Sheer Panic--No Brakes!

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dibbons

dibbons

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I raised the front of the '65 Signet convertible (jack stands placed) to find where the slack in the front suspension was coming from underneath (looks like an idler arm nut came loose at first glance). At the same time, I greased all the zerk fittings (they were all present and accounted for (except the pitman arm had no option to lubricate that I could find). Then I remembered there were no self-adjusters on the front wheels (drums), so I performed a slight front brake adjustment. So far, so good.

Then I asked my better half to come sit in the driver's seat while I spun both front tires (one at a time) to make sure they were functioning to my satisfaction. So I cleaned off the driver seat with a baby wipe and she sat down inside. I explained to her that while I spun each front wheel, her task was to apply the brakes on my command. OK, no questions, so I assume we understood one another.

I didn't want to get my hands dirty, so I spun the front passenger side tire with my foot. Once it got to spin, I gave the command to apply the brakes. The wheel did not stop immediately, but spun a few more times and then gradually coasted to a stop on its own. I inquired as to whether the brake pedal was being applied, and the answer came back: "Yes, it's on the floor". "Oh my, we have a big problem!" I said to myself.

So I walk around the vehicle and stop at the driver's door and peek inside. I see my spouse pushing the accelerator pedal to the floor (Granted, she has been driving for the last 50 years or so at this point). So we repeat the exercise, only on the second attempt the brake pedal is applied and both tires came to a sudden stop. That's a relief.

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Yikes! That's pretty funny. Just think of how many people do that whilst actually driving their cars! :eek:
 
I assumed you smiled and explained it in a nice way?
 
I remember a time when I had to pull my Barracuda up the driveway with my truck. I had my wife in the car and I yelled back at her to take her foot off the brake. I gave the truck the gas and it was obvious the cuda’s brakes were still on. This went back and forth until I got out of the truck to see what her problem was. When I. Asked why she didn’t take her foot off the brake when I asked her to it turned out that when I was yelling “take your foot of the brake” she thought that I was saying “put your foot on the brake”. It’s funny now but we were pretty frustrated with each other at the time.
 
My spouse knows very well how to drive a stick-shift car, but in an automatic she always brakes with her left foot (I'm not convinced that is such a good idea). And her complete stops are not very smooth at all.

Then there is the time I rented a U-haul to move from Texas to California. We towed my spouse's Mazda GLC behind the truck with one of those dolly things that lifts the front wheels off the ground. Well, the truck was loaded to the brim, so when I took off I was not concerced that the truck was struggling a little to get up to speed. Well, I found out later that my best friend who was following behind me (driving my Porsche 914) noticed some smoke during the first hour of the trip but neglected to advise me of that fact. Well, once back in California we found the parking brake was still applied on the Mazda and the rear brakes were toast!
 
dibbons said:
My spouse knows very well how to drive a stick-shift car, but in an automatic she always brakes with her left foot (I'm not convinced that is such a good idea). And her complete stops are not very smooth at all.

Then there is the time I rented a U-haul to move from Texas to California. We towed my spouse's Mazda GLC behind the truck with one of those dolly things that lifts the front wheels off the ground. Well, the truck was loaded to the brim, so when I took off I was not concerced that the truck was struggling a little to get up to speed. Well, I found out later that my best friend who was following behind me (driving my Porsche 914) noticed some smoke during the first hour of the trip but neglected to advise me of that fact. Well, once back in California we found the parking brake was still applied on the Mazda and the rear brakes were toast!
Click to expand...
Had that happen to me when a brake pot screwed up on a grain trailer I was pulling except lost a set of duals in the process
 
She must have learned to drive on a car that had a lumpy cam in it.
dibbons said:
My spouse knows very well how to drive a stick-shift car, but in an automatic she always brakes with her left foot (I'm not convinced that is such a good idea). And her complete stops are not very smooth at all.

Then there is the time I rented a U-haul to move from Texas to California. We towed my spouse's Mazda GLC behind the truck with one of those dolly things that lifts the front wheels off the ground. Well, the truck was loaded to the brim, so when I took off I was not concerced that the truck was struggling a little to get up to speed. Well, I found out later that my best friend who was following behind me (driving my Porsche 914) noticed some smoke during the first hour of the trip but neglected to advise me of that fact. Well, once back in California we found the parking brake was still applied on the Mazda and the rear brakes were toast!
Click to expand...
 
LMAO. I have had my wife help me bleed brakes MANY times, and I read this to her. She laughed out loud.
 
dibbons said:
My spouse knows very well how to drive a stick-shift car, but in an automatic she always brakes with her left foot (I'm not convinced that is such a good idea). And her complete stops are not very smooth at all.

Then there is the time I rented a U-haul to move from Texas to California. We towed my spouse's Mazda GLC behind the truck with one of those dolly things that lifts the front wheels off the ground. Well, the truck was loaded to the brim, so when I took off I was not concerced that the truck was struggling a little to get up to speed. Well, I found out later that my best friend who was following behind me (driving my Porsche 914) noticed some smoke during the first hour of the trip but neglected to advise me of that fact. Well, once back in California we found the parking brake was still applied on the Mazda and the rear brakes were toast!
Click to expand...
I've always braked with the left foot but if I'm driving a stick I change automatically
 
So my wife who likes to drive to the point of,"I don't know if I have enough gas to get to the station." Runs out on her way to the gas station. Calls me. She's about 75 yards from the station. I rush down to push her. Broke my back pushing her fwd Pontiac omg said your car is harder to push than my Roadrunner. She had it in gear....
 
We have a younger friend that is our local beer attendant. Ruby is her real name and her mother Elaine was a close personal friend of ours. Her mother was also a beer attendant for roughly 40 years before we lost her a few years back. Also an incredibly talented painter. Anywho we always try and help or look out for Ruby as she was young when she lost her mom. So one afternoon we had the Coronet R/T out for an afternoon bar crawl and Ruby was just coming off shift. She asked us to take her for a nice country cruise to L'erable so I told her we could do one better. You can drive us Ruby. So she climbed in the driver's side and looked at that tall Inland shifter and then at the floor and had a perplexed look on her face. I asked what is wrong Ruby and she looked at me and with a straight face and replied..."There are 3 pedals in this car" LOL so I drove to L'erable...
 
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