Re: IML: Imperials, Safety, and Defensive Driving

[RandalPark@xxxxxxx]

I will stress for the last time that great new style brakes do not replace a safe following distances and slower speeds. It may be extreme, but when I drive my Imperials (or any of my cars) I pretend that they don't have any brakes at all. I always WANT them to work, and do my best to keep them working perfectly. My Driver's Education teacher in Southern California said that if we are depending on our brakes to save our lives, then we are not driving defensively.

If a driver is always having to make "Panic Stops" then it isn't the traffic as much as the driver, that is causing the problem.

Buses and trucks don't stop very well either, yet considering how many of them are on the road, they seldom rear end other vehicles. I believe that is because they are "professional drivers". We could all use lessons on brushing up our driving skills, but most of it is patience and common sense. Everday I see people driving down the road at 70 mph talking on the phone. They couldn't possibly be prepared for an emergency. I find it offensive that these folks think that driving is so unimportant that they think it is a waste of time to concentrate on what they are doing. There! Now that I have said it I will shut my trap!

Paul

In an email dated Sat, 22 1 2005 11:46:21 pm GMT, "Wm. R. Ulman" <twolaneblacktop@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

>Joe Machado wrote: ?I told them no body would dare to get in front of us as
>they would die. ? ?Its the real thing. ? Maybe the real name for Imperials
>is Luxury Performance Economy Car.
>
>I drive my Imperial daily, and on the freeway too all the time. ?When
>traffic is real bad, and that is everyday around here, I always try to leave
>enough room to stop if required to do so suddenly, and quickly. ?As we are
>all aware, Imperials are not new cars, and with any and all discussion aside
>about brakes, and assuming your Imperial's brakes operate in tip top shape,
>our cars will not stop as fast, or in as short a distance as virtually ANY
>new car. ?Plus, we have lock up to consider in real panic stops, which
>luckily have been rare, but have happened.
>
>My cars, in my experience with all my Imperials, '62 Crown 4dr & '60 vert
>with Lockheed Dual Center Plane Full Contact Brakes exclusive, of course, to
>Chrysler, and my '63 Custom 4dr & current '66 vert with the more modern,
>standardized, Bendex brakes, which by the way both have had the
>self-adjusting brake kits installed, which the '60 & '62 did not, and could
>not have, each has had the rear end cut loose, and go sideways, not
>fishtail, but, well, you know, just cut loose, which creates a hazard to
>cars in the lane next to you as well as in front. Anyway, I drive
>defensively, and like an adult (95% of the time), and have the insurance
>rates to prove it, but you know how it goes: your in traffic, and people
>will suddenly cut you off to gain one half a car length toward their end
>destination, usually little zippy, nimble cars, such as Honda, or Toyota, in
>example.
>
>Well sometimes, at least here in Seattle, if a person is in bumper to bumper
>slow moving traffic, and is on either side, and puts on their signal to move
>into my lane I will be gracious enough to back off a bit, and let them do
>so, and get the polite "wave" of thanks. ?Sometimes though, you get some
>jerk, or jerkette, who feels as if by putting on their signal, that action
>instantly overrides your right to remain in your spot, and with very little
>room between me and the car just in front, like less then 5 feet in heavy
>traffic, they just start to merge right on in when I'm right there! ?As if I
>am just going to brake and passively let them rudely push their way in. ?I
>have been known to, on occasion, lay on the horn, push the gas, and assert
>my position. ?To date, none of these perpetrators has followed through in
>this little exercise in playing "Chicken", and hit me, or merged into me as
>it would be stated in the police report, but have retreated in haste, often
>with quite expressive hand gestures, some I recognize as a well know
>international symbol, and some flailing some communication I can't decipher.
>Perhaps they were speaking in ASL (American Sign Language). ?If the top is
>down, sometimes I can hear there verbal communications of gratitude in my
>letting them know I was in the spot they wanted to take over. ?I have heard
>these words of thanks in many different languages as Seattle is a very
>culturally diverse city, and has people from many different lands. ?They
>then know that the set of headlights they saw in their mirror was not a
>figment of their imagination, but was actually just a portion of a whole car
>of 20 feet, and not another Mazda, or Focus. ?If a real emergency, God
>forbid, were to occur, and I hit someone, you can bet I won't just hit it,
>I'll be going through it. ?I really hope that never happens. ?I have been
>rear ended before though, in my '63 and that was not pretty. ?No damage to
>my car, just hair line scratches on my bumper, but her car was totaled. ?Got
>my bumper re-chromed out of it though!
>
>Drive safe, and be well all,
>
>Bill Ulman
>Seattle, WA
>
>
>
>


-----------------  http://www.imperialclub.com  -----------------
This message was sent to you by the Imperial Mailing List. Please 
reply to mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your response will be 
shared with everyone. Private messages (and attachments) for the
Administrators should be sent to webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To UN-SUBSCRIBE, go to http://imperialclub.com/unsubscribe.htm