<VV> Descending a mountain (was valve seats revisited)

[Vairtec Corporation]

Randy Hook wrote:

> if you don't descend  the mountain in gear, how else, exactly, are you supposed to do  it?   Please
> don't say "brakes," as some mountains are tougher than  that.

When the CORSA convention was in Seattle in 1983 I drove there from NJ 
in my 1962 Greenbrier.  Part of the convention was a tour up Mount 
Rainier.   What goes up, must come down.  To control speed on the 
downhill trek while saving brakes, engine, and transmission, my 
girlfriend and I simply opened the two front doors.  Greenbrier doors 
open to a full 90 degrees.  We each planted a foot on a door and held 
them fully open.

We had to let them close every once in a while when a car came in the 
opposite direction, but then we just propped them open again if the 
speed rose too much.  After a while we got adept at controlling speed by 
varying the degree to which the doors were open.

Unbeknownst to us at the time, Ken Klingaman was in the car in front of 
us and he later explained that he was laughing to the point of tears at 
the sight of Dumbo the Greenbrier with its giant flapping ears...