Let see...Oh yeah...Jennifer Anniston....on the washer...spin cycle...at the local laundromat.....no wait, that was my most favorite ride. Scariest was in a fresh ,zero miles, 40 willys, 6-71 blown 392, as a passenger with not even a lap belt.....wide open throttle out in the country...FUCK!!!!!!
this one is easy ,hands down -MY Henry J mid mounted BBC (396)solid mounted Olds rear, buggy sprung Ford i beam axle,worst pinball I ever drove -ONCE ,one qtr mile and back home to take it apart and sold it next- the time i was coming home from work in my dunebuggy (manx),semi going the other way at about 80 MPH in a 55, MN spring side wind .picked me up up and set me down in his lane going the other way right in front of a state trooper chasing HIM, got her stopped , and the trooper says he knows he should write me up but can't figure out how or for what reason, he takes off after the semi at about 100 leaving me sitting there in his tire smoke OR hitting a DEEP ditch in a 130 MPH full spin w my 340 AAR (tri power)powered Duster, local cop who clocked me at 130 ,figured I learned my lesson wrecking such a beautiful and SPENDY car w no property damage or injury's,(his words)NO ticket, but MAN, the ins. company sure handed me my ass,never happen today- they'd toss my ass in jail oh did i metion the 5th of Jerimia Weed laying near the car,, don't drink anymore.;D pic is of identical car except I had Keystone Classic's and a six pac scoop. OR coming out of a curve on my built n chopped '58 TR6 Trump at about 80 to find the rest of thew pack stopped DEAD on the highway, literally STOOD on the rear only brake and left a 1/4 mile of rubber or i would have slammed right into em. like I said, don't drink anymore, I have a shamrock up my ass, but even that can wear out ;D,thats my kid on it circa 197?
1989, Bradenton dragstrip, first trip on the pro-comp bike that was built for me to race. I had been used to it running 9.20's, 1325cc, turbocharged Kawasaki. We added a single shot of nitrous, just push the black button when you get it in fifth gear and hang on. I expected a surge of power, but not what I got. In fifth gear the bike was running around 140mph, I hit the button and it immediately went back up on the wheelie bars. I will never forget that feeling. I was shaking so bad that I could hardly get the time slip from the guy running the booth. It was a pass at 8.50 at 165mph.
Had too many scary rides to decide which on to tell, so Ill tell the funniest one. In circa 1972, I had a 47 knuckhead with a stretched out springer. The overall length was exactly 12. The frame was stock and it was like I was always riding up hill. The bike was an old show bike, painted in white pearl lacquer with a bunch of grapes for a graphic on the peanut tank. Beautiful paint but the lacquer was old and thick and beginning to crack with age. The bike came with a sidecar, not a Dutch shoe, mind you, but a wine barrel for the passenger to match the motif of the bike. I hauled the sidecar home in the pickup and left it in a corner of the shop. One Sunday, after a few beers, my painter talks me into hooking up the sidecar to take a ride. So we hook it up, Im driving and the painter is riding. The shop was in Salinas behind a feed store and across from a shopping mall. We tool into the deserted mall parking lot, late Sunday evening and make a couple of rounds. The bike doesnt handle for shit surprise-surprise. We drive to the intersection to cross the street and the light is red. Did I mention, I had a mouse trap clutch with a stout spring. The weight of the bike was not enough to get the light to change. All of a sudden, my arm cramps up; I couldnt help it, I dump the clutch and across the intersection we go dodging cross traffic. I wasnt thinking straight and trying to steer this monster with one arm, I round the corner of the feed store and Im starring at a telephone pole. Just like in Laurel and Hardy, the bike is going to be on one side the pole and sidehack on the other side. I leaned over as far as I could and tilted the side car just enough to avert disaster somehow. Well needless to say, the sidecar came off and went to the corner of the shop, where remained until I sold the bike.
