Mine was a very small Panamanian cab with 6 of us and the driver. Dude actually got the thing Under a semi trailor at least part way!
Driving an 86 Chevy C30 wrecker, 6.2 diesel pig. It was in a snowstorm and I had been in the truck 26 hours straight. At this point people are starting to hit the freshly plowed roads. My boss in on the radio yelling at me to "get here", "get there", "faster!", "where are you!" I get pissed off, and pulling away from a light on Rt 1, I have my foot to the floor. Just cursing him and not paying attention. At about 50 I realize the traffic ahead of me is slowing down -I still have my foot in it, and I know that there isn't room to stop. I had that sudden realization that I AM GOING TO CRASH AND THERE IS NOTHING TO DO ABOUT IT. I stab the brakes too hard and the rear kinda makes a wierd bounce. Instantly I switch ends. I instinctively look in the mirrors and start steering backwards, blowing the horn, pumping the brakes. I steer towards the shoulder and catch a mailbox in my rearview mirror. All the while I am looking at headlights in front of me slowing down. I steer towards the mailbox as it is all white, and this thing is my only reference for the side of the road. The truck hits the mailbox and a snowbank with a good thump. I scan the scene, and see my toolbox door and jack/tools all over the raod where the spin happened. I spun so hard the jack blasted te side door off! That kept me awake for a few hours more.
Other than pressing my feet through the floor while riding with my ex-wife.. I would say that this is my scariest.. When I was 14.. my older brother called from work early saturday and asked me to wash his 64 fury cuz he was selling it on sunday... he'd pay me!. The Fury had a big block new 4 BBL. with a push button trans ..it was pretty hot for 1971... any way I figured as long I was washing it ...if it had a little extra mud/dirt who'd know.The parents and squealing little brothers were out some where. I got the hidden key revved the piss out of it ... rappin the duels..then took a few laps around the open grassy field next door and was doing my best dirt track figure 8 turns and not spinning out.. any new rubber marks on the road in front of the house would be too obvious .. then I headed to our back yard for the wash through our heavily wooded side yard .. one more quick sliding turn to flung some more dirt.... then OH SHIT the throttle stuck WFO (over centered and and heavy duty carb spring stuck it hard) and I was barley missin full growed oak trees and trying to pull the gas pedal back with my foot... brakes HAH....NO GOOD... SHIT.. just glanced the pass side peeling chrome off... OH HELL...turn and nothin ..(the power steering belt is thrown off now)...then smacked the drivers side door.. SIGH... I have a straight away shot for a few yards.. finally can look down at the pedal that's stuck .. decide thats not gonna loosen up and look for the ign. key ... great idea.. start to reach for it .. DAMN.. glance off one more massive oak and it redirects my one handed steering right into another huge oak and I am stopped TOTALLY dead.. now I crack my lip on the wheel and the seat flops forward and I have the wind knocked out of me... the engine is still WFO and as I look up through the steam and falling acorns on the crumpled hood ...my family is coming around the side of the house..watching the last eventful 10 seconds.. I now turn off the key and the fan slowly grinds to a stop in the radiator as the engine bucks and sputters .. GASPS It was the last tree before hitting the house.. or them.. As my kid brothers told me years later I was lookin ghostly white and bloody. but it was so cool.. I called my bro and told him the car was washed and oh by the way its wrecked too. The first old car I paid for worked on and never drove again. I was not allowed to drive legally til I was 21.. Same brother years later I was riding shotgun in his doorless jeep cj..way up in the mountains in COLO. and we are on a winding mountain road like in a road runner cartoon.. mountain on his side no mountain just air on my side... he swerves toward the cliff edge spraying gravel and cranks it back ... my seat belt unclamps from the strain and I manage to grab the shifter with my left hand while being ejected and don' t fall all the way out but I am going head first ... bending the shifter almost all the way to the right ... my heart stops and I had pulled the trans into reverse.... I think he is still pissed about the Fury and needs to remind me.. MORE SOME OTHER TIME Now riding with others has scared me often enough but not more. thats my story.. paperdog
