<VV> Powerglide Park

Alan and Clare Wesson alan.wesson at atlas.co.uk
Tue Nov 18 02:38:49 EST 2008


> "how many parking pauls did it have in the transmission?"

'Hi, my name is Paul and I am here to help improve your parking experience 
today!'

(;-))))))))))))

I had a 51 Chev and it definitely had a P position. It also effectively had 
a single-speed tranny, because it didn't shift between D and L - it had L 
but you had to select it yourself. If you started in D, it stayed in D. 
Slush pump and did 9 mpg, but was so-o-o-o-o- smooth...

I also had a 65 Vair on which the parking brake cable failed on a 3000-mile 
trip round the USA. As I was pressed for time most of the time I didn't fix 
it, but just 'drove round it'. It was an interesting experience, though. I 
still have a pic of the car that I took by a road sign called 'Corvair 
Drive' - unfortunately it was on a hill with no curb, so what I did was 
leave the car running but in Drive and facing up the hill, and it stayed 
stationary while I took the pic.

But most of the time what I did was, if I had to park on a hill I got right 
up against the curb and cranked the wheels over so that it was running into 
the curb, and that worked fine. I was also pretty good at finding flat 
parking spaces. In fact, after 3000 miles I had concluded 'who needs a 
handbrake?'

Then I went to a show at the NC Transportation Museum at Spencer Shops, near 
Salisbury, NC, and there was nowhere to park except at the bottom of the 
grass car park, and there was an old disused railway track at the bottom, so 
I just ran the Vair down the hill until it was resting against the tracks, 
and went off to enjoy the show.

About an hour later, a message came over the public address system: 'Would 
the owner of the green and primer-coloured 65 Corvair please return to his 
car immediately'.

I went back to it, to find a train stopped about a yard from the side of the 
car. The track wasn't disused after all. I'm so glad the driver managed to 
stop in time.

After that I decided parking brakes weren't a bad idea after all...

Cheers

Alan




More information about the VirtualVairs mailing list