A WEBSITE celebrating the hilariously tattered vehicles driven in remote parts of Scotland now boasts a selection of vintage photos – including shots of live farm animals stuffed into family cars.
The Teuchter Wagons page on Facebook, which champions the bizarre rusty wrecks driven by many locals in the Highlands and Islands, now also displays historic “teuchter” photos that show a Landrover made into a boat, a sheep squashed into the front driver’s side of a car underneath giant furry dice and an ancient snap of a cow perched on the back seat of a Ford Cortina.
The pictures prove that driving a beat up or home-modified car and using them to transport farm animals is not just a fad but a noble Highland tradition.
The cow picture, taken in Harris in the 1970s, shows the head of a black bullock sticking out of the rear passenger window
Both cow and car belonged to farmer Donald Mackay, who was taking the beast to be sold. His daughter insists the picture is genuine.
Logical
Betty-Ann MacLeod, 48, remembers the day it happened and said it was a logical decision at the time.
She said: “He had no other way of getting it there. He didn’t have a trailer and so putting it in the car was the only option.
“He had removed the back seat and the cow was a small enough size to fit in – it just did what it was told.
She added: “I was so embarrassed at the time but everyone who saw it loved it.”
The cow was loaded into the car at a croft in Cliasmol in the north of Harris, and emerged unhurt from its journey to be sold at a cattle field at another part of the island.
Crazy
Betty, from Tarbert on Harris, added: “Thats the kind of thing people did in those days. I suppose it was a new mode of transport for cows.
“My mother thought he was crazy for doing it, but it worked.”
Teuchter Wagons became famous in October, when its bizarre pictures of rusty wrecks made it into the national press. It was set up by Ruairidh (corr) Macrae, 34, who grew up in Lochcarron, along with pals David Maclean, and Ruaridh (corr) Phillips.
For the benefit of townies, the Facebook page defines a Teuchter Wagon as a vehicle used to transport “sheep, sh**e, or Teuchters”.
The cow picture, which was recently uploaded to Facebook, attracted hundreds of comments.
Murdo Campbell said: “Bet that took some squeezing in there.”
Ian Fraser added: “That’s how lots of farmers brought their beasts back from market.”
Unconventional
Alan Armitstead joked that the car had a “genuine cowhide interior”.
And the tradition of unconventional transport for livestock is still thriving, with a photo of a current-day farmer showing off his car parked in a field with two sheep neatly packed in the boot.
