[DeTomaso] Good news from the Swedish crash

Mike Dailey panteraplace at hotmail.com
Wed Jul 4 12:12:55 EDT 2012


I had my throttle sick wide open on my 1960 Ford that I owned at age 19.  It
was a 292 V8 and a three speed manual floor shifter.   I had the air cleaner
off and when I put it back on it was turned so the throttle lever would
stick open.  I pulled out of the service station and floored it in first
gear.  I started to back off a bit in first gear and realized my throttle
was stuck to the floor.  It all happens in absolute nano-seconds, and by
instinct alone my left hand went for the key and my left foot for the
clutch.  My left foot on the clutch beat my hand to the key and thank
goodness the rpm was limited by valve float.   It sounded absolutely
horrible.   The engine survived fine, but from then on I've always been very
careful with free throttle movement.   

Anyone else have a throttle stick wide open?  I wonder if this type of WOT
crash event could be related to a person that normally drives an automatic
and the instinct is to go for the brake rather than the key and clutch. 

Mike        




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