Wildest Rides

[MAD-3R]

Post the wildest ride you or "your friend" ever went on in a car!!

Keep them truthfull :)

[MAD-3R]

I was heading North on I-81 in Virginia, and it was raining with strong crosswinds. I had my good tires on the front of my 1988 Festiva, and the bald ones on the rear. I was crusing home from visiting my bud's folks in NC, I caught a strong gust that put me into a spin.

I started by heading North, in the North-bound lane, facing North and after doing a full 360, we were heading north and facing north, but in the south-bound lane!!, with O' Mighty Kenworth (tm) comming at us head on.

I truely thought we were going to die. I even said "We're going to die" as calm as could be.

Well, we kept spinning, and ended up facing south, traveling north down the center of the median.

After starting back up and continuing the trip with my friend driving, he would look over at me ever few minutes and say "Dumb $#!t."

[Haggis]

One time a friend and me were traveling in his Eagle Talon east bound on I-70 in Maryland. This old man in a pickup truck cuts us off, my buddy speeds up and before I know it my buddy is half way out the drivers window yelling at the old man. Next thing I realize is that we are going sideways down the highway at 70 mph. We end up on the right shoulder cars pulling off the road everywhere. Luckily no one had an accident, the old man continue on his way and got off at the next exit. My buddies car had grass wedged between the tire and rim and I had a piece of plastic in my lab from a mile post marker. To this day I have never road with him again.

[Heavy351]

While in high school going on a ski trip with 3 friends to New Hampshire from CT. Partied hard the night before and they were asleep in my 1976 sky blue 4 speed chevette that morning.

Driving along in the far right lane of 3, a car is lazily passing me on the left. I am calmly watching the lady in the passenger seat who is looking at me when suddenly the expression on her face changes.

the 3 lanes had just merged to 2 and there is is a parked semi trailer on the shoulder where my lane used to be! cant go left and I got no time to brake so I go right into the grass. The berm slopes downward very sharply into the woods and I feel the car sliding dowwards towards the thick trees at about 60MPH, I cut the wheels left and floor the accelerator and powerslide sideways up the hill and back onto the shoulder right next to the lady in the other car with eyes now as big as dinner plates.

Only 1 passenger wakes up and says "WTF was that!"

Couldn't drive for days....

[Dr Caleb]

Originally posted by MAD-3R
Post the wildest ride you or "your friend" ever went on in a car!!


I was travelling south from Fort McMurray to Edmonton on Highway 63. It was dead of winter, middle of the week. There were very few vehicles travelling, I passed about 1 per hour in ethier direction.

About an hour south of Marianna Lake, and about 45 minutes before got to any civilization (there is nothing on the 150 km stretch of road between these two towns) the road became really bad.

I was travelling about 90 km/h and was starting to feel the backend of my Suzuki Sidekick start to 'twitch'. That's when I noticed the road had become glare ice. I reached for the gearshift to downshift and slow down so I could put it in 4wd but as soon as I did, the car went sideways. I was going sideways at highway speed right down the center line of a 2 land highway. Due to the slope of the road. it slid sideways into right hand ditch, which was 4' - 6' deep of hard packed snow. As soon as I hit the snow, the Suzuki did sideways flips through the snow packed ditch.

The canvas top ripped off, and all the contents of the truck spilled into 4' of snow. I figured it was about 3 rolls, 1 in the air, one bouncing off the roof (roll cage goooood!), then one bouncing off the drivers side before it came back to resting on the wheels. After a couple seconds to make sure all my body parts were still intact, I said 'cool!'. It was 40 below, I had no car, I was in the middle of nowhere, alone and was not prepared for a 50KM hike. I said "****". Out loud. Just like that too.

I got out of the wreck. It wasn't easy, as the snow was up to my chest. I gathered up what I could salvage from what was still on top of the snow and tried to make my way 20 m back to the road. Luckily about that time (elapsed time 10 minutes) a nice lady in a dodge 3/4 ton had seen my white Suzuki buried in snow, and stopped for me.

When I got to the road, I could hardly stand it was so slippery. And the skid marks were hardly visible. Just two tire prints in solid snow. The lady was nice enough to give me a ride to Wandering River, where I could catch a bus. We counted 23 vehicles in the ditch along the way.

While I was waiting for a bus, a trucker bought me a cup of coffee, and then gave me a rider 300 km back to Edmonton. He scared me so bad a couple of times, I nearly filled my fruit of the looms, but the ride was free, and we lived. He actually dropped me about a block from my Uncle's place. Nice guy.

I still think it was a cool ride into the ditch, except for the cracked ribs and wrecked vehicle, it was actually fun.

[LincMercLover]

Me and my friends NEVER drive crazy... So nah! :P

[MAD-3R]

Originally posted by LincMercLover
Me and my friends NEVER drive crazy... So nah! :P

Not a question of driving crazy. Weather events or having to dodge a blind merger would count.

