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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