SCARED TOWING!

Coming off the rotisserie we were finally ready to have the body sand blasted. We rolled the car out, still on the old frame, and hooked it up. Not sure how it would tow and track so we towed the car around the neighborhood. Everything went okay. So off we went to the sandblasters, about ten miles away.

Everything went well.

Two (2) days later it was ready to come home, so off we went again. The weather reports for the day were threatening rain late in the afternoon. My son and I got within a couple of miles from home and everything kind of went south!

We came up to a traffic light and made a right turn and the tow bar snapped and bent at a right angle!! BAD NEWS! Fortunately, I guess, there was a business drive with a lot of room, an unpaved drive and grass just ahead. I pulled over and parked. I ran inside and got got permission to "disconnect" and leave the car while we raced home to bend and weld the tow bar back into shape.

Once home there was no torch so we had to beat the bent section back into shape and use the sheet metal welding wire to effect a repair. It was the only wire I had left! I laid a number of welds one over the other. It look like CRAP! What else could I do? 

Off we went back to hook up and retrieve the car. We got all hooked  up proceeded very slowly. For the first mile it was a straight line with one stop sign. We were crawling with the four way flashers on. Traffic was light. Then we got to the main road, a three lane medium to heavy traffic road and a right turn required to continue! Yeah, it did it again! SNAP!!!

There are business along there, so again we maneuvered in. I knew we could not fix the draw bar with the weather threatening, so I convinced my son to sit in the open body and steer the car to follow the truck. I showed him and had him try the steering to understand it would take some real effort to turn it. I assured him we would be safe going slow and if the bar failed the worst that could happen would be the car slowly bumping into the back of the truck! 

He had to sit on the floor, peering out over the windshield frame and muscling the steering wheel to keep the car in line with the truck!!! I drove with one eye on the rear view mirrors and the other on the road, headlights and flashers on! Roughly half a mile up the road was a traffic light with a left turn lane with an incline, a less busy two lane road and mile from our house. The car tracked reasonably straight to the left and he was able to complete the turn. We managed to get the car home with a final left turn onto our street then a straight line to our house. My son was scared, but he did it!

As we were unhooking the car and preparing to roll it into the garage it started to sprinkle. We grabbed a camera and shot a picture or two and shoved it in .

Later we did an inspection, cleaning and vacuuming the sand and found one (1) small hole in the body that opened during the sand blasting. I spent several days cleaning and epoxy priming the body. As well as repairing and patching the hole, Later, I sprayed the under side, passenger compartment floor and trunk with truck bed liner. Had to buy a special gun and outside air temps effected the spraying. Instructions, in fine print, three pages in said 70 degrees or less!!!   Got the idea from a TV show. Later still, I the did the front inner wheel well liners and interior of the front fenders.

It never did rain that afternoon or evening.

Prepping to leave for the sandblast shop everything all hooked up.
                                                                                                                                              

Different angle of the car and tow bar.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

We made it! The car as it came home from the
sandblasters.

                                                                                  

                                                                                  A different view of the car as it came home.                                                                                Look carefully at the draw bar.                 

The draw bar after after it was removed. We were done towing so it was cut up for scrap.
















                               
                                                                A close up of the failed weld.