If you drive your hot rod or custom eventually your going to end up on the side of the road, we were on our way home from the All Deuce Run and the '32 started running rough, we stopped in Cherryville,N.C. at a O'rileys and spent a few long hot hours trying to repair the car, long after the parts store had closed, we were advised against leaving the car there and walking down the street to get a motel, I was told it was a bad part of town. So at 10:30 PM I called my pal Dave and ask him to bring a trailer and rescue us, he showed up a little after 12:00 AM and we loaded the car on his trailer, drove to the next exit and got a motel room. It felt good to get some sleep and get out of the heat! next morning we made it to Dave's house and dropped the car and trailer, drove his truck home and I ordered the parts to repair he car the next Monday. HRP
My **** used to break down all the time and strand me when I was young, many phone calls to friends to come and get me, although I've had a truck and trailer for years so often I just needed a ride to my shop so I could get the car home. I've been much more meticulous about getting cars fully sorted out before long trips for the last 15 years or so. A lot of times that meant not taking whatever car because I didn't trust it, not sure if that was a good idea or not. Seems like if I pack tools with me, I never need them, so I've been doing that quite a bit. I've also got Hagerty's roadside ***istance, which I've also never needed, but that's good. And I have been putting turn signal switches in that have the built-in hazard light switch (like the Signal-Stat 900) which again, never had to use, but all of those things give me peace of mind when I do drive.
I have AAA.I also have towing on my JC Taylor and Hagerty Insurance policies for backup. I've had pretty good luck with AAA.
Duellym ALLIANCE MEMBER from m***achusetts There's your problem right there. Unless you're way west of Worcester or Leominster. Haha jk. Theres alot of great HAMBers not far in New England. And they drive their ****. Come up for the jalopy hillclimb and meet some.
I have AAA and a Hagerty policy on one of my rides, and a credit card. I too have had pretty good luck with AAA. I think, over the years, probably everything I own has been on the hook at least once, every time its been local! All the local tow companies know me personally, that makes life easier. We put a ton of miles on our stuff, nothing sits very long without being used, or it leaves here. Our newest vehicle is now 22 years old, and the two old vehicles have been updated to the 1990s era. I don't carry tools, extra parts, or even a spare tire. After all these years of having stuff towed home, there wasn't anything broken, that could have been fixed on the side of the road. Keep up the maintenance, pay attention when you drive, and enjoy the ride. If something goes wrong, deal with it, that is part of the experience.
Yeahh unfortunately i live on the north shore, tryin to get the hell out of MA asap though.. someday. when is the jalopy hillclimb this year? Hoping later in October past my Blackout dates at my job, for sure want to make that one!
I’ve been pretty lucky in the last 25 some years of driving to car events solo. I’ve had only a few times I had to pull off the road, and was always able to get the car running again, using the few tools, ties, and fluids I carried with me. Now at 80 years, I am hardly driving more than a half hour from home. My key to trouble free driving trips was to take a lot of smaller trips to gain confidence in the car annd my ability to diagnose and cure any problems and to flush out the problems under easier conditions. The only towing I’ve needed, beyond when a car was under construction, was in 1994 to get my freshly built car to the Oakland Roadster Show. I drove it back home after the show, in the rain, and never put any of my cars in another indoor show.
I’ve been stranded more times than I can count. I’ve pushed cars and I’ve walked 10 miles to pay $35 for a gas can at a gas station and then walked 10 miles back more than once. I have quite the collection of $35 gas cans at this point. I’ve replaced a lot of parts on the side of the road and in parking lots. A couple years ago my wife and I were going camping, we were pulling our camper in her 66 F100, we stopped for gas on the way and the starter died at the gas station. I called around and there was a Napa about 7 miles away that had a new starter but they were closing in 10 minutes, so I paid for it over the phone with my credit card and the guy told me where he would hide it outside behind the store since he was about to head out. Luckily we had our bicycles in the back of the truck, so she stayed with the truck at the gas station and I rode my bike to the Napa to pick up the starter. Man those things are heavy when you’re holding it under one arm while trying to pedal and steer a bike with the other arm. Got back a half hour later and swapped it out in 5 minutes and we were on our way. One night coming home late from a friend’s house the ignition died on my sportster right at the peak on the Delaware Memorial bridge. I coasted to the bottom and literally pushed it to the McDonalds on rt. 13, a few miles away at around 3am. Slept in the gr*** by the parking lot until the morning and then called a buddy with a trailer to come get me and the bike. Another time in the 66 ford, coming home from camping, a freeze plug blew and was spewing coolant. We were only two hours from home but had to stop every 15 minutes or so, let the engine cool down, top it off with water and resume the journey. It took us about 8 hours to get home, but we made it. Good times. I’m a bit of a risk taker, some might say an idiot, but I don’t mind getting stuck or stranded. Driving an old car is an adventure. I know that anything can happen at any time, but you deal with it. Drive it, take it anywhere, pack tools and spare parts. Don’t be afraid.
