Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Jim.Walker]

Reading a new topic about Austin Devons prompted a memory of a situation involving one years ago and made me realise that perhaps others could add "one offs" for the amusement of the rest of us.
Anyway, here's the Devon (van) story:-
We operated a fairly large fleet of cars on hire for weddings. This meant that almost every Saturday all available staff including mechanics turned up suitably dressed to drive the various Brides and Grooms to and from their happy(?) event.
One Saturday while preparing a limousine I was approached by a chap in some distress whose Devon had come to a halt with brakes stuck on down the hill.
Now I never lent tools, but knowing that cars with Lockheed master cylinder and wrongly adjusted M/C pushrods or swollen seals could so suffer I lent him a spanner and explained how to momentarily slacken a front bleed nipple to release the trapped pressure (rod brakes to the rear on that model.
I carried on with cleaning and trimming my car and after an hour or so realised my spanner had not returned. Feeling rather miffed I decided to walk down the hill to see if I could find the chap.
I soon spotted the van with a pair of kicking legs sticking out from underneath behind the front offside wheel. Soon I could hear him shouting to people walking past to the Railway Station, but no one even hesitated. At some discomfort to him I eased the car forward to release him.
The moral is: if your lockheed brakes stick on make sure you apply the handbrake before releasing the pressure! The only thing stopping this Devon rolling backwards, down the hill was this chaps torso chocking the wheel.
Fortunately he was bruised but otherwise (physically) unhurt.
Oh, and I retrieved my spanner!

Funnily enough, years later a chap walked in with a similar story from further up the same hill. I dispatched a mechanic to release a nipple on his A40 Farina. While I was telling the chap it needed attention to prevent reccurance the mechanic came back saying he was not going near the car.
The brakes had released while the car was unattended. AGAIN with the hand brake off and parked itself by rolling backwards down the hill through a plate glass furniture shop window and nestled neatly among a pile of smashed up bedroom suites.
Never did hear the full outcome!
Jim.
_________________
Quote from my late Dad:- You only need a woman and a car and you have all the problems you
are ever likely to want". Computers had not been invented then!

[peter scott]

I had a similar experience about 45 years ago. I was working on my sister's 1936 Morris 8 and decided to pump up its tyres. I had been working at the lock-ups behind our local garage. I can't remember why but I decided to push the car around to the garage forecourt where the air line was. Unfortunately the forecourt was up a slight hill from where I had been working. I opened the driver's window and steered and pushed the car up the hill. Well, almost! I ran out of push just as I got near the top of the hill and couldn't get any further. Nor could I reach in to apply the handbrake whilst simultaneously holding the car on the hill. At this stage I decided that I might be better able to push the car if I got around to the back. I managed to get most of the way round but lost my grip before finally getting there. The car then sped off in a nice big arc achieving considerable speed.

Very fortunately for me she managed to steer herself between the various other parked cars before coming to rest harmlessly. Needless to say I then took a very deep breath of relief.

Peter
_________________
https://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[Greg]

All funny stories now, ...but possibly not quite as amusing at the time!

[clan chieftain]

Post Office workshops had mad goings on nearly every week.
I remember one of the Karrier Laycocks had a brake fault and it came in for repair and subsequently was taken out on road test.
The mechanic done an emergency stop and the telegraph poles shot out the front of it across the road. They hadnt been tied in. Luckily the militia werent around and we managed to get them into the side of the road and back into the wagon.
_________________
The Clan Chieftain

[emmerson]

Not my story, and about moderns, but funny nevertheless; a neighbour was proceeding down a rather steep hill near here when he spotted a friend's car stopped in the snow. Trying to stop behind him, John slid his Metro slowly into the back of his friend's Escort. No damage done, so John pushed the Escort to get it moving, and his friend drove away. John turned back to his car to see it disappearing down the 200ft drop off the side of the raod, cos he'd forgotten to put the handbrake on!
He had a very long cold walk to the nearest phone, but I must confess that I could not stop laughing when I went to pick him up!

[Rick]

Years ago I had a Mk3 Spitfire, and a neighbour friend of mine (who was a year older) a tidy 1500.

He was keen, but not very mechanically minded. One day he came over and asked about how to free a stuck starter motor, as he couldn't get the engine to start. I told him to pop it into gear and rock the car gently. This he did, unfortunately he didn't switch the ignition off or push the choke back in, so when he rocked it from behind the engine kicked into life, and - thanks to the choke being fully extended and it being in gear - made off at some speed.

Fortunately the errant Spitfire only sped a short distance away from my dumbstruck pal, managing to avoid the neighbour's concrete & wooden fence thanks to his mum's Volvo 360 being parked in the way. I often wonder how he explained that one to her

RJ
_________________
Rick - Admin
Home:https://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk
Videos:https://www.youtube.com/user/oldclassiccarRJ/videos
OCC & classic car merchandise (Austin, Ford ++):
https://www.redbubble.com/people/OldClassicCar/shop