OT: TCT Car Stories

Submitted by JeepinBen on

Seeing as basketball is not quite playing real games and the big football news is the hiring of an Awesome Dude (Also seeing as I work in the auto industry, there are only about 20% of the usual staff in the office and I'm bored as hell) I figured I'd bring back the offseason staple for today. Rather than just talk physical cars, let's open it up today to your best car story.

Did you and your dad (or mom, equal opportunity car fans here) restore an old Mustang? Did you hit your head and let your friend Danny drive vs. Craterface for pinks? Pulled over and get out of a ticket? Awesome road trip? Find VMax in your 1991 Jeep Wrangler (About 80MPH with the 4Cyl. And it was terrifying). Let's hear the best stories out there

Hemlock Philosopher

December 22nd, 2015 at 12:28 PM ^

So I decided to trade my perfectly able 2005 Subaru Legacy GT wagon for a used 2004 Audi RS6. That car was a bad ass beast and a money pit. I miss it dearly...

Que the good ole boys theme song... A good friend of mine's father was the cheif of police for Racoon township (yes, that is a real place, folks) NW of Pittsburgh and both of them are car afficianados. I drove down to visit one weekend and we got the all-clear from the Cheif and put the RS6 through it's paces. The highlight of that drive was a straight up hill on rte 60 (I think it's now 376) from a dead stop on the north bound exit 38 ramp to hitting the rate limiter at 160 mph about half way to the next exit. The beast had a 450 HP/400 TQ Bi-turbo 4.2L V8, and could have easily cracked 200 mph with out the limiter. 

bringthewood

December 22nd, 2015 at 12:45 PM ^

When I was in college we took a cool family picture. I had just purchased a Porsche 914 (the Volkswagen of Porsches). My Dad had a 1955 TBird, my brother had a Triumph TR6 and my brother in law a MGB (the dog of the bunch in my opinion).

Nice picture of the four of us with our cars. Later my Dad gave me the TBird and I also had a Lotus Eclat and Audi GT. Got married, had kids, bought a cottage and "poof" all were gone. Drive a Chevy pickup now :-(

bringthewood

December 22nd, 2015 at 6:29 PM ^

All that would have been left would have been a pile of rust.

It was a Michigan car and looked okay but when I had it repainted the body guy said the doors were basically fiberglass patches with a metal frame and to sell it as soon as I could. It was only about 6 years old but was rusted out in the trunks - front and rear, door jambs, etc. But was a fun car to drive. But now since I am a fat bastard I'm not sure I would fit.

JediLow

December 22nd, 2015 at 1:01 PM ^

I was driving on 96 in Detroit a couple of years ago, it was pretty late so there were two other cars in front of me. A minivan (I think Caravan) came flying past all of us going at least 110, as soon as it passed the car in the front it lost control and all 4 tires blew - it went careening from side to side of the highway 3 times without hitting anything and came to a dead stop in the center of the highway with no functional tires.

 

I didn't stay to see what happened, but it was pretty amazing and well deserved (at least drive at a speed your tires are rated at).

 

Then there's the time that a guy cut me off and was weaving through traffic and a cop saw him and flashed his lights. The idiot tried to get away by cutting through two lanes and almost causing a couple of accidents (cut in front of one car then slammed on his brakes); the cop made a move and followed him. It was at least a reckless driving for sure.

Wolverine In Iowa 68

December 22nd, 2015 at 1:11 PM ^

When I was a pre-teen, my dad bought a 1968 Convertable Camaro (I was born in 68), that he was going to restore.  He redid the rear and bought the parts to redo the front, then winter hit.  It sat in the garage.

He left it there for a few more years, and I concocted the idea that I would ask him if I could finish it and it be mine when I turned 16.  I was trying to figure out how to ask him about it.

Before I had a chance (I was 15 at the time), I came hom from school and he and two guys were pushing it onto a trailer....he had sold it after deciding he didn't want to take the time to finish it.

I didn't talk to him for nearly 4 months.

Fast forward 15 years....I bought a 68 from a guy and was gradually doing some work to finish it up (he had rebuilt the motor, I was slowly doing some body work), but had to shelve it as my first daughter was born 2 months premature.

After months in the hospital, 3 surgeries and other crap, I had to sell it to pay off medical bills.

I hope, one day, to get another one, but probably won't.  Just a dream now.

