Truckers trusted with cars belonging to rich and famous

Truckers trusted with cars belonging to rich and famous

By LAITH AGHA
Herald Staff Writer

Updated: 08/16/2009 03:14:34 PM PDT

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Big-rig transport drivers David Brewer and Danny Mendocha help Gary... (VERN FISHER/The Herald)

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As a 1962 Ferrari GTO is unloaded from the trailer, Gary White nods toward it to point out just how valuable the assets are he hauls around.

"That there's a $3 million car," White said. "The owner brought it just to drive."

And while the Ferrari is the get-around car, the other cars in the trailer are the showpieces that were put on display at various car events this week, including today's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

Though he spends most of his time with them, White doesn't own any of the fancy cars on display today or that have been zipping around the county this week. The only vehicle he owns is his big rig.

White is a truck driver who specializes in transporting high-end cars. He is one of seven truckers who recently broke away from the major car transportation companies to form the trucker co-op, The Independent Network of Automobile Shippers, or TINAS.

"This is all we do, is transport cars all around the country," said White, who calls Fremont, Ind., home.

They all drove thousands of miles to Pebble Beach, setting up camp on the polo field for the week and joining the sea of nearly 200 trucks that have brought cars to Classic Car Week. Some of the most valuable cars in the world, such as the Ferrari GTO and a one-of-a-kind 1929 Duesenberg, were brought here by the TINAS truckers.

Being called upon to transport vehicles as valuable as mansions means a lot of trust is placed in the truckers. It's a responsibility they take seriously.

"You have to realize," said trucker Dale Bennett, "to somebody, that is their pride and joy."

The cars are also assets that require significant investment from the owners.

"When you're driving around with $5 million to $10 million worth of cars in the back that are irreplaceable ... I like to think we're special," White said.

It's an unconventional lifestyle, the truckers say, spending most of the year on the road. But they wouldn't have it any other way, said co-op member Dave Brewer, who said he spends no more than 45 days a year at home in Tulsa, Okla.

"I carry my wife with me and my little dog, so it doesn't matter," Brewer said. "We're at home wherever we are."

Brewer is known as "Beer Man," a name he proudly displays on his personalized license plate. His truck, which he said is worth around $500,000, has traveled 4 million miles.

"As a group we don't see each other but five, six times a year," Bennett said of himself and his fellow drivers.

But when they do cross paths, it's reunion time. They barbecue and hang out around their trucks. To them, it's time better spent than perusing the events that brought them to town.

"I'll go to some events if customers invite me," White said. "We generally just do our own thing here. We just relax and tell stories."

Keeping the customers calling isn't just about delivering cars in the same condition as when they were loaded, the truckers said. They take care of their trucks as well as they do the cars.

"If you show up in a piece of junk," Bennett said, "customers are going to say, 'If he doesn't take care of his own truck, what's he going to do with my car?'"

Their work doesn't end when they arrive at the destination. They have to unload the cars, which are packed five to seven per trailer, double stacked.

The co-op truckers work together to unload the cars, operating the lifts and giving hand signals to guide whoever is backing a multi-million-dollar vehicle owned by someone else out of the trailer and down a ramp.

On Wednesday, different trucks contained cars that needed to go to Carmel Valley for The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering held on Friday. So the truckers consolidated the Quail-bound cars into one truck and only one trip had to be made out.

"It's a jigsaw puzzle getting these cars in there," White said.

The truckers are also mechanically handy, a boon considering that while the automobiles they're hauling are very beautiful and valuable, they're also very old.

"A lot of them don't start right away," Bennett said, and it's up to the delivery men to get them going.

Even if a car comes off the truck easily, it will likely give the delivery men trouble some other way.

"One thing you learn is to carry baby wipes because you're going to end up smelling like oil by the end of the day," White said. "All these cars leak. It's never ending keeping your truck clean."

The job is never ending too. As soon as the Concours is over, the truckers will load the cars back on the trailers and head to their next destination.

"I've got to drop cars in St. Louis and Chicago, then be at the show Saturday in Milwaukee with that Daimler," White said, pointing to one of the cars he transports.

While the other shows and auctions around the country feature plenty of expensive cars, none of the other events measures up to the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, White said.

"This is the holy grail of car shows," he said. "If you win this one, you've got the best car in the world."

And it just may have been one of TINAS men who delivered it to Pebble Beach.