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Hot Rods Towing while sharing the road with glass lickers

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by HemiRambler, Sep 17, 2020.

  1. pirate
    Joined: Jun 29, 2006
    Posts: 1,024

    pirate
    Member
    from Alabama

    Well I used to be a bit more aggressive with tailgater or people cutting me off. In heavy Stop and go traffic had a guy cut me off And I flipped him the bird. He became super aggressive started to get out of car but traffic started moving and people behind me started to honk horns so he got back in car. Then the games began he braked checked me several time then speed up and slam on brakes. I slowed down thinking he would just move on instead he would slow down. Tried to pass him he would block me all the while flipping me the bird. Finally ended when I faked trying to pass and then drove down an off ramp. Road rage is a real thing. People get shot by some of these crazies. I just try to avoid these ass hats now. I know there will be some macho types saying bring it on but not worth getting killed.
     
    Elcohaulic, gggholson, brEad and 5 others like this.
  2. MAD MIKE
    Joined: Aug 1, 2009
    Posts: 772

    MAD MIKE
    Member
    from 94577

    Around here, that never works.
    Idiots just become aggressive.

    I've watched a fair share of people on the highways around here just eat shit when I've clicked on the flashers.
    • See debris on road
    • Hit flashers to warn others behind me that there is a potential hazard
    • Watch morons behind me accelerate and drive into said hazard
     
  3. 51504bat
    Joined: May 22, 2010
    Posts: 4,755

    51504bat
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    And you don't even live in California:cool:
     
  4. ken bogren
    Joined: Jul 6, 2010
    Posts: 1,056

    ken bogren
    Member

    I drove behind that guy the other day. Toolbox drawers flapping in the breeze as he turned one way or the other. Luckily he had secured the thing behind his pickup cab (with the side of the toolbox against the cab wall) with a bungee cord that occasionally almost got tight.

    I stayed back a ways.
     
  5. Driver50x
    Joined: May 5, 2014
    Posts: 421

    Driver50x
    Member

    Yep I hear you there. I used to slam on my brakes to mess with tailgaters, until I got rear ended one time by a lady not paying attention. I don’t play that game any more.
     
  6. 1946caddy
    Joined: Dec 18, 2013
    Posts: 2,059

    1946caddy
    Member
    from washington

    I'm guessing a state trooper would let you know. :)
     
    wraymen likes this.
  7. Elcohaulic
    Joined: Dec 27, 2017
    Posts: 2,212

    Elcohaulic

    Glass licker :D:D:D Thats a good one, never heard it before..
     
    jimmy six likes this.
  8. Flathead Dave
    Joined: Mar 21, 2014
    Posts: 3,959

    Flathead Dave
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from So. Cal.

    A Sociology experiment done by this crowd?
     
  9. topher5150
    Joined: Feb 10, 2017
    Posts: 3,338

    topher5150
    Member

    Last year when is towing a 41 sedan home from Detroit I had a guy in a black ferrari tapping me. Not sure for how long he was doing it for hopefully I want picking my nose or anything

    Sent from my moto z4 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
     
  10. :) A scary thought indeed! ;)
     
    Flathead Dave likes this.
  11. Ha! about 10 years ago I followed two S10's doing battle for about 10 miles down rt32. the road goes from two down to one lane at one point and neither one wanted to give way. they were side by side smashing doors all the way until one did the same thing as you did at an exit. Kind of cool to watch two dickheads crash up there cars because one did not want to be 10 feet back. Probably some birds flying that day also!
     
  12. I realize that my comment wouldn't do much if I had a trailer... guess I just need to run a wire for a horn under the back of the trailer, too :D
     
  13. PhilA
    Joined: Sep 6, 2018
    Posts: 2,061

    PhilA
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    1. Hydro Tech

    Unless I haven't had breakfast and am in a cranky mood I've learned that in this country, tailgating appears to be a "stuck to mama's titty" kind of thing, like they gotta be real up close and personal.
    They have no idea of the physics involved, just they they seem to be looking out the windshield and if it were a watercolor painting and try align their vehicle to the only position they know (stuck in stopped traffic).

    At this time, I've resorted to driving for them- that is, defensive driving on my part. Adding the missing stopping distance behind me to what's in front.

