History Stories relating to towing incidents (What was i thinking)

Great Thread, been reading along, another tow adventure popped in this AM. When I first started driving my Dad's Midget, 1970, he towed w/ a 59 Chev wagon, 6 stick, (be a KOOL wagon to have now), on way home, engine pitches a rod, the sheriff called us a tow truck, we are on hwy 51, 4 lane and we were going to be towed back to his gas station, had to use turn around on divided highway, my Dad/Mom in tow truck w/driver, wagon/loaded trailer in tow, myself, wife, 2 kids, 1 a 2 week old baby in sheriff's car, sheriff turns on red lights to warn traffic about our caravan making U-turn, OK we lead, somehow turning the corner the wagon unhooks from tow truck, rolls toward side of road, blocking both lanes, sheriff jumps out, had his red lights flashing on car, waving flashlight, traffic screeching to a stop, pretty scary for everyone, luckily no accidents as 2nd sheriff showed up w/ red lights on, perfect timing. Just another adventure of many towing down the road and we used my vehicles from then on as I had newer/better vehicles to tow with, not that having newer meant, never a problem, more stories for another day. Between going w/ my Dad/Mom racing/towing and my own adventure's have about 40+ plus years of history to recall and the stories pop in, LOTS of miles, years, $hit Happens !

 

I was broke down with a burst trans cooler line on my 60 Caddy, and the tilt-tray turned up to haul it home. They guy with the winch control asked me to steer it up straight as it was going up the bed (the bed tilts to about 40 degrees. ) I said "sure, " so up it went until it was high enough that I couldn't reach the steering wheel from the road anymore, when I heard a "snap"! I looked puzzled at the tilt-tray driver, he looks at me and says "Shit! The cable's snapped!" So the car starts going downhill off the back of the truck! My mind was racing -"try to open door, get in, hit the anchors?- no, I'll get creamed by the door and a 2&1/2 ton car will squish me like a bug" or " jump out of the way, and pray".
I took the last option. As soon as all 4 wheels were back on the road, the steering spun around to the right, and the car went across the street and both back tyres hit the curb and it stopped right there (we drive on the left, so it went to the other side of the street, maybe 10 yards.). Lucky it did that, because if it had gone straight off the back ofthe truck, it would have rolled straight across a busy 3-lane road, and probably killed some poor bastard.
I had a look at the back, which had planted itself into some bushes, all looked OK.
Then I drove the car back straight on the street, had a look at the damage- 1 busted taillight and a few small scratches in the paint.The tilt tray driver said the proverbial "I never seen that happen before!!". When I got the car home, I went over it (underneath), looking for bent rims, shagged tires, any other damage- none. The tow company were very good, I tracked down a good light which they paid for, and I buffed the scratches out. Still extremly thankful it didn't plow into anyone.

 

Bruce....That is so insane. Bwahahahahaha.

 

Hello,

I am sure we were not the only people using a fat rope to tow someone in need of a jump start. No battery cables were available, but most everyone carried a rope of some kind. Even if the battery was not the problem, a tow rope was used to start a car on a flat surface. Hook up the rope to both cars, tighten the rope and start out slowly. The rear person has the clutch in, gear in 2nd, other foot on the brake pedal for friction on the rope. Once both cars are rolling, let the clutch out and the 2nd car motor turns over and starts. Hopefully...

There were times when the stranded friend only had a 10 ft. long rope. That was shaky after attaching it to both cars, there was very little room between both bumpers. But, in an emergency, it had to happen. In 1961, A friend (girl) got stranded and needed a start. She was in a total, panic mode when we happened to drive by her car. She frantically waved us over and gave us this tearful story. She was so happy to see friendly faces.
We tried everything we could to get it to start. It turned over, but would not engage. She had a 3/4 tank of gas, so, a tow start was needed. She got in her car, listened to the instructions, and followed along until her car started. But, in the first try, she popped the clutch and lurched back when the rope became taut. Then when her motor started, she lurched forward into the bumper of our car. That was not good...Then she slammed on the brakes, snapping the rope on the edges of the bumper.