There are things you are NOT supposed to touch as a kid. Ya know: Mom's liquor stash, Grandpa's gun cabinet, and "Dad's Car"....and you find out why.... I grew up in a family devoted to German engineering. BMW bikes, Mercedes worktrucks, and my father's weekend ride: A 1959 VW Beetle. Now, many of you may turn your noses up at it but this is where I learned how to wrench, and also where I learned that somtimes you REALLY should just stay out of dad's shit. He had spent many weekends building up this bug, since we were a working class family and the VW took inordiant ammounts of money to finish. So, he babied that thing while driving his worktruck, a '62 Chevy Longbed with the basic 350/4-bolt and Olds rear end. The bug was for the weekend and the occasional track day, and we were NOT allowed near it unless it was in a passenger capacity. Well, on Halloween me and a buddy of mine wanted somthing REALLY cool to go to this guy's party. I was going to snake my brother's Caddy, but with my dad out of town for work...I got this BRIGHT idea. "Hey, it's only a few miles away...he'll never know!" So I broke into his shop, found the spare key hidden in the garage fridge, and commenced to take the Beetle down the block...or try to. The Bug: 1600DP re-sleeved to 2133cc's, Dual 34mm Del'ortos, Type II swingaxle, Bosh 009 WITH a 912 Distributor retrofit, Bugpack straight stinger without the spark supressor (more on that later), Dual cutting breaks, and a Bugpack Stage III track clutch (wich was wicked tight!) and about 400lbs of steel and useless crap removed. I tried to pull it out of the Garage, and chirped the tires so much I'm surprised every canary didn't come flocking. By the time I got it paralell with the road, I dropped it in first and put the hammer down, trying to be impressive. All the sudden all I can see out the front windshield are rooftops as the wheels leave the ground and the front end started bouncing with the uneven acceleration, and the rears start chattering with the cold rubber. I freak out, with my foot of course jamming against the firewall, going faster! After a few seconds of terror, I get smart enough to pull the cutting brakes...or so I thought. I grabbed a lever, and threw it without realizing one problem: There were TWO brakes, one for the left and one for the right!!! The bug pitches to the left as my world goes 180, and we eventually roll to a stop on the lawn at the end of the block, bug on it's side and me on top of my buddy on the passenger seat. The bug's paint and fenders are fucked. Snapped the brake cable, threw the whole mess out of timing, and broke every bit of glass on that bug. Dad ended up locking my driver's licence in the safe for 10 months, and took away my motorcycle and sold it to rebuild the bug. It was a VERY stupid thing for a 16 year old to do, and took YEARS to rebuild trust w/my old man. Can't blame him. But, when it comes to stuipd and scary..... Let's put it this way: I never looked at a Bug or a Porsche or anything of that engineering family the same way again. Jarrod aka "fullmetal" aka "jar jar" aka me
[quote='51Plymouth]First motorcycle (self-piloted) ride ever. I'm 3 1/2 (Dad's first mistake), on one of those little Yamaha YZ50's. Pegged throttle WFO, directly across the yard is a fire hydrant....BAM! First ride ended about as quick as it started, but I still remember it like it was yesterday...scary then, funny now.[/quote] I had one of those too!!! Granted mine was when I was 6. Tried to jump it not 3 weeks later, and broke my arm. Dad said "Great! Got the first wreck out of the way early...was getting worried for a bit there" Jarrod aka "Fullmetal" akak "Jar Jar" aka me
My scariest ride was on a bicyle. It was an 1879 Bayless Thomas Duplex Excelsior high wheel bike. I was riding it on a tour when I started going down a gentle hill. The hill became less gentle. I was trying to keep the speed down by back pedaling. The hill became steeper, the bike kept going faster. It was a runaway! These things have a very high center of gravity, and can flip forward kinda easy, dumping you on your head. It got to going so fast it threw my feet of the pedals. No freewheeling like new bikes. Faster, faster, curves coming up, intersections, driveways, I knew I was going to die! I stepped back on the rear step used for mounting so I'd lower the c.g. The wheel was spinning so fast that the weight of the pedals started making the whole bike oscillate back and forth. I must have been doing 55-60 mph on this contraption, I was using my foot pressed down on the rear tire to try to slow down, but all I did was melt the bottom of my tennis shoe and give myself a hotfoot. Finally, the road smoothed out and I was able to stop. Lord, was that a ride to remember. One of the guys later said "Oh, yeah, I always walk the bike down that hill........