[LincMercLover]

Hit a curb on a turn doing about 50MPH. Set the truck on two wheels, came back down as I was heading off to the ditch (a ditch that nothing could get back out of). I oversteered to get the truck back on course the corrected into my own lane. My buddy was asleep in the back seat with his head rested against the third door's glass. He had a headache the rest of the night...

[Macon Marauder]

Time: 1977
Place: I-75 Northbound in Macon, GA.

I'd just put a new carb on my '69 XL (429 ThunderJet, yeah Baby!) and my girlfriend and I are going to the movies. I pull over into the left lane to pass and floor it. The big Ford takes off like a rocket! At about 90 I left off. But the car keeps accelerating. My girlfriend starts to freak out at around 100, then she curls up into a little ball in the front passenger side floorboard.

I'm weaving through traffic like I'm in hot pursuit, the speedo needle buried past 120. I finally take 1 hand off the wheel long enough to switch the car off and BANG! A big boom from underneath and muffler pieces fly out from under the car. I quickly switch it back on. Car zooms right back up to ludicrous speed in no time. Girlfriend is crying now.

I switch it off again, lots of rattling from underneath, but I don't care. I coast to a stop, get out, move the throttle linkage out from where it's stuck under the air cleaner. And go about my business. "I meant to do that."

[martyo]

Any ride in a car with Todd.

Especially the one last weekend after the Mexican food! :puke:

[Hemlock]

BAKERSFIELD , CALIF. MAR.4,1964 SECOND PASS WITH MY NEW A/F DRAGSTER , BROKE A AIRCRAFT GRADE BOLT IN FRONT END , CRASHED, END OVER END NINE TIMES ,AT 185 MPH.(MY LAST RIDE) !!!

[TripleTransAm]

Not terribly proud of this one... but it did set the tone for the kind of driver I've since become.

Sometime around 1990 or 1991, I was tooling around the neighborhood in the 1985 Parisienne. Not far from our block was an undeveloped long stretch of road leading through a forest. Flat 2 lane blacktop, gradual turn, should be plenty of visibility... unless you're doing over twice the speed limit.

So as I'm roaring down that 35 mph road at way over 70 mph in 3rd gear with the 4 barrels sucking air, I spot in the distance a young kid (maybe 10-12 years old?) walking his bike across a pedestrian crosswalk. Seems they extended the bike path that wound through the "Central Park"-like nature reserve and it now crossed this particular road.

I got on the binders big time, all the while keeping all senses on high alert for any hint of locking up any tires, and desperately praying that I'd nonetheless have enough braking force to haul that 4500 lb hulk down to a stop before bunting that poor kid clear into the next postal code.

There's a reason GM consistently opted to use the Parisienne brakes on any stupid-high-power Firebird test car in the 80s (like the big block and twin-turbo 1985 test mules documented in Car and Driver, etc.). I stopped in time.

But just barely. The kid had done the natural thing when he spotted the big blue-grey monster bearing down on him... he froze right there in the middle of my lane. With my Parisienne stopped, I calmly motioned for him to cross, as if I was graciously giving him the right of way or something. What an ********* I am, I thought...

For the next 20-30 minutes I don't remember much except that I must have driven around most of my residential neighborhood in a daze. I could have killed that kid... all for a brief thrill.

That event pretty much colored my outlook on high speed driving on public streets for the rest of my life. Even though I let myself get carried away with my new WS6 back in 1998 with my 155+ mph romp, it was purely from lacking the realization that these cars could accelerate so quickly. Anytime the temptation is there to let things get out of hand, there's now an invisible hand which reaches down and holds me back.

[sailsmen]

There are several.

I was riding in a friends Fiat 124 2 seat convertible with roll bar. There is a railroad track crossing that is 20' above the divided residential road on one side and a 30* turn to an undivided residential road on the other side.

At night we were going down the divided road side at 60mph. I tell Richard SLOW DOWN, so he speeds up!

We are air born coming down the other side. just past the apex on the turn is a large cast iron street lamp on the passenger side. I look over at Richard and he cranks the wheel all the way left while we are air born.

We land level bottoming out the suspension which slows us down, we are still heading towards the strret lamp as we scrub off speed by still dragging the bottom. At the last moment the front tires bite and the vehicle turns. We fish tail to the left and the back misses the lamp post by inches. There was a lot of ticking under the hood after that and several thousand $$ in damages, all under the car.

26 years latter evertime I go over that crossing I think about that nite!

The other one; I was driving my marathon blue 914 down St Charles Ave during summer on my lunch hour. A typical heavy summer shower comes down for a few minutes.

I notice a lot of slow moving traffic ahead. Well it's a very attractive nurse in her white uniform riding her bike literally for all to see all of her. I do a u turn and pullover a few blocks ahead with a towel and wait by my trunk.

I motion for her to stop and tell her it looks like she could use the towel. She stops to dry off and hands me back the towel. I kindly tell her she needs to keep it because she is causing quite a traffic jam, she protest that she does not want to take my towel.

