Tow Bar Disaster
Bullnose, 95/96, 97, Saab Life, Q&A
E-Mail me at: tahoesaabs@wiredinstructor.net
Metal fatigue? More curses from the Chinese gods? Just being
dumb? Actually what happened is a combo of my list of explanations. The tow bar
broke as we headed up into the Sierra, just a mile down the road from the Country
Market at Buckhorn. One thing you don't want to see is the Saab you're towing
in your peripheral vision. The little bullnose snapped loose with that ugly breaking
metal sound and first swung to the right, then back over to the left hand side.
My wife watched this all go down reflected in the vanity mirror. I knew it was
ugly situation and at least had the presence of mind to slow down gradually,
which allowed my Jeep to maintain a lead on the straggling Saab. We were fortunate
too that we were just heading up a grade at fairly slow speed when things broke
loose. As the bullnose came around the left side of my Jeep it lost speed. I
had a momentary glimpse of that deep drainage culvert directly ahead and can
remember thinking the Saab was going in head first. Instead the car lost all
momentum as it headed up hill, veered pack toward the jeep and locked its front
right fender over the jeeps left rear bumper.
Of course I was out of gas...
Result: minor damage to the Saab's
fender, no damage at all to the Jeep. I won't count the stomach lining loss
I suffered, or the thoughts that ran through my head on the rest of the tow
home as I watched the road and saw what 'might have happened' if the tow
bar had gone any where else.
On the advice of a friendly CHP I drove the little Bullnose
the mile up the hill to safe digs. (Of course the bullnose ran out of gas
as soon as I fired it up. Drove to a station, mixed up a rich batch and filled
the tank. She fired right up and died. I ground the starter for awhile before
I found the coil wire had come undone. The screaming two stroke was surprisingly
peppy--punchier than my V4, but the lack of seat belts, poorly bolted seats,
shot front end, and minimal breaks cut into the run...I kept imagining what
it would be like to roll the thing...
Bullnose, 95/96, 97, Saab Life, Q&A
E-Mail me at: tahoesaabs@wiredinstructor.net!