Towing a car, usually for some distance and at moderate speeds, is completely different to slipping a car out of gear for a few hundred yards at most.
I THINK my favorite UK coast (A83 from the top of the "Rest and be Thankful" pass down to Arrochar) is several miles long (havn't measured it) and I know it can be done the whole way engine-off if you don't have (or can do without) servo-braking.
I wouldn't be surprised if there are longer ones in Scotland, but that's the best one I know of. You need to keep your nerve and avoid braking where the road kinks across the burn, to conserve momentum.
I remember driving down that road in my 1946 Rover 16. The brake fade from the all drums braking system was fierce and the smell was vile.. Quite scary..even with a lower gear engaged...(It had a freewheel fitted but I locked that..)
If you don't brake, you avoid that problem :)
Ah, a freewheel...I would love a freewheel. A neighbour had an old SAAB 99 that I coveted which had one, but he said it scared him so he didn't use it. Waste of good machinery.
It gave him some problem with the handbrake (bit complex on those because its on the front (driven) wheels) and he scrapped it.
I'd moved by then and didn't find out until much later. I bet I could have fixed it without too much trouble.
Some people don't deserve old cars.
Edited by edlithgow on 07/03/2018 at 02:53
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