    This normally infuriates them because the one key thing they appear to miss is being able to judge if they are catching up or falling back from a vehicle that's ~200' ahead of them, so catch up and hug the car in front instead. All while holding their iPhone horizontal in front of their chin and talking into the base of it.

    Then, particularly on a 4-lane highway sit and be amused at the lane-jumpers try and use your braking space to pass up the row of cars that extends well past the car the line is passing up in your lane. Tunnel vision, blinkers and Mister Magoo vision all rolled into one. Then, don't forget the iron jockeys who weave their way through with their Captain Invincible denim covering their knees and their teeshirt blowing up around their shoulders, butt-crack skyward. If they want to become a statistic, that's fine but I'd much rather it not be under my front wheels...

    So, paying attention to the one thing you, as the pilot of several tons of steel should be doing- being the pilot- add a bit of intelligence to where others lack it and you might just arrive alive.

    Phil
     
    Last edited: Sep 21, 2020
  14. 51504bat
    Joined: May 22, 2010
    Posts: 4,755

    51504bat
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Not really a tailgating issue but it really burns me when towing my travel trailer in the slow lane at 55 (maximum speed in CA when towing) and some soccer mom or some other idiot in an SUV enters the freeway at 45. Can't change lanes due to the semi's passing at 70 so you slow down and back off to let them in. Of course 1/4 mile down the freeway they accelerate to 75. Why they couldn't merge in at freeway speeds like god intended I'll never know. OK rant over.
     
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  15. PhilA
    Joined: Sep 6, 2018
    Posts: 2,061

    PhilA
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    1. Hydro Tech

    That does remind me of one fun time (well, fun-ish). Wasn't at the time but I can look back on it and smile.
    Back in the UK I worked at a small local airport as the General Dogsbody. One task was to bring various parts to various machine shops to be worked on.
    One afternoon I'm in the OT works vehicle, a 1993 car-derived Ford Escort van (likened to an enclosed El Camino). I'm loaded up with a propeller that was going away for service, and I'm on the freeway, a 3-lane+shoulder road with a 70mph limit.
    In the UK, all semi trucks have a speed governor of 90kmh (56mph) so crawl along in the left lane, and will play 55 1/2 mph pass-you-up. They're not allowed in the third lane if it exists, only the first two out from the shoulder.
    So, this particular day I'm headed out and two trucks are doing the snail-race on a slight downhill grade, so I maneuver the van into the third lane which is bumper to bumper with suits trying to get to their meetings on time in their high speed Audis and BMW's. All good and well because the traffic is doing about 65.
    I then end the downhill grade and hit a slight incline.

    Not usually a problem but now I've got semi trucks on my inside, a metal barrier on my offside and a very angry suit in some SUV inches from my tailgate. I'm flat out in 5th gear, which soon turned to 4th as I was running desperately out of ponies.

    Reason? Well, a 1.8 liter non-turbo 4cyl precombustion diesel is better suited to things like tractors and generator sets than a roadgoing vehicle, but nevertheless my 38 horsepower at 5750rpm was proving inadequate.

    Luckily the uphill grade ended and turned into a steep 1:12 downhill grade (the kind that has big signs warning trucks and such) so back up into top and flat out to try and pass the semi trucks. Of course Mister Angry is still several inches off my rear doors.

    All was well, until I found the absolutely most effective way to get him off my tailgate- the dashboard turned into a mass of red lights and the roadway behind me immediately looked like a scene from Operation Desert Storm, with an opaque cloud of black smoke as the poor overworked timing belt idler gave up the ghost and sent the cambelt flying, and bent all the valves.

    For a brief moment, I was free of the tailgater, but try to get across 3 lanes of fast downhill traffic with no motive power other than gravity, and then stop with no vacuum on the brake booster.

    Oh, how we laughed that day...

    So yeah, one method is to make your engine explode but the results are very shortlived at best!

    Phil
     
    safetythird, Lepus, das858 and 7 others like this.
  16. A couple of tailgater stories from the vault....

