Event Coverage Funniest, sorriest, worst thing ever happen while going and picking up a car?

Ever load a full size dodge pickup using an overcenter chain cinch to “winch” it on the trailer two chain links at a time?


I have....


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Late 1970s.
Middle of winter.
I heard about a 100$ Studebaker Hawk 7 states away without an engine.
Pulled a utility trailer made from a mobile home.
Returning with a loaded heavy single axle trailer on ice and snow, half way home the rigged leaf spring mount broke the inadequate weld on one side, and the axle slide way back.
On the left side only.
On the highways the tall trailer with a Hawk on top suddenly started tracking wayyy sideways.
With only a ratchet strap, two rolls of fiberglass filament tape, and a jack handle jammed into a hole in the mobile home frame, we taped and taped and taped the jack handle to do the job of holding the axle in the best position we could, with the frame laying on top of it.
It still tracked crooked, but it made the 15hrs on ice very carefully home while held together with TAPE.
Wraps and Wraps of fiberglass tape holding a jack handle, jabbed into a hole in the frame.

WHY BE ORDINARY ?

 

Parts pulling story but I think it fits this thread-

I pulled the brake and clutch pedal assembly out of a 53 Ford car. I remember opening the left door seeing a big snakeskin. I hate snakes, so I found a broom handle and poked under the dash and seats to make sure the snake was not home.
After I was sure it was safe I got to work and soon forgot about the snake.
As I was laying upside down under the dash with my legs over the back of the seat. I felt something fall on my chest, sure it was the snake I managed to get out from under the dash and on my feet and running from the car in half a second.
Only to discover I had knocked the brake pedal pad off and that is what had fallen on my chest.

 

Had a corvair with automatic trans. teeth off the ring gear. bought a rusty corvair that the front suspension had rusted apart. holed it to a 1/2 ton wrecker. Didn't notice the ignition was on therer wasn't a key in it. And the thing was in gear. the generator made enough spark even with a dead battery that it fired up. started pushing us a bit. No biggie I held the brakes and my son turned off the ignition and put it in neutral. had it happed before with a 62 impala that was wrecked. It started and was almost wide open. One ton wrecker. And I stopped the wrecker and that 327 was pushinf the wrecher around in a circle right in the middle of I 40. Tire smoke billowing . I had to jump out and chase it. Reached under the kinked up hood while it was still moving and jerked the coil wire off. The state cop thought it was funny. I didn't much like it.

 

I bought my 34 5 w & had to take the trl to pick
it up in Ca. I lived in Or at the time & it was in Feb. The pass & hill down from Tahoe snow & bumper to bumper traffic. I burnt the brakes up on the trailer but I was determined to make it to Roseville. Made it down & bought the car loaded it up & was headed home. It was dark but made Tahoe & got a room. Got up early to get on the road but the wife had to have breakfast so we got a later start than I would have liked. A storm was on it's way. Well I got caught in a whiteout. I was only going about 5-10 mph & the cars behind me were blinking their lights & blowing their horns. No place to pull out so I just trudged barely being able to see the road. Stupid drivers would pass me going like there was a fire sale up ahead. Made it home by dark ,park the rig & went to bed only to find it covered in snow the next morning.

 

Yeah, that's what I thought too! I had picked up a '31 Model A with my /3/4 ton diesel and nearly new 20' trailer. I had about a 4 hour drive on the interstate and things were going well. I had stopped twice already at rest areas to check the tie-downs and so forth and when we made the 3rd stop I saw a distressing sight! The left side front tire on the trailer was gone! I mean wheel, tire, brake drum and all, gone! Nothing but the chewed up spindle hanging out in the breeze! I've got a model A Ford on the trailer with parts packed all around riding down the interstate on 3 wheels and tires. I never heard anything, saw anything, felt anything, nothing but it was dark out. I wonder where that tire and wheel ended up? I probably don't want to know. Moral of the story? Even if your equipment isn't even old enough to have the first packing of the bearings, check them anyway and make sure everything is good!

 

I'm glad we all know better now...

