Everything tows a little different, some cars want to start to sway and dance at speed and you have to go slow. Other cars, or if you have a big enough tow vehicle, you can fly down the road as fast as you want to go. It's pretty much trial and error, but I had to nail a panic stop once with a tow on the back, on a hill, and other than using up half the life of my brake pads I was fine. It was actually more scary pulling a loaded car trailer, although I didn't realize at the time the car had like 1500 lbs of parts loaded in it so that didn't help.
Used a MNW tow bar,and hubs back in the early 70s.towed my 67 Camaro behind a 68 Buick Sport wagon.Worked ok,but by the end of the night you sure were tired of spinning on lug nuts.No power wrenches back in those days.The track we went to (Motion raceway Il.) had gravel at the turn in,so you had to get out and crank the wheel sometimes so the racecar would follow!
I use a tow bar to pull my Zipper lakester behind my truck or my wife's van when I take them to the dealer to be serviced. Really convenient when nobody has to take you or pick you up. Also used a tow bar to pull my Jeep from San Diego to Colorado every summer for years.
I've got tow hitches and tow bar tabs on about everything I put together. Always comes in real handy.....
I towed my Nova stock car to Islip Speedway for the '84 season, my borrowed trailer got recalled. I was close to home so it wasn't that bad. I made up a light bar that attached to the deck lid on the Nova. The pain was that I'd have to remove the race front tires for regular tires or it ruined the scuff. Because of the way it was weight-jacked, funny springs and the big toe-out, it would do weird things if I had to make a real tight turn getting into the pits. I'd take it off the tow bar and drive it into the pits. For a race car, I'd never tow it that way again. I've towed countless street cars using a towbar in the past with never an issue. I believe my longest tow was about 50 miles. If I had to move a registered car that broke down somewhere, I'd lash a tire to the front of my car and push the disabled car home. Of course the person at the wheel of the dead car had to be well on his toes since the power steering and brakes were in-op. Bob
Years back , when I was 15 my mom bought a 66 Biscayne for me while in Chicago. Then bought a tow bar and pulled it back to north Carolina where we were living at the time with a 76 dodge van. Over the years we used it a lot, I even was pulling a Plymouth satellite with a 73 Chevrolet wagon, had both cars drifting around turns on a mountain road just out of murphy NC my friend with me was scared shitless , he stills bring it up when we get together
This thread sure reminded me of a long time ago when my wife and I drove to Chicago and bought a 1966 biscayne. Being from Topeka Kansas it was a bit of a haul. Got the car bought though and was heading back home when it blew a head gasket, we was in a area which had alot of toll roads. We was driving a 1994 toyota pickup. Out of money from buying the car we decided, well I decided to go to a Wall mart at the next little town and buy a tow strap. I guess I didn't really realize how far away from home we was. We towed that car all the way home through a rain storm and everything else. My wife was at the wheel of the tow vehicle and she had never really done it before, I motioned for here to slow the hell down but I guess she thought I was wanting here to speed up. I will never forget going accross the Mississipi river doing 85 mph and was passing everybody. We made it 7 miles from home on the turnpike and we got pulled over, I did not realize it was against the law. He did not write us up but told us we can't go any further. We were deturmined ass hell to make it home so we turned around and went a different way. I told my brother in law what we did and as he was a truck driver he said that that would be a record for towing with that strap, we were so glad to get home, needless to say my wife declines to go with me anymore, Tim
The Jalopy Journal
