I drive a late 60's ford, the thing must be invisible. I'm gonna chip of some paint, and have it analyzed, apparently it makes the car see-through. People pull right out in front of me. I've gotten rearended while driving down the street at 40mph, i've had a ditsy teenage girl back into me at the gas station, i've had dumbasses in trucks park inches away from the doors. It's only steel, and it's nice to drive and enjoy, but i'd be very hesitant to drive someone nicer. I want to buy a early 60's t-bird, but I hate the thought of subjecting it to the idiots at the gas stations and parking lots.
LOL, been there done that! I used to keep a cap with a valve wrench on the top of it on the drivers side front stem, just in case. If my car actually got doored his valves go in my pocket. I TRY not to be so vindictive any more. To the OP, don't be afraid to drive your car, be afraid not to drive it while you can. Life is short man, go have some fun.
'28 RPU '55 Chevy Gasser '57 Nomad '30 Model A sedan '31 Model A Coupe and more. I have classic car ins. so I drive the shit out of them.
Depends on where I'm driving. Most back roads, no problem. There are certain intersections that I totally avoid in my hot rods. As a school bus driver I have observed enough dumb-ass driving that I now drive very defensively. I feel particularly vulnerable in my fiberglass-bodied A roadster. Get hit by an SOB in an SUV and you're screwed. I feel safer in my steel, disk brake-equiped Model A sedan but the roadster's more fun to drive.
Quote: Originally Posted by Deyomatic ...An acquaintance of mine rigged his reverse lights up to a toggle switch so that if someone is tailgating him he can turn it on at a red light, roast the tires when it goes green, and watch the driver behind him freak out and brace for impact. Having a toggle switch for the back-up lights works great. No need to wait for a stoplight to use it, though. It's quite effective at speed, especially at night.
I drove a '69 Imperial daily for a few years. I would pray that some MFer would pull out in front of me, or try to cut me off. In ANY car. I would have to clean those little zipper fart pipe cars out of the grille like bugs.
If you drive any older car like you would a street bike (" act as though you are invisible") you stand a better chance of surviving intact. I always scan my rear veiw mirror at stop lights, "just in case" and always, always, always be aware of what and/or who is around you. Conversly, I drive my Suburban like I own the road. I dare those tweakers in welfare wagons to pull out in front of me, anyone stupid enough to tailgate the 'Burb will quickly find out how fast 6,000 lbs of ABS-equipped dinosaur will stop, I intentionally drive in the blind spot of those wing-and-fart-can-equipped Hondas, praying for them to make an unsignalled lane change. It's my way of getting even...
Damn man are you that much of a sissy that you are afraid that someone might hit your car ? You must get tired of sitting at home then ! It's not like you have a real rare car . No one wants their rides to get hit or scratched up but that's life ! It's only a car and it can be replaced ! Maybe I sound cold but why have a nice car that you are afraid to drive ? Either drive the car and enjoy it or sell it !
i posted this the other day just to vent a little: TODAY i want to rant. this past Thursday evening i was on my way home in my daily driver (Taurus) and approaching an I-526 on-ramp i moved over for incoming traffic since i'm a reasonable guy and try to be accomodating... and since one of the vehicles was a semi tractor (try to be civil with those drivers) i wanted to give him room to get up speed. the asshat BEHIND him in a latemodel Lincoln sedan cut around him across my path (no not across INTO gawdammit) and i was forced into the median at about say 70-75mph....... wet grass, gravel, and a front wheel drive car made for an exciting few seconds of reactive driving and made me glad the US Navy sent me to a driver's school 27 years ago. if i HAD been in my '59 i do not think i could have made those crucial corrections and that would have been IT for my wife and myself. wish i had had the presence of mind and clarity of thought to have gotten the tag number of that asshat. he or she would be buying a new set of tires every week from today until they move away.
It's all the damn yankees that moved South and brought their bad drivin' habit's! I'm just jokin',,so don't get your panties in a wad my northen brothers and sisters. I drive close to a thousand miles a week and see it every day,,people are pre occupied with the cell phone or texting while driving,some are drunk,,while others are on drugs and some of the folks shouldn't have a drivers license,,some probably don't. I have had the exact same thing happen,,not on the intersate,but on the main road twice in one day,,,you just gotta drive and pay attention to every one around you. HRP
A pal of mine just got hit by an illegal from mexico. When the cop showed up (the illegal's car was not driveable so they could not flee the scene), the cop asked my pal how much his deductible is, and told my pal to try and negotiate with the illegal in an attempt to get some kind of money. My pal asks the cop what he is talking about. The cop said this guy is an illegal, no real name, no address, no insurance, no license. The cop said he was just going to let the illegal go on his way as he has no authority to enforce immigration law and there is no way to even figure out the illegals real identity.
