RE: IML: anti-lock braking

["Kristian Oyen" <kandkoyen@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I did my practice-driving in a 1964 Dodge 880 sedan, and then from the age of 19 did all my driving in 50's and 60's Imperials-- and this was in Minneapolis back when we had snow,  cold, and ice. Now we have as our winter-car a 1990 Imperial that I like (and my wife likes even more) for the most part, but those brakes scare us when they take out of our hands the ability to use the skills we were once taught and have successfully used all our driving-lives. To this day, and many cars later, I would choose a 50's or early-mid 60's Imperial as a winter or year-round car, were it not for their rarity and value.

 

Kristian

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From: mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Kate Triplett
Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2006 8:34 AM
To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: IML: anti-lock braking

Hear, hear Ken!

that is called "DRIVING", and is rapidly 
becoming a lost art, IMHO. I watch the dingabts, idiots and yo-yos on the 
freeways of my daily (over an hour each way) commute, and wonder that they 
manage to get anyplace at all. No spatial sense, no ability to mentally 
calculate closing distances or speed, and seemingly a total inability to LOOK 
OUT THE DAMN WINDOW!! for other traffic. Sheesh/......

I remember all too 
well teaching my (now grown) son to drive - he had an insipid little hatchback 
B210 that he had to get running before he could drive it - so we did lessons in 
my Doggy Dodge '81 D-150, with slant 6 and big truck four-speed. Front discs, 
yes, but drums on the back and WAY less weight in the rear than in the front. 
One of the above-mentioned idiots dived out right in front of us at an 
intersection, causing me to lay down an emergency stop. Instinct and good habits 
kept the little pickup relatively straight and we didn't nail the sucker, but 
Son was fairly pale by the time we got her stopped, inches from Idiot's bumper. 
He remarked later that my brake foot was really working - and now he knew what 
the anti-lock systems on Drivers' Ed cars were SUPPOSED to work like. 

Steering, brake and throttle coordination are my preference any day over 
failure prone "automated" systems.

Kate Triplett
proud owner of 
"Lucille" 1968 Crown
Homesick Angels 
Farm
www.IrishHuntersandJumpers.com

<QUOTE>
From: "Ken Lang" <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: RE: IML: Drums to Discs
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2006 05:46:04 -0700
Reply-To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tom,

I have not seen any after-market anti-lock brake
 systems available for any
car much less an Imperial.  For anti-lock brakes to work each wheel needs to
have sensors that monitor their movement.  There needs to be a set of pump
motors that pump in a pulsating fashion to each wheel, overriding your
efforts with the brake pedal.  And this is all controlled by an on-board
computer that thinks it knows how to stop better than you do.

All this was done to get around the fact that most people have lost or 
never had the skill to modulate their brakes in an emergency.  Numerous tests 
over the years have shown that anti-lock brakes are only effective in the rain.
Manually operating your brakes on all other surfaces (snow, ice, gravel,
sand, etc) produces better results than the anti-lock systems.

 Personally, if I could remove the anti-lock system from my newer  vehicles, I
would.

Ken

67 Crown 4 Dr Ht

--- USFamily.Net - $8.25/mo! -- Highspeed - $19.99/mo! ---