I was approaching an intersection with a busy highway from a narrow
side-street. As I crested a small rise (about 50 yrds from the highway), I
applied my brakes only to find I hadn't any (catastrophic--in
Spades!--Master Cylinder failure). Unfortunately, I had not found the time
to install the replacement Parking Brake cables that I had acquired, and
could only try to slow down with the engine. To make a long story short,
first gear proved insufficient, and I couldn't jam it into reverse, so, at
the speed of about 4 mph, my poor truck (with me still in it) rolled
underneath the trailer of a passing (at 50 mph) 18-wheel semi-truck.
Needless to say, I survived (the 'net hasn't reached the afterlife yet), but
the poor truck didn't (well, I was able to make a trailer from what was
left, and, beleive it or not, my "pet" 327 V8 was rebuilt to run again!).
The Morals of the story (and the reasons I presume to include it on the MV
list):
1) Give that parking brake a try: had mine been working, I'm certain that
it would have been just enough to prevent me from losing that truck,
2) Take brake work seriously: I would have had the parking brake had I not
put it off for more "important" things,
3) When heavy vehicles (like most MVs) lose braking, they go wherever the
hell they please, and
4) When heavy vehicles (like most MVs) interact physically with other
vehicles, it's damn hard to "Keep'em rolling" afterward.
Steve Allen
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