Smash Lampjaw

December 22nd, 2015 at 1:49 PM ^

First car 57 MGA, had been raced. Push-button ignition, which all my hs friends soon learned. We skipped school to hang out at the lake one day. While I was out on skis my friends horsed around and got it stuck in reverse. Drove home about 20 miles in reverse.

Just before I left for my 1st year at UM, I hit a kid on a bike in the UP on the way up to our cottage and got a ticket for driving without due caution near Traverse City on the way home-all with mom and kid bro in the car. Did not care to drive for about 2 years after that. Dad, being a cop, was glad to get some relief.




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Wolverine In Iowa 68

December 22nd, 2015 at 2:08 PM ^

In my early 20s my best friend had an 84 Grand National T-type.  His dad worked for Buick Motor Sports (his engine design broke the 300mph barrier on the quarter mile), so the turbo charger was NOT stock...jus sayin....

One weekend his girlfriend's parents went out of town and wanted him to stay at the house to protect the daughters (can you say "over-protective" and "paranoid"?...I knew you could).

We, on the other-hand, had plans to drive up to Luddington to go fishing with my dad for salmon.  We just had to be home before Sunday morning.  Spent Friday and Saturday fishing, and it was so good, we didn't get off the lake until late.

But we had said Grand National. 

Average drive time from Luddington to Flint = 4 hours

Time we took to make the trip = 2 hrs, 15 minutes

Wind force broke the wire in the power antenna, it bent back to far.  Good trip...good times.

Tim Waymen

December 22nd, 2015 at 2:11 PM ^

No great personal car stories, but I once got into a small argument with a Lexus promo model at an auto show a few years ago. I saw the LFA on display so I asked the Lexus lady, "If I'm paying $350k for the car of my dreams, can I get it in stick shift?" Instead of a simple "no," she snootily reminded me that dual-clutch F1 transmissions shift faster than stick and are better for racing. (She really was snooty. I was totally fine with her disagreeing with me, and what she said is 100% true.) I told her yes, that's true, but paddle shifters are not nearly as fun as stick and don't come close to creating the same experience. She wasn't having it. Okay fine, maybe I was a bit defensive. 

I'll preempt all of you: Cool story, bro.

xtramelanin

December 22nd, 2015 at 2:31 PM ^

which is to say, he messed with us like nobody's business - he would sit in the passenger seat as we were learning to drive and out of nowhere he'd slug you, yell, slam the dash board and/or the seat, grab the steering wheel and yank it, cover your eyes and even reach over and turn the car off.

flash forward about 6 years and i am driving my old '77 3/4 ton 4wd suburban in los angeles, and i am racing to get to an exit off the 101 going over the speed limit a lot....and the accelerator locks down at full throttle as i am at the top of a down-sloping exit ramp.   options are limited and that old tank is going to cause a world of hurt at 80+ mph if something doesn't work out real fast.  if you turn the truck off, the steering locks and would arc into somebody's house.   if you let it go into neutral, the engine blows up or you might crash through a crowded los angeles intersection.

but dad's teaching comes to mind immediately and i do turn the ignition switch, but not all the way.  the engine stops running, but by only turning it half way i still have the ability to steer and brake, albeit without all the swell hydraulics.  i get the truck stopped at the bottom of the intersection (and fix the problem in the engine compartment)

i have shared this story with all our children and the oldest are at that age to have driving permits.  they know that their time with dad in the passenger seat is coming, and that i will be every bit as inventive as my dad was in helping them practice divided attention tasks and dealing with 'sudden change'.   bwahahahaha....

bringthewood

December 22nd, 2015 at 4:35 PM ^

Not quite the same but I took my learner permit kids out in the snow in deserted parking lots and have them do donuts, panic stops and generally go wild so they have a better idea of how the car will handle in the snow. Knowing how to do more than simply mash on the brakes is good experience as you proved!

JeepinBen

December 22nd, 2015 at 4:47 PM ^

It's very important to learn in a controlled environment with most things - skids, etc. being good examples.

I think the fact that my first (2! yay jeep) cars had manual gearboxes, no ABS, no traction control, etc. I had to really learn how to drive - there was no computer panic-stopping for me. I'm a better driver for it.

(as an aside, all 4 cars have had 3 pedals, although the first jeep had a kick parking brake so it kind of had 4)

xtramelanin

December 22nd, 2015 at 7:18 PM ^

but the kids love it when i get it going in the snow in 2 WD and start doing donuts and drifts.   they giggle like crazy, even the older ones.  my beloved mgowife, not so much, but she is a trooper beyond measure. 

