Art & Inspiration Test Drive Tales

I posted this elsewhere in the past. It was early 1982 and we were working on a '72 Torino stock car with a 429 in it. It had the cage done, no front sheet metal yet, no exhaust, no door skins. Of course no lights. It was low and had old Towel City racing re-caps on it.

I motion to my buddy that I want to take it around the block, this is strict Babylon Village, he nods, looks out it the street, 11:45 at night, nobody out. So out I go, making left turns and stood on it. The 2nd time around I'm shifting the C6 from 1st to 2nd. The spool was working, breaking the tires loose on the shift.

I get it back in the garage, we douse the lights and wait. Sure enough a cop car goes by slow. We stood in the shadows and had a laugh. Not cool when people had little kids or had to get up early to go to work, but at the time it was fun.

 

[QUOTE="gene-koning, post: 14929132, member:
That little V8, 4 speed 65 Barracuda was a lot of fun.[/QUOTE]
Amen! I had it's Dodge kin, 65 Dart 3DRHT. Upgraded the cam to the 66 yr 250hp version. One of my all time favorite vehicles. Sure surprised a lot of chevs/fords.

My test drive tale: Stopped at a car lot to drive a 54 El Camino, drive went OK but not nice enough to buy. Lot was on a 4lane undivided high traffic street and to return I had to stop in the inside lane with turn signals on waiting for a break in traffic. Sitting there with a Rambler wagon stopped behind me when a Riviera came over the hill behind me running way too fast. He plowed into the Rambler, drove it into the back of the Elco. Totaled both of them. Bent the bumper and tailgate, just a little on the Elco.

Anti-freeze from both the Rambler and Riv everywhere. The lady driving the Rambler was searching for her gl***es. We found them on the dash, frames and lenses separate. Have no idea how that could happen but it did. Big time ticket to the Riv driver!

Worst part was the owner of the lot was standing outside waiting for me, saw the whole thing and I didn't buy.

 

I had recently finished my Model A pickup and I heard about a chopped Model A sedan, the twins were about two years old and I thought if the price was fight this might make a nice family hot rod.

Brenda & I dropped the kids off at her parents and we drove about 40 mile to a agreed service station where we had agreed to meet, as we pulled in we could see the yellow chopped sedan and Brenda looked at me and said you ain't gonna fit, I ***ured her I would son we got out and introduced ourselves.

As I walked around the car I fell in love with it, it had been a a resto rod with a winged moto meter, old 5 spoke Keystone mags and the yellow paint & the chop screamed hot rod, I opened the drivers door and tried to get in, there was no way a guy that is 6'4" was going to fit in the sedan.

I realized that I needed a car we could all fit in comfortably, a few weeks later I purchased my first 1940 Ford sedan, it was Brenda's daily driver for almost 6 years. HRP

 

@bobss396 i have to remind myself of those times now and then when the neighbor kids cruise by late at night on there way to make a pull down the road. I’ve started smiling when I hear them go by now instead of being grumpy about it

 

Back around 78-79, the local Chevy dealer got a 71-72 Chevelle in on a trade. I went to look at it, 350, bucket seat and console, floor shift car, super nice. A buddy just happened to be there looking at it as well. Both of us being young broke guys, it was too much money for us, so the salesman pointed us over to a 68 Chevelle they also had. It had been run hard, seats were somewhat tattered, a few whisky dents, but it was a 350 4 speed car. A little too rough for me, but my buddy liked it, so the salesman said take it for a ride. Got maybe a couple of miles from the dealership, buddy decided to turn around, it was just too rough for him, too. He turned left, dropping down to second gear, not really pushing it. When he hit third, all hell broke loose! The worn out U joint let go, and whipped the hell out of the floorboard as he was getting it stopped. Some farmer was right behind us and saw the whole thing, he gave us a ride back to the dealership. The salesman was pissed, screaming that we dogged it and broke it but the farmer told him what really happened. Saved our tails.

Found out later the salesman got fired. He knew the car was about to fall apart and he was trying to get it gone before his bosses found out. He had taken it in on trade without even looking at it. The dealer was a cool guy, always had a new Corvette every year, and didn’t put up with BS out of his salesmen. Was a sad thing when he sold out and retired, new owner didn’t give a **** who they screwed over. Good thing was they didn’t last long before they sold out.

Oh, my buddy? He ended up with a pristine 67 SS Chevelle he bought from an individual. I ended up with a 454 Cheyenne pickup.

 

I've worked as a mechanic for many years. I also worked reconditioning at a used car lot and sometimes would go out with prospective buyers. I could write a book, and I'm sure many others here could too.

One that jumps to mind is the guy who sold his car to the lot. Complained that it got terrible gas mileage. It was a 4 cylinder Toyota, so we just figured he was a bit of a loon after checking it out.
I was tasked with riding back to his house and bringing it back. This guy would accelerate, then decelerate by 5-10 MPH every minute, streets, freeway, everywhere. On, off, on, off. It was a long drive to his place and it took everything not to slap him. Told the boss to NEVER sell this guy a car, 'cause he would never be happy. My blood pressure is higher now after typing, just remembering this guy.