 

I've pulled cars and trucks with chains for years without a problem. Well, with one problem. Ever try to steer and stop a 55 Ford pickup with a worn out steering box, marginal brakes, no engine or transmission, they were in the bed, slick tires, and one of those tires sitting on the pull chain, a steering tire at that, that your buddy had hooked up to a fender bracket on your truck instead of the frame like you told him to hook to? Fun indeed!

Buddy had a bum leg, so I let him drive my pickup and do the pulling, figuring I could do the braking better. I hooked up the 55 with the chain around the front axle, he hooked the chain to my pickup. Away we go, that is until I have to brake kinda hard going down hill because he is driving like nothing is behind him. Hard brake, fender bracket snaps in two, chain comes off and lands perfectly under the left steering tire, locking it up. I'm skidding downhill at an increasing rate of speed, fighting the loose steering, trying to get off the highway and hopefully get stopped before I end up in a ditch! I did get stopped, leaving a groove in the pavement and a ditch in the gravel, but everything unhurt. After catching my breath and giving him a piece of my mind, we got the chain out from under the tire, and I hooked it this time, to the frame.

Our wives were both with us, so he ended up riding with me while my wife did the pulling. We got home without any more problems. He would always borrow his brother in law's trailer after that! No more chain pulling!

 

Picked up a model A rolling chassis. Was supposed to be a 6 hour drive...turned out to be 9+. Prior to leaving, had a hard time pulling money out...my bank was an hour in the other direction, stopped at 5-6 different ATMs just to get enough cash for the guy. Also had a hard time finding a trailer...mine was inches too small...friend's was full of debris from hurricane Michael, ready to go to the dump. I rented a uhaul trailer with PERFECT internal dimensions...

Just over halfway into the journey, I was looking in the rear view mirror at the ramp of said trailer....did not realize that it was WAY TOO SKINNY...there were support posts on either side of the trailer and the ramp closed off the rear....car was NEVER going to fit.

Committed, I, with wife and dog in tow, proceeded north and was determined to make it work. Showed up at the mans place and the car, with motor, was in great shape. I couldn't pass it up. I asked the guy if he had an engine hoist....no...any chain? No. Anything that might be of help to get this car over those rear posts and onto the trailer??? No. His answer was, "I'm not really a car guy." I see.

Well, I took the front wheels off and was able to squeeze the front end in but only with the rear end at an extreme angle. I tried to dead lift the rear high enough but I'm just not that strong. I ended up devising a system of ratchet straps while utilizing a small bottle jack and some firewood to get the rear in.....oh and it was dark....and raining....long story short, it all worked. Took me 4 solid hours. In February. Sweating my ass off. But it worked

Picking up another car, 15 hour drive this time....1-way...trailer tire blowout, hours to get a new one put on (thanks pep boys.....I can see your tire guy on the phone fighting with his girlfriend)....showed up to hotel at 5am....had to meet with the guy by 6am....no sleep. Loaded the trailer (was big enough this time), started to head back when me, my wife, and the dog all got sick. Had to pull over nearly every 15 minutes....took well over 24 hours to get back.

At that point I was strongly considering another hobby.

 

I bought a dozen vehicles way over in the Bootheel. Estate auction. So I was dragging them home thru mostly flatland about a 100 miles one way. Was using a 3/4 ton 64 chevy wrecker. I would put one on the tow sling and another on a tow bar behind it. Sling one flat tow the other drug two at a time that way. I had a LB chevy on the sling that had a 292 engine, and a short bed the same year on the tow bar. the Short bed was a GMC. and made a uneventful trip all the way thru towns like Mc Dougal and Corning. I was going pretty fast because I wanted to get thru Pocahontas before dark. Just got into Pocahontas just past Baltz lake when the drivers side rear tire and axle came off. Axle still attached to the wheel. It headed gyrating into oncoming traffic. Hit a bump and flew over the oncoming pickup. and thru the trees on the east side of the road. I drug it about fifty feet to a place where I could get off the road. Unhooked the tow bar and left the GMC there. It was already dark so I went home and dropped the chevy and hurried back and picked up the GMC from the rear. When I finally got around to looking for the GMC tire and Axle it was hard to find. It traveled a lot farther than I expected. Funny thing was I had bought those trucks at a estate auction. and when I was leaving the rear truck did not want to follow. the wheels would cut to the right or left in the rutted pig trail driveway. I had to get out straighten the wheel go a little ways and repete. The all of a sudden the drivers door opened and closed & it started following. It followed good all the way out to the main road. Then I stopped to look for oncoming traffic. The door opened and closed again. I was kinda amused. I had the exact same sort of thing happen before when I was double towing vehicles a long ways from above Summersville Mo. Also Estate auction purchases. That guys two sons had died in a car crash. He stayed drunk for the next year and was playing with a pipe bomb and accidently killed himself.

