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June 21, 2004
A really big truck










I have no pithy observations on this one, other than to say -- god in heaven that's a big truck.

How big? It's 224 tons, 24 feet high, and can carry 624 tons. For a sense of scale, note the size of the construction worker standing next to it. It costs $3 million and worldwide demand is only 75 a year. The New Scientist interviewed Francis Bartley, team leader for the company that makes this thing:

What's it like to drive?
It's like driving a house. After you've been around a lot, it's not as exciting as if suddenly someone said: "Would you like to drive one?" You'd go crazy in that case! It's not hard to drive, basically like driving an automatic shift car.

Isn't it so big you could roll over a car without noticing?
That's basically true. The first time I was in it at a mine, the driver started to drive away and actually ran into the back of a service truck. It seems we mashed it down to the ground. I saw someone yelling, but we didn't feel a thing.


(Thanks to the J-Walk Blog for this one!)

Posted by Clive Thompson at June 21, 2004 01:33 PM

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Comments

Great, I'm sure I can look forward to seeing those lumbering down the freeway and taking up 19 parking slots at once any day now.

Posted by: june at June 21, 2004 2:57 PM

Well, you know, they ride a little higher so it's easier to see the traffic around you, and, well, they just make see feel safer, especially with the children and everything...

Posted by: marc at June 21, 2004 3:41 PM

Ahahahaha!

Incidentally, I drove an SUV for the first time last week. While I can certainly see the allure -- sheerly on "fun" levels -- I realized a couple of things:

i) They'd be *really* easy to roll over if you didn't know what you were doing. And I'd suspect that a *lot* of people driving them don't know what they're doing.

ii) They're really not that big inside. A minivan *easily* has as much space as an SUV, maybe more. Anyone who says they need an SUV for the space is, frankly, wrong.

Posted by: Clive at June 21, 2004 3:47 PM

Too bad you didn't get any pictures of the mashed down service truck!

And June... you know they'll be parking in the "Compact only" spaces. :)

Posted by: arnold at June 21, 2004 5:00 PM

That is awesome; reminds me of the huge transport platform they use to move the space shuttle around... BIG TOYS++

Posted by: coderman at June 21, 2004 5:25 PM

I'm guessing the Tonka version is the size of a regular truck.

Posted by: Jake at June 22, 2004 5:26 AM

Did you see one that had a "How's my driving?" sticker?

Posted by: Reuben Reviewer at June 22, 2004 7:08 PM

Bob the Builder, eat yer' heart out!

Posted by: Gord at June 22, 2004 9:54 PM

No matter how many times I see that picture, every time I look at it I just think, "holy moses is that a big truck." My brain won't go any further than that.

Posted by: Clive at June 22, 2004 11:45 PM

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