Drove the car yesterday for my mom's wedding approximately another 70 miles or so. It drove well for the first 50 miles or so. As I was leaving the reception I went to park my car in their driveway which is kind of uphill and once I put the car in park, the car just started sliding backwards. I slammed the brakes and nothing happened. The car went over the curve and hit a tree. I pulled the car forward and there was no apparent damage to the car or property at the time, but a red light appeared above the speedometer after the crash.

Then as I was about to leave with my mom and step-dad the owner comes out and starts demanding my mom money since we had 50 more chairs. Actually what happened is, we got to the reception, the table arrangement was screwed up, everyone was at the wrong table, some people had no where to sit so they added tables and chairs, my relatives were serving food because their waiters weren't doing jack, it took forever for the food to get out, the employees were giving everyone an attitude, the main course wasn't even cooked well (by then half our guests left early), and when we agreed on free valet the valet workers were demanding people $3 tip. The manager's response to all this was we f'ed up a little so let's call it even. The owner's response was, "I want more money because we counted 50 more chairs." Of course this all occurs by my car and I'm already pissed off so when he says that I open my big mouth and tell him, "For what?! Sh!tty service?" He gets "insulted" and starts ranting. I then go to walk to my front door to put my jacket in the car and he stands in front of my door saying, "I can't let you leave." I respond and say, "I'm putting my jacket in my car." He repeats, "I can't let you leave." I responded saying, "Well, I'm not leaving." And he repeats it one more time and that's when my step-dad steps in and tells him what he's doing is illegal because he is holding me hostage and keeping me from my property.

So more of my family comes in trying to talk the guy down and the guy eventually calls the cops because we didn't pay the money we "owe" (not because I yelled at him). We all said, "Go ahead, we did nothing wrong." Cops come kind of annoyed and hear both sides to the story saying it will probably go to a small claims court. Cops didn't even bother talking to me but one of my mom's cousins made sure to file a report for keeping me from my car. As we are about to leave and the cops are waiting for us to go, the manager goes up to my mom and my Aunt and starts apologizing. Then he comes up to me and says, "And you, you need to just chill." I got pissed off at him and said, "Well you! You have crappy service, and right now I am chill."

So I limp the Dart home slowly and on the last big hill to my house I had major brake fade. The car wouldn't let me shift it to 1st gear to lower the speed (I was in 2nd), brakes didn't work (it didn't occur to me to pump it till afterwards), hand brake didn't work. So at the light (green) I made a sharp right turn at 30 mph and took it home another .5 mile. I checked the car this morning and frames look solid, there's just a small scuff on the bumper, and the rear quarter panel paint is chipped. I just want to park it in the garage right now and not look at it for a long time.

I just took my mom and step-dad to the airport and my lower back is kind of sore so I may go to the hospital today or tomorrow. Besides that the wedding ceremony was perfect and I did have some fun with my family dancing.

So that's my night. Don't expect too many updates on the Dart any time soon.

Wow. That is quite a day. Step away from it for a week or so. The bug will hit you again. You've waited for a while to get something, I'm sure it won't be too long before you are itching to get going again.
I just lost the front brakes in my Swinger. Hope to get to it to diagnose the origin this week. Seems to be left side front. Line, hose, caliber. I'm betting hose.

Sounds like your master cylinder is going out. Put the car up on all corners take all the tires off and check the brakes. I've had new wheel cylinders leak also so you might want to check the old ones. Also you could have a brake hose that is bulging from a blockage.

When you have the car up find the gear selector on the transmission, unhook the selector lever rod and move the gear selector all the way in park and adjust the rod to he selector.

You probably need to adjust the drum brakes also when you pull the drums. Look for he star wheel near the bottom of the backing plate.


Don't get discouraged its probably only the master cylinder a fix that takes less than an hour.

Yeah, one of the best parts of the day for me was driving around in it. Although some of my passengers complained about no AC and how the interior may be "dirty," I still enjoyed it till the problems arose. But I'm done with it for now. Just waiting to move the cars so I can park it in my garage.

Just wondering if you were done being mad at your car yet and started working on it again?

Lol. That self preservation instinct is pretty strong in most!

I'm going to order some line wrenches tonight and within the next week or so I'm going to go buy a jack with some stands from Costco and Harbor Freight (respectively), so I'll be working on the car soon. I also have to fix the door alignment and window issues still... That's another project on its own.

O, and how do I check brake fluid levels? That's one I forgot to and didn't know how to check when I first bought the car.

I'll check the '69 service manual just to make sure. Now, if I'm lacking brake fluid and I add some, will I have to bleed the brakes?

If it is low, no. If it is bone dry, you probably will have to. Did you have a brake leak, or did they just stop working?

No brake leak that I could tell. They just randomly stopped working. I'm probably going to take a look at the fluid levels later tonight.

Sounds like a master cylinder. You will have to bench bleed that if you replace it.

I finally found time to just pop the master cylinder top off right now. The rear reservoir is completely empty. Does that reservoir go to the front or the rear? Does that mean I'm going to have to add/bleed the system? If so I better by a bleeder and jack stands this weekend...

Edit: Just read on another thread that the light that came up above the speedometer after my rumble with the tree probably came on because one of my brakes failed. So hopefully that light will go away after I get this all sorted out.

I kinda want to get the car running again so I can take my friend out like I promised since she's stopping by in this area to visit her family next week.

Look at each wheel I bet one is wet from fluid. The wet one had the leak. The one man brake bleeder is under ten dollars but you need to open all the lines since air is trapped in there now.

Lowes has a jack and stands for $125 it is a good jack for the money.