Years ago, and I mean many years ago my Dad said" If yer gonna drive those old cars make sure you got a good pair of shoes with you"
I was motoring along 138 between Gorman and Lancaster, in my 77 F100 with my 32 Ford altered coup behind on the trailer. My buddy Gary Williams is in front with me and Greg Temple is in the bed, drinking. The pump on my C6 signs off and we coast to a stop. Greg jumps out and starts hitch hiking. First guy along has a beat up 60 Chevy pickup. So he tows us to a bar down the road and we leave the F100 there and hook the trailer to the Chevy. Drive a little farther to his house and he says "You take the truck. We will follow you in my Firebird." So we go to El Mirage and see J. D. Tone (GMC six on here) and Zeke. Zeke is driving a 54 or so Chevy tow truck. So on Sunday we run the 32 and the guy and his girlfriend take their truck and Firebird home. Greg goes home with his dad to Burbank with their B/BFR. Gary and I wash our hands and faces and buy clean event Y shirts. Zeke drops us off at the UA terminal at LAX and takes my 32 home with him to Orange. Gary and I go to the ticket desk and the agent says "Howdy sports fans. Where are you going?" We tell him SFO and he says OK but you have to ride in coach. "I can't put ypu in first all dirty." I asked him how he knew we were employees. He said "Who else is going to show up with no bags looking like you do?" So we are in back on a 727 flying home. Next day Zeke goes and gets my F100 and tows it to a transmission shop near him. Following Sunday is the Antique Nationals at OICR. So Gary and I take his El Camino to Zekes. Get my truck, now fixed. And head for OICR. Where I go out in the first round. What do you want? It's a Bonneville car. I have front runners on the back. Gary decides to hang out and party for a while so I hit I5 again for the 9 or 10 hour drive home. No more excitement.
When the Caddy quit on me 190 miles from home the AAA policy I had just bought payed the tow, at the time the tow truck driver told me if it was over the 200 mile to just pay the bill for the mileage over the limit .
Ahh, racing.. traveling freak show,root c****, marine boot camp, walking backwards, juggling monkeys on rollerskates, jumping thru a flamening hoop and all for fame and glory
The one time I had to bail I had a tow to a secure lot (covered by my insurance). I then rented a tiny plastic econo car, drove home, loaded rental on my trailer, and hauled it back to the rental company I started at. Then I fetched my car. It had spun a rod bearing, so fixing it on the side of the road was problematic. This was about 250 miles from home. I priced out a straight tow first, but my time was cheaper then.
Ahhhh, the barowed trailer. So your good buddy offers the use of his swell trailer. After paying the rental to get back home, you go to his place. Of course he is at work. The daughter directs you to behind the barn. There in 6 foot gr*** you see the hunk of rusty iron pokeing through. With a broken hoe handle you hack back enough gr*** to inspect the trailer. Your buddy said it had the winch, ramps and all the tie downs. What you find is a metal basket with a set of come-a-longs, various length of chain and some rusty binders. The ramps are tied to the side. One fender is loose on the back, secured with metal wire. It has 4 automotive radials. The wood floor is patched with various pieces of ply wood. The tag is dated 1993. Two red wasp stings later your hooked up. Only one tailight works. So you tow it to your place. With the automotive radials, it pulls like ****. Some quick thinking later you replace the bad tailight with one of your vintage NOS Ford lights, really a collector piece. Now you have lights. You WD the " winch" and go purchase some more heavy duty straps. You make the 300 mile trip. Get there and the loose rear half of the drivers side fender is no longer a problem..... because it's gone along with your tailight. For a moment you think of the ChiP's wreck that may have resulted but you shake it off. So at the lot you begin to load the car. It's now you find the lip for one ramp is missing. So you hunt for rocks, bricks... something to support that ramp. As you are hand winching the car up the ramps. Since this is a utility trailer it binds on the front bumper. Some measurents reveal that it will clear once the axle is past the rear of the trailer. Every able bodied man at the lot including the receptionist helps piush the car on the trailer. As a floor jack is used to get it over the hump. The wrecker service owner offers to tow to your home at a discount.... if you just let him do it. You refuse.... he waives the lot rent and shakes your hand and says God Help you! A half a mile away you wish you would have taken him up on that offer as the front of your car falls through the trailer floor. Your OK as the rears are over a brace and the car is now mated to the trailer. You adjust the tie downs and go. 250 miles later the p***enger side rear tire goes taking out that fender and the remaining tailight. You have a spare but the rear axles are a different pattern than the front axle. Of course the spare fits the front. Oddly enough, your personal spare is a match. After a session of multiple jacks and musical wheels.... you are back on the road. You have never really been a praying man but tonight changes everything. 5 mile from home....5 miles.... you see the blue strobe! No registration No lights No floor! After nearly an hour of begging and I'm almost home.... the trooper agrees to follow you home.... but only after writing you up. At home your buddy calls. You start and he interupts your Odyssey...... " You did'nt take that piece of junk from behind the barn?!!" " My car hauler was in the barn! I told my daughter!"
