It was nearly 60 deg. in Kansas City Friday so it was pretty much a no brainer that I was taking the roadster to work. Drove the usual route. Forgot that I had ripped my makeshift windshield off to work on the cowl and ended up with a spray of melted snow and road grime covering my face after rolling through a wet intersection. Got to work and hit the bathroom to clean my face before work. Can't wash my face in a sink without hearing my friend Jeremy's voice calling it a "whore's bath". One of the rudest and at the same time funniest people I know. Met some coworkers for lunch. Fairly uneventful - Mongolian BBQ was good. Step out side and see a kid standing in front of my car with his mom taking a picture. I yell across the street, "get in!". They both turn and look at me. "Go on, it's mine. Climb on in and get your picture taken." The kid is beaming and his brother bolts out of nowhere and stands next to him. They're both waiting for me to give them the signal to open the door. I explain that the doors don't open and assure the kids and mom that they're not going to hurt anything. They climb in and waste no time finding the goggles. Stoked. Those kids sat in the car for a good five minutes mugging and racing while their Mom took photos and Dad and Grandma looked on. Grandma leaned over to me and said. "We've been at Crown Center and Union Station all Morning and those kids haven't had this much fun. Thank you." No problem. It was finally time to leave. They went walking down the sidewalk and I got ready to leave. As I rolled by a coworker she said, "you should burn rubber for those kids." I had already planned on it. Coasted up next to them and dumped the clutch. Tires were spinning and squealing for several car lengths before I shifted. I remember thinking I'd rev the motor before letting it out into second so I could spin the tires again. Never happend. BANG, pop pop pop crunch cruuunnnch. I rolled to the curb. First, second, and reverse gave nothing but a knock knock knock sound. Finally got it into third and felt the car move when I let the clutch out. The family coasted up beside me. No sense in destroying the kids vision so I just waved and limped around the corner. I sent everyone else back to work and limped home. After a few blocks I think most of the large chunks had found thier way to the bottom of the case and the remaining teeth and bits were systematically being stripped away and sent to join them. By the time I made it home there wasn't much more than the occational pop or clunk as an errant piece found a moving part. Got in my late model and went to work. I wasn't born into this. I'd never driven a car older than '83 before building my hot rod. And I haven't really been that nice to my transmission lately. Or my car in general for that matter. Guess it was my own wierd way of finding out what it was capable of. At least I understand the transmission a little better now. I'll have a lot more knowledge as it comes apart on my workbench. Wonder how much I can salvage?.
I think it was worth it. Transmissions are easy getting a kid into hotrodding isnt. hopefully thats two more kids that will want to build a rod some day and not a new box with 20" wheels
Ain't hot roddin' fun? That's how we all learned about transmissions. It's just your turn in the barrel. Think of it as a learning experience. Remember you made a great day for a couple of kids on Christmas eve. I think you spread a little bit of the gospel.
Hey it sounds like you've got a whole bunch of good karma coming your way, memories like that get absolutely fried into kids minds, you may have ruined them forever! Cool stuff, good on ya.
Damn hotrods.........at least there was not a cop behind you. If you need any help or leads on parts feel free to PM me. Chris Nelson Kansas
Ya know, that wouldn't happen if you just took it out to put it in the trailer to go to shows. You wouldn't have to worry about those pesky kids, or burn outs, or any of that nonsense. Of course, those are the fun parts. Sucks that it broke, but if you drive 'em hard, that's what happens. I have a knock in my engine right now to prove it!
The part about the kids made my day, really it did! Downside? none, you get to learn trannys now (not the he-she type either)
Yes, you made the kid's day for sure. Brought back memories of busting first gear in my shoebox. clunk,clunk,clunk,second, and high all the way home.Sparky
Definitely a cool story! ....but it figures. I know that whenever I try and show off, I break something. haha. Bet those kids will remember that forever. Hell, it probably would have been even cooler to them if you had blown a piston out of the block and bounced it off of their parent's windshield.
that sucks. i did the same thing with my rambler but my tranny was toast. i was lucky that i was in front of my house. bad thing is that a year later, i still havent found another tranny to replace mine. a few months ago, i was in my 72 gmc off roading machine and i wanted to do a nasty burn out to prove i had a potent small block under the hood. so i put my foot on the brake and smash the gas pedal. i let go the brake and im still burning rubber (on 35" tall tires). then i let go the gas and its still peeling out. it finally grips and im head into the back of my brothers silverado. so i slam the brakes pull right and hop the curb. i shut it off about 5 inched from my fence. but it sure did put a big smile on the neighbor kid's faces.
hey grimlok, if you didnt want to delve into the smelly task of rebuilding gearboxes...check the classifieds...two tasty-fresh trans for sale on there...youll find em. I used to blow up three speeds in my early falcons regularly, I just bought every junk gearbox i could and mix and matched, got boring after a while,but its cool to know how to build em,but, gear oil stinks.
Sounds like a good day in '"hot rod land". Imagine those kids relaying the story to their friends, and like all good stories it will get better with the telling. Imagine what it will be like if one of them decides he wants a ride like yours instead of a "ricer". The other good part is you get to learn MORE about what makes this stuff happen. I'd say the whole day gets a thumbs up. Frank
I agree you did a great job of spreadin' the gospel. I'd love to see some of those pics of the kids hamming it up. And you lucked out being able to limp it home. Now we know why they used to upgrade to LaSalle gears?
If you have to break you car, I can't think of a better way, or reason! Sounds like we may have some new converts instead of jr ricers. jerry
I was showing off to some people in a 65 chevy pickup once. After backing out of a drive way..... I forgot to select a forward gear. Winding up the motor and let the clutch go in reverse produced a violent wheel hop and a loud pop. There was also a puddle of gear oil under the trans from the split case. I drove it home after that, 8-10 miles. Boy that trans was making some noise by the time I got home.
Cool story, kicks ass to see someone sharing the gospel like that. You do know that 5 years from now when those parents have piles of A and duece parts allover the yard they will be cussing that yahoo in the ole jalopy that day... Scot
You probably got a good tranny case left. Tear it down for fun, buy one from the classifieds to run, be much less expensive than fixing yours.... BTW, Merry Christmas.
I used to call that "limitation testing", any of us that play the game, have done a fair amount of "limitation testing". In the end, we decide how hard core a hot rodder was by how big the pile of broken parts was. The trick is, keep playing the game, show others how to play, and keep testing those parts. Last I heard, they still make brooms to sweep up the small parts. Gene
Time taken to show a kid your car: $5 Gas used to attempt massive smokey burnout: $1 Blown to shit trans: $200 turning a kid onto hot rods for life: PRICELESS
Not sure. First I'm headed to the Vanpelt site to do some studying. Then I'm going to make some space and yank the motor and transmission over Xmas break. From there I'm going to disassemble and assess damage replacing only what I have to. I'll post pictures of the disassembly, rebuild and install as I go.
You're a man after my own heart. I've got piles and piles of broken stick shit. But I rarely if ever break 'em for such a cool reason. You da man,T.OUT
Someone once said" Its better to burnout than fade away" You burnt out(your trans and tires) and that memory will not fade away (for you and those kids)
The Jalopy Journal
