Adventures in towing!

[FastCarFan]

Let's hear your exciting towing adventures. I'll start....

After college I shared an apartment with a friend who had an Alfa Romeo Sprint Veloce (1975 maybe?). One night I was in the apartment watching TV when a Chevy pickup pulled into the driveway. It was my buddy. He said: "I blew up the Alfa. You have to come & help me tow it."

A mile or so from the apartment sat the Alfa. He was drag racing a guy from a stop-light & he blew the engine. He had pulled it over to the side of the street, next to the curb.

I got in the Alfa as he hooked the tow rope up to the pickup. He got into the pickup & started to go. It was then that I realized he had not given me the key -- the steering wheel was locked!

My first reaction was to honk the horn. Guess what? The Italians, in their infinite wisdom, decided that the horn should only be operational when the ignition is on!

As we started to move I panicked. I braked as hard as I could...with both feet. Well, let's just say that an Alfa's brakes are no match for a Chevy V8. And not only were we moving, the steering wheel was turned slightly to the right.

The right side of the car jumped the curb & I was headed toward a telephone pole. About this time my friend realized something was wrong & he stopped. When the Alfa stopped, the telephone pole was about 6" to the right of the passenger door mirror.

I have never felt so helpless. Luckily, no damage was done so we could laugh about it.

Let's hear your towing stories.

[mattdavis11]

I get a call on a Saturday morning, my brother's Land Cruiser's fuel pump had gone out. He asks me to call around and bring him one. Sure, no big deal. However, I couldn't find one.

So around 3 in the afternoon I head 150 miles to where he is with a chain. We partied with his frat bros that night and had the time of our lives in Ireland, Texas.

Sunday morning we were just going to drag it off of the pasture. Once we got through the gate, we decided to go on and tow it in to town to see about a pump. I knew better, we weren't going to have any luck. I don't think the parts store in Gatesville was even open, but I can't exactly recall.

So we had already made it 20 miles, and it had been pretty smooth. However the rest of the way we had to travel the Interstate. This is where it got fun, and thank goodness for cell phones, or 2 ways, I forget which it was. My Ram Charger with a 318 made the haul without breaking a sweat.

Of course you have the Ram leading, then the 25 foot chain towing the Cruiser, and behind it the 14 ft jon boat on a trailer. We were longer than the semi's by several feet.

It wasn't very smart at all.

[johnco]

towing a vw home to make another dune buggy we had no doors, no seats, no brakes. just a frozen engine to try and stop. so little brother wants to pretend he's sking or something and starts cutting side to side in the vw. I'm shaking my finger at him from the tow car and all of a sudden he's gone. lost control from dicking around, took a corner about 45, hit the curb which threw him off his fancy 5 gallon bucket seat, tossed him across the yard, car rolled upside down on some lady's lawn. but not before taking out her mailbox. we're crying from laughing so hard and the woman was a *****in about her mailbox. rolled it back over, stuck the mailbox back in the ground and took off. just another day in our world. although towing a go cart frame with 2 riding over the top of a 30 ft levee with 60 ft of rope tied to it was fun, for me. especially when they came flying straight over the levee about 30mph and found I had made a sharp right turn. didn't know someone's eyes could get so big. there's the time a skidloader rolled off the back of my trailer on the bridge at 60mph. that was fun guiding it down with my bumper a hundred feet of so until it came to a stop. my brother was towing a trailer with his little jeep hauling a humoungous flywheel from an Atlas engine that weighed 5+ times more than the jeep. bigger than the jeep! so he manages to lose the flywheel after the trailer starts fishtailing on the top of the 2 lane bridge at noon backing up traffic for miles. he rode the jeep up on top of the rails before everything came to a stop. only 100-150 drop a few inches away. adventures like driving 40 miles towing my trailer, looking back to back it up and it's not there! losing boats off trailers. my father towed his seaplane to the ramp, got out and watched everything, truck and all roll into the middle of the river. we have fun down here anyway we can. towed my brothers mustang 4-5 miles after he flipped it 5 times end for end at about 130. flattened the rims, broke the axle so it sat flat on the ground. made quite a noise dragging it down the highway getting it home before the cops came. got a few more towing adventures with my brother. somehow we never got hurt. even towing bath tubs and pirouges behind the truck while we took turns riding. gets a little hairy around 50. one more.. my father insisted he tow my uncle riding in the boat down the bayou during a hunting trip.. in 25Degree weather.. behind his seaplane.. guess what happened next

[Hugh R]

A few years ago on one of my shows, (Desperate Housewives) a flat bed transported a Jaquar XJR from one part of the Universal studios lot to another area, and as he tilted the bed, the Jag fell 1/2 off the tilt bed. It seems since he was only moving about 1/8 mile on the lot he didn't bother to chain it down, and apparently forgot that little detail. BTW, after meeting you, I still buy online Gumbo and Jumbalaya mixes from crawfishman.com My friends rave about it.

[johnco]

ye, that's some good stuff. I can't seem to find any locally though. my daughter's living in Texas and is begging for food with a taste to it.. Hugh, you want to know the easiest way to remove a bumper? have someone tow you about 50, slam on the brakes, hit the emergency brake and dump the clutch on the frozen motor.. takes that bumper right off without taking out one wrench

[FastCarFan]

I'll add one more of my own....

A few years after my first story, same friend...My friend's family has a nice Model A Ford which has been in his family since new. It has a rumble seat & is a neat car.

One day we decided to take the Model A for a spin. However, the battery was dead. No problem, we would pop the clutch & bump start it.

We headed down a sloping road in front of the house & tried several times to start it. No luck. We ended up at the bottom of the hill & the car was still not running.

My friend went to get his daily driver (no, not the Alfa!). We decided to tow the Model A to try to bump start it. I got in the Model A. My friend tied a rope to the rear bumper of his car & to the front bumper of the Model A.

He started pulling me & gave the signal for me to pop the clutch in the Model A. I popped the clutch & the front bumper ripped off the Model A & went dragging down the road still tied to the rope behind his car.

As I recall, we simply bolted the bumper back on (Model As are very simple to work on). We eventually got it started (I forget how) & went for a drive.

[oldE]

A good friend's VW bus wouldn't start after camping overnight, so he called the dealer about 60 miles away. Dealer arrived with a 'mechanic' and tried to get it going, ran the battery down, jumper cables didn't help, so they thought they'd use a tow strap to tow it back to the shop. On the way back, the 'mechanic' thought he'd try to bump start it....at 50 mph. Eventually the clutch gave up the ghost.
Final verdict: new clutch and oh yes, a distributor cap to replace the cracked one.

Les