Pantyhose Pandimonium

[martybose]

I had a 65 Mustang with the HP 271 horse 289. I was driving through town and stopped at a red light. I was idling with the car in gear and the clutch disengaged waiting for the light to change when one finger of the Long-style clutch snapped, sending me across the intersection with my foot still on the floor. Luckily there was no cross traffic right then, and the look on my face must have been priceless!

Marty

[bobjob55]

back in the 70's ,, wile riding our motorcycles ,,, one of our friends stripped the bolts that held the jug to the block on his harley... whole cylinder came up with the piston... he took a short chunk of wood and jamed it between top of head,, and frame... rode it for 2 years like that ......

[BobT-47P15]

Well, this wasn't a fix.....but back in about 1959 I was returning home from Springfield, MO

which was approx a 35 mile trip. The timing gear on my 1947 Chevy Fleetline went out

about 20 to 25 miles from home. So, I'm sitting on the shoulder wondering what

I'm gonna do next. Along comes a fellow from home, a couple years older than me,

driving his 52 Olds. He sees me and stops. I told him my problem - he says, OK, then,

I'll just push you home. And he did. It was a sorta white knuckle deal when the rear

of my car would start to raise up over his bumper and shift to the side. But, he would

simply let off the gas, let my car settle down and return to going straight, then

gently engage my bumper again. Went thru this process several times....but got home

safely. Had him push me to the service station where I usually

bought gas and there was a mechanic.

[T120]

Also a clutch problem.Back in the day,I owned a BSA B33 500 single.Still in school and interested in the girls...Marlon Brando and "The Wild One" was kind of the cool impression a guy would want to emulate.Anyhow,It was when school got out,some pretty girls were walking by -I was stopped behind several cars for a stop sign.I kind of revved it up (500 single). It was in 1st gear,clutch cable snapped,girls screamed,almost climbed the a$$ of the car in front of me.Luckily,nobody was injured,kinda embarassed me for the moment but both the bike and I lived to ride another day, (my reaction time was better back then)

Edited January 2, 2010 by Ralph D25cpe

[Jerry Roberts]

I was a wheel and track vehicle mechanic in Viet Nam . There was an armored personel carrier broken down out in the middle of nowhere . They flew me out there in one of those bubble top helicopters that didn't have the doors on . The bolts on the track drive sprocket were broken or stripped . I removed bolts from the shroud that is used when the vehicle goes through water and put them in the sprocket . The guys were able to drive back to the relative safety of their unit .

[T120]

..Have to admire those that serve their country.Quick thinking and make do with what is on hand serves the purpose.

[Paul Hoffmeyer]

In '62 I lived in West Seattle, found a '35 Ford slant-back 4-door w/out engine or tranny for $10. Few weeks later, current driver hatched, went to junk yard and got a '41 Merc engine and '36 tranny and put it together. Christmas morning, 1962, heading to sister's house for dinner, Ford still cold w/no choke. Started to stall out going up the hill at the end of my block in second, double clutch back into first and only got the trans half way into gear by the time I let out the clutch. There was a bang, forward motion ceased and I started rolling backward down the hill. There in front of me on the ground lay a sizeable chunk of the transmission case in a puddle of grease with the reverse idler still merrily spinning! Nothing left but high gear! Backed down, put 'er in high and proceeded to drive it that way for a few weeks till I swapped it for a '53 Nash Statesman 2-door hardtop. The '35 had a 4.44 rear gear and there was hardly a hill in Seattle I couldn't pull with a 100' head start. I even pulled a friend's disabled Caddy back home from out in the country with the high-gear-only Ford. Pretty hard on the clutch, though.

Paul H

[dparksie]

About 15 years ago I had a 72 W300. I was going up to my father's place with about 2 tons of roofing supplies in the bed for his house. About half way up I blew the master cylinder. Since it was the equal distance I kept on going, down shifting and shutting off the engine to stop. His house sat half way down a hill. So at the top of the hill I pushed in the clutch, put her in reverse and coasted down, just as I passed his driveway goosed the gas and popped the clutch. Backed in the driveway and shut her down. 4 days later he took her to the shop. I told him "the brakes are soft". About 2 hours later got a phone call from him. He was not happy with my discription of the brakes. Had that truck for 10 years and I miss her everyday. Slant six and all gear ratio. Didn't like to go over 55 but she had good power.