Flat towing on the highway is wrong, right?

Have y'all never seen the auction bro caravans? 

I've done it many times, but only short distances, and NOT at highway speeds!

Although, there was one time...

My first car. 1966 VW Bus. My Mom helped me tow it home- about 15 miles. She drove the tow vehicle. 
 

The REALLY sketchy part was the bus had NO BRAKES!  I hung a spare tire on the back of my Mom's Malibu Station Wagon, and every time she stopped I ran into her back end against the tire. 
 

My Mom was a saint. I don't love my kids THAT much!

I wouldn't  advise it but we dragged one of my old trucks home this way.......60 miles.

Lol, been there - done that. On the interstate. CRX. You can run the chain through a length of fence post pipe between the vehicles to  add a bit of stopping power to the equation, like a ghetto tow bar.

David S. Wallens said:

And that's I-4 heading west towards Orlando. 

Because of course it is.  That's probably not even the craziest or least safe thing you saw on that drive. 

In reply to MiniDave :

Was your friend named Eric M?

Been there done that. Ford Explorer towing a 1947 Ford coup all back roads.

The person being towed has to remember that he is the breaks for both cars and to keep the tow strap tight. 

I did this quite often in the 70s/80s. Then I used AAA before they changed the rules and requirements for towing. 

The experience that came to mind immediately involved a 60s era manual transmission box van being driven by my inexperienced BIL towing a bug eye Sprite using a short (15 foot) rope. We were on a twisty hilly NJ rural road and he was driving to fast for the job at hand. I could not see anything except to back of the van. I rode the brakes the entire distance using the feeble horn in attempt to get him to stop and discuss the procedure. It didn't happen. I never flat towed with him again.

In reply to Duke :

No, the late Tom K...

I flat tow classic Minis all over the US using a tow bar and a plate I made - works well but I think to be legal you're supposed to have a brake controler in the towed car.....I don't know if the weight of the car being towed makes any difference to the legal requirement.

I do know that even with a tow car with terrific (BMW) brakes, getting even a 1500lb Mini whoa'd up quickly is not easy.

In reply to ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) :

Good question. The other day–sorry, didn't get a photo–I saw a minivan towing a full-size pickup via a tow dolly. It wasn't on the highway, though. 

MiniDave said:

In reply to Duke :

No, the late Tom K...

Ah, thanks.  In the late '80s I knew a Citroen enthusiast in St Louis named Eric Mack.

I didn't figure there could be too many Citroen enthusiasts in St. Louis.

In reply to Duke :

This was in the late 60's!  

Back in the 80's I bought a White 3100 18' box truck and had a friend tow it with a Dodge power wagon. The Dodge struggled and started to overheat so I fired up the truck and pushed him 35 miles to my shop.