Another chapter in the bizarre motoring habits of this land...From the Johannesburg Star.
For those who have missed the previous ones:
(1) Vehicle steered with mole grips on steering column.
(2) Carb fed by gravity feed from 25 litre plastic drum and hosepipe on front seat...
and now this!
Cardboard brake pads were found in the braking system of a minibus taxi that was involved in a collision with another minibus.
The accident occurred at about 7.10am on Thursday after the taxi's brakes failed at the intersection of the Old Vereeniging Road and Main Road in Eikenhof, south of Johannesburg, police said.
Twenty-three people were injured, five seriously.
The taxi driver was charged with reckless driving.
www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=13&art_id=ct20020...1
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Ian
(2) reminded me of a memorable trip to France in about '63 or '64 in a mark II Jag, 6-up and a full load of luggage. Somewhere about Rheims, the electric fuel pump started to fail. Diagnosed by Dad in about 45 seconds. Over the remainder of the day we developed a system where we would coast to a halt, pile out of the car, grab our designated 3 bits of luggage, and the fuel pump, hidden in the rear wing, would get an official whack from Dad and start ticking again. In would go the luggage in precise order (the Mk II wasn't over-endowed with boot space) and off we went. Eventually, tiring of this pantomime, we bought a plastic container and Dad taped it to the radio arial on the front wing. A syphon feed to the twin carbs brought reliable motoring once again, but for an alarmingly short time as the container needed refilling every dozen miles or so.
At a payphone in a hotel in Perpignan, a new fuel pump was ordered and sent to a garage in Frejus, where we were headed.
The rest of the trip was completed without incident, except that on the way home a black Citroen ID19 left us for dead on a long uphill left-hander, with half the engine capacity, and the driver with a cigarette dangling from his lips. Dad was cross, mainly because half the fun of the holiday was spent overtaking French cars and "teaching the Frogs how to drive". He was never at home with "priorite a droite". On that day, however, the boot was definitely on the other foot.
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I remember making up wooden pads for the rear of an XK 150 - only the hand brake, though.
(Was it the other taxi or the one with the cardboard that was being blamed?) :o)
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Do I remember a report somewhere about brake pads made from compressed grass?
Didn't the Trabant have a gravity fuel feed? Wasn't the whole car made from cardboard?
Questions......questions...........
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My Brain Hurts's post reminds me of a cycle camping trip in Fife many, many years ago.
My bike's front inner tube had punctured so badly that it couldn't be repaired and there was nowhere for miles to get a replacement. So we packed the tyre with rushes and grass, which did surprisingly well up to, but not including the point, when an elderly local stepped off the pavement right in front of me as we came down a steep hill into Dunfermline. Brakes hastily applied, at which point elderly local was instantly plastered with a stream of well mulched mixture of rushes and grass, as the weight transferred to the front wheel ! Not *hugely* amused, but he did recover enough to point us to the nearest cycle shop.
DD
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