 

I bought a 64 fairlane Htp. junky car no engine or trans. My son Chris was 12 at the time he went with me we put it on the tow bar to flat tow it. without a engine it wouldn't tow. So I had Chris steer it and he was happy to help. Not very far home. got home without any problem. Chris wanted the car. So I gave it to him. By himself he installed a worn out 289 and got it going. for Christmas he got a ring overhaul kit for the 289 and by himself overhauled the engine. for his 13th birthday he got a 4 speed trans. Little Chris had a lot of fun with the car. We still have that Fairlane I tell folks not for sale gonna fix it up someday

 

Looks like you have some Gems there, I would like to have that old 55 back there if you were closer.

 

Yes it’s fairly rust free, I have a sorta set of front fenders for it. Always wanted to fix it up. They are the best model, the two door post, not the most popular, but best made car!








Bones

 

I was helping a friend bring home an Opel and he didn't know to drag the brake to keep the chain tight, and ran over it. It swung him around and he hit the truck in the door. Not a lot of damage, but more than there was to start with.

 

About 25 years ago I was into antique farm tractors and I had bought one that had sat in the fencerow of a farm about 45 minutes from my house. I had successfully gotten the tractor on the trailer and cinched it down with chain binders. I had a lot of excess chain so I just threw it up on the deck of the trailer and went on my way. Going through a little community about 15 minutes later the truck jerked hard and I heard tires squealing. I looked in the mirror and the excess chain had fallen off the trailer and went under the left side tandem tires, locking them up. I managed to get stopped and since there was no traffic behind me backed up off the chain which was ground about half way thru the links. Then I did something really stupid, I got out of the truck and went back and picked up that chain.......with my bare hands........

 

My dad an I made a 6 hour trip from Mass to East Oklemuk Pennsylvania, Picked up a 37 Ford Picup and loaded it on the trailor . Well ,in our excitement and hurry to get back on the road home ,,,we forgot to set the electric brakes with the little box in the truck . I was driving . There some BIG hills in Pennsylvania ! I was coming down a huge hill and the trailer started Wig-Wagin HARD . Real Bad Holy Chit ! If there was a car next to me ,I would have knocked him off the road . All I could do was floor it and try to straighten out ,, By the time I got out of it and pulled over ,the drivers side rear wheel of the 37 was barely on the tailor.I had nightmares the next 3 nights in a row of rolling over and crashing .Bad ,real Bad. Lesson learned!

 

A friend of mine knew a fellow that bought a ‘50 Mercury out of Georgia. It was a very nice original car but not road ready.
They loaded it up on the trailer and headed home. The guy thumped a cigarette butt out the drivers window. The Said lit cigarette butt flies into the Mercury’s drivers window landing on the center of the front seat.

By the time it was noticed fire was blowing out the Mercury’s windows.

All he could do was stop, unhook the trailer and watch.

 

Was actually talking about the 4 door Chevy (my bad) but I like the fords too

 

Yes I liked the Post model 55 & 56 fords better. doors closed better and tighter. No wind noise and that aggravating non working window flipper like the Htps all had.

 

I got a solid 56 four door chevy I would sell you.

