At 03:41 AM 7/13/02, you wrote:
>--- Ronn Blankenship wrote:
><snip>
> > Actually, the last time I had what could have been
> > classed as a "muscle
> > car" (a '67 Chevy with the 327-c.i. engine and a
> > 4-bbl. carb, though it
> > could go 95 mph uphill with the A.C. running on only
> > 2 barrels), it had
> > very good brakes that stopped me quickly enough to
> > prevent an accident
> > numerous times, even on roads slick with rain or
> > snow. I wish I currently
> > had another "muscle car" like it: as Julia has also
> > mentioned, the problem
> > is all too often that someone comes bearing down on
> > you out of nowhere and
> > the only way to avoid an accident is to be able to
> > punch the gas and have
> > the car respond immediately . . .
><snip>
> > Yes, given the way other people drive, I
> > would much rather be in a
> > "main battle tank" or a "land yacht" with an engine
> > that gives me the
> > ability to get out of the way of an accident or with
> > some solid iron around
> > me (and my family--though I was alone in the car all
> > these times) in case
> > there is no way out.
>
>When I lived in Dallas, I was driving home one night
>from a friend's and noticed headlights coming up fast
>behind me. I flared my brake lights, thinking that
>the driver didn't see me -- he _accelerated_ and
>rammed my car. Cursing furiously, I started to pull
>over into the far right lane (I'd been in the center
>lane) when I realized that I was being paced on either
>side by two _more_ cars. The tapeworm behind me
>rammed again.
>
>By now I knew that if I was run off the road on that
>dark stretch of interstate, I probably wouldn't be
>found alive. I punched the old Thunderbird ("Go,
>Taran, go!") up to 90+mph, praying that a state
>trooper was in the vicinity. One wasn't, but that V-8
>left the bloody pricks far behind...
>
>Hoo-boy, hadn't thought about that incident in ten
>years - raised my heart rate just now, I must say. By
>the time I got home that night I was incoherent with
>fear - but I did get safely home.
>
>Ton-And-A-Half-Of-Pig-Iron Maru
Debbi, I'm glad to hear that you got out of that situation safely.
I must admit that the sticky situations *I* was thinking about where you
need extra power were more along the lines of waiting at a stop sign until
everything looked clear, then starting across the intersection, only to
have a truck appear from around a curve going so fast there was no way for
him to stop, so the only way out would be to punch the gas and get across
before the truck arrived to occupy the space I was currently occupying.
The best way to prepare for a situation like the one Debbi described is
probably to have a 327 under the hood and a .357 under the seat . . .
--Ronn! :)
"Since I was a small boy, two states have been added to our country and two
words have been added to the pledge of Allegiance... UNDER GOD. Wouldn't
it be a pity if someone said that is a prayer and that would be eliminated
from schools too?"
-- Red Skelton
