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Old 10-17-2019, 10:01 PM   #41
Clem Clement
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Default Re: Biggest scare in a Model A

Me and 6 ladies were going to sewing bee and...
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Old 10-18-2019, 03:17 PM   #42
Mad Mac
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Default Re: Biggest scare in a Model A

My wife and I were driving home at night in our 29 RPU with the top off, when we were hit from behind by a drunk driver. He was 5 times above the legal booze limit and was doing about 120 km/hr. The impact pushed us off the road, into a fence and rolled us almost completely over. Amazingly, those fragile-looking w/screen stanchions did not buckle and allowed us to crawl out shaken but unharmed. We were also surprised that the full petrol tank did not leak when we were upside down.

Lesson #1: Always allow for the idiot/criminal factor.
Lesson#2: Even though the single rear tail-light is completely legal, it is too dim for modern night driving, so we now have very bright LED tail-lights.
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Old 10-19-2019, 07:23 PM   #43
Osage Orange
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Default Re: Biggest scare in a Model A

When I bought my first car, a '29 A coupe, I didn't check anything on it before driving it 30 minutes home in rush hour city traffic. Well, first the front brakes weren't working, then I lost a clevis pin on the left rear, so the first stop sign I came to, I locked up the right rear tire and sent billows of tire smoke into the air as I screeched diagonally through the intersection, barely missing oncoming traffic. When I finally got to my neighborhood, the last half block was on a pretty steep hill downward, then the driveway also went downward. I got the car stopped and parked just in time. The emergency brake handle clevis also came out, so as I rubbed the front tires along a brick curb next to our house, the car finally came to a stop. I put it into reverse, grabbed two concrete blocks to put in front of it and learned quickly how to install brake clevises, how to adjust mechanical brakes and how to change and adjust brake shoes. I had icewater in my veins back then. Nothing fazed me. Nowadays, after 17 years of being a newspaper reporter and seeing dozens of horrible crashes, even screeching tires rattles me.
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Old 10-19-2019, 11:35 PM   #44
Synchro909
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Default Re: Biggest scare in a Model A

In 1996, about 200 metres after I entered the Homer Tunnel in New Zealand, the lights went dark. The A behind me was fitted with original style 6v globes in their lights, meaning you had to strike a match to see if they were going. I only had a little light shining past me onto the walls of the tunnel and my own shadow to guide me. The next kilometre or so was slow and I was nervous someone travelling faster would rear end the two of us.
For thse who don't know what the Homer Tunnel is, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_Tunnel
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