<e28> fun ride home

[Mike Oatsvall <snormo@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I had an interesting ride home from work on Friday. As I pulled into the
parking lot of Lowes to stock up on supplies for another weekend project I
depressed the clutch and heard and felt a snap. I figured I had blown up a
pressure plate. It's close to needing a new clutch anyway so that idea
wasn't totally off base, but it usually doesn't happen while coasting into a
parking spot.  My clutch pedal was acting like it had a broken neck. At that
point the clutch still sorta worked if I pushed it hard. I put it in gear
and proceeded on home. I managed to get up enough speed and got it in fourth
gear. The problem now was 8 miles and 3 intersections with traffic lights.
Long story short I made it home in fourth gear without having to shift once!
I hit all the lights green and nobody did anything stupid and this was in
5:00 traffic! By the time I got near my house the clutch was totally
inefffective. The pedal stuck to the floor. I couldn't get it out of 4th
gear and I'd never make it up the hill to the house. I pulled it to the
front of my house and turned off the car. How to get it in the garage? While
I pondered this I decided to check the damage. Got a screwdriver and pulled
the panel off and found that the master cylinder shaft had snapped near the
clutch pedal! Never seen this before! I had to get it in the garage, so I
put it in first, hit the starter (BTW, this is a really rude thing to do to
your car) and drove it up the hill into the garage and managed to get it
stopped  without driving through the back wall. I've had master cylinders go
bad but never break in half. Anybody seen this? 
Mike Oatsvall
broken 87 535is  

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