The rear brake line, the flex line that runs from the frame to the junction block mounted on the rear axle.
These flex line (and also on the front) can look acceptable on the outside under inspection. With age they can deteriorate from the inside and close up. So then they start to work like a check valve, you apply brakes and release the pedal but the brakes stay on. Seen it happen many times.

It must have something to do with brake fluid quality and hose quality but I will have to defer to others on that.

Here I looked it up. 6 years is the life expectancy of the hose.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Mercedes-Benz/31-BRAKES-Replacing_Brake_Hoses/31-BRAKES-Replacing_Brake_Hoses.htm

       A  L  A  N   F  R  A  K  E  S   ~  Tulsa, OK    

What do you mean by collapsed rear brake line?

The one in the Early Bird Mag was not the same car, but I read about that one as well. The 57 I wrote about was a Fuel leak from the new gas line and carb.

The other one was from a collapsed rear brake line which caused the brakes to drag enough to start combustion.

I had the same problem with my 57 bird. The rear brakes were smoking and luckily I stopped before things got worse. It was so hot I burned my hand on the hub cap.

       A  L  A  N   F  R  A  K  E  S   ~  Tulsa, OK    

A cryin' shame. I feel for him...

Yea, but it's a 312"!!!!

"The Master Cylinder"

Enjoying life at the beach in SOCAL

Looks like they cut out all the rust-free metal out of it.

~DJ~ AKA "Bleach"
1956 Ford Fairlane Town Sedan 30K original miles

Looks like the car in the current Early Bird newsletter. Rear brake started to hang up, overheated and the whole thing was over in 20 minutes. Same owner for 32 years.

The Towering Inferno strikes again...?

I think they could be buffed out!

Comes under the category of abuse and neglect.



Back to chucks original post:

An old acquaintance of mine recently decided to replace the holley on the 57 bird he has owned since the early 70's with an Edelbrock. He used a a flex fuel line. Out in the country on a cruise the car caught fire. He had to bail out. This story could be much longer with the gory details he witnessed, but the bottom line is the car burned to the ground. Nothing left of any use. Horrible thing to happen, but stuff like this DOES happen. We all have to be careful and not assume to much when driving these old cars. It's easy to say-where was your fire extinguisher?

       A  L  A  N   F  R  A  K  E  S   ~  Tulsa, OK    

The seller's label of, 'rough, but restore-able' is a bit... optimistic... if not misleading.

While 'anything' can be brought back, it is possible to spend more time AND money on something than anyone would ever imagine, AND to realize afterwards that buying a more expensive 'core' to start with was really the more practical and economical way to get where you'd like to be in the end.

Looks like a parts car to me... or the skeketon for a serious drag car!

NoShortcuts
a.k.a. Charlie Brown
near Syracuse, New York