    Probably 20 years ago I was driving my 27' MH out of Wenatchee Washington towards Lake Chelan. The road was a narrow, very curvy two-lane with little shoulder and no turn-outs. Now, I'm not the sort to dawdle so I'm making all the speed I can, speed limit plus a bit. I get a few miles out and multiple Ferraris appear in my mirrors. The lead car in the group is right on my ass, I only know he's there as he keeps peeking out, looking to pass. There was no place to pass... This goes on for several miles. Until I came around a particularly sharp corner and there had been a rockfall. Not small rocks either; these were 6" or so sized, and a lot of them. The MH had lots of road clearance, so I just straddled the rocks without slowing. The Ferraris vanished, not to be seen again....

    The second one is from further back. I was driving home from Olympia at about 11 pm on a weeknight. Near-zero traffic, as was typical back then. I'd just crested a hill onto a long straight when I see a vehicle pull up to a stop sign on a side road. This is probably nearly a mile in front of me, and I'm doing probably 65. I expect the guy to pull out, but he doesn't, he sits there. When I'm almost on him, the idiot pulls out right in front of me. I just punched it and passed him on the left. Well, this asshat decides he's mad about this, catches up to me and passes... then slows down. WTF?! Now this knucklehead is in a 4-banger minitruck, I'm in a full-size, V8 powered PU with more beans than he has. So I pass him back. He takes another shot at passing, but now that I know what the game is, I just speed up. So he decides that tailgating me is the thing to do... he's so close all I can see is the top of the cab. By this time we're approaching 90 mph, I figure he'll run out of top end, but maybe drafting really does work... LOL. We come to another long straight through a open flat field with brush on both sides of the road. I decide enough is enough, and without letting up on the gas, smacked the brake pedal hard and fast just once. The last I saw of him was his headlights bouncing up and down through the brush in my right mirror...
     
    Last edited: Sep 21, 2020
  17. Years ago during the blizzard of 93 while operating a road grader trying to keep US 250 open in Marshall County. Busting through 8 to 10' drifts had to back up and ram some of them to break through and get to the next one. Came on one over the grader roof and almost 300' long. After several attempts to get through it a S 10 followed me in and I did not know he was there when I went to back up. Both rear tires went to the windshield posts before I spun out. I thought I was really stuck and went forward about 5' and came to another abrupt stop which shifted the grader sideways slightly. I looked back and saw the smashed S 10 with the drivers eyes bugging out of his head as my back up beeper was screaming at him. His vehicle was towed out backward and he had to be cut from the smashed truck although he was un hurt. When I backed up I could see the red side of a car buried in the snow that had been abandoned when it became stuck. The S 10 driver needed a change of clothes and was put up in the local VFD overnight. Long story short, run up on the back of a large vehicle where you cannot be seen, it was your choice.
     
  18. OK, one last tale...

    In the early '80s I was working a nuke plant and at shift end you had about 4000 people all trying to leave at once. At the time I was carpooling with a couple of guys, and the guy driving that day had some idiot right on his ass on the way out. He decides the guy should back off, and to encourage him, he shuts off the ignition in gear, coasts a bit, then turns it back on... Boom! A big cloud of smoke, the guy back off... but just for a bit. The driver decides he needs another demonstration, but leaves the key off about twice as long.... Ker BOOOM!!! Well, this did the trick; the guy stayed back all the way to the highway, but it was obvious from the continuing noise this had killed the muffler. After we got to where we could pull off and look, the muffler outer shell looked like someone had hammered it flat with the round end caps barely attached. The innards must have exited as shrapnel...
     
    Last edited: Sep 21, 2020
  19. jnaki
    Joined: Jan 1, 2015
    Posts: 9,291

    jnaki

    upload_2020-9-22_4-34-56.png
    Hello,

    When we were towing our 1940 Willys Coupe to Lion’s Dragstrip, it was not far from our house. But, it was a couple of miles of stop and go traffic. If the race day was going to have some big names attending and racing, then the traffic was just awful. There is no left turn lane to get into the entrance from our direction. My brother did not want to go all around the huge industrial block to make a right turn into the entrance.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PCm72YtrbY Lion’s Dragstrip entrance

    So, we waited patiently to make a left turn from our lane to get into the entrance. We had wired up the electrical circuit to coincide with the Impala tow car’s turn signals. They were wired into the Willys stock brake lights. So, when we pumped the Impala brake pedal, the Willys had two small red taillights glowing. Two small taillights is fine for night, but in the early morning and traffic, it blends in to the surroundings.

