I'm cruising down the interstate doing 70+ and notice a pickup flat-towing a Vibe up ahead. I'm very slowly catching up to them and notice that while the pickup is being blown around by the gusty winds, the car isn't following it's tracks...
It's on a 12' tow-strap with someone at the wheel and they're doing 70+! 
I thought you were gonna say you'd seen that Saturn in the other thread.
I saw a guy with a trunk-mount bike rack on his sedan yesterday and the only that was strapped on the rack was a light saber. I looked for but could not find the GRM bumper sticker, but I'm sure it was one of us. 
EastCoastMojo wrote: I saw a guy with a trunk-mount bike rack on his sedan yesterday and the only that was strapped on the rack was a light saber. I looked for but could not find the GRM bumper sticker, but I'm sure it was one of us.
So after reading this, I am to assume that you are a Jedi Knight?
back in the early 1980's...............my buddy flat towed a dude we met at the Union Grove, Wisconsin Mud drags all the way back to Naperville, Illinois. 1973 Chevrolet 4x4 pickup pulling a Blazer. Both trucks muddy with lift kits.
He blew his engine and paid my friend $100 and agreed to cover any tickets. We made it all the way home on a Sunday afternoon with this guy being pulled 75 miles down all the Illinois State Tollways using a snatch 'em strap. I sat in the center seat of the truck convinced we were going to die or be arrested.
pete240z wrote: back in the early 1980's...............my buddy flat towed a dude we met at the Union Grove, Wisconsin Mud drags all the way back to Naperville, Illinois. 1973 Chevrolet 4x4 pickup pulling a Blazer. Both trucks muddy with lift kits. He blew his engine and paid my friend $100 and agreed to cover any tickets. We made it all the way home on a Sunday afternoon with this guy being pulled 75 miles down all the Illinois State Tollways using a snatch 'em strap. I sat in the center seat of the truck convinced we were going to die or be arrested.
Haha. That's beautiful, man.
Recently I was riding my motorcycle through a local state park on a very windy section. I came up to a group of Harley riders going very slowly. The guy directly in front of me was TEXTING while riding his bike!
blew my mind
Joe Gearin wrote: Recently I was riding my motorcycle through a local state park on a very windy section. I came up to a group of Harley riders going very slowly. The guy directly in front of me was TEXTING while riding his bike! blew my mind
Anybody texting while on a Harley (or using a cell phone at all for that matter) needs to immediately sign over their bike to someone else.
In reply to keethrax: They've already done that; it's called their Last Will and Testament.
pete240z wrote: back in the early 1980's...............my buddy flat towed a dude we met at the Union Grove, Wisconsin Mud drags all the way back to Naperville, Illinois. 1973 Chevrolet 4x4 pickup pulling a Blazer. Both trucks muddy with lift kits. He blew his engine and paid my friend $100 and agreed to cover any tickets. We made it all the way home on a Sunday afternoon with this guy being pulled 75 miles down all the Illinois State Tollways using a snatch 'em strap. I sat in the center seat of the truck convinced we were going to die or be arrested.
Blew an engine in a Toyota Cressida Sedan on Okinawa, my fellow service members proceeded to tow me via tie down strap up to the beach we were originally going to. then back to base at the end of the weekend.
On the way back we had to get paced behind with a Mini version of a Hi-Ace van to act as tail lights as our battery had died long ago.
Best or worst part of it is that we used the toll road both ways, imagine a bunch of Americans trying to explain this mess the the Japanese toll worker.
No wait, the most idiotic part was my tower decided to speed and pass everyone else on the road.
Oh and the tow strap bungie cording on hills and leaving me stranded.
Never did get pulled over though.
petegossett wrote: I'm cruising down the interstate doing 70+ and notice a pickup flat-towing a Vibe up ahead. I'm very slowly catching up to them and notice that while the pickup is being blown around by the gusty winds, the car isn't following it's tracks... It's on a 12' tow-strap with someone at the wheel and they're doing 70+!
When are you going to get to the dumbest thing ever part?
My friend blew the tranny (or diff, can't remember) in his Integra up on the interstate at 2 in the morning one time, pieces of molten metal went everywhere! Anyway, we hitchhiked back to my friends Tacoma and drove to a friends farm to get a trailer. The only tow hitch they had was frozen into another truck hitch, the Tacoma driver in all his glory hooked a tow rope up to it and yanked it out, the hitch went flying towards his truck and put a huge dent in the back of the brand new truck! We eventually got the car on the trailer but we only had the E-brake to keep it on the trailer, no tie downs.
not quite as scary as the tow strap at 70mph (those things get me queesy at 30mph... just no room for error when you are that close with no power anything.)
anyway I once saw an f150 pulling another smaller truck on a tow dolly and the truck had a tow bar pulling another car on the interstate... he was swerving back and forth something fierce... was scary to watch
I saw a guy that scored big on Suzuki Samurai parts. He had one full of parts on trailer, weaving all over at 65ish, the one he was driving was full of parts, and the topper, literally, was the body shell BUNGIEED to the roof!