I was about 7 years old... I had a 60's style Junior Dragster complete with 4 bolt mags and slicks(Still have it) I used to like to take it around the house and pull the throttle back and push it in... pull it back full open and push it in... then the throttle stuck wide open with no KILL switch. I took about 8-10 laps in a freshly plowed field before my dad figured out what was going on... hahaha... I kept steering twards my dad to 'help' me, he thought I was trying to run him over... the hole time it had a chain drive and I was pushing myself back from the sprocket that was inbetween my legs with 'no cover'... the headers busted off it was so bumpy... after that. the Kill switch was installed... and I had a new 'chain guard' I remember telling my dad 'back to the drawing board' haha... Tuck
Anyone ever hear of a thing called ‘Tac flying’? Well Tactical flying is the real name. Down as low as the thing will go and faster than the redline on the airspeed indicator. Sat in the back of a few Iroquois helicopters looking between the pilots and at times at the ground through the roof windows, all at zero feet. I even got slapped by a branch as we passed a tree while sitting in the gunners nest once. Never seemed as much fun in a Blackhawk, they don’t have the same feel as the good ‘ol Iroquois. Doc.
i think it was 3 years ago now, i built(and i use the term loosly!)a triumph chopper w/ forward controls, a foot clutch, jockey shift, and no front brake in about 20 day for around $300 for billetproof. about 3 days before the show i took it on it's mayden voyage.i was at a stop light on a wet oakland street reving it to keep it running.to my right at the light was the freeway on and off ramp.with my left foot on the ground and the right firmly on the bent 1" box wrench that was the foot clutch i cracked the throttle open. the clutch cable snapped!!! i went into the intersection sideways (flattrackin"!)! somehow through the traffic coming from my left, dirrectly off the freeway!! there was a triangle median to my left with handicapped cut outs(thank god!) i some how got across that and up the handicapped cut at the corner of the sidewalk..... here's where it gets fun! on that corner there's a shell station with a big grassy burm that wraps the corner. so once i got through the traffic, which was skidding and sliding sideways at this point, past the triangle median, and up the handicapped wramp on the sidewalk... i hit the curb on the inside of the sidewalk launched (on the bike) over the grassy knowl, between two parked cars, to finaly come to rest in the middle of the shell station parking lot!!!!!!!!!! rode it 40 miles or so to billet proof 2 days later... and did i forget to mention the schwinn ape hangers!
Scariest rides. Driving my '66 Belvedere, warmed 318, throttle stuck WFO in traffic over Aurora bridge??? no, I've been 'scareder'. Driving Civic; steering locked in turn while going around corner (note to self - locking steering columns need the LOCK removed when the CYLINDER is removed)? Nope. Driving 90+ MPH (in same Belvedere) on I-5 shoulder when firechicken pulls out in my lane? No. Driving uninsured in snow w/ 4 bald tires, with lady in minivan pushing me down a steep hill? Close. Yeah, all of these were *******'n brilliant moves, but the scariest was riding shotgun on a milk crate in a '71 Roadrunner driven by my drunk buddy in high school. He goes WFO to pass a BMW, and crosses center line of road which has a bit of snow on it, losing traction & drunk Mike steering lock-to-lock at 60-70 MPH. They say God looks out for kids, drunks, and fools; I don't know how we didn't end up getting home in one piece.
I'll tell you the scariest, white knuckled drive I ever had to make. In January 93 I flew to Lansing Michigan for my Uncle's funeral. I inherited his 88 Olds Delta and my wife, who was 4 months pregnant at the time and I drove it back to California. We headed south out of Michigan in order to turn west in Tennessee and then take US 40 West to California. Had lunch in Louisville and then on into the mountains. It wasn't long before we were in a driving rainstorm on a two lane hiway. Visibility was less than two car lengths ahead. At this point the thing you need is a speeding tractor trailor bearing down on you riding your bumper and nudging your speed up above 80. It's raining like hell, I can't see shit and I can't slow down. I drove like this for almost 25 miles until the road widened into 4 lanes and he shot past. I watched him go and considered following him to his next stop so I could stick a knife between his ribs. One glance at my wife with babe reminded me I had something more important to do. Thinking about it years later still sets my nerves on edge. Having to sustain that fear for that long courtesy of a random, sociopath is unpleasant. If I ever do find out who he is he is getting the knife in the ribs.
ok drivin from long island new your to california with my older brother in a 19 68 bug that was a baja (fibergalss front and rear) going down some big mountian pass in utah at 3am when all the lights and electrical shut off. were doin approx 80 or 90 mph in pitch black.. no street light or anything.. had to pull over with a flashlight. turns out a bad wire had snapped and killed the whole system.. scared the skin right off me...
Me and some of my brothers friends in a 89 Mustang on New Years eve. Lightweight notchback former CHP car, all the bolt ons, headers, etc. Coming out of Popeyes' Chicken in Vallejo our friend decides to punch it to catch up to the rest of our group. In the blink of an eye we had done almost a complete 360 and were facing oncoming traffic and the parking lot we just came out of!!!! Friend catches his breath and punches it again and we get going in the right direction. Scared the S@#$ out of me as I was sitting in the backseat and not expecting it then I see headlights coming at us! What I learned that night; Light weight + high hp + short wheelbase = unpredictable handling under accelleration and lungs full of tire smoke!
