RE: [ihc] About those parking brakes .....

[Tom Harais <THarais@xxxxxxxxx>]

Steve:

One of the most stable, non-4WD vehicles I ever drove in the snow (on
blacktop), was a friend's VW Van.  With the rear engine weight sitting right
over (behind) the rear wheels, even with 6" of snow covering the asphalt I
could get solid traction and drive up and down the hills in the mountain
home area we were staying in.

Being young and foolish (college students) some fool decided that we should
go "night skiing" on the roads around the cabin we were staying at.  I drove
the van, following the skiers down the hill with the headlights on high beam
so they could see.  At the bottom, they would open the rear hatch, sit down
on the bed and lift their still-on-their-feet skis up, while I drove them
back up to the top for another run.

That van never slid or got squirrelly on me at all.  Couldn't say that for
my '68 Mustang which was still sitting on a connector road below the cabins
we were staying at.  I couldn't get it up any slope at all, without
installing chains, so we had abandoned it earlier and walked up to the
cabin.

Tom H., '76 Traveler