    We got a 1956 Ford single taillight to be attached with a metal clip to the bumper. The wiring had two extra lines and when we stepped on the Impala brakes, the whole thing lit up well. That f100 brake light gave off a great red intrusion into the following person’s line of vision.

    Jnaki

    Eventually, we just sat there ready to make the left turn into the dragstrip entrance and felt that that bigger red taillight would do the job. For the months of towing the Willys Coupe to Lion’s Dragstrip, we never encountered a bump on the bumper. There were many close encounters, the times before we added the Ford f100 brake light, but none after. Finally, the Lion’s management were allowed a local policeman to stop traffic, to allow the Western direction travelers (US) on Wardlow Rd. to turn left.
    upload_2020-9-22_4-37-26.png
    San Pedro, Torrance and Palos Verdes in the far background, looking West.

    Note: the extra heavy duty tow hitch we had custom made for the 58 Chevy Impala was also a life saver. It helped protect the rear of the Impala from any intrusion from another normal height car or truck. It stuck out far enough to ward off any license plate or lower grille as a barrier. This was before the raised trucks and cars.
    upload_2020-9-22_4-41-59.png Drawing of custom tow hitch bar
     
  20. clem
    Joined: Dec 20, 2006
    Posts: 4,188

    clem
    Member

    ......... that is the worst description of a escort van ever........
     
  21. FrozenMerc
    Joined: Sep 4, 2009
    Posts: 3,093

    FrozenMerc
    Member

    [​IMG]
     
  22. Not entirely in the tailgating genre, but illustrates the stupidty and selfishness of members of the driving public...

    southbound out of downtown Seattle on I-5 6-7 years ago, I'm in the righthand lane for the exit for the West Seattle bridge/freeway. Those that are familiar will know it's a busy exit ramp and you need to get in line a ways back. We are fairly tightly spaced doing atleast 40-45mph and I've got two or three cars in front of me before I pass thru the SINGLE lane opening of the exit ramp (right next to the old Ranier brewery). This is when a young woman darts from the lane to our/my left (well past the exit's gore point) at the last possible moment into the exit lane causing the car in front of to me swerve violently to the right to avoid being pasted along the length of their car. I jumped on my brakes as I watched both those cars squeeze through the mouth of the exit ramp door handle to door handle without (SHOCK!) touching each other. The young woman took the Beacon hill (east) ramp split after that, while the car in front of me and I took the WS (west) bridge ramp split. I and the car in front of me were blowing our horns at this c*nt and she is giving us her best high flying bird. W.T.F.!
     
    Last edited: Sep 22, 2020
  23. Ebbsspeed
    Joined: Nov 11, 2005
    Posts: 6,250

    Ebbsspeed
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Yes, or loose long bolts with lock nuts so it can bounce.

    If my trailer is empty, I have a time or two punched the putton on the electric brake controller to lock them up for just a second. That's enough smoke to scare the shit out of them.
     
  24. cfmvw
    Joined: Aug 24, 2015
    Posts: 977

    cfmvw
    Member

    My uncle used to have a GMC truck with a light bar that had two pencil beams aimed rearward. One night someone started tailgating him on the highway with their high beams... until he turned them on. They backed WAY off and even turned off their high beams.
     
    48fordnut likes this.
  25. pirate
    Joined: Jun 29, 2006
    Posts: 1,024

    pirate
    Member
    from Alabama

    Not necessarily a tailgating story. Probably 40 years ago when we still lived in Michigan several families were driving to northern Michigan for a weekend of snowmobiling. Each family was pulling a trailer with two snowmobile. My buddy always carried a couple six gallon steel gas cans hooked to the trailer with bungee cords. I was following him not too close when one of the gas cans came loose fell off the back of the trailer. It was still attached to the trailer with one bungee cord. It knocked a hole in the can with six gallons of gas spewing out. The can being metal was throwing sparks everywhere. It never caught fire but I was all over the brakes as well as cars in other lane until he could slow down enough to pull off the side of the interstate. Had the potential of a big fire ball. Probably an old gas can wobbling around on the back of trailer would have same effect as the wrench of OP.
     
