat in a large trailer being pulled by the couple's sport utility
vehicle as they moved west on I-94 toward their home in Illinois.
Just west of the Fourth Street bridge in Texas Township, a gust of wind
created by a passing tractor-trailer sent the trailer with the Rolls swerving
wildly out of control. Tatarowicz slowed down and attempted to pull over to
the left, but the trailer wheels dug into the grassy median. The trailer
flipped into the median. The sport utility vehicle remained upright, but the
trailer tongue wedged under the sport utility hitch, raising the SUV's back
wheels six feet off the ground.
"I opened the door and jumped down," said Tatarowicz. "Then I ran over and
helped my wife out and moved away."
Though the couple had escaped injury, danger lingered. The Rolls, upside down
in the overturned trailer, was leaking gasoline.
Firefighters from the Texas Township Fire Department showed up 15 minutes
later. Fearing an explosion, the rescue team sprayed the area around the car
with fire suppressant. But a difficult assignment remained.
"We wanted to take the car out of there without damaging it further," said
Robert Lohrberg, a Texas Township fire captain.
Using jacks, chains, winches and cables from McDonald's Towing and Rescue,
the team lifted the upside-down car to the trailer floor. They then stuffed
special air bags provided by the Oshtemo Fire Department into the space
between the car and the trailer walls.
"We wrapped it up like a little baby and rolled it on over," said Texas
Township Fire Capt. Dave Deloof.
After removing the straps, chains and bags, rescuers inspected the car. They
found only minor scratches, broken glass and some damage caused by the
leaking gasoline.
Though Tatarowicz estimated damage to the car in the tens of thousands of
dollars, he credited the rescue team with saving the Rolls Royce from a far
worse fate. The team had worked from 7 p.m. until 2 a.m. Monday morning.
"The damage could have been 10 times worse but for the professionalism of the
firemen, policemen and McDonald's," he said. "The guys were wonderful."
Lohrberg said firefighters always try to save whatever property they can,
regardless of its monetary value. But he was impressed with the toughness of
the rolled Rolls.
"Back in the '30s, they made them a little more solid than they make them
now," he said.