Pushing Off a Car to Get It Started

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

Last week I was driving home when I was passed by a truck. As it passed me I noticed a long nylon strap attached to its trailer hitch and was towing another truck behind it. I don’t know why but it made me think back to the days when I remember there were two ways to move a vehicle which could not be started – you could tow it or you could push it.

Many times it took just a few of my friends, sometimes just me, to push the car to get it rolling fast enough to get started. Often it was easier to just solicit a friend to push me off with their car.

Those were the days when cars had real bumpers – metal ones and not plastic ones. If you look at the photo above it appears bumpers were almost designed to fit a front bumper to a rear one. I cannot recall the number of times in high school when my ’53 Ford would not start (normally because of a dead battery) and I had to have someone push me off with their car. I would stand behind my car and carefully guide the other car behind me where its front bumper aligned with my rear one. I would hop back in my car and put it in second gear and hold the clutch down with my left leg. I signaled the other driver I was ready to begin and he would start pushing me forward. After we reached a speed that I thought was ample I would waive him off and I would pop the clutch and more often than not my car would start up. The worst thing that might happen would be getting the bumpers locked together and having to bounce up on down on them to get them unlocked.

As I thought of those days I went online and tried to find a photograph of one car pushing off another one but had no luck. I fear it is a lost art that may fade into history never to be thought of again. With the coming of automatic transmissions in cars, people just quit needing to push other cars off. And with the fading use of metal bumpers such a practice became impossible anyway.

I am sure I am not the only one who ever pushed or was pushed to get a car started. I am seeking some of your own stories about doing so. Have one? Tell us about it with the form below.

Pushin' Too Hard

The Seeds

1965

"Pushin' Too Hard", originally titled "You're Pushing Too Hard", is a song by American rock group The Seeds, written by vocalist Sky Saxon and produced by Saxon with Marcus Tybalt. It was released as a single in 1965, re-issued the following year, and peaked at number 36 on the Hot 100 in February 1967 and number 44 in Canada in March.

Sky Saxon wrote "Pushin' Too Hard" while sitting in the front seat of a car waiting for his girlfriend to finish grocery shopping at a supermarket. The lyrics can be interpreted as the protagonist warning his girlfriend against controlling him, or as a rant against society as a whole.

I am hoping some of you will reply to my request about pushing a car off, either manually or with another car, to get it started. You might even share a story about why you needed to do so. What made you have to get pushed off?

For those of you who still use Knology as a service provider, last week's emails to you were all bounced back having been identified as spam. There is nothing I can do to prevent that. I wish to remind you and all the other readers that the home page can always be reached by just typing in www.leestraveller.com in your browser and the current page can be located in the list of issues on the left side of the screen.

Last Week's Questions, Answers, and Comments

Dianne McClure, LHS ‘64, "Good acting Tommy. I think that would be so exciting. I've always been a little star-struck. Keep us informed."

Richard "Ricky" Simmons, LHS ‘64, "Your essay on Roy Orbison and the accompanying soundtracks were very enjoyable.  Brought back memories of a wonderful time in my life.  Thanks for the memories."

Mary Ann Wallace, LHS ‘64, "Thanks so much to Anna Rogers for taking the pictures of you Tommy in your Young Rock bar scene.  Great pictures and so grateful that you post them for all of us to see.  Great article.  I really thought Roy Orbison was blind or partially blind.  Absolutely love his songs and yes they brought back so many memories of Lee and those songs.  I have been singing them (in my mind) all day."

Phillip Stewart, LHS ‘66, "Loved the Orbison stuff!"

Greg Dixonmm, LHS '65, "I think you have a big future as a barfly, Tommy. You’re a natural!"