trailering

[JHertzman@xxxxxxx]

In AD7-445 Mouse free Bill Harkell wrote "So I should feel ok about dolly
towing a Spider home last night with the 168? Lemmee tell ya, the car survives
but you sure know its back there. Lighter trailer should be a delight. I would
not hesitate to tow a light trailer. I would limit it to around 1500 lbs max
though..."

Reckless (or perhaps Lucky) John responds that he dolly-towed a '78 Sport
Sedan from Jackson, Mississippi to Raleigh, N.C. (778 miles) with a
Volkswagen. (Genuine, not wabbit). Worst thing was it was August, 100 f, no
air con. More recently he dolly-towed a GTV-6 from Atlanta to Raleigh (a
piddling 377 miles) behind a Mazda. Dollies are a snap, so long as you don't
have to back up.

Truth be told I once got in trouble (whipping) pulling a U-Haul full of
household furniture and car parts behind an MG TD, chickened out and had a
moving company do it. Youth, inexperience, probably mediocre shocks, not just
that the car was British. And later another U-Haul full of household furniture
made hash out of the transmission bearings of an MG 1100 Saloon, and the
transmission flotsam in the shared lubrication made mincemeat out of the
engine. My next car was a Giulietta, praise be, and the next after that was
the Giulia Super which towed our living quarters around Europe for two years
without a problem. I recall Roy Salvadori was towing the same sort of trailer
around the racing circuits with a Porsche at the time, apparently with no
inhibitions. 

I can't speak for the FWD Alfas as tow-cars, but most earlier Alfas had brakes
and power trains which were beefier than they needed to be for standard light-
duty passenger service, and the direct-fourth in the five-speed box eliminated
a lot of cruising worries. The Giulia Super did its two-year stint on one
clutch disk and one set of brake pads. Great cars.

ah, nostalgia-

John H. 
Raleigh N.C. 

------------------------------

End of alfa-digest V7 #446
**************************