It was a very hectic situation. We feared the worst, but, luckily, nothing happened to our Impala as the trailer hitch we had installed (for towing our 40 Willys race car) hit her license plate at the same moment her bumper started to hit our rear bumper. Once the car started and she saw that the situation was ok, she was all smiles and a big hug was necessary…yes…! Of course, the word spread that I knew what to do in an emergency… “a different kind of street cred.” Girls just loved that kind…

Jnaki

That was not the first time the trailer hitch saved the rear of the 58 Impala. At Merle’s Drive-In Restaurant in Newport Beach, the back row had a slight hills in the parking spaces. If a person in a stick shift car let out the emergency brake and was not fast enough to let the clutch out to back up, the car rolled downward to the car(s) below in the “prime” lower row. That sturdy trailer hitch (that we needed to tow our 40 Willys coupe to the drags) always protected the bumper and rear of the Impala. It was money well spent. Our stranded friend thought so, too…

 

Kinda a towing accident but---my neighbor had a mint Bloomington survivor 62 Corvette. We were gonna haul it to a consignment store. We loaded it on the trailer in front of the house in the dark. Our wives were out there and a lady was walking by with her kids and two dogs as well. It was on the trailer properly when my neighbor decides to go turn around before we tied it down. The trailer has a diamond plate deck as well. Tried to tell him to wait a bit and we could tie it down but he jumped in his suburban and took off! The Vette was air born!! It bounced like a ball and scared the lady and her dogs. He turns around and comes back thinking the car was still on the trailer I guess.We looked it over carefully and no damage!! Loaded it again and tied it down and hauled it the next morning.

 

Ok I was to little to remember but heard the tale told many times. This was in NE Indiana in December. These guys whos last name was Funky (really that was their name) they had a brand new 55 buick and it wouldn't start one cold morning. And they had a chevy flat bed truck. they built a fire under the chevy and drank a few brews and warmed up the engine and got it running. Hooked on to the buick with a heavy chain and was gonna pull start it. And Kenny & Bob had decided that a pretty fast clip was needed to get the automatic trans to turn the engine. And they took off and just as the Buick started they hit a patch of ice and Kenny ran the chevy off the road. The chevy stopped and the buick flew past until it hit the end of the chain. Pulled the buick sideways and rolled it several times totaled it out. and the Buick also jerked the chevy truck out of the ditch pulling it backwards back up on the road. The buicks driver named Bob crawled out unhurt. They simply drug the buick back home on its roof.

 

Another little story about my now wife; and another towing issue. I had just finished rebuilding the engine in an OT car, and about 4 blocks from home, it blew a radiator hose. Walked home, called the girlfriend (at the time), she arrives with her 65 Rustang, and we tie a rope to my front and her rear bumpers. I told her, S-L-O-W-L-Y take the slack out of the rope, and just pull me S-L-O-W-L-Y home. I'm ready, she's ready, and she takes off like the proverbial "bat out of hell". Pulled her rear bumper in the middle out about a foot. So, we trade places, and I creeped home very slowly; me pulling, her steering my car. Now the bumper on her car is all twisted up and out, and to "put it back in place", I backed up against a telephone pole, and " bumped the pole" a couple of times to push the bumper back in. I had to replace the bumper a few weeks later. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

I borrowed a 20' two-axle car hauler to pick up my '57 Plymouth wagon and take it home fifty miles.

The tow vehicle was my 4-cylinder Ranger. It wasn't happy but it did okay.

 

^^^I flat towed many vehicles with my 4 cylinder ranger. It was always up to the task. Wasn't fast but it sure worked.^^^

 

Bwahahaha! Yes! My beer drinkin buddy and I used to fish for sturgeon off the sheriff's dock in Portland nights and weekends and the entertainment was excellent! I'm surprised we didn't have to pay for the show.
We saw guys loose their boats while launching, saw empty boat trailers come off and roll underwater and get lost, and even saw boats still winched onto their trailers when the trailer came off the ball...trailer, boat and all slowly moving out into the current...it was hilarious. Even saw drunks sitting in lawn chairs in pickups slide out the back and into the water...can't count the number of beer coolers sliding out of pickups into the water.

 

Boat ramps,a chair and a beer cooler--sit back and enjoy some of the best entertainment there is!

 

