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RE:Ever lost a wheel? (non-LBC, but ...)

To: <triumphs@autox.team.net>
Subject: RE:Ever lost a wheel? (non-LBC, but ...)
From: Canada <canada@voyageronline.net>
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 00 22:53:13 -0800
Well, I wasn't going to tell this story, but if not here, where?  (I'm 
not on the Metro list.)

My brother had an old Nash Metropolitan during his college days in the 
60s.  It had been slightly modified to accomodate a pony keg in the trunk 
with the tap protruding through whatever passed for a back seat.  (Sounds 
strange now, but not then.)  One day, after taking it to a mechanic with 
a broken shock mount, he was driving on the interstate at 53 mph--as fast 
as it would go--when he felt a large bump and the right front wheel 
exited the car crossed the median and two lanes of oncoming traffic and 
disappeared in the woods, never to be seen again.  The car rolled well on 
the steep downgrade on three wheels for a few moments until he had to 
make a slight steering correction; then it flipped onto the passenger 
side and continued sliding down the highway.  He found himself standing 
on the passenger door watching a shower of sparks fly beneath the window 
until the Metro finally ground to a halt (with a surprising amount of 
metal still on the skin).  He climbed out through the driver's door--now 
on the roof--without a scratch and consoled other motorists who came 
running from everywhere.  He later learned that the mechanic had somehow 
attached the shock mount to the sheet metal on the body.  He won't say 
what happened to the mechanic, but he gave the car to the towing company 
to satisfy the bill and moved on to bigger, less exciting cars.  (This 
all happened early in the morning and the keg was not in the car.  He has 
often speculated whether a full keg would have given the car the balance 
it needed to remain on 3 wheels until it ran out of momentum, but has 
never put it to the test.)  

Ian
76 TR6 (with 75 ft lbs on every lug nut)

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