Illegals, that's a whole seperate problem. By negotiate did he mean beat to within an inch of his life, stop, ask for money, then beat some more if he says no? It's hard to blame the cops on that one - if he arrests the guy, he's liable to lose his job. Now last night here at 10:30 at night some dude went the wrong way on an interstate and kept going until he hit someone head on. Guy in his 60s with a lady in her 80s in the car. Hit a girl in her late 20s and all dead. Unless you're in a semi, in that situation it's not going to make one damn bit of difference what you're driving - you're fucked regardless. You just have to accept that when it's your time to have an accident, you'll be in one, and when it's your time to meet your maker, that's going to happen too. Have a little faith -
I just watch out for people who like to drive on the phone, doing their make up, changing their clothes, switching dvd's for the kids in the third row seat, eating soup, and jacking off with a 5 gallon drum of vasoline... The person I don't pay any attention to is the kid in the taurus wagon hitting a bong at the stop light...Because he is the most cautious mother fucker on the road...He doesn't want to get caught...that bong was expensive....It's just to bad he didn't notice the camera they installed on the top of the traffic lights.....
I've had deer jump out from the side of the road more than a few times and came to the conclusion that this car had to go before something happened. All original and got a six figure price. Even with an agreed value, the cost to redo the wood would be horrendous.
At one time my 2 brothers-in-law and I all had 1962 Corvettes. It was a blast to rat race them around together. One brother sold his early-on and bought a new family car. I drove the shit out of mine for 20 years (daily driver, drags and road course) and ended up selling it a decade ago to pay for 1/2 a house. The third brother still has his, but now it's an "NCRS Gold Spinner" 100 point restoration, trailer queen that has to have 'booties' on the New Old Stock tires just to roll it in the trailer. This is a 360HP fueler, 4 speed car. His Vette was in the Portland Roadster Show a couple years ago and won top honors. During the show the brother had a heart attack and was in the hospital, so I had to go pick up the car after the show. When I fired it up, it reminded me of the good ol' days running around with each other. That night, I went to visit him at the hospital and told him his car was safe at home but he ruined the car by making it undriveable due to worries about damage. After he was feeling better, he bought another set of stock wheels, put some modern tires on it and started driving it again on nice days. Later, he thanked me for "waking him up" and said that he'd "forgotten how much fun it was to drive, and the car had become a burden rather than a pleasure." Also told me that if he'd have died "you woulda' drove the shit out of it anyway" Life is short, have as much fun as possible
hahaha just saw three ads for different brands and they all looked exactly the same. I HATE jellybean cars. thinking of a steel beam under the front bumper of my beater civic. my old ones had steel under the plastic, new ones it's dam plastic and foam, at least you have steel in your car. I know several people who had 70's boats they had put i beams across the front, people see that coming they get the hell out of the way, plus if they do something stupid and get hit the boat is going to be just fine.
we have that problem here, driving 15 below the speed limit,swerving, weaving, can't read the signs, and nothing anyone can do. there are always about 30 arrests a day for illegals driving with no licience and no insurance. they don't care,they get locked up,they get out in a few days and vanish with the other billion hoseas and manuels
I recently installed a train horn in my late-model Diesel pickup. You'd be surprised how many people don't see a 6,800# pickup! By gawd, they HEAR me if I have to use my horn now! It's 155dB of friggin' LOUD! Might install the same horn in my '37, '56, and '66 cars! People react in your favor when they think a train is about to pulverize them on a city street or a freeway!
Been hit it the right front by a kid running a red light, I had to make a split decision of to nail it or hit the binders. Glad I stopped & all he got was the right front fender, tire, wheel, & a frames. Found a cherry fender and had it shipped UPS & I think my wrecked one was easier to fix after UPS got through with the new one. Never got a dime from the kid or UPS. After that we were coming home from Prairie Hill Dragway and some juvenile delinquents(puttin it nicely) threw a full unopened beer bottle & hit my drivers door & fender. Fixed it again & never got a dime. The only way I'll stop driving mine is if it gets wiped out too bad to bring back, then I'll just build another & another & another. I don't have no problems on the freeway with a six pack & overdrive I can give the best of em hell. The only way I can be tailgated is if someone is in front of me where I cannot safely get by them while outrunning the stupid tailgaters.
