Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong

[masseyrider]

It's amazing, really, that people did get around on bias ply tires and with 2WD decades ago.

It's almost as if they knew how to drive.

And you used your common sense.
Roads are bad, keep your backside at home.
Not I have 4 wheel drive I can go anywhere, anytime.

 

[kenmbz]

We had a vw bug when I was a kid, I think a 72.
It was actually pretty good in the snow with the engine in the rear, and it was always slow.
But clearance could be an issue, and we got stuck going up the hill to my uncles house more than once. We knew to pack small easy to carry overnight bags and trudge up the mile or so until we got to the house.

Most exciting trip was coming the back way after an ice storm with my other uncles granada.
We would drive up a little hill, on the way down slowly go off the road, hop out push the car back onto the road and repeat on the next little hill.
Took us an hour to go about 5 miles, but it was fun for us kids to slide the car back on the road.
Talk about taking a negative and making it a positive.
Had to be ice 4-5" thick on the road for a few months that year.

 

[WinterDeere]

When I got California in 1982 my cousins told me about the slickness of the freeways in the winter from the rain and all the

oil droppings throughout the year.

Here it's leaves. They drop all thru September and October, and any rainstorm in October/November turns our roads into a messy slurry of pulverized wet leaf material. I still remember being a young and impatient driver, and sliding thru more than one stop sign due to wet leaves on the road, until I learned to treat them almost like driving on snow.

PA has a lot of deciduous trees, mostly oak, walnut, and maple in this corner of the state.

 

[BigBlue1]

And you used your common sense.
Roads are bad, keep your backside at home.
Not I have 4 wheel drive I can go anywhere, anytime.

You guys are funny. Growing up in MN winter roads are a way of life. You learn early, playing around whenever you can in slick parking lots and pushing your limits on the roads until you find them. When the bad conditions happen you go about normal life but just taking it easy. We don't have mountains here so inclines aren't a big factor, which surely can give you some challenges. I've driven on a bunch of mountain roads in the winter going snowmobiling out west and there is a pucker factor at times. If MN was mountainous I'd probably have a different theory.

 

[masscity]

When I got out of the Air Force and went to work in the Detroit area. Back then everything was 2 wheel drive. People had

a bad memory, when the first snow hit it was nothing to see 15-20 cars in the ditch on the freeway. My 2nd time working in

Detroit many vehicle were 4x4 or all wheel drive with traction control.

 

[Runner]

When I got out of the Air Force and went to work in the Detroit area. Back then everything was 2 wheel drive. People had

a bad memory, when the first snow hit it was nothing to see 15-20 cars in the ditch on the freeway. My 2nd time working in

Detroit many vehicle were 4x4 or all wheel drive with traction control.

And yet, still people off the road all over the place in vehicles that "in the old days" you wouldn't think you could get stuck....

 

[masscity]

This has nothing to do with snow and ice, but yesterday I was coming home from grocery shopping with 2018 Chevy

pickup with nice daytime running lights. A black pickup, might have been a Chevy was in my lane passing a car as I

met him. I had to go on the shoulder at 60 mph to avoid a head on. I'm not sure if they were stupid or blind.

 

[deezler]

You guys are funny. Growing up in MN winter roads are a way of life. You learn early, playing around whenever you can in slick parking lots and pushing your limits on the roads until you find them. When the bad conditions happen you go about normal life but just taking it easy.

Yeah this is how it used to feel in southern Michigan, too. We'd often have continuous frozen roads and accumulating snowpack from ~ new years until March. So everyone had to know how to navigate slippery roads daily.
But more recent winters? Any snow we get just melts within a week. People are losing their resilience and experience in winter driving - it can happen quick.

 

[bigtiller]

I had a new '73 Gremlin with a V8 and 3 speed on the floor.
During the winter we seldom used first gear, the rear tires would spin to easily especially on ice.

 

[WinterDeere]

I had a new '73 Gremlin with a V8...

Damn! At some point, you'd think they'd just bolt wheels straight onto the engine block, and mount a seat on the thing.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

I did too, but that little Ford ranger was only 94hp. By keeping it in third, I had little slippage. If I felt it slip I would back off the throttle.

Ah, I had try mastering a whopping 110 hp.