In 1977 I moved back from Central Texas to Washington to take a job here. I used the 48 to tow a 16 ft Uhaul trailer with all of our belongings in it from Texas to here.
283 engine with a 30-30 cam, M21 Muncie and Camaro rear axle with unknown gear ration but with the N 50 14 rear tires it cruised at 80 mph at 3000 rpm.
The whole trip was the tail wagging the dog and we went west to Albuquerque then north west to the far side of Utah and north and west from there.
Got to Albuquerque and pulled into a burb to get gas and got pulled over by a local cop. Little Banty Rooster dude with the whole rack of hardware. Said I had been called in for dui as I was reported to be swerving on the road. An audience gathered and he almost made the mistake of sticking his hand in my truck where my 110 lb Shepard/border collie mix sat in the seat. Dog didn't like anyone he didn't know touching his truck. Anyhow he turned around and decided to make me walk a line to show I was sober or not and about two steps into the walk a higher ranking officer wheeled up beside us got out of his car and told mr rooster to get in his car and get out of there now. He talked to me for about five minutes, asked my son if everything was ok, made a couple of suggestions on what I could do to help control the swaying a bit and said be careful and left.
We vapor locked a number of times in Colorado the next day and my son got good at dipping ice water out of the cooler and being at the front of the truck by the time I had the hood open. That was one long hill that we left a lot of water spots and clutch smoke on.
Gas station was closed where I expected to buy gas after crossing the Columbia river into Washington and we ran out of gas up in the Horse Heaven hills, Made it about 8 more miles on a gallon of white gas for the Coleman stove before running out again and a guy in the Navy who was moving cross country and towing a trailer gave me his gallon or two of gas to get off the hill where my mom and brother were waiting with two 5 gallon jugs of gas and getting ready to go looking for us. A shower and a beer never felt so good when I got to my moms house.

 

Being the one with a car trailer is like being the only friend with a pickup. Lots of loaning to everyone. My little cousin borrowed my car trailer and kept procrastinating bringing it back. Finally he did and it had a new hitch end welded to it. Said the old one was cracked so he replaced it. He an actual paid professional welder so I had no worries- right?
Next time I hauled a car and went to get it off the trailer my kids were with me and make me nervous (didn't want to run em over) so I told them to sit in the back of the suv- they pop the window hatch and sit and watch as I rolled the 41 off the trailer. BAM! Tail of the trailer hit the ground and the nose went up. Kids were at eye level about 10" from the nose of the trailer.
Come to find out Cousin had welded a 2" hitch on where an 1 7/8" had been. Towed 30 miles fine but popped off without gravity to hold it down. I was just glad it didn't crush my kids heads.


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In 1983 I went with my mom and dad to move my sister from Seattle back to Pasco, wa. We rented a 12 ft u-haul enclosed trailer and hooked it to the back of dad's '37 chev pickup. The pickup was about fourteen different colors, the back fenders were wrapped with bailing wire at the bead- just really ugly, but with a built 327/Muncie and a 55 chev pickup rear axle w 3.36's. We got to Seattle and loaded up. My mom rode with sis in sis' 510- another one of our science projects that had gotten out of control. It was evening when we crossed the Columbia at vantage and turned south. Not much out there at the time for about a 100 miles. Dad and I were in the '37 cruising at around 55 mph and the 510 was about a half mile ahead. After about 45 minutes an impala passed us with 4 guys in it. We could see that they were slowing to get a look at the 510- and mom and sis!. About that time dad shifted to 2nd and wound up the 327/375 horse small block, then hit into 3rd. Now we were at about 80. we could see that they had pulled out to pass the 510 and were starting slow down and weaving a bit. Mom saw us coming and slowed quickly. Dad shut the lights off and as he passed the impala he pulled the whole rig hard to the right and clipped the front bumper of the impala with the trailer. Dad shifted into 4th and kept his foot down- and the trailer straighted out. About that time the 510 screamed by at about 110. The last time we saw the impala it was upright and bouncing out thru the sagebrush about a half mile off the road. U haul never figured out how that paint got on the trailer corner!

 

I was 15 in the mid 70's, and helped my dad paint houses in the summer. As it happened, we were painting my aunts' house (his sister) about 50 miles from home. Walking around during my breaks, I spotted an old beat up Chevy in the garage. I had to have it! Engine didn't run, no brakes, battery, etc. As payment for my work, Dad struck a deal with my aunt for the car. I knew just enough to get one of the brakes to work. Pinched off the other 3. Cool. Now, how do we get it home? Dad had a tow cable we attached to the hitch on his Pontiac wagon, and the other end to the Chevy. Off we go. I had never driven a car on the street, and I'm not sure if Dad had towed anything. I wasn't worried though, young, dumb, grinning ear to a$$, and full of dreams. Somehow we made home, but I would never consider it today.

 

Well this is not a towing story but a pushing one. I was 16 in 1959 and had a 46 Chev. Sedan with a 216 engine. Being a kid and cursing around the high school I over revved in first gear knocking off teeth on the timing gear. A copper pulls up and says "What's wrong", it was my cousin Richard. I told him what happened and he said get in and head for home. He got in back of me and pushed me 5 miles to the foot of the hill I lived on, he could not push me up the hill. Does not sound anything special maybe in Mayberry but this was L.A. and L.A. cops don't do that, mainly for fear of losing their job. Richard sadly passed away last July.

