Adventures in Towing

I hate days like that,, glad you gotter home.
Dan

 

My dad was towing his car to race one time when the turbo hydromatic 350 tranny is the chebbie tow truck gave up the ghost and caught fire. My dad immediately runs to the back of the truck and starts to unhitch the trailer, because he would be damned if the whole rig was going to burn to the ground. In the mean time, my uncle was running back and forth from the truck to the drain ditch, which thankfully was full, trying to put the fire out with his coffee cup. LOL! Luckily the fire went out without burning anything down and they got the truck fixed.

When I was towing the maverick home, I had to rent one of those Uhaul trailers. All they had was tire straps, no real good pull downs or chains, so I said, what the hell. I put on the tire straps and ratcheted them down real good and tight so that the tires started to flatten out a little. Well, I forgot the number one rule of towing, which is to check your tie downs after driving 3 or 4 miles. I probably went 40 miles with one strap completely off and the other only on there loose when I got home.

The Maverick could have jump off of that trailer at any time. That was a close one! I could have really hurt someone.

 

My 12 year old son (at the time) insisted on helping me hook up the trailer before going to he track. He has watched me and helped lots of times. When I get to the track and unload the car, I am backing down the ramps and the trailer pops off the ball and smashes the tailgate on the truck. The chains were not hooked up and the lock was not in the tounge. I could have lost it all on the way. Got lucky I guess.

 

Well, about 5 am in the morning, I am off again to the Great State of Georgia to pick up another car, this time the 72 Comet GT in Atlanta owned by Mtrhed. Hopefully this trip will be uneventful and I will return home tomorrow night tired but at peace with the world.

Wish me luck.

Jim

 

Jim,

I just read your story for the first time and I must say that I'm impressed with your solution to the problem. It's amazing the things you come up with when you don't have any other choice. I have towed many many miles but don't have any stories that are as colorful as this one. I guess that's a good thing. Glad you got home safely and good luck with your current trip!

 

Adventures in Towing, Chapter 2.

I have good news and bad news. The good news is that despite going up there on the hottest day of the year(heat idex of 120 degrees), I basically had no problems. 800+ miles this time. The Explorer, which has a V8, did fine. The trailer had no problems, either. It was 103 degrees when I was picking the car up in Atlanta, 106 degrees as I passed through Macon, and south of Perry, I ran into a rain shower that dropped the temperature temporarily 30 degrees, to 76, then back up to 100 down the road.

I saw more blue lights than I have ever seen at K-Mart. Boy, the Ole Boys up there are serious about about their work.

The bad news is that while I was there, I bought yet another car, a 72 Comet to be used for parts missing on the GT. Yeah, I know I am nuts. So, it looks like I will be doing Chapter 3 some time this next month.

Talk about a nice guy and a great collection of cars! Wow!! Tim has a great collection of racers and other fine vehicles. He was great to deal with and I would recommend him to anyone interested in his cars.

At least, this time no problems. Cross my fingers for the next time.

Jim

 

Well, towing is always fun and easy right? That is what I thought. This is a picture link of my 2 owner mostly original (at the time) Maverick. We were 100 miles into a 1200 mile trip. Mind you I drove the car out to Oklahoma City and thought since the wife was coming out a week later with the kids, why not bring the tow dolly and we can all ride back together, especially since I HATE driving and trying to stay together on a LONG trip AND we say a bit on gas. MORON! I wiped the Maverick, destroyed the dolly, and smacked my Yukon up and had to rent a U-Haul Auto Transporter to the tune of $350. Now on the insurance end I had to pay the $250 deductible on the Mav, the $500 one on the Yukon and the dolly was not covered at all. I abandoned it at the local gas station, along with my $10 hitchball that the coupler was crushed around. Then I had to buy ball a new one from U-Haul for $15. State Farm gladly wrote me a check for $2300 to cover my total loss. I told them it was not totalled so I got the entire check and the car. My repair bill at the Body and Paint was just north of the $4K mark. I disassembled the car AND put it back together. I paid out of pocket for all parts and seals, and tires and wheels (Cragars of course). It now has 73 style bumpers and different headlight bezels from these pics, the original argent silver ones, and a few other modifications. All I can say is what a ride, I know I was not in control, and THANKED GOD for that immediately after getting back down into the bottom of the median. Forgot to mention, we ended up in the fast lane of West bound traffic, facing West, we WERE travelling east, with the Maverick firmly stuck jack-knife style into the left rear quarter panel, engine stalled. Through it in neutral, fired-it up, drop it in low dropped the hammer and right to the bottom of the median we went. Just knew we were going to rollover crossing that concrete ditch backwards in the Yukon and sideways with the Maverick. We were well guarded is all I can say.

Link to pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/draggon13/sets/72157600542900164/

 

Draggon13, towing part II:

The green Comet adventure:

Long towing with a trailer for me includes the following:
1. Chains
2. Ratchet Tie downs
3. Truck spare
4. Trailer spares (2)
5. GOOD Jack
6. Fourway and a Long 1/2" ratchet & deep 13/16"
7. EXTRA TIME (you will need it)

Yukon Tire went down 80 miles down the road. Got to exit aired-up found problem. Drove to Walmart to buy tire plugs and plug kit (Walmart wanted $12.95 and 2 hours to plug it) Fixed it, aired it up again. Now lunch time. Ate lunch and back on the road. Stated 'Boy I 95 sure is rough through here, then noticed left rear trailer tire looks wobbly and is dribbling the trailer like a basketball. 30 miles from last stop and now back off the interstate and change tire on trailer, down to one spare. Miss correct exit off of I95 and end up WAY south of where I need to be and it is now rush hour traffic. Takes a solid hour to load car and do the paper work, at last back on the road. I am hot tired and not looking forward to the long trip back. Wife says why not spend the night somewhere along the way. Hey, good idea, so over to A1A we go for a motel on the beach, wait we have no extra clothes and my jeans are ripped, shirt is filthy and now smelly. Must stop and buy new clothes first, done. We drive from Stuart Florida to almost Melbourne on A1A, no motels just condos, cut over back to the interstate, did I forget the construction zones on NARROW surface streets and the many detours already, no? Well I was trying to forget. Back to the interstate, we are now in the middle of nowhere, 1 hour later first exit 2 motels, a Swiss Cheese Inn and another generic, next exit 8 motels and NO rooms available, we finally end up in Cocoa about an hour and a half from home but there is a Holiday Inn Express with a Jacuzzi suite, I take it. I have now tripled my costs for the car which WAS a GREAT buy.

rk

 

Yes... Tim is a great guy. I have dealt with him several times, including spending a morning at his shop pulling the engine and trans out of his '71 Grabber which are now running great in my '73. Super nice guy, with some very cool cars! Glad to hear your trip went smoothly.