And you used your common sense.
Roads are bad, keep your backside at home.
Not I have 4 wheel drive I can go anywhere, anytime.

Actually, I did the exact opposite. The more it snowed the better, so in good snow storms I was out there slipping and sliding having great fun. Pretty much alone.

A few years later I really got into 4-wheeling and quickly learned that 4WD can indeed take you places a 2WD can't reach, but still a very long way from everywhere.

 

[masseyrider]

I had a new '73 Gremlin with a V8 and 3 speed on the floor.
During the winter we seldom used first gear, the rear tires would spin to easily especially on ice.

I had one also.
So nose heavy that in a minor turn on a slick surface it could suddenly spin around. Normal speeds, no warning.
It was pretty fast with the V8 but definitely not a winter car.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

I had a '74 Gremlin X 304 V8. Then put a 360 in it and street raced. Never lost a race. Then I put a 390 in it, ran it a bit, saved 390 and gave it to a friend. He put a stock 401 in it, traction bars and 9" slicks. It ran 7.10 (1/8), 10.75 (1/4). About 3,000# V8, driver, gas.

 

[California]

Wet leaves on curves - those are hell for motorcycles.

And I recall an uphill curve on a narrow principal street in Berkeley that needed some throttle to climb the grade. But in the middle of the curve there was a worn shiny manhole cover. First rain, it was like glare ice. Spooky on a motorcycle.

 

[masseyrider]

Almost forgot.
Mine had the Levi's interior.
In the day I had Levi's shoes, pants, shirts, jackets, belts and a car.
Talk aboot hungup on denim.

 

[Dftodd]

And you used your common sense.
Roads are bad, keep your backside at home.
Not I have 4 wheel drive I can go anywhere, anytime.

Sometimes you don't have that option. If your at work and the storm hits, you do what you gotta do.

Sometimes you can't get out of work and gotta be there no matter what.

My wife falls into that category being a nurse. Missing work because of the weather isn't an option for nursing staff.

People still need to be taken care.

I was off work for a week due to a major storm. I got up every morning and took my wife to work in the truck, and then picked her up at the end of her shift.

 

[Dftodd]

You guys are funny. Growing up in MN winter roads are a way of life. You learn early, playing around whenever you can in slick parking lots and pushing your limits on the roads until you find them. When the bad conditions happen you go about normal life but just taking it easy. We don't have mountains here so inclines aren't a big factor, which surely can give you some challenges. I've driven on a bunch of mountain roads in the winter going snowmobiling out west and there is a pucker factor at times. If MN was mountainous I'd probably have a different theory.

Same principal in Vermont where I grew up. Unless there was an ice storm that went through, we still had to be at work.

The boss might call and say to come in an hour later if we got a foot of snow the night before, but that was about it.

On occasion we might get sent home a little early if it's really coming down and the road crews couldn't keep up.

 

[kenmbz]

We had a pacer , no trouble with sliding out in that slow beast.

My father at one point bought a v8, it was a small chevy monza.
Loved racing people as they all were sure it had a slow 4 cylinder.
The surprised look on their faces as we went flying by.

That car was so heavy in front, from a standstill could do a donut just by hitting the gas.
We did not drive it in the snow or rain, could barely stick to asphalt.

Had to replace the wishbones up front and motor mounts a few times as they were not made to handle the engine weight and torque. It was the California version with supposedly 140 HP.

It was an awful off white, not the same but close to this:

 

[Dftodd]

When I got out of the Air Force and went to work in the Detroit area. Back then everything was 2 wheel drive. People had

a bad memory, when the first snow hit it was nothing to see 15-20 cars in the ditch on the freeway. My 2nd time working in

Detroit many vehicle were 4x4 or all wheel drive with traction control.

Try Arkansas where you get maybe 1 to to winter occurrences a year.

It absolutely blew my mind that school would be canceled for almost a week because of a couple inches of snow and ice

Around here it's the bridges. People will tailgate each other, come onto a bridge and realize it's iced over.

What happens every time is as soon as that first person in line clears the bridge, they slam on their brakes and create a cascade effect of 6 to 8 vehicles rear ending each other

 

[Dftodd]

Damn! At some point, you'd think they'd just bolt wheels straight onto the engine block, and mount a seat on the thing.

Someone's done it

Here's a v8 powered Bar Stool