Have a friend that back in the late 90s shoved an aluminum headed sbc into an old 76 280Z. Car had NO suspension work, just a go cart with a pretty badass worked over motor and 30 year old struts. We're cruising not to long after he got it together and pass a C4 Vette. Get a few car lengths ahead, and just got the feeling he was going to make a move. Sure enough, from 3 cars back, he nails it. Craig drops the rachet shifter down into 1st at 40 mph and nails it. By the time this has happened, the Vette is already 2 lengths ahead of us. The SECOND Craig hit the gas,the Vette stopped leaving us, and within another couple seconds, we were blasting past him with the Zcar all over the road. I would have grabbed the door handles or anything else I could have held onto, but there wasn't anything IN the damn car. 5 car head start and got WHOPPED by a primered falling apart looking 280Z on Centerlines. That had to hurt the Vette drivers ego.
A friend's Pro Street Vega with a tunnel rammed 331 cube small block and a Clutch-Turbo tranny with the giant rear tires and all. This was no rinky-dink car, it was a full cage, pro-built RACE CAR with a license plate hung on it! I got in to go for a ride and elected just to sit ON the racing harness rather than strap myself in like an astronaut. My buddy takes off out of the driveway and we cruise a short ways. He lived out in the sticks, so there was plenty of long, straight two lane roads to play on. He found a nice spot, stopped the car, then launched it hard! People laugh at Pro Street cars sayin' "Whaddaya need them big tires for? I bet it can't even turn 'em over!", but this car NEVER hooked up! It was smokin' em hard out of the hole, and actually grabbed hard enough to accelerate like a rocket. Then he hit second gear and it broke loose again and swerved into the next lane and back...same thing hitting third gear at about 95mph! I kind of wished that I had put the harness on rather than sitting on it, but for as crazy as my buddy is, he can handle a scary car and I knew that, so I relaxed...a little bit! He repeated that routine about four more times before we returned to his house, and it wasn't so scary the next few times. It was like an amusement park ride...you just grab onto the roll cage and hang on for the ride of your life!
March, 1969, on I-29 outside Sioux Falls in my '68 Z-28 hit black ice at night and barrel-rolled in the ditch. Went over four times and came to a stop on the wheels. Left hand went through the window, right window smacked the top of my head, change in the roofline pulled the shoulder harness tight and opened my left chest a little, mag kill switch pierced under left kneecap. Walked away. Let the insurance company have it.
Scariest ride was when someone I barely knew said his Ranchero was making a funny noise, could I troubleshoot? "Sure, I could take it for a test drive." About 10' from the car he tells me no one drives his car but him & we spent the next 1/2 hour screaming around town at up to 90mph. At all times he was hard on the gas or hard on the brakes, practically jumping a railroad crossing at 70mph in a 30 zone. Never rode with that dumbass again. I tend to not be afraid when things get hairy when I'm behind the wheel, probably because I'm too busy driving. One time I made the mistake of driving mad. I was bombing around on gravel roads without using any good sense. There were thick trees on my left as I dirt tracked around a lefthand turn, relying on a heavy foot and the banking that gravel roads sometimes develop to hold me on line. I didn't know this road. Again, lack of judgement. Suddenly the inside of the road popped up level which put me REALLY sideways. Out the right window I realized the trees where there because there was a creek running there. Right at the end of the corner was a plank floored steel truss bridge of a type that used to be pretty common. These were pretty narrow for two cars to pass side by side, not nearly wide enough for a car sliding sideways. Oh crap. Somehow I managed to get it straight just as I got to the bridge. I hadn't scrubbed off a lot of speed and was still fast enough to broadslide it through the following righthand corner while coasting. I said I don't scare easily while driving. I was plenty scared once I knew I had pulled through this mess.
