>>>>>>
>>>>>>If you're on a winding mountain road, with vertiginous drop-offs, and some villain has severed your brake pipes, don't bother trying to pump the useless brake pedal and steer around the vicious bends; just reach for the key and turn the damn engine off. Engine braking will then slow you down and eventually stop you, esp. if in a manual trans. car.
>>>>>
>>>>>Too bad most cars have a mechanism to lock the steering wheel when you turn off the engine.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>I had that once when the engine stalled just as I went round a very sharp bend on a very steep hill. Instantly no power steering and no brakes. very exciting.I think if my wife had been driving she would have gone over the edge as it required a lot of strength to turn the wheel and get any braking.
>>>
>>>How did the engine stall - miss the clutch or summat?
>>
>>No it was an automatic Volvo 240 I think. It had a fault of some sort that was causing occasional stalling.when it was cold.
>
>A small price to pay for such well known hardiness in crash tests ;-)

Weird car.It used to overheat all the time. Had the engine replaced (not just because of the overheating) new radiator pumps etc and it still over heated. We used to have to put the heater on if stuck in traffic and what a joy that was in the summer. Glad to see the back of it.

Though as you say I think each one is hewn from a big block of scandinavian steel.