 

The most memorable time to me.....was around 1981, and I had an off-topic 72' Chevy Luv pickup (remember those?)....and I had picked up a friends two axle car trailer, so I could go pickup an old 46 Plymouth sedan I purchased for my mother (as a surprise gift, minus the heavy engine thankfully)....and hadn't really put much idea into weight distribution compared to the little pickup and the actual trailer/car towed behind!

I could get the little pickup & trailer moving at a 'buildup' of flat straightway in traffic in the 'wind tunnel' billowing behind semi-trucks....but that fact that I had to tow all this contraption along the Columbia River from Spokane to Portland, with the notable winds that can occur in that canyon (wind surfer capitol mind you)....I could barely move at 45 mph at any consistent speed, revving the little 4 cyl. engine to make it over the next hill....until the wind picked up again in a gust, and I was losing speed, with no reprieve. It was probably the worst case scenario of a towed vehicle, and I was the one behind the wheel doing it!!!

This was before cell phones, and I was in a dire predicament....fortunately, a fellow in a white 4x4 stopped along the road where I was stranded after sitting for 1/2 hr. alongside the road, and offered to tow the trailer onto Portland for me, while I drove behind! Super nice guy, who smirked a lot as I explained my ''situation''...and visual of car & trailer substantially ''bigger'' than my little pickup hooked up to it all ....but man, how stupid could I possibly get???....I chuckle at it now, but I was in my 'know everything' period of life, and thought I had the answers to everything....man, oh man, I was a really, really dumb kid a few times!!!...I advise everyone to make sure your tow vehicle has more than 4 cylinders...sheesh!!!

 

How about a 69 Hemi Daytona Charger on the way to the acid dippers and the trailer that separated from the truck and did a Ghost ride down the embankment from the freeway... and went through a Barbed wire fence finally ended up in a pond! 1 of 25 built with a hemi and 4 speed we thought we were cooked! This car after restoration sold for $825,000 if only the new buyer knew...! Hahaha...

 

I built a 40 Chevy P.U. in the mid 80s and did all the work myself in my garage in Wauwatosa. When it came time to paint I called on a friend of mine who had a body shop in Racine close to our V.W. Dealership so I towed it down there ( about 30 miles. He did a great job painting it so I picked it up and took it back home, and when I was backing the trailer into the driveway there was a bit of a dip in the approach from the street and the hitch bottomed out, so I pulled ahead to try again and the trailer pulled out of the hitch on the truck. Turns out we never checked to see it there was a pin in the receiver bar. It was rusted in tight and the bottoming out in the driveway knocked it loose. 30 miles on I-94 and I don't know what kept it together other than years of rust on a borrowed truck. I'm pretty anal about checking that kind of stuff now.

 

I always attach tow straps on the front of the vehicle on my trailer. I didn't last month because I installed a winch and was towing home a short distance. BIG mistake because the winch unreeled and the Suburban started rolling off the trailer. I was going really slow and the frame dragged on the trailer as the back wheels went off the trailer. BIG LESSON: Always tie off on each corner of the vehicle on the trailer. It could have been really Friggin BAD. People could have died and I'm still shaking!!!

 

Another story came to me this AM, went with a friend in his rig, I was on the mend from a racing crash, but bored, wanted to see some racing, so when friend called, I was happy to go with. They towed with an old Winnebago motor home, we get there, race, had some fun, drank some beer, told some stories, now it's time to go home, I offered to drive as I was the least drunk of the group and never had driven a motorhome. OK, it's got about 1/2 turn of play in steering, big bus type wheel, took me a few miles to get in sync with it, only ran 65 flat out and get on tollway, not thinking, pull into car auto car lane, Illinois tollway back then had separate manual lanes for trucks, trailers, everyone said throw change in and go, I do and gate doe not go up, bang, break it off, Shit! Now what ? Look to my right and a Sheriff is sitting in car watching us clowns, I pulled over to right and thought, not good. AGAIN lucky me, he's a stock car racer, asked how we all did, shot the breeze, said don't worry about barricade arm, please drive carefully followed us up to Wi. Border. Another similar story, years later, coming home from Rockford Speedway, party after races, on highway, red light goes on behind us, Shit! We threw the open beers out the window, Sheriff says to me, Did you Dumb ass's throw beer cans out of Window ? Gets me out of Van, has me do the walk the line deal, touch nose, etc., Gives me a BIG lecture on drinking/driving and asked how we did racing, AGAIN lucky me, he's a Big Time race fan, knew my car, etc. OK, tells me I cannot drive, anybody in van that can ?, young lady with me said, I'm good, I'll drive, so.... We take off and he follows us for several miles, poor girl was so nervous, the sweat was dripping off her nose, teased her and called her Gilda for a while.