[Bobby Zlatkin]

I'll tell one. Dates me and lets you know how much of a street squrrel I was.

Year, 1957 and I was living in Miami at the time. Car club I belonged to (Road Rebels) had a beer party one Friday night at Cranden Beach. Never any cops there so us under aged drinkers could have at it with no police fears. This was back when drinking & driving were socially acceptable.

After leaving the beach we decided to have some races on a nearby road leading to the sewage treatment plant. No one used that road at night. I had a '47 Chevy at the time with Fenton headers and an Offy manifold with 2 one barrel carbs. Was to run a guy with a '49 Chevy to see who had the fastest 6 cyl. in the club.

We lined up together, brought the revs up and I let go of the clutch when the flagman waved his shirt. The other car took off and mine just sat there. I felt something moving, my speedometer was showing 30-35 mph. I figured I was spinning the tires and as soon as it hooked up I would catch him. But, it never moved an inch. So, we pushed my car off the road and I caught a ride home.

The next day I got the local service station guy to go after my car with the wrecker. Lifted the front and started pulling me along. Shortly, thereafter, car pulled up along side and pointed back at my car. I looked back and saw smoke coming from one of the rear wheels.

It seems the wheel, with the axle attached, came all the way out until stopped by the fender well. No C-clip eliminator kits back then. The tire was wasted but didn't blow. We unhooked, lifted the car from the back and he got me home.

That was my first experience with changing an axle with that car. There were more to follow and I got to where I could change them on the spot. Didn't ever have to have it towed again for a broken axle although I had other problems. Like when I somehow got it stuck in two gears at once. Thought I could free it by reving it up and popping the clutch.
That broke the trans case, but that;'s another story.

Thank goodness 1) the fender kept the axle in and 2) the axle broke just past the spline. In fact. every axle I broke broke in exactly the same place.