Corolla New Year 1983

I had my license for almost a year and I was working at Tom Thumb convenient store on New Year’s Eve. It had been snowing all evening with six to seven inches of snow on the ground and still coming down fast. I worked late 10 or 11pm. My 1969 Toyota Corolla needed gas and I went to the gas station across the street from the store. I started the car up and depressed the clutch and was greeted with a loud TWANNNGGGG! It was not hard to figure out the clutch cable had snapped, since pushing the clutch no longer did anything.

I only lived nine blocks away, but friends and relatives were back at the house for a New Year gathering and I wanted to join. I was determined to get myself and the car back home. The only gear that I could get the car into was reverse.

Still snowing like crazy, the roads were empty and unplowed because it was close to New Year midnight. I took off backwards down the street. Now the heating system apparently was not designed for Minnesota winters, the defroster could barely keep the windshield clear with the highest heat and fan settings. The back window was impossible to see through, snow piling up on the outside and condensation on the inside. I opened the driver’s door and tried to guide the Toyota home. Reverse progress was tedious and the rear wheel drive Corolla was kicking snow in my face.

I stopped and rethought the situation. I was unable to put the car in gear while it was running…… I turned the car off and started the car in 1st gear. Wow, much better forward motion, 1st gear still a kind of slow for an anxious teenager. I eased up on the gas and shifted into 2nd without the clutch. Progress yeah!

Getting close to home it was time to make some turns. Understeer, I discovered, is a big issue for a rear wheel drive car with no clutch and brakes that only stop the front wheels. I glided through the first couple of turns, now coming up to house.

The driveway is a typical right angle off the street, but at a pretty good incline. I needed enough momentum to get up the hill but not so much to launch into the neighbors floor to ceiling picture window. Turns out I had no problem with either. The downward slope of the street, slippery snow and constantly powered rear wheels meant the car literally slid right past our house.

Oh well, I was pretty patient for a teenager, I just drove around the block, no problem. First two corners were fine. The third was a “T” intersection, and did not go well. The Corolla exploded through the accumulated snow on the boulevard instead of around the corner. It was quite dramatic, so I got out and inspected the damage. Cool, no trees no damage, although there was a lot of snow accumulated on the edge of the road that year, it was still early in the season so the snow was relatively soft.

Now to get the car out of this mess, the Corolla’s poor snowbility had made me an expert rocker. That ability was stymied without the clutch. Using the slick snow covered roads to my advantage I started the car in reverse and the car moved back until the front wheels hit that hard lower edge of the plowed, packed snow mixed with salt and sand. So close…. I could ease up on the gas and roll a bit forward, then punch the gas again and it would just about make it over and then the rear wheels would lose traction and slide forward again.

All it needs is a little push. (insert light bulb here, probably a 2 watt incandescent, a fluorescent or LED would be way too bright) I started the car in reverse again, got out and went to the front of car and pushed. Almost, almost, almost, a few times and then with a burst of energy shoved it over the edge. Woohoo! The car is out! Then I watched as the car backed away from me. Shoot, I ran after the car and reached the bumper guards and grabbed them. YES! Nice, but now the car just kept on going gaining momentum pulling me along dragging my feet in a scene that could have been an inspiration for another idiotic Jackass episode, “Driverless reverse snow car skiing” It did not last long though. The Toyota crunched to a halt and I slid over the hood up to the windshield.

The combination of harder packed snow and lower speed ramped the underside of the trunk to the top of the boulevard snow ridge. Surprisingly, I was unharmed and even more amazingly the car seemed undamaged hitting the mound of snow in between a tree and telephone pole. The Corolla was still smoothly idling along. It could keep running without the clutch, because even with the suspension completely extended the rear wheels were both spinning uninhibited six inches off the ground.

Feeling somewhat defeated and more than a little stupid, I walked the block back to the house. I greeted the New Year celebrants and simply explained my car was stuck and I needed a shovel. Some people offered to assist, but I refused, I did not have the energy to explain everything that happened. I walked back to the car and shoveled the snow out from under the car and the rear wheels eventually were back on the ground. That was not enough though; much more snow had to come out for the wheels to get enough traction to extricate the Corolla from the great white menace. I do not remember how, but once the car was free I was able to get the Toyota into the driveway. There was no way I was going to begin the New Year digging that car out of the snow after it had been buried by a snow plow.

I have more car pictures set up by make in my Flickr Collection at this link: www.flickr.com/photos/greggjerdingen/collections/72157631...