Re: CLUNK !

Posted by Dave Brownell On 2017/6/19 9:56:23

Last week, the Esquire and I were the last to leave a local car show because of the "dreaded clunk." Because of a parking space slope, I had set the parking brake first, then did what I normally would not do, I put the button into Park. After the show, I may have released the parking brake first, with foot on the brake, but that's when my clunk moment happened. Nothing worked in any gear, but the relay under the hood was pinging in a normal fashion. Reluctantly, I called my AAA for a tow home after the other 160 cars had left. With the hood still open, parking brake set and miraculously in Neutral, I grabbed the top tank of the radiator and rocked the car forward. This time it was the right kind of clunk. The transmission, now unlocked, behaved itself all the way home. The shame of a nice Packard aboard a roll back carrier was cancelled.

For the past few years, I have behaved myself with both 1956 hardtops by almost never trusting the Park buttons. The parking brake works well enough to not need it. I think it was O-D who gave us that counsel. With automatic V-8s, we'd all do well to keep following it.