170k miles, very few problems. You have it right. Ten miles out and back. Twenty miles out and back. Etc. Until you feel confident. When I leave home on a two week trip, I feel invinsible!
I really do need to get out and drive my car more on the weekends. Right now I don't trust that the fuel bowl won't just fall off of it... guess I should pack a fire extinguisher and just run it.
Hey HRP, Glad it worked out for you. We all could use a "Dave" in our life, and they are far and few in between. Sounds like he has a free steak dinner in his future!
Never stranded yet. Any breakdowns were things i could fix roadside or hobble home. I have tool kit in each vehicle including the wifes car. It’s peace of mind. Ive come to the aid of folks who had no tools and only needed a pair a pliers to make things right.
I got stranded 20 feet outside my garage last week when the '29AA wouldn't stay lit after I backed it out. It took me about an hour and a half with the come-along attached to my work bench to winch the hotrod back into the garage! I'm just glad that whatever ignition issue I have didn't happen miles from home. Squirrel has it right: Maintenance. It lessens the chance of breakdowns but there's never a guarantee when there's so much to go wrong. UPDATE: It turns out that the condenser inside the new distributor had gone bad. I do recall inadvertently leaving the ignition switch on overnight a few weeks ago. That likely cooked the condenser. I diagnosed the likely culprit because of an experience I had with a friend as we were vacationing in Colorado 40 years ago. We were in his Datsun B210 and the ignition began cutting out as we drove between Ouray and Silverton if I recall. We limped into town, found a young shade-tree mechanic who quickly confirmed the diagnosis of a bad condenser, switched it out and we were on our way.
Used AAA Saturday. My friends used to help each other get the car home. They are all 80 yrs old like me. If I quit messing with the car it might not stop. My AAA driver was very respectful to my car. I asked if he would use these straps not the chain to hook up. First 32 Ford he had ever towed. H had me home in resonible time and dropped the coupe in my drive headed the right direction. I was with in my 7 mile free tow area. Today we try to figure out the reason it died. Betting it’s on me.
Check with your regular insurance company about Roadside Emergency coverage. A friend of mine suggested it to me instead of AAA. I have American Family Insurance and I added roadside coverage on two of my vehicles and the added cost was only $14.40 per vehicle, per year extra. Just a thought....
I've "failed to proceed" many times in the old cars, but always was able to fix it on the side of the road. The most miserable was an electric (!) fuel pump in an old Cadillac, which failed forty miles from home on a cold winter's day. I removed the pump from under the car, hitch-hiked home (remember those days?), dis***embled the pump and soldered in new electrical contacts, and somehow got back to where the car was and got it all back together. Gasoline on your hands combined with a cold wind, while working under a car is a particular level of unhappiness. I mean if I wanted that, I would take up snowmobiling. Another memorable episode was breaking down late at night on a stretch of highway in a park that was pitch dark, worsened no doubt due to trees. I somehow figured it was the points and got a screwdriver out, but had to wait for oncoming cars to momentarily shine a little light into the engine bay to work. Since there were very few cars in the middle of the night back then, it tooks hours, working about thirty seconds at a time, to get the points cleaned and gapped and the distributor together. So in addition to basic tools and maintenance parts, a headlamp is a very important piece of emergency kit for me now.