F-One, that sounds about like my luck! That's why I built my own trailer, so I don't have to borrow one anymore!
Was 300 miles from home. Downtown Cincy. Lost oil pressure. Burned up the engine. Was able to combine both AAA and my State Farm emergency towing. Took some finagling. Told them there was no one in cincy to work on a flathead.
On the way from Connecticut to the NSRA street rod nationals in Detroit in 1972 we had the left rear axle start to come out of the 1962 Chevrolet axle housing just outside of Albany New York. It looked like a Funny car doing a burnout. We limped to the nearest exit after jacking the car up, and hammering the axle back in. The pressed on axle retainer had come off. We got to a gas station and they replaced the axle bearing, and a new retainer which they tack welded in place. We could not find the original retainer. The next day it found us as we were going through Cleveland, Ohio in the fast lane of the highway. It cleaned out the ring gear. It was an exciting ride across 3 lanes of traffic to the exit. We were able to roll into a gas station right at the end of the exit ramp. The owner had his 2 bays in use, but let us use his yard to do the repairs. Some locals took me to the junkyard for a used pumpkin for the rear end. $ 25.00 later I was back. We cleaned out as much debris as we could, made a new gasket out of a paper grocery bag, and put every thing back together. We continued on to Detroit to the camp ground where we were staying. When we got there about 10:15 PM we found out that they shut the showers off at 10:00 PM. The next morning we went to use the showers, and found out that they worked only for a short time as they were on a ****on controlled timer. I held the ****on in for my buddy, and as the next guy stepped up he held the ****on for me, and the guys in line got the message to hold the ****on in for the guy ahead of him already in the shower. What is NSRA's motto ? Fun with cars.
Good stories! One time I coasted over to the shoulder and found my right rear wheel hanging out of the fender at a funny angle. I crawled under the truck and saw that the brake shoes and wheel cylinder were on fire. I put that out with a gallon jug of water and called my best friend 100 miles away. It turned out that an axle shaft bearing had burned up and got so hot that the axle shaft bent. This trip when I coasted into a gas station,there was a used car lot next door., He had 4 cars and two pickups. Since I was pulling an empty car hauler trailer, I bought one of the pickups from the used car lot and put my tow vehicle on the trailer. My friend volunteered to come get me but 300 miles plus 300 home just seemed like too much to ask.
we blew a motor on the way back from Hershey with a truck load of parts. we called a tow truck company from our area and they came and picked us up in a brand new international flat bed. we actually travelled at higher speeds with our truck on the flat bed than when the truck was running.
