Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
Renz was a college freshman. Having served two years in the Navy up till this point, he was a tad older than the other freshmen and had friends living around the country. For his winter break he decided to go see one of his Navy buddies who was back living in New York - New City to be exact.
One of his college friends lived on Long Island and had a "single" in the dorm - he had brought his massive stereo with him and decided it was too much so he agreed to drive to New York with Renz, share the cost of gas and the driving and get his huge stereo home. They decided to set out after their last finals which put them on the road at about 1PM as I recall.
They made fairly good time and by the middle of the night they were about 2/3 of the way across Pennsylvania. Renz was driving and Mike was dozing in the passenger seat. This was the 1982 Blue Ford Escort that Renz had purchased while serving in the Navy, by the way. The interstate was marked out with cones for construction and the highway had narrowed to a single eastbound lane.
Up ahead, Renz thought he saw something in the road, but there didn't appear to be enough room to maneuver around it so he decided to drive right over it. The noise made as he drove over the wheel rim was enough to wake up Mike who leapt awake. "What the f*#k was that?!?"
The single lane continued and the highway began a long slow incline down into a valley with a gradual curve to the left. As the Escort began to glide down the hill, Renz went to brake to slow a bit...the pedal easily went to the floorboard. "Damn, I must really be tired, I hit the clutch by mistake." But it wasn't the clutch...it WAS the brake pedal. There were no brakes!
Downshifting to keep the car to a reasonable speed, Renz kept driving until they got to the next rest area. It was about 3AM somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Eastern Pennsylvania. An 18-year-old and a 20-year-old far from home with hardly any cash between them. The small amount possessed by Renz being his vacation money.
They paused and tried to decide what to do. Mike said that if only they were at his folks' house in Long Island, his dad's mechanic could fix the car and be trusted. As they had no idea where they were and as Renz figured what mechanic they would find - this may even have been a Friday night into Saturday morning - would likely rake them over the coals - they did what any young, dumb, and stupid American males would do - they decided to press on and hope for the best.
Renz did the rest of the driving - using a combination of down shifting and the parking brake when the car needed to slow - and they hit New York City about 6AM. In the entire trip to Mike's house in Long Island they only missed one turn off due to going to fast. As I recall it was the exit to the Long Island expressway and Renz simply turned around at the next exit.
Once at Mike's folks' house, they got the car to the mechanic's and went to bed. As it happened it was a crushed brake line on one side and a ruptured brake line on the other. With long distance negotiations with the parents, somehow the repairs were covered and the vacation was able to continue on without any further incidents.
Oh, yeah, one other small thing - the fuse for the the horn was blown so there was no horn either...
Renz was a college freshman. Having served two years in the Navy up till this point, he was a tad older than the other freshmen and had friends living around the country. For his winter break he decided to go see one of his Navy buddies who was back living in New York - New City to be exact.
One of his college friends lived on Long Island and had a "single" in the dorm - he had brought his massive stereo with him and decided it was too much so he agreed to drive to New York with Renz, share the cost of gas and the driving and get his huge stereo home. They decided to set out after their last finals which put them on the road at about 1PM as I recall.
They made fairly good time and by the middle of the night they were about 2/3 of the way across Pennsylvania. Renz was driving and Mike was dozing in the passenger seat. This was the 1982 Blue Ford Escort that Renz had purchased while serving in the Navy, by the way. The interstate was marked out with cones for construction and the highway had narrowed to a single eastbound lane.
Up ahead, Renz thought he saw something in the road, but there didn't appear to be enough room to maneuver around it so he decided to drive right over it. The noise made as he drove over the wheel rim was enough to wake up Mike who leapt awake. "What the f*#k was that?!?"
The single lane continued and the highway began a long slow incline down into a valley with a gradual curve to the left. As the Escort began to glide down the hill, Renz went to brake to slow a bit...the pedal easily went to the floorboard. "Damn, I must really be tired, I hit the clutch by mistake." But it wasn't the clutch...it WAS the brake pedal. There were no brakes!
Downshifting to keep the car to a reasonable speed, Renz kept driving until they got to the next rest area. It was about 3AM somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Eastern Pennsylvania. An 18-year-old and a 20-year-old far from home with hardly any cash between them. The small amount possessed by Renz being his vacation money.
They paused and tried to decide what to do. Mike said that if only they were at his folks' house in Long Island, his dad's mechanic could fix the car and be trusted. As they had no idea where they were and as Renz figured what mechanic they would find - this may even have been a Friday night into Saturday morning - would likely rake them over the coals - they did what any young, dumb, and stupid American males would do - they decided to press on and hope for the best.
Renz did the rest of the driving - using a combination of down shifting and the parking brake when the car needed to slow - and they hit New York City about 6AM. In the entire trip to Mike's house in Long Island they only missed one turn off due to going to fast. As I recall it was the exit to the Long Island expressway and Renz simply turned around at the next exit.
Once at Mike's folks' house, they got the car to the mechanic's and went to bed. As it happened it was a crushed brake line on one side and a ruptured brake line on the other. With long distance negotiations with the parents, somehow the repairs were covered and the vacation was able to continue on without any further incidents.
Oh, yeah, one other small thing - the fuse for the the horn was blown so there was no horn either...
5 comments:
Whew! Now, that's what I call a memorable trip, for several reasons. Brakes DO come in handy, particularly on hills and bumper to bumper traffic -- did it for years as a daily commuter. Glad to hear you lived to write about it another day!
Love this! Thanks for posting this.
Of course you had gears! If this had happened in an automatic, how would it have gone?
That is some heroic NYC driving, my man! I confer upon you Official Urban Street Cred.
Although, if you haven't dealt with a squeegee guy outside the Lincoln Tunnel... ;)
Exciting trip!
Eeep. I'm scared just reading this!
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