('i converted = i paid a company to do that.  i'm as mechanical as a jelly fish)

xtramelanin

December 22nd, 2015 at 11:41 PM ^

its a 15 passenger rig that is outfitted for 4WD and it is really effective in the snow and mud.  i have pretty aggressive tires on it too.   it is the envy of young men, though its driven by mgowife and filled with kids instead.  the feds use these same vehicles down in antarctica.   nobody confuses it with a bus. 

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

December 22nd, 2015 at 3:16 PM ^

This is a dumb story but I'll tell it anyway.

Driving to Rhode Island from Virginia one weekend, my trusty Oldsmobile wagon suddenly craps out somewhere near Mystic, CT.  Power steering dies, battery light comes on, etc.  I pull off to a rest stop and open the hood, at the time not really knowing that much about cars or what to look for.  A friendly local stops over and points out the shredded serpentine belt and ruined tensioner, and jumps my battery to boot.

So I drive a mile to the closest hotel, put myself up for the night, and go the next day to Autozone to buy a new belt and tensioner.  This is Sunday and nothing's open where I can take the car, and I HAVE to be in Newport that day, so I buy a socket set and belt and resolve to fix the damn thing myself.  I bring the tensioner in as well, tell the clerk my car's make and model, and he produces a new one from the shelves.... which looks nothing like what I have in my hand.  He double-checks, assures me it's right, but I decline to buy it because they don't look the same at all.  The new one has a black plastic wheel on it, mine doesn't.

I go outside to put the new belt on, with the help of the diagram in the manual, and figure it only needs to last 40 miles or so because I don't need the car much in Newport and I can take it to a garage there.  As I'm tightening up the (remains of) the tensioner, I spot something laying on the frame, way on the bottom.  I twist myself into contortions to reach and grab it - a little black plastic wheel.  Or what used to be one.  It's all melted and deformed.

So I go back inside, buy the new tensioner and a spare belt just in case, re-run the belt, and take off.  Never did need to go to a mechanic.  I figure what happened is: the bearings on the tensioner seized up and the wheel stopped spinning, and the friction from the belt melted the wheel, which popped off, the belt shredded, and by some damn miracle the wheel landed on the frame of the car at 75 mph and stayed there for miles.  I would think a lot of miles, since the battery could have powered the electrical systems for a little while without the alternator.  (If not, at least the miles I drove to the rest stop, hotel, and parts store.)  This is all up and down hills, too, stop and start, everything.  That little wheel sat on the frame of the car without falling off for Lord knows how long.  If I hadn't spotted it, who knows if I'd have even gotten the last 40 miles of the trip with that belt the way I had it.

bringthewood

December 22nd, 2015 at 4:44 PM ^

Stories like that are cool, especially when you learn something new and get it fixed. I have a much simpler example. Coming back from nothern Michigan we stoped for lunch in Saginaw and my Dad locked the car keys in the trunk but the doors are open. It is a Sunday so we would have been hosed waiting for a locksmith.

The power to the trunk swich is off but I notice the glovebox has a light that works without the keys in the ignition. We were able to jump power from the glovebox light to the trunk switch and get the keys out. I think I may have burned out a fuse but otherwise was able to get us on our way. Felt a bit Macgyverish with that one.

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

December 22nd, 2015 at 5:54 PM ^

I'd feel pretty bad-ass too if I pulled that off, but first I'd have to get over the absolute certainty that I was about to fry myself.  Every time I have to do anything with the battery, I have visions of jolting myself.

Over on one of the UVA boards we had a DIY thread not too long ago, and one guy said his idea of DIY was dialing the telephone and paying someone, as he felt the time spent on stuff like that wasn't worth not doing things he actually likes to do.  I was like, welp, hope you got AAA.  I would hate if I couldn't at least do some simple fix its when things go wrong.  This particular case is what got me realizing, hey, fixing stuff doesn't have to be a mystery.

Bando Calrissian

December 22nd, 2015 at 5:32 PM ^

I once floored a 1985 Mercury Grand Marquis off of a foot-tall curb after temporarily parking on a sidewalk in Detroit. Nothing happened except the CD player skipped for a second. 

Miss that car so much. Thing was a literal tank.