 

Oh, ok, the Chevy! It’s probably the last Chevy on the place, save the big dump truck! My cousin, Jack, bought that car for his new wife and painted it fixed it up real nice, in about 1965 or so. He was real proud of it! She drove it less than a month and pulled out in traffic and got hit in all four doors! Boy was Jack pissed, I think it was her fault! To recoup his investment he sold the front fenders, engine and transmission! Then hauled it to the ranch and put it there. And pulled the tires and wheels off of it. It’s still there! But Jack isn’t.






Bones

 

Ive got a old ford axle with a wishbone. I can use it to tow stuff that hasn't any axles. Went to a auction and bought a 56 ford cab on a frame with just the front axle engine trans & wheels. Put that wishbone on it at the rear chained it down in front let it set on a 4x6 wood block at the rear of the frame. My dad had bought a sawmill there. So I loaded part of that sawmill in my pickup bed. and set that sawmills power unit on the frame of the 56 right behind the cab. chained it down securely. Loaded the rest of the mill on dads old ford truck. So we left and my Son Chris was setting on a milk crate steering that 56 truck beong pulled bu a chain thru a twenty foot pipe. had to keep straight because no brakes on the 56. Dad was worried about my rig. said he would follow us. suddenly I looked back and dad was stopped in the road about a 1/4 mile back. My eldest Son Randall jr was out waving at us. So I put it in reverse and backed up. Chris steered that truck straight as a string all the way back. Dad had dropped his driveshaft at the rear end. My sons crawled under removed the U bolts and got the empty caps. We used black tale for needle bearings and clocked the buste out side of the cap opposite of direction of torque. Told Dad I will follow you. made it home without farther incident. I still use that wishbone. We bought a wrecked chevy truck been rolled. the drivetrain was already gone and no front suspension. So we hooked up the wishbone and slung the rear on the wrecker sling. and that thing crabtracked bad. When I was on the very edge of the road the truck was on the center line. We where almost within sight of our corner. When we hear on the police scanner that a cop is heading our way. So we hurry and get hid behind our store building. Go in the house and the LEO comes by lights flashing in a hurry. He reports back to dispatch ive made it all the way to Ravenden Springs and haven't seen anything that meets that description. They must be really picking them up and putting them down! A few minutes later the dispatcher tells him everyone out in scanner land says check out the Guy at the 90&93 junction. So I called that dispatcher and tell her everything is 10-4. The Leo drove by real slow. I stayed inside and kept the gate locked.

 

Did he quit smoking after that? I would have...lesson learned.

 

Ok I took a few pictures of the wishbone. I haven't used it in many years. I now have a tilt top trailer and a set of wrecker dolleys. The last time I used it was to drag a 56 chevy car that has no suspension. one tire a old 6 ply tubeless was leaking at the bead. So I put some tire slime in it and it still leaked so I hooked the garden hose to it and held down the pressure switch and got 60 pounds on pressure in it and 90% full of water. Went and hooked it up used a small chain and a couple of padlocks to attach it securely. hooked it to the 64 wrecker and took off. We where going down the road about thirty five MPH. and this car kept pushing us. so I just slowed down to 25 mph. asshole wouldn't pass us. Then a tire plug blew out of that water and slime filled tire. Every reveloution it shot a high pressure stream of crappy water on that car. The guy backed off and stopped to clean his windshield. The tire went flat. I didn't stop just sped up & kept on going since I was close to a gravel road that I could take a round about way home. to this day that wishbone is still chained to the 56. never bothered to fix the tire. ive welded the spindles to the king pins so the wheels track straight. I pulled it from a trailer. rigged it up to place cypress logs on it and pick up the other end with a tractor three point so we could move them to the sawmill without getting dirt embedded in the logs. the last picture is what is left of the old 64 wrecker.

 

The 56 looks like a good start...
r


Every once in a while, life gets a little more surreal.