I ain't never been scared of nothin' dammit the Hairest ride I just posted some time back on a wood wheeled post. 49 miles in 48 minutes after dark in death valley as a passenger in a 1915 ford depot hack (woody) with those old wood wheel wobbling like crazy! But the one that taught me a lifelong lesson was on a saturday night in the early 60's Burger Lane in Monrovia ca. one of the regulars (somewhat of a prick) had a beautiful black 55 chev with a 425 horse 409, 4 speed 4:56 posi. ran pretty hard for what it was. In came a chopped and sectioned 40 ford coupe Pontiac powered. after all the B.S. and the race was on, Clark st. in El Monte just off Peck rd. (called the PIG FARM) a real narrow two lane with dirt on both sides and no side streets. the guy with the 40 asked if some one would ride with him and keep an eye on his gages (oil pressure and water temp) I jumped in and said let do it. on the ride to the pig farm (about 15 minutes) the talk was to inform me that the pontiac motor was a bored and stroked (5/8 inch) 421 that was over 520 inches with everything that money would buy (at the time) that was the cool stuff. this car was hammered so heavy that I couldn't stick my head thru the window sideways, there were no door handles inside or out. he told me that if he had to stand on the brakes he never knew which way it would swerve. but for sure the tool box on the package tray behind my head would land in the front seat. the car had a locked rear end (welded spider gears! now theres a nostalgia trip you don't see done anymore haha) none of the stuff that he talked about had a calming effect! We get to Clark street and line up with Sam (the 55) I had told the 40 driver that if he could beat the 55 thru first gear that Sam could never hit his 1-2 shift if he was behind (that was always his excuse for losing a race) when we launched the 40 moved to the right and had one wheel in the dirt and he never corrected and we were fender to fender at the 1-2 shift and still running one wheel in the dirt the 40 starting inching to the left and just got two wheels on the pavement at the 2-3 shift and all hell broke loose, the windshild and my feet were covered with hot liquids couldn't see shit. brakes on hard tool box slammed the back of my head (no brain no pain I always say) the 40 is swerving left to right and we're off the road sliding sideway he got 'er stopped and we were alive (that was the cool part) what happened when the car finally got traction and the shift at the same time the whole car tweeked enough that the fan shaved the top tank on the radiator that night when looking back IF we had gone up the bank and flipped or lost power to the solinoids (the release bottons were concealed under the driver somewhere) there was no manual release on those doors and no window big enough to crawl out. we would have fried. I have NEVER (in the last 48 years) ridden in another car with out a manual door handle period!! about 1 1/2 years later I saw that 40 (a really cool car) strapped on a truck with a bunch of other later models heading for the crusher and I had not one second of remorse for that custom. I just said to myself GOOD!!
My scariest ride in an automobile was during high school, I wnet to some party out in the desert. My friend and I got into the back of some guy's 70's Datsun truck and went on our way to go do a beer run. Turns out the driver dropped a bunch of acid and decided to go aff roading with us riding in the back of his truck! Thrilling experience to say the least. A close second was when some a bunch of us got in my VW bus and floored it going down the mountain trying to get the damn thing to go over 100 mph. Busses dont handle curves so well at these speeds. The scariest car I ever had was my '65 bug from my high school stupidity years. I decided to Slam the fron end by pulling the torsion bars out. Not only that it also had worn out tie rod ends. Almost impossible to keep in the lane. After a couple months of dodging oncoming traffic, I put the bars back in and installed an adjuster. I've got a bunch of stories, but after totalling a couple cars, I stopped driving like a total asshole.
This really pales in comparison, but I thought I'd throw it in anyway. When I was a junior/senior in college, I was meeting my girlfriend (now wife) and my roommates back at school over the summer. I decided to take the "scenic" route, curvy M20. It was a nice day and I was having fun blasting through the curves, downshifting my four-speed like I was a Grand Prix driver. I wasn't actually going crazy fast, it just felt like it. As I headed east, it started to rain a little bit. I was having so much fun that when I got to US131, I almost missed the turn north. Stupidly, I slammed on the brakes on a wet road. I hydroplaned and almost instantly spun around and ended up on the shoulder facing the enterance ramp. Miraculously, I actually remembered what to do in a spin and managed to keep the engine running. There was nobody around except a middle aged guy in a Ford Taurus waiting to get off the expressway. He sat there with his jaw hanging open and watched the whole thing. I gave him a jaunty wave, let the clutch out and got onto the freeway like I'd been in total control the whole time. About a minute and a half later I almost had to pull over because I started shaking so bad as the adreneline wore off.