I guesss the most exciting and probably scariest in a controlled kinda way was taking a ride in my mates BB/TS Early Falcon race car down the main street of Whangamata during Beach Hop a couple of years ago....... low 8 second car no seat, holding on to the roll cage lots of fun
that's it i'm moving to new zealand!! 8 second cars doing passes on the street!!!!!!!!!!!! i fuckin' wish!!!!!
Another was in my 72 Monte Carlo on old Highway 12 through Napa at night. I had wire wheels on it at the time and one of the wheels had developed a leak. I felt the tire going low and was in the middle of nowhere. Me and the girlfriend were just trying to make it to the gas station which was only about a mile away. ANyway as I crossed a little overpass over a creek the tire blew out at about 50 mph. Veered hard left towards oncoming traffic and I pulled back which aimed us at the wall of the overpass for a second. Got pulled over and safe for a second and just caught our breath. It felt like the damn thing was going to flip which I have never felt in a car before. The next scariest thing; having to change the tire with a bumper jack and a 20 year old spare at the side of a busy little two lane highway with a flashlight. I replaced the spare and sold the rims.
The Front driver wheel on my fairlane came off on a main street at about 45mph ...... <shivers> creepy. use a torque wrench.
Friend of mine helped his customer set up an early McLaren CanAm car for the street. Windshield, lights, mufflers, but still a full-race SBC with Webers. He took me for a ride around the pits at the old Orange County Raceway, and it was scary for two reasons: 1) The thing was so powerful that it could smoke the tires in ANY gear at any speed below 100. The acceleration was just awesome, and there was enough vibration to blur your vision. But you expected that... 2) The surprise was that you sat so low in the thing that the two front fenders blocked your vision on both front corners, and the rear fairing cut off your peripheral vision right behind your ears. So you're in this thing that can accelerate like an ICBM, and you have roughly the outward vision of a guy in a diving helmet. I suddenly had new respect for the pro drivers who threw those cars around a road course.
Well i used to race Top Gas snowmbiles on the grass and on the ice. This sled has ran 137 mph in 750 ft on the ice. The worst ride was the last grass race of the season when they made us run the race in a down pour rain. Well i ended up putting this drag sled into a chain link fence at 100mph and spent the next 2 months out of work. I gave that crap up and stuck with cars after that.
Mine was on 2 wheels too. Late one night I was heading home up 101 to San Rafael. I was riding my 180cc Yamaha scooter. I got on the freeway and got up to 80mph. Noone else on the road, so I move over to the far left. In the dark I didn't notice they had paved the far left lane, so when I hit the step up at the angle I was traveling I went for a hell ride. The little front wheel turned instead of going over the step, going full lock right. The force of this and my keeping balance threw the front lock to lock too many times to count. The little bike pitched side to side with this. It finally started to smooth out and I got it straight. Somehow I kept it in the left lane the whole time.
Our last formula SAE car we decided to take the restrictor off of it and see what it could do. Now this car was beat, it had been wrecked several times before, and the repairs were really patchwork solutions. The steering was sloppy and crooked, the diff couldn't decide whether it was open or posi, and slicks were badly dry rotted. We took it to the dragstrip and with a bad engine map, combined with leaving line like an old rail job, the little car ran a mid 14 at 95 mph...catch is, I tached out at 14000 rpm at 95 mph just past the 1/8th. The whole way down the track the car is weaving left to right. On the next pass, midway through 3rd gear i broke traction with the right rear tire. Immediately the car shifts towards the centerline. I try to correct it back, but it's too late. car comes back the other way in a serious slide and I hit wall HEAD ON. Next thing I know, i'm coasting down the track in the right direction, with the engine still running. I blew out the steering column with my knee, and put my foot clear through the clutch, but somehow was largely unhurt except for some bruises and soreness. Scared the shit out of me.
