Giant carriers join MCD fleet
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• by Peter Lawton The largest car transporters in the UK are entering service with Mainland Car Deliveries.
Designed by Transporter Engineering of Essex, the units have a maximum capacity of 13 cars or vans depending on size and shape.
The combinations use an adapted Oaf FT 85CF 3.8m wheelbase tractor as a prime mover coupled to a triaxle low loader.
Extra carrying capacity comes from the loaders triple deck arrangement and the extra length allowed for a drawbar. The prime mover alone can carry up to four vehicles.
Anti-lock brakes are fitted all round while the decking system for the body and trailer are kept separate and colour coded to avoid lowering the wrong deck on to valuable cargo. Bridging between the two bodies is by powered ramps.
Sleeper cab Daft with 380hp, 12.6Iit XF engines power the combination which is plated at 38 tonnes, more than enough to carry even the heaviest of cars, says MCD.
MCD is adding 22 of the units, which Transporter Engineering took two years to design, to its 140-strong fleet.