Mine was two wheels as well...thought i was erik buell on my sporty...2 months after buying it. I had never rode a MC before that. Trying to brake and straightin' out in the middle of a turn...panic...me over bars onto road, bike into ditch, over ditch through bushes, still running...that was no fun. Actually pulled it out and rode her home.I am stickin to 4wheels!
When the rod that comes with rebuilt master cylinders broke on my A Coupe going about 50mph and coming up on a intersection. Luckily know one was coming because i cruised rite on through sideways. The second one was when I was a young lad and was on my way home riding my bicycle and thought my girlfriend was pregnant. Thank God cause I would have a 14 year old kid now. WOOO!!!
those little cars make for interesting rides......my second one was a tube chassis car with a mild roller 402 in it.....the car was always a fun ride ....till i changed carbs the day before i sold it......that day ....it became a "real interesting thrill ride" ......it was set up to race....so it hooked up pretty much all the time .....but letting off the gas at about 6000 in 2nd gear to make a curve .....now that would make things happen .....the chassis would unload ....and get to rocking .....ease into the throttle and it would straighten up right now ....fun fun fun .....i miss that ride .....hahhah brandon
Recently I was driving a new Cadillac CTS-V for a road test for the magazine I work for. I was dropping down the hill in the 71 South right where it runs into the 91 West and there is this bitchin little right hand turn between the freeways. What I didn't know was that it had started raining at the end of the ramp on the 91 side. So I am doing about 60 around this tight right handre when I hit the wet roadway. As the car was spinning across all lanes of the 91 I couldn't help think that I was driving a borrowed 50 thousand dollar car. I gathered it back up before I hit anything, thank god. I just sort of spun it around in a complete circle, down-shifted it into second and I was still doing about 45 miles an hour in the right direction on the 91 west when it was all said and done. From the outside it might have looked like I actually meant to do it - well except from the subtle skidmark in the inside of my drawers!
My buddy had just "gotten done" building a '68 Chevelle. Basically it was a pale yellow meadowmuffin he pulled out of a field, put a 4.56/spooled 12 bolt under, and a very hot iron headed, solid cammed 406/TH350 in. With a 250 plate on top of that. Well he wanted to show me what it could do with the spray, so we took it to the access road of I-35, slowed it down to about walking speed, then he stood on it. It wasn't too bad under power actually, it put weight on the 28x10.5s pretty well and went straight. Then at about 100, he yanked the steering wheel to the right. Of course the car did the same thing, but when he stabbed the brakes, it nosed down hard and he was able to maintain control by see-sawing on the steering wheel. What he hadn't told me was that the only brake that worked on the whole car was the left front. He drove it like that for at least two more years that I know of and never fixed the brakes. Idiot...
Back when I was 7, my older cousin had a race go-cart. It had two engine plates on the back and a single seat. Being rather short at the time (as I still am) I couldn't reach the pedals to drive it myself. We had a great system worked out where I would squat down on the unused engine plate and he would drive. We were coming back from the school down the street from his house and I managed to get my leg tangled in the throttle cable, which stuck it wide open. We came around a hard right curve in the road, and I lost my grip on the back of the seat frame. Since my leg was still tangled in the throttle cable, I continued down the road apace with the go-cart on my ass. My cousin had no idea that I was not still on the back until about half a block later when I got my leg (the untangled one) under one of the rear wheels of the go-cart. As soon as he had run over my leg, the other came untangled from the throttle cable and he brought the go-cart to a stop. Thank god for those old toughskin jeans. My ass was unskinned, but most of the seat of those jeans was gone. I limped the half a block back to his house with a bruised shinbone. That thing hurt worse than the triple fractured pelvis I got in an accident with my bug. The accident in my bug would probably have been scarier, if I could remember the damned accident. There is something to be said for being knocked incoherent.
