these things happen

[marode]

A few days ago I was driving my Elan +2 slowly through a housing zone and hit the brake with no effect at all. Hit again - no brake. So I chose the handbrake (thank god I renewed every single bit on this poor mechanism) and made a stop on the right (Germany). Checked the brake fluid, no drop seemed to be missing, looked at the calipers which looked dry. Hit the pedal again and felt pressure on the brake pedal again. Wondering... drove to the garage slowly and noticed some metallic sounds coming from the brake. When I took of the wheels I found out I had lost a brake pad of the rear caliper. I was just GONE. No security pins anymore, one pad gone, the other rotated at 30? still "in place".
So I drove back to the point where I stepped into nothingness the day before and found the missing pad on the street. After a slight sandpaper therapy I built it in again and used bolts from the Ford P7 which suited very well, actually better than the original.

My advice: check your security bolts and pins from time to time.

[summerinmaine]

Did the bolts/pins shear, do you think?

I've never heard of such a problem before.

[marode]

can?t tell what happened with the bolts, they were gone. I guess the rusty pins may have broken and I first lost the two bolts and finally the pad.