I once sold a parts car to a guy who wanted to flat-tow it home. He had a proper truck (F150 or some such), proper tow bar, proper magnetic trailer lights, and he made sure everything was nice and secure. It was the least-sketchy flat tow I've ever seen. Well, he took off down the street and got to the first corner, a ninety-degree right onto a side road, when the steering lock on the parts car did its job. Yep, he had the keys in his pocket. I walked over to help him re-adjust everything after I stopped laughing.
a friend of mine was driving from MA to lima OH when his engine let go around the PA/OH border so a friend driving back with him started pushing him, traveling over 60mph for a good 200+ miles when a cruiser pulled up next to them and told them they couldnt do that, but they could pull it with a strap. not having a strap, they cut out one of the seat belts and tied it to the bumpers and set out for the last 100 mile leg.
they had a whole system with 2 radios, seeing a cop on the side they'd speed up and 'push off' the dead car while the pusher backed away until out of sight at which point they'd 'dock' and push on. the two cars were an oldsmobile cutlass fwd turd and an A2 gti with a spare engine in the back and a couple transmissions, plus 4 people's luggage.
Way back when there was a company called Start Your Engines out of Maryland that specialized in used MG and Triumph parts, Moss Motors bought them out in 1983. http://www.mossmotors.com/AboutMoss/AboutUs.aspx They had a really cool catalog, I think it's still in all my junk somewhere.
The catalog had all kinds of stories about the employees in it, one involved the two owners when they were teenagers. They were towing a TR6 (IIRC) and the transmission had been removed, so the driveshaft was flopping around. They decided that since they only had a short distance to go (a few blocks) one of them would sit in the car and steer and would use an old fan belt to hold the driveshaft up so it wouldn't bang around.
Yeah, you can imagine what happened. The guy driving the tow car said he felt a hard jerk, looked in the mirror and his buddy's head was not to be seen. He stopped, ran back to the car and found the guy in the car WITH HIS ARM WRAPPED AROUND THE DRIVESHAFT. I nearly threw up just reading it.
When I worked at the body shop, we painted a 65 Mustang. It was a roller w/ no engine or transmission. When the owner picked it up, he loaded it on a flat need trailer with a surprising deck night, about 3'. Once we got it pushed up the ramps, he set the e-brake, thanked us, and hoped in the truck. So straps, fresh paint & body. He didn't come bAck needing more work so I guess he made it home.
25 years ago, a buddy was towing me home from a breakdown in a snowstorm - fortunately only about a mile - with a 30' chain. This was before we discovered the elastic qualities of a strap. In any case, the perpendicular driver at a 4-way stop did not realize our predicament and tried to exercise her right-of-way... between us. Disaster narrowly averted.
Separately, just today - approaching a fox-body Mustang at a red light from behind, I see big tires and primer, then I notice the bright green anti-roll bar bolted firmly at both ends to the axle, but totally unencumbered by any attachment to the chassis.
Many moons ago I broke down at work late at night in the middle of winter. I sat on the bus freezing waiting for the repair truck. He can't fix it so I have two choices. I can wait for the wrecker to come eventually, or he can air up the bus so I can release the brakes and push me home with his truck. Ten minutes later we begin the long coast home being pushed by a little Isusu truck, having no power steering, trying not to use the brakes and use up my precious supply of air before getting back to the depot.
bludroptop wrote: Separately, just today - approaching a fox-body Mustang at a red light from behind, I see big tires and primer, then I notice the bright green anti-roll bar bolted firmly at both ends to the axle, but totally unencumbered by any attachment to the chassis.
Fox ford rear bars don't attach to the body / chassis.
I saw a guy backing out of a tight parking spot in a busy parking lot while on his cell phone - in a Maserati Quattroporte.
I wonder how long it would take to get a bumper cover, a fender, or even the right paint to Big Daddy's body shop in Lubbock, Texas?
WilberM3 wrote: a friend of mine was driving from MA to lima OH when his engine let go around the PA/OH border so a friend driving back with him started pushing him, traveling over 60mph for a good 200+ miles when a cruiser pulled up next to them and told them they couldnt do that, but they could pull it with a strap. not having a strap, they cut out one of the seat belts and tied it to the bumpers and set out for the last 100 mile leg.
that is the craziest thing ever. It is a long way across Ohio to Lima that way.....wow
btp76 wrote:bludroptop wrote: Separately, just today - approaching a fox-body Mustang at a red light from behind, I see big tires and primer, then I notice the bright green anti-roll bar bolted firmly at both ends to the axle, but totally unencumbered by any attachment to the chassis.Fox ford rear bars don't attach to the body / chassis.
Jensen Healey aftermarket rear sway bars don't either. if you don't look closely at how the rear suspension is designed it looks like the sway bar is dangling in space.
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