1965. I-94 in Milwaukee at the old County Stadium parking lot. My '53 Olds lost it's battery to the fan blade...a Milwaukee County deputy sheriff gave me and my buddy a ride to the nearest bus stop. His ride was a '62 Pontiac Catalina four-door...421 with three on the tree. In his attempt to show us how cool his cruiser was, he took a 35 mph off ramp at 105 mph in second gear...damn Tin Indian almost took flying lessons that nite...we made it home...slightly shaken....
Headed to Jackson, TN on I-40 for a run early one Saturday AM, and enjoying life. Open car, cool weather, smooth road, quickie singing. All the best of being in roadster. A big truck passes me on the left with a little s**t box right on his rear. Flash the lights and the truck responds and moves in front. The car, staying with him, cuts me off! Prick! They run on up about 100 feet and I hear this loud "BANG" and see the little car swerve. Thought the truck had blown a tire. Right then I see this piece of angle iron about two feet long flying through the air right at my grill shell and windshield! Must have come off the trailer and been kicked up by the car. It hits once and bounces as I cranked the wheel hard to the left. Bad move, as the little front tires bite and the big rears don't. Cut it back to the right as the angle iron flies past the car, THEN the tires hook up and the car almost turns over as I head to the ditch. Got it sideways in the parking lane and skidded to a stop. That piece of angle would have done some serious damage to both the car and me, but being up on two wheels scared the ever-loving snot out of me. Found out the hard way about 155's at 25 psi and 275's at 18 psi; they're not compatible for high speed handling! Thank you Lord, for watching out for my dumb ass.
fuel and gas finals two years ago... lets just say that my buddy on the top end said he could read the lettering on both sides of the car and on the top of my helmet.... i didnt think it was that out of shape...i was having too much fun!
June 1974 put the car in my avatar pic through the eyes at Union Grove Wisconsin upside down,backwards on fire at 179 mph. Gemini EFI
besides my stabby fork wielding ex wife...........that would be a 10 1/2w street car with 427 small block on spray loosin a tire half way down the track and smackin a wall didnt walk for months
64 GTO ragtop with tripower I bought new. Had it about a week and I was coming down the ramp on to the infamous Mass RT 128 on eve. Nailed it and going thru the gears. Speedo was showing 120 and I let up and the fuckin thing kept going full bore for a few more seconds. Bias ply Redlines and shitty little Tempest brakes. The 64 GTO was strictly a straight line ride with no beef in anything from the base Tempest. The 65 was an all new car. Seems the trips were vacuum operated but someone forgot to tell GM that with the cam involved it didnt back down like prior year Bonnevilles, etc. They offered a mechanical linkage very soon afterwards! In 67 I had a Griffith/TVR with the 289 Hi Po and 4spd. Same fuckin ramp on to RT 128 and at around 120 I lost it, did a 720 right in the middle of the hwy and never touched anyone. Saw blue lights coming so I boogied to the next exit and lost him. Took some serious work and a whole new set of driving attitude to control that fucker. Some years later I did another 720 on I-495 in a 66 Vette with half bald Michelins. That was about the last of my real crazy driving, usually half in the bag. Had 2 kids by then and the wife gave me an ultimatum. Still got the old lady so I guess I listened to her.
I had the mini cooper loaded with the whole family and heading to KC. we were on the interstate going about 75 and we were about half way there. Then it happened, a semi ran into the side of us and we slid off the road , hit an embankment and then proceede to flip about 3 1/2 times. The whole family walked away ( my wife with a concussion ), the car was a mess! jeff
The Jalopy Journal
