2011Black5.0

Saw a black 67(?) on the way out to irwindale on the 605 hit the back of another car that hit the back of a truck, just wondering if it was anyone here. Sucks, it looked really nice.

Canary94GT

Damn that stinks... hope the guy was ok.

2011Black5.0

ya it looked like it, unless he had a heart attack after getting out and seeing the damage, i bet it just ruined his night

67mustang302

That's why you leave good following distance and pay attention to everything on the road.

2011Black5.0

ya i dont think the guy in the mustang could have prevented it though, the van probably wasnt paying attention and so he just rearended the truck without giving the mustang any time to react to the guys tail lights which probably came on just before the crash. and the guy in the mustang probably couldnt see the truck braking around the van.

67mustang302

Which is why you leave distance, so you have time to react to sudden events. You should have at LEAST 3 seconds following distance, 5-6 gives you a better margin, most people have less than 2.

2011Black5.0

i agree with you completly but i dont even think 8 seconds was enough to slow down from 50 to 0 with about zero warning

67mustang302

At 60mph you cover about 700ft in 8 seconds. If you have an 8 second following distance and are going 60mph and can't react and stop in that 700ft, then you either have terrible brakes and shouldn't be driving that car, or you can't drive, and shouldn't be driving that car. A 4 second following distance still gives you 350ft to react and stop. A 3 second stopping distance gives you about 265ft at 60mph. Most modern passenger cars can do 60-0 in 160ft or less.

If you're running stock factory drum brakes then you're crazy, and with good disc brakes there's no reason you can't stop in time, unless you either didn't have enough following distance, or you had your head up your ***.

2011Black5.0

ya it looked pretty original i wouldnt doubt he had still had the factory drum brakes on there, my dad has a 67 gt500 and 68 gt/cs and he likes to keep things the way they were from the factory, he still has drum brakes on the 68 which sucks cuz that was supposed to be my first car since i helped him restore it but then he and my mom decided it wouldnt be safe for a first car, but hey im not complaining with what i have now

67mustang302

Yeah, factory 4 wheel drums work slightly better than cutting a hole in the floor and Flintstone stopping it.