 

Years ago a buddy and I bought an OT 69 camaro beater, we had to chain tow it about 20 miles home. It had vice grips holding the steering wheel on and no seats. A few miles down the road I feel the car pulling me sideways when I looked back the front wheels were aimed for the on coming lane and I couldn’t see my buddy. The vice grips had come off with the wheel, he fell off the milk crate “seat “ and was laying in the back. We got that sorted out and on our way again, then it about pulled me into the ditch again this time he was still there with the wheel in his hands but he was spinning it frantically, the pitman arm had come off the center link, I had to use my key ring for a cotter pin to get going again. Finally we got home alive. Then he discovered the title was missing, he had left it on the dash and it blew out! We back tracked stopping to look at every piece of paper in the ditch until we found it pretty close to where we started.

 

Some time ago a buddy bought a 66 bonneville from another buddy about 4 hours away. We went down and commenced to partying so much so that we didn’t (couldn’t) load the car on the trailer. We got up with massive hang overs and proceed to load an aircraft carrier sized Pontiac on a too small trailer. We had to use lumber to get the car high enough the clear the side rails on the trailer, it hung off the rear about 6’. We took off barely able to function because of all the effort to load and the previously mentioned hang over. about half way home my truck lost power and started steaming like a locomotive. We just pulled over and sat there for a while. We had to use ditch water to fill the radiator once it cooled off a bit. When I started it it made some gawd awful noises and wouldn’t idle. Turns out it had spun a bearing. It was interesting piloting that mess through traffic , one foot on the brakes one on the gas

 

Still a little to far away, I love em all but cant help but be a little more of a sucker for a 55 that needs a little TLC

 

Did lots of dumb stuff hauling things, not to be relived here, but man...I need to get out to Ark. with a big assed trailer and visit Old Wolf!

 

For my first real engine swap, in 1959, I bought a 53 Olds for my 34 Ford, that was located in Edgewood BC on the Arrow Lakes, approximately 70 miles from Vernon. It had been rolled, and my original plan was to remove the engine, and leave the rest for scrap.
The Monashee "highway" through the mountains, wasn't much more than a logging road at the time, narrow, all gravel, and plenty of switchbacks. In addition to that, you never knew when you were going to meet a fully loaded logging truck coming in the opposite direction.
My buddy, Wayne, and I loaded everything we thought we would need to pull the engine and set off on our adventure. The trip over went very well, and we thought we were going to have an easy day of it. We found the car parked just off the road in a field. It didn't look too bad from a distance, so it was looking like a straight forward job to pull the engine.
As we pulled up in the field beside the car and started our inspection, it became painfully obvious that there was a problem. The car must have rolled a number of times, because it was mangled in such a way that it was impossible to move the hood or access the engine. I needed a torch or a sawzall, and we were in the middle of nowhere, so pulling the engine was not an option. After spending three or four hours attempting to get at the engine, I finally came to the conclusion that with the tools we had, it was not coming out
Between the two of us, we came up with the brilliant idea that we would tow it across the mountains to Vernon. (If we weren't smart, we certainly were ambitious.)
The car wasn't much more than a ball of twisted iron, with no windshield, and the ass end sticking up in the air, but we disconnected the driveshaft, chained the car to the truck, and started on the journey back home with Wayne driving the truck, and me steering the car.
Now, I don't know how many of you have been 10 ft behind a vehicle on a gravel road for 50 miles in a car with no windshield, but I can tell you, I ate a lot of dust. We stopped about 20 miles into the journey to check everything over, and when Wayne saw me get out of the car, he was helpless with laughter, I was completely coated with dirt, and looked like one of those creatures from a cheap horror movie.
At dusk, we finally got through the mountains and reached a town where we were finally back on paved road for the last 17 miles of the journey. We had to go through town on the main street, and located about half way down, was where the local beer parlour was located. Just as we were passing in front of the beer parlour, a drunk walked out the door and saw us passing by. I saw his jaw drop in shock, and he immediately turned around and walked right back inside. I can remember that I laughed so hard I was in tears. Did I tell you, that tears and dirt don't mix?
The rest of the trip home was uneventful, but it wasn't until I looked in the mirror, that I saw what I looked like. I was covered with so much dust that I looked like a ghost. It took about a week to get all the crap out of my hair.
We called the mission a success, and it didn't cure us, because there is a sequel.
Bob