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

JLo

December 22nd, 2015 at 11:51 AM ^

When I was in high school (early aughts), my father and I restored one of these: 

1963 Cadillac Deville Convertible

A 1963 Cadillac convertible.  (This isn't the exact car, but it's the right year, model, and color.)  I remember that the engine compartment was so big you could literally sit in it while working on the engine.

Driving that thing felt like steering a cruise ship.

M-Dog

December 22nd, 2015 at 10:31 AM ^

Your first car, in 2001, was a 1960 Ford Galaxy?  What strange set of circumstances led to that?

My first car was a 1968 Ford Galaxy.  But that was in 1976.  It was just an old car then (I got it for $300), not a classic car that a 1960 Ford Galaxy would be in 2001.

 

707oxford

December 22nd, 2015 at 11:53 AM ^

My first car was a 1988 Chevy Cavalier Z24, and I maintain to this day it saved my life.

I was driving back from Chicago to Ann Arbor my sophomore year and got run off of I94 by a semi truck.  Slid down the embankment going 75 mph, both axels snapped, car flipped and rolled 3 times before coming to a rest right-side-up in a ditch.  Miraculously both my girlfriend and I were perfectly okay.  The car was completely demolished, but the cabin held enough of its structure to where we didn't get crushed during the rolls.

This car was build solid.  Everything about it felt heavy and sturdy.   I'm quite certain if it was a newer, lighter, car like they make these days we would have been severely injured or worse.  Every emergency responder on the scene was blown away when they compared the wreckage to the condition we were in.

Very lucky to be alive.  Turns out being a poor college student who couldn't afford a nicer/newer car at the time was a good thing.

IncrediblySTIFF

December 22nd, 2015 at 1:29 PM ^

Big + Steel + low max speed = parents O.K. with it.

The car was free(you haul) without a working transmission, I was able to pick up a used tranny(smision) from a salvage yeard for 100$ and learned a lot of life lessons dropping the old one out and putting the new one in.

The car lasted me about 7 months, at which point I tried to shift the car into neutral to rev while rolling down the block at about 25 mph, but instead I punched it all the way to reverse and put a softball sized hole in my "new" transmission.  I sold it for $400.00 to someone who wanted to use it for a charity event where you could beat up on old cars, and then I bought a 1975 Ford Granada.

 

yourmom_is_hot

December 22nd, 2015 at 9:20 AM ^

my stepdad always had classic cars in the garage growing up.  

He had 2 1969 Chevelle SS with a 454, one was blue/silver, and the other was red/black

After selling those, he had a 1967 Firebird.  This was the first year of the model and GM only made a handfull.  It was white with the two blue racing stripes over the top.

Now he's sitting on a 1967 Camaro Z28, all original and everything is in perfect condition.  

 

My first car was supposed to be a 87 Grand National GNX, but my mom was worried I'd wrap it around a tree, so instead it was a 1989 Mustang Cobra.  

 

 

ChuckieWoodson

December 22nd, 2015 at 9:22 AM ^

Back in 2001, I had a souped up 95 Eagle Talon AWD Turbo - really fun car except for that it broke down all the time.  That said, I was up on north campus hanging out with some of my buddies and they decided to take some estacy.  I'm a drinker but was never into the hard stuff so I decided to bail and go home.  It was about 3:30 in the morning. 



For whatever reason I decided to take the "scenic" route home and drove through town and was on corner of South U and East U headed west towards State Street.  For whatever reason I thought it was a good idea to see how fast I could go and set a "south U speed record".  Made it to about the law quad and I hit 85 and then slammed on the brakes to make the stop sign.  I guess we'll never know if 85 is the record, and I don't advocate ever going that speed on South U in any capacity.  But I was a dumb 21 year old with nothing better to do in the wee hours of the morning and somehow thought it was a good idea. 

ChuckieWoodson

December 22nd, 2015 at 9:41 AM ^

So it's the same year, same car - I'm on Washtenaw and Hill and this Pontiac GTP gets on my ass and wants to race.  So we're at the light and we both gun it.  We get up to about 70 on washtenaw (again, dumb dumb dumb) and then I see police lights in my rearview (shit).  So the GTP doesn't pull over and I do.  The cop pulls me over, said I was going 64 in a 35 - "I should impound your vehicle and take you to jail right now" is how he starts the conversation.  <Gulp>.  I basically apologize profusely and remember what my Dad told me about trying to engage the officer, always be respectful and try and create some discourse "they're people too, he says".. Fine.  So I end up talking to the cop for 5 minutes, just saying how sorry I was (genuinely) and that it was really stupid and throw in the fact that the GTP didn't stop.  So he says wait here - hearts beating a thousand times a minute.. comes back a few minutes later - writes me a ticket for 64 in a 35 and lets me go after a short lecture which I certainly deserved.  Never did see that GTP around town again.

Ended up getting a lawyer (feed the system!!) and got it reduced to a 10 over.  Judge said it was the fastest she'd ever seen anyone get a ticket on washtenaw and said I better not make another appearance in her courtroom again.

JeepinBen

December 22nd, 2015 at 9:49 AM ^

Doesn't that mean you've at least got the "official" record on Washtenaw?

When drag racing in my Jeeps I'd always stop at 5 over the speed limit. Easier to call it a win at that speed. Also, the acceleration really hit a wall at about 50mph anyway. Low end torque + long gears + aerodynamics of a brick meant that I'd call it a win and stop trying.

bringthewood

December 22nd, 2015 at 6:32 PM ^

Ann Arbor is the worst for moving violations, you were lucky. I once got pulled over 3 times in Ann Arbor in one week. I think I got one ticket in the 3 minor stops. I was once pulled over for doing 28 in a 25 - driving a beat up old truck. Everything worked except the engine compression was so bad we started rolling away from the cop because I did not set my parking brake and the truck would roll even with first gear engaged.

The cool thing about the truck is that iw would occasionally blow perfect smoke rings at idle.

Hail-Storm

December 22nd, 2015 at 9:24 AM ^

I was in China for business, and our supplier wanted us to eat dinner with them. This lead to us having very little time to make our train. Luckily the guy driving us to station had previously been a special forces officer.

We get in his Q7, and he takes off. Many of the roads were 2 lane hilly roads where our driver used both lanes to his advantage. We were weaving in and out, and it honestly felt like I was in some stunt car from a movie.  Ended up making the train with a minute to spare. Most amazing driving I've ever seen.

Only thing that's crazier is that a minivan carrying our other team members beat us there.  

Jinkin Mongol

December 22nd, 2015 at 12:31 PM ^

China is really bad but tame compared to Vietnam where it is a free for all of high speed weaving and thousands of moped/motorcycles.  I spent most of my time overseas a little further north though driving Russian vehicles which are comically unsafe but sturdy.  One of my rides for a couple of years was this rigged up 6 wheel drive Russian troop transport with the ass end of a bus welded on.  Lots of fun, and would go anywhere.

ChuckieWoodson

December 22nd, 2015 at 9:33 AM ^

Especially for a sedan.  So I crashed this one and ended up with another one, a 91 SHO which I sold to my buddy to get aforementioned Eagle Talon.  Then, 3 months later he crashed it.  Morale of the story?  Be careful with SHO's, they crash easy...

http://images.thetruthaboutcars.com/2010/07/taurussho1-550x268.jpg