Topic: Whattoff Motor Company Trailer-Toters' telescopic chassis

[DHoffmann]

Whattoff Motor Company Trailer-Toters' telescopic chassis - How an Iowan length regulation led to the birth of adjustable length towing vehicles

"Stretchable Truck, the Trailer Toter, made by the Whattoff Motor Co., Ames, Iowa, can expand its wheelbase from 82 1/2 to 120 inches in about 10 minutes. A winch extends and shrinks the frame. Slip Joints simplify changing drive shafts."
Popular Science, Feb 1955

Legislation in the 1950s Iowa meant that trucks longer than 45 feet nose-to-tail were outlawed on their roads due to a perceived lack of safety. This made for some extreme detours to avoid the state, illegal attempts to cross with larger cargo or shifting cargo onto smaller trailers at a border depot and then back to a longer one at the other end. Not only were all these rather unfeasible methods, but what if your trailer was lengthy due to the trailer itself, not the cargo you were transporting?

A whole host of different 'tractors' were happily converted by Whattoff

This was the case with mobile home transporters, whose overall vehicle length often exceeded the restrictions in Iowa, but of course they were unwilling to reduce the lengths of the homes just to bypass this issue. Enter the Whattoffs, originally a Studebaker dealership based in Ames, Iowa. Through a prospective customer request they began experimenting with different length chassis. Obviously an incredibly short wheelbase on a large vehicle would make for a supremely unsafe and uncomfortable ride on its own, but when towing a large payload behind it the weight would be distributed and the ride would be fine.
The obvious solution? A telescoping wheelbase!

Period advertising using a Studebaker

Over the course of the Whattoff Motor Company’s trailer-toter business they expanded to become the country’s largest Studebaker dealer, alongside modifying International, Chevrolet, Ford, Dodge and many other vehicles. They even designed and built their own vehicle using an International Sightliner cab for its especially short length.

Extended
A custom built chassis with Detroit, International or Studebaker running gear underneath an International Sightliner Cab made for a unique but extremely short vehicle


And shortened. Note the different length driveshafts

The Whattoff Toter 8
Named for its eventual length at the shortest setting, 8 foot, the Toter 8 was produced at first using left over Studebaker parts, but 1962 saw their use of the 48 inch long Sightliner cab and own chassis shown in the images above.   
Despite Studebaker first copying the ‘toter’ idea and then dropping out of the truck business altogether the Whattoff business was still booming. Until 1972, when they had just made an untimely move to a huge new facility capable of 2000 annual conversions right before the global oil crisis of 1973. Recreational vehicle manufacturers were the first to buckle and fold, meaning mobile home sales all but stopped and the market all but disappeared for ‘toter’s. The Whattoff company went under in 1975.

Another Studebaker

Only 10 minutes and you've shortened your vehicle by up to 37 1/2 inches!

Sources:
Popular Mechanics February 1955
Ames Historical Society - http://www.ameshistory.org/exhibits/whattoff1.htm

This brochure really highlighted the range of options eventually available, not just limited to the original mobile home 'toters'.

[grobmotorix]

Apparently Rinspeed must have been influenced by that idea...