After seeing the pic on the crowdfunding page of matt_oab with a canoe in his yaris, got me thinking what is the largest item you have fitted into your car? Apart from bikes.
King size mattress in a mini
I once turned up to collect two freestanding kitchen units in a fiat punto. I'd already removed the passenger seats as prep; but it was still only just a fit after re-flatpacking them.
Mind you; you should have seen the look on the sellers face - they were a lovely old couple but had no idea that you could dismantle them so were expecting something a little more van-y 😀
the mother in law
myself................ ;o)
Metal framed double bed in a Nissan Micra (how I didn’t get pulled over I don’t know) Oakley display cabinets in a Fiat Punto.
A lawn in my Vectra. Dropped into a garden centre to enquirer about turf, chap asked if I wanted to take away there and then... bit of umming and arrhing, and he reckoned no way I could fit it all in, seats down, suspension bottomed out (and a few rolls on the passenger seat) and job was a goodun
13 conifer tree stumps in a mk 2 Punto. (Seems they may be the load luggers tool of choice)
16m2 gravel drive and 65m2 lawn, (separate projects) took a couple of trips in my Peugeot Expert, but that was down to weight limitations, not volume.
sidecar wheel and chassis in a mini! and it was properly in not "in" like matt and the canoe 😉
BMW 1 Series. Three adults, three enduro mountain bikes, two weeks kit for each adult, tool kit and an EVOC bike bag. Granted the bikes (minus wheels) were on a rack, but it was cosy.
I got two whales in my car 🙂
Well over a ton of bricks stacked in the Land Rover 90, it had HD MOD springs and it rode really smoothly instead of bouncing around like it usually did unloaded.
My colleague borrowed my estate car and loaded a canoe into it, unfortunately when he braked it shot forward and cracked my windscreen, which he had to replace, the prize muppet.
Four bikes and four humans inside my Passat estate, although two were children.
3m kitchen worktop, unfortunately the second one didn't fit due to slope of the windscreen which resulted in a cracked windscreen when I shut the boot.
Kayak for me. Perception blaze in a clio. I have managed to squeeze a second one in on occasion as well.
This weekend it was stable matting, 5 huge rubber mats at about 40kg each.
An entire CX course's worth of poles and tape is another. I do occasionally think should have bought a van.
My mate got an entire Nissan 200sx in his P38 Rangie.
He was subsequently banned from the local tip.
Motorbike (500cc) in a Morris Minor.
Some dismantling was necessary...
My Dad got a (stolen) stuffed elephant and 4 people in/on a mini once in his yoof. About 2am in London all well inebriated.
Police stopped him and asked them to keep the noise down. 😂
This one?

Kayak for me. Perception blaze in a clio.
Amateur.
4 metre long oar in an MX5
I remember going to Ikea many years ago, with my wife's Celica (which, it must be said, was surprisingly good for moving stuff). I strolled around the shop choosing beds, wardrobes and other such things without a thought in my head apart from how nice they would look. I then paid for it all and, because these items were from the second warehouse round the back, drove round to pick them up without a care in the world.
I stood there daydreaming until the assistant rolled out a trolley with this mountain of boxes on it and it was only at this point that I realised that I would have to get all of this in the car. I might have stood their gaping with a slightly sinking feeling in my stomach...
"Hold on a second, sir, while I go into the back and get the other trolley"
Doh!
(But, to my endless amazement, it all went in, with the boot lid tied shut and the two longest boxes for the sides of the bedframe propped on the shoulders of the driver's seat, either side of my head. I had to duck to look out of the windows! I wouldn't do that journey again for all of the meatballs and weird sauce in the world...!)
Fully assembled dining table and six chairs in my mark 2 Galaxy
mark 2 Galaxy
Borderline cheating IMO.... 😉
I got a bath in an MX5........okay, it was sliced into 5 pieces
7 windsurf wave boards, 11 sails, 5 booms and all the wetsuits and harnesses and kit bags for 5 blokes, all in a 530d Sport Touring Bimmer..
The blokes ? Nope, they caught the plane and I drove to Guincho (Portugal)
For a PWA Wave comp back in 04
American style fridge freezer.......it was collect or pay £50 for delivery......
6 people and enough kit for a week's holiday in my sMax. Was a bit cosy in the back.
My ego
Pallet of bricks in a vectra.... it handled funny on the way home.
Moved my mate into uni in a mini.... 3up and all his stuff....
I got a 3 seater sofa in my Volvo. And I mean in, boot and doors shut. 😃
my entire life in a Landrover Defender after coming home and having my suspicions confirmed by finding another blokes shoes in 'our' house.
Debbie from Essex.......
Yamaha RD400 into the boot of a DAF66. Complete with rider. He'd seized the engine, again....
I used to regularly fit my creekboat kayak into my Ford Fiesta. I had to drop the passenger seat and open the glove box which gave me the valuable few more inches length I needed!
More recently, when I bought my GSX750 Inazuma, it fitted in the back of my Berlingo. I was able to shut the boot too...
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Motorcycle side car in a ford fiesta, needed to keep the boot open which led to a cold and fume filled journey..............
recumbent trike slides right into the bacl of my CRV. I also added another bike and KICKR as I was off to a show, and could have taken another. Upright trike only goes in front wheel off. Had a huge TV cabinet in it as well, but door did not quite close on that one. Fantastic design.
I have a '99 V70 estate, anything fits in. Large YT Tues dh bike with wheels off and all riding kit in just the boot bit with parcel shelf over is my favourite.
Five complete VW T4 Multivan Interiors, (7 Seats each /Plastics/Headlining etc) inside a VW T4 Multivan.
From Poland to York.
You lot are bloody amateurs 🙂

I did collect a full length - two full length I think - kitchen worktops from B&Q or similar. "Do you have transport?" they asked as me and flatmate turned up. Oh yes. Cue they trundle the worktops out to the - 205 GTI (with seats flat). They summed and ahhed but we got them back to the flat, by dint of Hugh sitting on them in the back to stop them flying out the back of the hatchback...
American style fridge freezer…….it was collect or pay £50 for delivery
What car? I’m considering this myself...
I’m a serial overloaded and have done the usual tonne of bricks in a clio and double mattress in a golf but the bonnet of an RX7 in a 3 series was the most challenging Took a good hour of millimetric shuffling and headroom was ‘compromised’ somewhat but it can* be done.
*YMMV
Four bikes and four humans inside my Passat estate, although two were children
I can beat that - four bikes and four adults in my Focus estate. Or four adults and 4 days canoe camping kit (plus two open canoes on the roof rack).
70 paving slabs in a Bimmer 5 series Touring. Self-levelling suspension still worked during and after!
American style fridge freezer…….it was collect or pay £50 for delivery
What car? I’m considering this myself…
I was once passed by someone with a fridge-freezer in the passenger seat of their Triumph Spitfire. Roof down, obvs.
We've got a fair amount into the Berlingo but the most impressive feat was 4 adults and a bike in a Citroen c1.
A 3 seat leather sofa in the back of my Mondeo estate, & years ago 3 Bultaco Sherpa trials bikes in the back of a Mini Pickup.