Towing with strap ugh!

I once flat pushed a Toyota truck with a visible-from-the-outside crankshaft.  I hung a tire off the front of my 1976 Impala as a cushion.  I could push the truck, then back off if necessary. 

In reply to tuna55 :

I saw one guy flat towing a VW Thing behind another VW Thing on a highway in Canada in rush hour. They were going like 25 mph. That sort of thing can lead to trouble.

Especially if the Cat in the Hat shows up. 

just saw someone yesterday tow strapping a car down the freeway. 50-55mph.  Scary E36 M3 right there.

Many years ago, I was driving an '83 boxy Toyota Tercel to my Dad's to replace the clutch because I had tried and hit my limit. So I put it together again and headed his way.

Halfway there, 40 or 50 miles to go, the clutch was no more. I knew it had been slipping, but at this point, the friction material was done. Just done. And I was on the side of I-95. A friendly Trooper ran me up to the next exit so I could call my  dad for help. 

And he arrived about an hour later, with a big 70's Chevy pickup, a length of chain and two long iron pipes. After hooking everything up, and getting rolling a bit, the car's steering locked and oscillated its way back to the shoulder. At least at this point we were off the highway. 

After some convincing, and one more try with the steering unlocked, i piloted the towed car, braking as soon as his taillights came on (and only overbraking when he wanted to speed back up a couple of times!). It kept a lot of slamming out of the tow, since I could steer and stop instead of beating on the pipes & chain. He wasn't keen on the idea, I wasn't keen on the beating my only car was taking. In hindsight, it probably kept us from breaking the chains over the duration of the tow. 

He picked a route for least police visibility since what we were doing was likely not legal, and why invite trouble?

And he was able to get everything apart, repaired, and back together and me  home before the weekend was over. 

Ah, memories!