    Last edited: Sep 22, 2020
  26. I never follow trailers, loaded trucks, RVs with bikes on the back or anything else that looks suspect. If I can’t pass I lie way back. Never would even consider tailgating them. I’ve seen too much crap come off of them going over bumps or from a strong cross wind. Just recently I saw a newer Jag flying down the road with a mattress tied to the roof. Looks like he used kite string to hold it down.
     
    olscrounger and chopped like this.
  27. HemiRambler
    Joined: Aug 26, 2005
    Posts: 4,208

    HemiRambler
    Member

    Reading these stories reminded me of a "almost" tailgating story. I was 16 and going to the junkyard searching for parts for your hot rod was ALWAYS a treat! Not far from the house was a yard called IIRC Republic Auto Wrecking. It was on a main drag next to a 4 lane highway. Anyways to say their parking lot was sometimes congested would be an understatement. Anyhow I pull in and there's barely anyplace to park, but I get lucky. As I'm leaving a guy with a tiny very shiney foreign convertible pulls in behind a slideback as there's no other spots left. He jumps out - grinning ear to ear - looks like he's there to show off his new paint job to his friends. Before I knew it a guy jumps into the slideback - looks in his mirror and slams it into reverse. Before either me or the convertible owner can muster a word BAM!!!!!! That slide back CREAMED that poor little car. He parked so close to that slide back and was so perfectly centered - the guy in the truck never saw a thing. Stop when it sounds expensive I guess,
     
    cfmvw likes this.
  28. MAD MIKE
    Joined: Aug 1, 2009
    Posts: 772

    MAD MIKE
    Member
    from 94577

    I've had so many weird instances while towing, I'm always wondering if there is some step, or sign, that I am missing. Is there a number I should call before heading out?
    I've had a few of these incidences. I don't understand the logic, albeit these are the same folks that 'can't be last in line' at the off ramp and dive bomb the last car.

    Had a lady try to merge between the truck and the trailer. Had an OT car on a U-Haul four wheel trailer. Traffic was slowing/merging due to an accident. Traffic was going well enough just left it in second(no gas/no brake). Had already merged over to the left early(right lane was closed) just pulling up to the scene and this kooky lady wouldn't simply pull ahead and get in front of me, nor fall back behind me.

    Traffic wasn't heavy, still plenty of room to proper zipper merge. She kept trying to dive bomb between the truck and trailer, would blow her horn when the trailer wouldn't 'give way'. There must have been at least another hundred feet before she had to merge. ~40' in front of me there was nothing, ~80' behind there was nothing. Just regulars putting through the mess. This went on for the whole merge process til she got herself stuck at the end of the designated merge, stopped, laid on the horn, and then pops out in front of a utility truck that was hanging back.

    Get through the carnage, get back over to the right lane, picking up speed. Lady is at it again. Does a couple violent swerves at the trailer and I can see her yelling and pointing at the car on the trailer. Tries to merge in between the truck and trailer one last time, barely misses nailing the U-Haul trailers corner. Gave the trailer a few more blessings and tears off down the next off ramp.

    Mental illness?
    Stupidity?
    Simply blind?
    I did a walk around of the trailer and car, didn't see any stickers or messages left in the dirty paint, etc that might set off a fragile psyche. I couldn't fathom how someone could think a grungy Rusty Orange Red painted(this was an older non-galvanized trailer) with 'U-HAUL' in fading white letters was anything other than a trailer with a car on it.
     
  29. 4 pedals
    Joined: Oct 8, 2009
    Posts: 958

    4 pedals
    Member
    from Nor Cal

    I can't tell you how many times I've had people riding my back bumper while I'm hauling stuff to the dump, maybe once a month. It's only a couple of miles, 25 mph speed limit the whole way, yes I'm driving slow you idiot to keep things from flying out at you. As my kids have learned to drive, I have taught them to leave lots of room behind a loaded truck or trailer.......it seems driver's ed does not.

    Devin
     
  30. Beanscoot
    Joined: May 14, 2008
    Posts: 3,053

    Beanscoot
    Member

    Well yeah, but you are thinking.
     

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