Toyota Comericals

Some say drivers should be able to stop those cars. If you have ever been behind the wheel of a runaway car, you know that its easier said than done. The first time it happened to me was in a 79 or 80 Firebird Formula. When I stomped on the gas, a plug wire got caught in the secondary linkage and wouldn't let it close. Car would not turn off, and it was almost a disaster. Thankfully, on that car I got it into nuetral and let it rev until I could coast into a parking lot.:angry7:
Happened again to me in a 68 or 69 (maybe 67...its been so long ago I don't remember the year for sure) Rambler Rebel with a 343 Typhoon. As it turns out, if you hammer the gas hard enough in those cars, one arm of the mechanical throttle linkage will flip over and there you go, all out. Luckily that was a 4speed car so it was easy to stop. In both cases, brakes would not slow the car down,or keep it at a steady speed. With both feet on the brake, both cars were still accelerating rapidly.
But the point is, if you have never been behind the wheel when that happens, and felt the panic as you see speed increasing uncontrollably with traffic coming up fast, then there is no way to make you realize how bad it is. I was lucky enough to at least be a car guy, so I could quickly figure out what to try. People who are not familiar with the mechanical aspects of vehicles are really going to have trouble surviving that situation.

You would think that these experiences would be enough to keep my foot off the floor wouldn't you?:poke: