Karen and I with our '47 Champion, followed by our good friend Ron Kervin with his '63 Cruiser, were en route to the starting point of the Atlantic Canada Chapter's IDYSD weekend tour --- the starting point being at Borden-Carleton, Prince Edward Island, 112 km (70 miles) from our home. We were enjoying a nice drive on a beautiful morning.
We were about 200 metres (600 feet) from the end of the 13-km (9-mile) long Confederation Bridge between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, when the back of our car started to sway, as if a rear tire had gone flat. Ron, driving behind us, saw a big puff of smoke, followed by sparks under the right-rear of the car.
I managed to coast the car off the end of the bridge to a safe stopping point. When I looked for a flat tire, I found that the right-side wheelbase looked a whole lot longer than the left!
The end of the axle shaft had broken off, with the wheel now jammed tightly into the fender.
Ron drove us to our meeting place, only 1 km away. Doug Parkman called a wrecker for us, to take the Stude to his home in Charlottetown.
Besides the broken axle, there is a chip out of the brake drum, the hub is damaged, the backing plate is damaged, one spot on the tire is scraped to the belts, the hubcap is dented and the bottom of the fender is curled in. The tire was jammed so tightly into the fender that it had to be deflated to be removed.
Thanks to our wonderful friends in the Atlantic Canada Chapter, we still had a very enjoyable weekend. Parts are now being gathered, and we hope that the car will soon be on the road --- thanks to our Stude-friends!
And thanks for the thoughtfulness of those who presented us with an ad hoc "Hard Luck" trophy at the end of the weekend --- a nice bottle of locally-produced strawberry and rhubarb wine.
As frustrating as this experience was, we could only think how very trivial it is compared to the suffering and trauma to people in Caribbean nations and the southern United States, due to Hurricane Irma raging at the same time, and Hurricane Harvey a few days earlier.
We were about 200 metres (600 feet) from the end of the 13-km (9-mile) long Confederation Bridge between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, when the back of our car started to sway, as if a rear tire had gone flat. Ron, driving behind us, saw a big puff of smoke, followed by sparks under the right-rear of the car.
I managed to coast the car off the end of the bridge to a safe stopping point. When I looked for a flat tire, I found that the right-side wheelbase looked a whole lot longer than the left!
The end of the axle shaft had broken off, with the wheel now jammed tightly into the fender.
Ron drove us to our meeting place, only 1 km away. Doug Parkman called a wrecker for us, to take the Stude to his home in Charlottetown.
Besides the broken axle, there is a chip out of the brake drum, the hub is damaged, the backing plate is damaged, one spot on the tire is scraped to the belts, the hubcap is dented and the bottom of the fender is curled in. The tire was jammed so tightly into the fender that it had to be deflated to be removed.
Thanks to our wonderful friends in the Atlantic Canada Chapter, we still had a very enjoyable weekend. Parts are now being gathered, and we hope that the car will soon be on the road --- thanks to our Stude-friends!
And thanks for the thoughtfulness of those who presented us with an ad hoc "Hard Luck" trophy at the end of the weekend --- a nice bottle of locally-produced strawberry and rhubarb wine.
As frustrating as this experience was, we could only think how very trivial it is compared to the suffering and trauma to people in Caribbean nations and the southern United States, due to Hurricane Irma raging at the same time, and Hurricane Harvey a few days earlier.
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