TR4/4A Well, it had to happen at some point, I suppose...

[TR4A_IRS]

My drive home yesterday took a little longer than I had planned.

I'm sure I can fix whatever broke. I might need some help with the bodywork needed, after a little friendly push from the WSP.

 

[DNK]

EEK!
Ship Canal
Yikes
Broke down there in my 71 VW van one morning in 81.
Was surprised to see the traffic backed up for miles because of me when the WSP'r drove me to a phone

 

[Perrymip]

I'm not so quick as Don to recognize the spot. But it doesn't look ideal for a leisurely road-side repair.

 

[TR4A_IRS]

I took the picture from the right side of the freeway. I was, appropriately, in the left lane when she died. I eased her to the left shoulder, which was about six inches wider than the car, and had a concrete barrier to my left. Any normal car would have still been in the traffic lane. Mr. WSP arrived on scene within minutes. He hopped out of his cruiser, told me the plan, and away we went, across four lanes of traffic to relative safety. He asked if I had called a tow truck, and sped off when I told him the answer was yes. It wasn't until my car was being loaded on the flatbed that I saw the damage he had done. No wonder he sped off so quickly! Too bad the tow truck took 90 minutes to arrive...

 

[Guest]

Make a call and report it, they are liable. Make them pay. Got a better pic of the damage?

 

[TR4A_IRS]

I'm not so quick to take on the WSP.

Where I was stopped was not a safe place to be. I was glad to have been reloacated.

The damage is minimal, but still bothersome. The push bar on the cruiser pushed in the bumper a bit and damaged the paint on the rear valence. The bumper doesn't look damaged, but I suspect the brackets are bent. I didn't have the energy to really inspect it when I finally got it home last night. The trunk handle also took some abuse, and the sheet metal surrounding the handle is a bit deformed.

 

[Lukens]

Just curious, could you have refused the push? I doubt it, but still curious. I'd cringe to see my TR3 being "violated" from the rear.

 

[TR4A_IRS]

Just curious, could you have refused the push? I doubt it, but still curious. I'd cringe to see my TR3 being "violated" from the rear.

I don't really know if I could have refused, or not. I imagine it was a choice of whether or not I got a ticket or not. Where I broke down is a mandatory tow away zone, and I probably could have been cited and forced to take a WSP-arranged tow behind a hook truck.

It was really weird being pushed. The cruiser effectively unweighted the rear, and it felt like I was trying to steer a wheelbarrow, as the rear end went wherever the cruiser went, and didn't care where I was pointing the fron wheels.

 

[Andrew Mace]

I suppose it's a classic case of "coulda been worse"! I'd greatly prefer to be stranded on the RH shoulder than the LH, where the crazies who love the outside lane could care less if there were a Triumph in the way of their cell phone conversation, er, rapidly moving car!

 

[TexasKnucklehead]

Bummer.

 

[MarshgrassA]

Our cars can be fixed as long as we are OK when they break. There are a few areas around here that would be very scary to have that happen.

Hope the fix is painless,
Irene

 

[DNK]

Most people who pass a car not moving on the Ship Canal Bridge figure it's just 'nother jumper!

 

[DornTRoriginal]

Do you think the patrol person would have done the same thing if you were driving a brand new Ferrari? Would they push a car that was in a (fatal) accident off to the side of the road? In my opinion the patrol car should have waited with you, lights on flares out etc. and allowed traffic to go around your car, that you parked off the roadway, safely as possible. Pushing cars is dangerous, I think when you agreed to let them push your car it was a mistake, you were disabled due to a mechanical problem... Then the tow truck driver deal to boot. My experience is that if you don't have any "skin" in the game you don't get it. Tow truck drivers are notorious for messing up cars that are fragile, I have had personal experience with this situation too. I insist on things now and I know people think I am being an #@* but I get stuck taking care of things if it is not done right repairs are a pain and expensive. I am really sorry to hear this happened to you.

 

[TR4A_IRS]

My tow truck driver was a gem. He treated my car as if it were his own.

 

[DNK]

If the WSP officer doesn't move the car ,traffic would have backed up to Blaine.
And just now would be getting back to normal

 

[HerronScott]

Here I was wondering what they were pushing on to have damaged the car. I didn't understand they pushed it with their cruiser!!

I don't see how it would have not been damaged in that situation (and definitely a bummer).

Scott

 

[Perrymip]

Hard issues here. I imagine few of us planned to become curators. We've done what we can, by our lights, to keep these fifty-somthing-year-old cars going because they are lovely to drive.

The case is not that different from fifty or so years ago, when these same cars were surviving our, or someones adolescence, and at the same time trying to ward off assault by the fleet of cars, none of whose bumpers matched ours, and few of which had adequate power-assist steering. Those were times when one routinely parallel parked on busy city streets, replaced half-a-dozen tail lights a year, and counted the creases in the front and rear fenders, despising the offenders who parked by "touch." Still, so many of these cars survived, neglected or not. And many of them stayed on the road: they were so lovely to drive.

I think, from the luxury of the keyboard, that I would have refused to have the car pushed across the lanes of traffic. But, then, I have a TR3, with only "bumperettes" at the rear. I do think some such stance might be worthwhile in these circumstances, and worth the fines, simply to insist on the point: the "Little British Cars" of the era continue to prove their value. They're still here because they are so lovely to drive. And, if they require special treatment, then that's exactly what they should get. The traffic backed up to Blaine should cope by other means.

 

[TR4A_IRS]

Well, I finally had an hour to spend with the car. After a little diagnosis with my multimeter, I suspected the Pertronix. I swapped some points back in, cranked for a bit, and thought I'd misdiagnosed my problem. I thought "what the heck" and gave it another try, and she fired right up!

I guess I just might have become another lover of points. This was the only time my car stranded me in the 19 years I have owner her...

 

[TRMark]

Just started again thinking of switching to electronic. Well, I will put that idea on the back burner again.

 

[DNK]

A lot of people in the 6 crowd have gone back to points from the Petronix.
Me...I'm a lover of a full electronic dizzy, not just the innards