My story is about a 4X4 truck, but since it was a '64 Jeep p'up with an SBC engine, hopefully it's not too OT for this thread. Wife (now ex), Son and myself had been planning a trip to ***berland Island for a 10 day camping trip for several months planning to take my '62 Chevy C20 p'up. ***berland Island is one of the "Golden Isles" off the coast of GA. Most of the island had been bought by USNPS and only small, ****tered areas were still in private hands. Laws at the time allowed you to bring over a vehicle, and camp on private property if you had landowner's permission in writing. You could drive on any established road (sand with sea shells that had been dredged out of the sound behind the island for ship and sub access to Kings Bay Naval Base). You could also drive on the beach if you could negotiate the dunes to get to the hard packed sand of the beach. And those dunes were a real challenge for a 2wd truck! No bridge or causeway to island, had to reserve a trip on the privately operated ferry at $50 each way, which was a bundle in 1974! Ran across the Jeep p'up about 2 weeks before scheduled departure for ***berland and decided we'd take it as we knew it could handle the dunes much better. Did all I could in 2 weeks to check it out and fix stuff while also working and preparing for the trip. Got delayed morning of departure, forget why, but had to flail; all hell outta that half worn out 265 to get the 300 miles in time for ferry departure, rpms way up there with 4.10 gears! After a couple days on the island and really happy with truck's getting thru sand, we drove up to Lake Whitney, a freshwater lake on the North end of the island, surrounded on 3 sides by sand dunes imp***able even for 4 wd and barely p***able on the 4th side. Driving in on the 4th side on a trail, couldn't call it a road, little too fast, hit a log buried in the sand across the trail and suddenly we heard a terrible banging from beneath the truck Got out crawled under right side and there was the started motor dangling by the battery cable and wires with the truck still running! Drive shaft for front axle had hit the starter and it broke a chunk out of that tri 5 bell housing with the bolts still in the busted off piece! Laid there inna sand and sorta pondered the situation till I had an idea. Knew I couldn't do anything till the engine was shutdown and cooled down. I had a small tool kit behind the seat of the truck and a much larger box back at camp, and remembered an old fence on the other side of the lake from a previous hiking visit. So I put a pair of wire cutting pliers in my pocket and the 3 of us walked around thew lake, sightseeing while staying alert for diamondback rattlers and alligators When I found the fence, now overgrown with brush, and obviously not in use now, I proceeded to get as much wire as I could get. Couple hours after truck was shut down we returned and I crawled under and used that old fence wire to tie the starter back in place. Used the axe handle for a lever and held the starter in place as tightly as I could and had my son start the truck. We drove slowly back the 10 miles back to camp, where I had a spool of baling wire in my toolbox. Spent the rest of the day twisting that wire into multi strand cables and wiring the starter more securely in place. We spent the rest of that week riding around on the island (carefully and slowly) , once again bracing things up with the axe handle while starter was in use. When time to return home came, we drove to the landing, boarded the ferry and once back on the mainland, I drove the 300 miles back home.
Just a thought as well, if you're looking for a cheap truck rental, think Home Depot. They don't limit you on miles, and you just pay either fr a 4 hour rental or all day. You can then pull a trailer with that, or rent one from U-haul.
Oh no, WARNING, another one of my funny adventure stories coming! FLASHBACK 1985 A friend from overseas flew over here to visit his family in the states, and while he was here he spent a few weeks helping me finish my Jeep project - fresh paint, fresh engine, new top, new 4spd.... When his visa was up and visit over, with no time left, he told me he had previously scheduled his overseas flight to start in Miami. Miami was 1100 miles away. As usual, we pushed things to the very last minute, and he didn't plan a short flight to get to Miami from St Louis. He spent all his vacation money, so I had to drive him 1100 miles and arrive with only a minute to spare. Ok, 5 hrs into the trip, in the mountains at Chattanooga, the brand new fuel pump stops pumping. 1:00 A.M no stores open or within reach. Just by accident, I had a hacksaw blade in the emergency toolbox. Not a usual tool to bring. I routed the fuel lines thru the shifter boot into the p***enger compartment, hacksawed the fuel pump housing open. For the next 6 or 7 hours my friend manually pumped the fuel pump to keep the Jeep running at highway speeds. After the sun came up and parts stores opened up in mid Florida, I bought a new pump and we got to the Miami airport several minutes late, but they let him board anyway. Ever since then, I have made sure to run dual electric pumps, and switch back and forth, never to get stranded by a pump again. WHY BE ORDINARY ?
I have the least expensive AAA package, costs me like $59 a year. I am covered in ANY vehicle that I am in, my daily driver, my hot rod, even if I am just the co-pilot in my buddies hunk of ****. I wanted to UP my coverage at my last renewal. The agent the helped me thought I'd be better off keeping what I had since I have not used it. She told me that if I needed more help than my policy provided I could upgrade when I called in for help. They allow me/us to upgrade but once upgraded I/we would not be allowed to go back to that cheaper plan. @ $59 I get around 10 miles of towing. If/when I need more AAA is only a phone call away... I make a lot of road trips to areas that have poor to none cell service. Makes calling AAA or a buddy difficult...
Well that problem got solved and you probably aren't the first guy who did that. Now you either have a truck to tow with or a truck to sell. I new a guy back years ago who towing his "show truck" cross country to or from a show when the tow rig broke down and he unloaded the show truck hooked it to the trailer and winched the tow rig on the trailer and went on his way.