Hello, I have to thank my friend from Junior H.S. and High School, when I saw the sedan delivery pull up in the local teenage drive-in parking lot. Yes, I wanted that 348 three carb unit making all that sound on idle and acceleration up the street upon exiting the far driveway. It may have been the motor or not, but I had to have the 348 motor in the 40 Ford Sedan Delivery. No one had seen the hot rod style, ever. So, it was one of a kind. But, when he heard other teens in the parking lot talk about the color of the car, that got his temper up and questioned the different folks about the color. He wanted to hear, “Racer Orange” or “custom Chevy red tone…” He only heard “Salmon Pink.” That pushed him over and the next week, he had a for sale sign on the door. No one bothered to offer any money, except for me and I did not have much. So it took one week of bartering back and forth and finally, he said he would sell it if he could keep the 348 motor for another drag race car he was building. So, for my low price, I was now the owner of an 80 hp Flathead motor and a three speed LaSalle floor shift transmission. I had a great surf adventure vehicle. But, I went from the top of the fastest cars with the Impala to the top of the slow category that had 4 cylinder motor, 6 cylinder motors, and a Pontiac Sedan. As long as I could speed shift and get out in front, the slow race was just as exciting as the fastest car in Bixby Knolls races… yikes! Jnaki The flathead was great as in a “great running motor.” Category. I used the lowest cost gas, and reclaimed oil when I needed to put in a quart or two. Valvoline cans were getting expensive. But, as far as the motor breaking down, I could say “never.” But, I did get my share of flat tires, as if someone was watching out for me, since the gas station was a bout a block away. Even in Baja Mexico, the gas station was just a block long walk to get it fixed. When we were at that surf spot near town. I changed from a bumper jack to a scissors jack to keep the storage better. Note: I never needed a tow or a flat bed trucks, although they did not have them in the gas stations until, several years later. The Impala, as fast as it was, never needed a tow, either. So, some one was watching over me and my hot rod cars. Thanks, @themoose The only time we needed someone’s help was when I installed the original “Moon Spun Aluminum Racing Discs.” I needed to have our neighbor take us to downtown Long Beach to fix my brother’s car. I had put in the sharp screws too tight and it leaked all of the air out of the running tires in front. The spare was used, but, one more tire was necessary for my brother to get back home. We had to use our neighbor’s car to go to the gas station for an “air” fill up on the last tire I had brought from home. Next time, I will use the smaller screws that have less of a point on the tip of the screws. YRMV
Many of our family stories p***ed around with fondness are breakdown stories. My sister returning home from nursing school decades ago. Highway speeds homeward bound solo in her 1978 car. The water pump let go and the fan ate the radiator. AAA? Nope. She walked to a nearby restaurant, called the house and waited there. My truck driver Dad and I headed up there in the 390 Galaxie and used rope tied in an X pattern and an old tire cushion to "tow bar" the car home. My sister said us arriving on scene gave her a feeling of safety and security she remembers to this day. Net positive. My brother has a 60's muscle car he's driven all over the US, coast to coast north and south. Had a wheel bearing let go in North Monroe Louisiana and the help was indescribably good, positive, warm, accommodating. Net positive. Before he sorted the intermittent fuel pump issue we did a CA TX CA trip and had a few cutouts. One repair in an auto parts parking lot, one in a school parking lot, one on a side road. Fixed it and headed on.Sort of harrowing, but self contained fixes every time. In avoiding Chicom junk pumps encountered atypical problems.On a good run now. My daughter driving a late model German car had a voltage regulator go bad, the car slowly drained its battery and every error message and light went on as the car died. In the pouring rain (2" that day - 10x the prior record for the date) near LAX. No tow for an hour plus available due to the storm + LA drivers. My LA-based nephew rescued her, jumped it, got her and the car to her hotel and took her to dinner and rock climbing. They have become much closer now due to the stranding/rescue. Net positive now.
Man I wish I could have someone take me to dinner and rock climbing whenever I break down…. All I ever get to do is fix the stupid thing
I kinda figure being stranded in these old cars makes for good stories. However, being able to fix something on the side of the road makes for better stories. Either way, I enjoy driving them too much to let breakdowns keep me from driving regularly.
The last time I needed a tow was the day I bought my avatar. Me and a buddy did a banzai run from Yelm to Vacaville California on Friday, checked into a motel for the night, got up in the morning and went and bought the car. Repeated the banzai going north, almost made it home... Had a rear axle bearing fail in the 8" just over the border on 205, in that no-mans-land piece after the Oregon border and past the last exit but before you reach I5 at about 8 PM. Turned into a real goat-rope getting a flatbed, ended up leaving it at the tow yard overnight, picked it up the next morning and pulled the offending axle out in their parking lot (yes, I had tools...). All the parts houses had the bearing, but it took two hours to find somebody who would R & R the bearing on a Saturday morning. Not one parts house we tried could do it... Finally ran into a counterman who knew somebody, made the call (and the bearing sale), got home about 3 PM...
Back in the eighties, I took my 57 to lead east. At that time, it was in a college in New Jersey in a very hilly area. It had a lot of trees and was very nice. About 5 miles from the show my clutch began slipping pretty badly. When I got to the entrance to get in, it gave out completely and would not move. Right then about 6 guys ran over and pushed me quite a distance to the spot they had for me. I couldn't thank them enough. My wife, my son, who was 11 and his friend were with me. Thankfully my good friend and his wife were right behind me in their new car. I had enough tools with me, but no jack stands. Within a few minutes a guy in a lowrider came over with a jack and jack stands. I already had a jack, but the stands were a life saver. My friend helped me and we unhooked the linkage and dropped the ******. It didn't take us long. The clutch was completely gone and the pressure plate and flywheel were scored. We took his car and went to a decent auto parts store, and they had a clutch plate that fit. We installed it and it worked good enough to get us home. It was too small, but I was going to redo everything once it was back home. We had it done in enough time so we could enjoy the show. There were plenty of vendors, so I bought some new clean shirts for me and my friend. We all had dinner together and in spite of the clutch h***le it was a good day.
The Jalopy Journal
