I love guys like Nicolas Cage because they are masters of embellishment and
we love every minute of it. This sounds like a script for a movie. No
truck driver would have had enough time to get on the horn and tell him to
reverse. By the time he said the word reverse he'd already be dead.
How do I know this?
I did the exact same thing on the M5 in the Uk when I rented a new BMW Mini
to go visit a friend in the hospital in Salisbury. The gearbox
malfunctioned and allowed me to shift from 5th to reverse on the freeway (I
was still getting used to the car), and I came to a screeching halt on the
highway as the motor died and the front wheels locked. Big lorries were way
way to the back but in no time they were passing around me with horns
blaring, two seconds at most. There was zero time to say anything. I
managed to restart the car and continue on by punching the throttle,
avoiding any accidents. Hate to be the person who bought the car second
hand from the car rental agency! FYI I will never buy on of those BMW minis
with the rover gearbox, the gearbox is pure crap!
Alan
On 1/19/08, Patton Dickson <57healey@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I've liked him since Raising Arizona
>
>
> The whole article is here
>
> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/live/live.html?in_article_id=5
> 09071&in_page_id=1889
>
> *I nearly killed myself in my favourite car.* I had an Austin Healey with
> a
> Ford V8 engine placed into it like a makeshift AC Cobra. Then I hired a
> mechanic to put in an automatic gearbox. I was driving on the 405 in
> Hollywood, went to light a cigarette and my hand got stuck in the
> transmission. I shifted the car from drive into park and the car
> fish-tailed
> on the freeway. I went into a 180-degree spin and ended up facing traffic
> head on. All I could see was this huge truck coming towards me; the driver
> got on the CB loudspeaker and screamed at me to put the car into reverse.
> I
> was in total shock and I just did it. I reversed all the way back until I
> found an exit. It was crazy. I could have died so for a while I was in a
> very odd state of mind. It's probably the most dangerous thing I've
> survived.
>
>
> --
> Patton Dickson - http://Austin-Healeys.com - Plano, TX
> 1957 Austin-Healey 100-Six "Built to run 'til the road wears out."
_______________________________________________
Support Team.Net http://www.team.net/donate.html
Healeys@autox.team.net
http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/healeys
http://www.team.net/archive
|