The Aircooled Connection

This morning I helped my friend Dwaine tow a ghia to his house. His tow bar had bolts with nuts like I use, but the guy he got the Ghia from swapped them for the stock cotter pin ones. On the way up Northern Parkway, a cotter pin fell out followed by the rod it was keeping in place. I heard a thump followed by some major scraping. In the mirror, I saw the Ghia drifting to the side and geting closer. I slowed down with the Ghia rubbing my bumper. I stopped to see what happened. The Ghia was pressed against my bumper with the middle of the front of the car against the driver's side corner of my bumper. The tow bar twisted sideways and the front passenger wheel was on top of it. We were able to get it off the hitch and straightened out. i found the lost rod but not the pin. I used my key ring to hold it on for the rest of the trip.

morel - Long bolts with nuts work better.

Yikes! That's a very close call. Luckily I've never had a towing mishap myself. Always make sure everything is tightened down, safety chains are on, tow lights work, etc., even if it's just to go a mile or two down the road. (Not trying to accuse you of taking shortcuts Jim. Stuff breaks, bad designs exist, and the unforseen can happens.)