I have AAA, Years ago my 41 Ford died on I90 about 100 miles from home. Could not figure it out. Called them, roll back came and got me and delivered my car to my house didn't cost me a dime. Still had 100 miles left for the year! Turned out to be a internally broken coil wire. Took me a while to figure it out
I can usually find someone who is willing to help. But my luck could run out I suppose. I popped a hose in Texas on the Interstate once. Walked into the next town (about 5 miles) bought a hose and tried to borrow a can with water from a filling station. The guy looked at me and said, "I'm sorry I don't speak English." So I asked him again in Spanish. He looked perplexed apologized again and loaded me up in the shop truck and went out and helped me change the hose and put water in it. Then as we were parting company he said, "Its getting late, I speak English and would you like to come to dinner at my house." I said "Sure" (never ever p*** up a free meal especially at a Mexican's house). He said follow me, then said by the way my wife really doesn't speak English. We laughed.
I look for something I can buy that runs that is stout enough to tow my broke down rig. Call and transfer insurance and flat tow my disabled rig. I always carry a tow bar because I might buy something. I know a guy who was moving from Cal to Arkansas. Was driving a 4 wheel drive Chev square cab. Loaded to the gills and pulling a horse trailer with 6 horses in the trailer. the Automatic trans went out. So Ralph rented a U haul one ton truck and tow bar. He shifted the pickups load to the U haul. Then connected the pickup still pulling the trailer to the one ton. Made it from Arizona to Arkansas without any problem.
This one was not me but a buddy. This trip happened about 30 years ago. He had relatives in South Dakota and once a year he would go to junk yards here in Ohio and load his trailer with SBCs, SBFs and maybe some Mopar engines. He would then take a weeks vacation from work and he and his brother would head west, pulling the trailer with a clapped out Dodge 4X4 that I would have been afraid to start out 10 miles in. He made it out there with out a problem and traded the engines to a guy with a big salvage yard for a running 61 F-100 with a 6 cyl and a real nice 50 Merc with no drive train. Loaded the Merc on the trailer and his brother drove the F-100. They get about 200 miles east and the Dodge ****s it self so they rig a hitch on the Ford, load the Dodge but then had to figure out what to do about the Merc. A local guy stopped to see if he could help them and told them he knew a guy that had a running 53 Chevy for sale for $500 bucks. So they bought the Chevy, rented a tow bar from U-Haul, hooked up the Merc to the Chevy and head for Ohio! He said the Ford used 10 qts of oil, blew one tire and the clutch started slipping before they got home. The Chevy had a shimmy at about 70 mph and the Merc didn't track real well and the radio quit working somewhere in Indiana! They got pulled over about 50 miles from home, front license plate off the Dodge on the front of the Ford, the rear one off the Dodge on the rear of the Merc, told the cop the whole sad story and he let them go! This guy does stuff like this all the time, he has to be the most lucky guy on earth.
(Not me! ... but I wish it was) "True story. Worked at gas station in College. Little old lady, regular customer, 64' Impala. While getting gas she cracks the window down and asks if I have a whisk broom. I didn't, and ***umed she wanted her floor mats cleaned. I grabbed a big air hose on the fuel island and said 'No, but I'll blow it out' She looked at me in horror, started the car and drove off with the fuel hose, gas going everywhere. A week later she brought the hose back and told my boss he should fire that disrespectful young man. She had asked if we had a restroom..."
This happened on our way to Pigeon Forge, Tenn. several years ago,fortunately we had the cover of the breezeway at the motel to shelter us from the rain. HRP
I have repaired fuel and brake lines on my back in parking lots, although I was only perhaps 50, 60 miles from home. One year at the Norwich car show I swapped back out a rotor, too, I'd bought one that didn't fit right because it came off one with ABS, realized it driving down by the noises it made, so put the old one back on.
A couple of weeks ago I was returning from a 1500 mile trip. About 250 miles left to go a bearing in the rear started making noise. I'll drive it home I thought ... 120 miles from home the RR wheel bearing was making way more noise than I was comfortable driving with. I have an amazing friend that dropped what he was doing and came with his truck and trailer and picked me up in less than 2 hours. Shane, a thousand thank yous.
I had a transmission pile up 800km from home in my o/t pickup pulling a trailer, halfway on our trip to a family reunion, a friend drove all day to bring another pickup on his trailer and take mine home so we could carry on! Those are friends you keep!! Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
The Jalopy Journal
