Flat towing on the highway is wrong, right?

Safety third, kids.

And that's I-4 heading west towards Orlando. 

Yikes.  Definitely not a Blue Ox towbar attached between motorhome and Saturn/CR-V

I can't say I've never did that back in the day.  I like to think that I'm smarter now but it may just be that since I own a truck and a trailer I'm not tempted.

Did this for a short distance once before, would not recommend...

I'd do it right now if I could.
 

Linkage just let go in my wagon, three blocks from where I need to get it. I'm sitting in a hot parking lot, AAA is supposed to be here by five. It's 2:22, and I've been waiting for 30 minutes already. 

And here i assumed this would be about using actual flat tow bars and brackets. Which is how ive been getting the miata to events since i built it. 

Oh, hell, I've done that more than once, driving the rear car.

When I was between the ages of 11-14.

With 30 feet of vacuum line running through the first car to the brake booster of the second car.  At least on cars that had power brakes.

My father and I did this once to get a dead VW beetle home.  Probably 15 miles or so.   A good family friend helped me tow my dead car 25 miles to his shop from where it broke down on I-26.  I think that time there was a pole on the chain.  

Duke said:

With 30 feet of vacuum line running through the first car to the brake booster of the second car.  At least on cars that had power brakes.

 

Ha! That's brilliant!

way back in '70, I knew two guys...  Towed a large '47  REO truck from Winter Park to Tallahassee with a chain and a '66 Bronco.  

dculberson said:

Duke said:

With 30 feet of vacuum line running through the first car to the brake booster of the second car.  At least on cars that had power brakes.

 

Ha! That's brilliant!

I like that too.

I've done it with a rope and would probably do it again. It was a good rope, securely fastened, and it was late at night. The car sorta ran, so I started it every so often to charge the battery for the lights and get some vacuum in the brakes (or air... out of... the brake booster?)

I had a friend that was pulled over a couple of weeks ago.  He was being pulled by a tow strap.  The officer asked what was wrong with his car.  He replied nothing.  The other car ran but didn't have brakes.  So my buddy was the towable brakes.  The office let them go.  I have been towed but never to be the brakes.

cdowd (Forum Supporter) said:

I had a friend that was pulled over a couple of weeks ago.  He was being pulled by a tow strap.  The officer asked what was wrong with his car.  He replied nothing.  The other car ran but didn't have brakes.  So my buddy was the towable brakes.  The office let them go.  I have been towed but never to be the brakes.

Nothing wrong with the car being towed, car doing the towing had lost its brakes. That was a puzzlah on Car Talk. 

I'll take the 5th.

Altima...

Done that in the past, but not on the highway.

The preferred option used to be hanging an old tire on the front of the pickup and pushing. The push vehicle would slow early coming to stop signs and lights allowing the vehicle being pushed to coast ahead and stop, then push vehicle could creep up and make gentle contact to start things moving again. 
 

Of course that was when pickups and cars had metal bumpers that you could actually push on. 

I am sure I have done things like that in the past , 

I know I  bought lots of dead cars when I was younger but really have no idea how I got them home since I did not have AAA then.

Here In California we do not have the "car trains" to Mexico like in Texas ,  

I must say I would probably do it today if it was needed to get out of a jam , I pulled a VW bus about 5 miles to the next exit on Hwy 101  to help them get to a repair shop and a fan belt !

My Dad and I did that so many times we could do it seamlessly.

For a while there, legend has it that this was a rite of passage at GRM HQ. (I have said too much.)

You'll see a Rav4 flat towing a minivan that's flat towing a Honda Accord on its way to Mexico if you ever drive in Texas. 

A friend and I towed a '67 Citroen DS with no front end sheet metal (but it ran) from St. Louis to KC, at night, in the winter, with a 1960 Citroen ID19 - with a 10 ft chain. There were times I heard the chain dragging on the ground.....The '67 had no exhaust left so he ran it occasionally to warm up the interior, defrost the windshield and raise the car back up off the ground on the suspension . On some of the really long downhills were were hitting close to 90 mph so we could still be doing 40 by the top of the next one

I was after the chassis/body as the 1960 was rusted beyond belief, although the fenders and doors were fine on it. Got it home (to where I worked) and my boss bought it from me (I owed him money anyway) and sold it to another customer - I never got to use it. My 1960 finally broke in half (I'm pretty sure the towing help accelerate it's demise) and I sold the freshly rebuilt motor out of the 1960 to someone else.

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:

I'd do it right now if I could.
 

Linkage just let go in my wagon, three blocks from where I need to get it. I'm sitting in a hot parking lot, AAA is supposed to be here by five. It's 2:22, and I've been waiting for 30 minutes already. 

For the record, I'm still sitting in the same place. Definitely done with AAA. Gave me a three hour wait time, didn't submit the request. Told me three more hours when I called back. 
 

Sending my wife to get the truck, going to the hammer store for a tow strap. 

Yes, with the right guy in the second car.  
It's how I got my Morris Minor Traveler  home  without brakes or a battery.  
      I had jokingly turned on the ignition knowing I didn't have a battery. Turns out if you have a generator instead of an alternator  you don't need a battery. 
 Because I was letting my clutch out to stop the car since I didn't have brakes.  I noticed my dome light coming on. A few stop signs later the  Morris was running and well without brakes I,••• er,•••• kinda, sorta bumped into the truck.  But no damage done.  And hey!!!!     The car's running.  !!!!!!!

  Yep got home, added brake fluid, and rebuilt a dead battery.  I had a running, driving, Morris Minor Traveler for $35.