Many moons ago a couple of spotty faced young lads had just finished fitting the steering in to one of thems 52 ford pop (anglia)....round 11 pm ...the temptation to go for a quick blat overcome the pair.....the short wheel based beast had a high perf SBchev tucked in it .....it is fired up with open headers in the garage...cans and other objects are falling of shelves with the vibration .....neighbours lights are starting to come on .....gingerly the intrepid two back the beast down the drive way....out on to the quiet suburban street....a quick glance at each other.....then nail it ...at this time the wire tie that had been put in to hold the steering colume up to the under side of the dash lets go ...the steering wheel drops and sticks in between the drivers legs ....as he trys to lift the wheel up the car lurches all over the road....tyring to back off on the load pedal and battling with the unsucured steering wheel dont mix.....it is on the gas...and off the gas......up over grass verges...side way one way ..then side ways the next ...through a picket fence about 5 doors down to come to rest on the front lawn/flower beds of a real pissed off neighbour.....red and blue lights are now there ...and the fledgling pair of rodders find them selfes in it big time .....scared shitless.....but for some reason still grinning from ear to ear......which didnt go down well with the law......the next day in the light ....we both saw how close we came to a lamp post ..and a parked car ....this all happed in the blink of an eye ....but was like it was all in slow motion .....the rubber marks on the road stayed there for ages .......and the 3-4 inch deep ruts in the grass...we had to fix ......sadly the car was never finished....had to be sold to pay for the fines
I was 17 years old and replacing the engine and trans in my 73 Javelin (304 auto)...my dad got sick of me taking up the entire garage ( and pestering him for help)with my project and told me to bring it to the local mechanic to have it finished up. i was alittle annoyed cause I wanted fo finish it myself but very happy that I'd have the car back on the road in a day or 2 (hey .... he was picking up the bill to boot). We lived on the top of a very big hill. My older brother says he'll chain tow me to the mechanic...no problem, I've done this lots of times....I hook up to the back of his 74 TransAM (455 automatic) and off we go. But instead of letting me keep the chain tight with my car and the brakes, he decided to just keep accelerating down the 2 mile hill. I nearly shit myself when we went around a 45 mph corner at 75-80. When we got there he had this big grin on his face and said we were doing 100 at one point, I immediately punched him in the shoulder, cleaned out my shorts and started to laugh about the whole thing.
early mornin' road racing in a 1972 alfa sedan...race-prepped motor, 6 point cage, 6 point harness...used to keep a helmet in the car for play time. lost it on a hard 90 turn at about 70 MPH and hit a tree right behind the passenger door...right against the cage...still damn near bent the car in half...cops came and i'm sitting on my helmet on the side of the road smoking a cigar...they shook their heads and got a good laugh at my expense...called the wrecker and let me go on my way with no ticket. figured that the gods were smiling on me that day and i didn't want to push my luck any further so i gave up street racing.
ok i know its not traditional but 1991 ford festiva no windows,dash,interior,inner doors ie gutted twin cam turbo 1.6 out of a capri 300 hp at the wheels and 1400 lbs it started hazing the tires at 140 because the air in the engine compartment was making the front end lift. A few well placed loovers and bam... a little yellow rocket ship. It broke the record for its class at blackhawk farms by 4 seconds. it was going through the front streight at 117 when the bikes were going 125. not bad for a little shit box econo car. the owner is now making a tube chassie so he can make it awd.... he needs more traction. tom
One of the scariest moments was when I was in high school. Had a 55 Chevy with big block and a 400 TH, etc, etc. I had gone to Wichita to pick up a labrador puppy that my aunt in Cali sent my Dad. It was about midnight, and I was almost home. There was a large iron bridge over the river just outside of Independence. I was doing about 70+ mph and just as I approached the bridge I lost the electrical system. No lights, no moon, iron two lane bridge and 70 mph. I managed to steer the car through the bridge and stop on the other side to change shorts. We found a broken wire, fixed it and drove home. Puppy did just fine.
I was taking my 5 year old and 3 year old for a ride in my T-bucket. We were going along at a decent clip. Their hair was blowing and they were having fun. Next thing I know the throttle was stuck and we were coming up on traffic. I jammed the thing in neutral and jumped between two orange barrels into a closed lane. I leaned out over the windshield, kicked the throttle down, and kept cruisin. The kids thought it was cool. I had to go home and wipe
A 1952 Brockway single-axle tractor, flat bed trailer loaded with sod; I was over-weight when I left the farm, and then it started to rain....the sod was acting as giant sponge and the load just got heavier I'm running north on 309 through the Lehigh Valley, go up the first long hill and start down the other side and decide to pull-over and get something to eat.......and I realize I can't stop. Finally get the tractor into 1st gear high-range, the rig is moving at a fast walk, BUT WILL NOT STOP Rode that sucker all the way to the bottom (2 miles?) with that old gas-burning 6 banger (Continental) pushing the redline all the way. Note: This was long before the days of CDL licenses and today's brakes
The Jalopy Journal
