Lemmee tell you about the most ridiculous ride I ever took in an automobile.
A long time ago in a galaxie far, far away........
Well, it was 1964 in Montgomery Alabama.
And my ride was a 1957 Plymouth Golden Fury with a 1964 Hemi Racing engine crate motor w/no warranty.
Coming back from the local outlaw track, I was challenged by my buddy who had a Show and Go customized 56 Buick w/ a supercharged Buick 400 CI dragster engine.
We ran from about 75 up to about 145 and I had pulled ahead almost a car length.
I was in the oncoming lane to his left.
Way down the road I saw a farmer pull on the road and come toward me with a tractor.
So I let off the loud pedal and..........and the pedal came up, but the engine continued to rev!
My buddy kept a constant speed for some time and then realized I was in some sort of trouble and let me come over.
I blew by that Tractor at about 135 MPH. We never did go back to see if the Farmer was OK.
Now I was approaching a major intersection at about 125MPH.
the brakes were not slowing the cardown fast enough, because th engine was still pulling hard.
Well I panicked.
My hand was on the builtup Torqueflight tranny so..............
I pushed Neutral.
The engine momentarily saw 150,000 RPMs (Well it seemed like it!) so I quickly turned the engine off.........
You guys talk about Neutral............
You should try neutral through a redlight (with most of your friends at the drive in on the corner) at better than100 MPH.
The power steering is gone, the power brakes are gone and I am suspended in the air.
My feet are both on the brake, and my shoulders are against the seat back. My hiney is a good foot off the cushion as I pushed with everything I had on that brake pedal.
When the cop got there, about a half mile down the road, I had just lifted the hood and discovered that the linkage on the dual 4 barrels had come loose, and the "front" 4 barrel linkage had jammed down on the intake manifold sticking that Carb wide open.
My fault. We had just put the engine in that thing a few weeks before.
I guess I looked pretty pathetic, because once the cop saw what had happened he let me go.
So the next time you get the urge to Put it In Neutral, think of the Old Man (who was young then) going through a red light, with his
a$$ suspended in the air trying to stop a car doing 100 MPH without steering or brakes.
Little guy.
Big eyes.
BTW the engine survived that little debacle just fine.
Homer