Nashville is just one of the places I hate to come through in a truck. You have to either keep your speed up and stay out of the right lane or if your in the right lane you'll be saddled with IGNANT people cant figgure out how to get on the interstate without running into anything. Remember one thing... when your in a car doing nothing wrong, in your right of way and someone hits you it's their fault. When your in a semi in your right of way doing nothing wrong and someone hits you, you could end up losing everything and going to prison due to a crooked bit of legal interpretation where the courts uphold that your a professional so it's up to you to not just not hit anyone but it's your responsibility prevent other peoples from suffering their mistakes.''lawsuits. Sad thing is that no matter how good you are, you can't save everyone. Someone eventually is going to run a red light, pull out in front of you, cut into your lane and lockup their brakes or slam into you or run under your side. If you cannot prove that in addition to being 100%legal including ALL paperwork and not being at fault in any way; that you did everything possible to prevent the accident... the accident is declared preventable and liability falls on the driver,truck owner and company. from your perspective I hate those kinds of supertruckers you encountered as well even from being in my truck. The hours of service laws hve put undue stress on drivers to make appointments and you pretty much have to run like a strapped assed ape if you expect to be able to pay your bills. You used to be able to just take it easy and drive more hours but now it's all high pressured because activists have forced the government into restricting driving hours to a level that the worst drivers can handle and also because the trucking companies don't want their driver doing anything but driving, they want him on a hustle trying to keep up and the companies don't want to recieve freight at all business hours. they want it when they need it no sooner and absolutely not later. it's not the drivers fault, if you tell them I can't make it there by then or "i'll get there when I get there" your going to be looking for another job. I used to deliver news inserts for Quebecore. I'd have 10-20 deliveries on a semi and all newspapers. I used to be able to run off my deliveries at a liesure pace in a couple days. Newspapers are 24 hour operations but for some reason they ALL went to recieving times of around 8am-3/5pm. this means that that a 2 day liesurely trip getting all stops off round the clock is now a weeklong fail with no money in it. I used to be able to drive a few hours, take a nap WHEN YOUR TIRED, drive a few more,etc and get a total of 10 hours of sleep a day and drive 12-14 hours and then go home for a few days with a nice check over a grand. Nowadays your in a truck all week for maybe 400-800. you start your shift and cannot nap if you get tired because the law mandates taking 10 hours off after 14 hours from starting your shift. The big trucking corporations have to recruit internationally and hire alot of folks for who it's a way out of the ghetto or off the farm. There aren't as many drivers who learned it from Dad as there used to be and alot of the trainers for the trucking companies want to be trainers for the extra money not because they are especially good at the trade or want to teach a young person anything. the trainee is there to run miles for the trainer. They drive for wallstreet that's basically how it is and the voters let it happen. Don't hate the truck. I hate driving around those other truckers like you were stuck in. I often take the 2 lane highway and have no troubles like your nice trip because the problem drivers usually are on the big road with the big blue signs.
just drive your shit, if it gets busted,...fix it. I know people who are pussies and wont drive their old cars, and I tell them they are pussies when I cruise up in something cool and they are pulling a trailer like a cheesedick!
In my younger and much more ignorant days, i rode a little honda spree scooter about 20 miles, loaded down with my fat ass, a rolled up tent, a chipmunk .22, and a few other camping supplies...the darned thing was overloaded with ME, imagine how slow it was on a highway... ...this peterbilt gets behind me and starts blowing his horn and refusing to pass WItH NO ONCOMING TRAFFIC. What does my ignorant self decide would be a proper reaction? To fly him the bird...that's what. I <i>DID</> pull over when it wasn't going to cause me to wipe out and crash, he was laughing as he passed, waved and honked, I guess I humored him or something. At least he didn't plow me over and keep going. I'd be scared to do that nowadays, road rage being an epidemic and all. I finally had to sell the cafe racer I had built over the past year, one front blowout at the speed limit has me somewhat antsy, add to that an almost terminal paranoia of things larger/heavier than me either running me over, or suddenly placing themselves in my path. Anyone ever fill their bumpers or fenders with cement?
Pulled onto the shoulder on I-71 in the rural area of NE Ohio last week in the girlfriend's '59 Country Sedan... Tread let go on one of the bias-ply Firestones... Glad it stayed inflated, we were loaded to the gills and had our son with us. Pulling back out was the worst. Nobody, not even the truckers, give 2 shits about someone trying to get back into the flow. I have never seen that stretch of road that full on a Sunday evening. Had to get to speed and get over when there was an opening. Thankfully we had some friends following who were able to pull out & run interference once the opening came along. People DO notice a red and white 59 Ford barreling along. They point & wave and generally steer clear. That wagon is enormous.
Was almost killed by one a little while ago, was in Tifton, my wife is babysitting by grandson tonight,so i was headed home, some (pardon my language) FUCKTARD!! runs the green light i was about to turn left on, ON HIS CELL PHONE!! was probably doing 40 or 50, saw him as clear as day when he missed my car by about a foot. the light was already green when i rolled up to it, was just starting to turn left, when he blows the red light and nearly hits me, I know he never saw the light or me, because he was into his conversation on his phone. Someone needs to shove that phone where he can' t talk on it. followed him until i saw a cop,then pulled into where the cop was and what this moron had just done,. he hauled ass out of there after him,so not sure what happened. Don't know if was drunk or stupid or both. Most of the cops around here hate cell phones and the idiots who weave all over the road on them. With all the handsfree kits, and blue tooth gadgets, and other stuff, no reason to be holding that phone to your ear. No reason to be on it period unless it's an emergency.
I understand all the worries about other drivers, and they are warranted. I believe in driving your hot rod as much as possible, heck Ive been caught in snow with slicks on My GTO. My biggest fear came true when I fell asleep on july1 , 2011, and hit a tree head on with my 56 Olds 88 Cpe. I survived with a broken jaw, skull broken in 4 places , both eye sockets broke , a gash back to my thorax and a hole in Trachea from the steering column. I walked home 3/4 a mile and spent the next 3 days on a ventilator and 13 more days in a trauma ward. Tommorow I go for another throat surgery The Old Girl didnt fair as good, she is now being stripped for parts. I still drive my 61 safari wagon every chance I get , and will drive and race the GTO as soon as its finished! BUT ill try to do it with both eyes OPEN. [/IMG] [/IMG]
The Jalopy Journal