I giver her my card and tell her not to worry, just call me to return it.

Well she called me and being a gentlemen all I can say is I got back a lot more than my towel.

Even though I am now happily married I always carry a towel in my car!

[merc406]

I-94, October morning, around 5:00am, coming back from Metro-Airport, raining hard, so hard can't see headlight path, up ahead unknown to me and my Daughter two car's are rolled ahead and it must have just happened seconds before, the one in my lane is a dark colored 4dr, the one in the far right lane is light colored, the center lane is open. Behind me a big mofo of a Semi, we're doing 55 and see a car to the right ahead on it's top only cause it was light colored did I see it, I look back to my lane, Oh **** what the, another one in my lane on it's top, I see it and slow down and sneak over to the center lane, the lane the Semi's in. He sounded his blower, I knew he was their, we see the Semi's tire in the passenger window, I spead up just in time to make it by in the center lane without hitting either of the rolled over cars or getting run over . We phone the Police to report the accident.
Someone hand me the toilet paper please. We get up latter that day and find rubber marks on the right rear door, no dents just rubber.

[TripleTransAm]

Wow, Merc406... that's a nasty one...

I'll add a similar one. Back in winter 1993, GTA is stored and I'm driving the Parisienne while building my infamous bionic '84 Civic out of 2 donor cars. Coming back from my ex-GF's house during a spell of nasty ice rain and dropping temperatures, I have to take a tunnel across the St.Laurent river to get to Longueuil and home. It's a 3 lane highway, 62 mph (100 kph) limit.

As usual, my ex-GF had me all riled up (there's a reason she's my ex, after all). So I'm in the tunnel, everything's dry so speeds naturally pick up (it's a long tunnel, takes about 2 minutes to cross at that speed).

Coming up and out of the tunnel, it just happens that I emerge at about the same time as a rig in the lane next to me. I'm going slightly faster, and as I pass him, a gust of wind (perhaps the turbulence around him?) sets my back end somewhat loose. I back off but the car's oscillating more and more.

Luckily I think the rig spotted my dilemma because all of a sudden I'm out in front of the truck doing about 4-5 complete 360s on the ice. Normally, just the thought of an oncoming rig would be scary enough, but as it is, once you come out of the southbound direction of the Lafontaine tunnel, you're on Charron island and almost immediately end up on a bridge spanning the remaining half of the river! That means also the possibility of flipping over into the icy waters.

By some act of God, the Parisienne quits rotating and slides backwards towards the inner dividing cement wall, so at least the watery death was ruled out. The back end must have literally stopped 6 inches from the barrier.

The engine had stalled, I flicked on my hazards to alert oncoming traffic through the heavy ice-rain/snow precipitation. Once the rig went by and it looked like the coast was clear, I got the car straightened out and headed home to count my remaining lives.

Besides an incident on a road course where I came close to flipping my WS6 after losing it between turns 2 and 3, this was pretty much the worst situation where I thought for sure my goose was cooked.

[Mad1]

I had two "adventures" on the same road.

Two pieces of set up: Where I grew up in Ohio is flat enough you'd think God used a grader (glacier) to smooth it out and after harvest and the leaves are down you can see for miles in every direction.

There's a ruler-straight road near my house with no stop signs for several 8-mile stretches, combined with nearly unlimited visibility. My friend and I drove his dad's '69 Camero up into the triple digits on the way to-and-from a car show drive-in in a nearby town. It's incredible and extremely scarey to feel that speed.

Second, I was driving home in my truck from work on this same road. I was extremely tired after a long-day, night cycle and drifted off the road (after my eyes closed on their own) as I approached a railroad overpass.

Upon waking up, I over corrected and started to spin out. I slid through the cement rail overpass sideways and then turned 180-degress. I crossed in front of on-coming traffic, went off the road backwards and came to a stop in a cornfield.

After I regained my breath ... and completely awake now, I drove home very slowly counting myself lucky not to have finished the trip in the back of an ambulance (or hearse). To this day, if I'm the least bit tired, I pull off the road and take a nap rather than push my luck any further.

Jeremy
Mad1

[Macon Marauder]

In the early 80's I was leaving work one rainy night in my '79 Ford LTD II (351, red w/ "Starsky and Hutch" like stripes). Starting down a steep hill I hit the brakes to slow down. The stop light switch broke and the pedal went almost to the floor. The front wheels locked up and I lost control.

I crossed the other lane, went down into a ditch and hit a concrete culvert nose first. The car then pivoted around and landed in a yard with the back end against a fence post. I was uninjured. Afterwards, it looked like someone had just parked it there.

I went to call for help but there was no one home at the nearest house. I called my brother and the cops from an apartment building across the street.

Bro got there first and said I was an idiot for calling the cops. So we hid when they showed up. The cops just shined the spotlight around for a few seconds and left.

Had the car towed home. It looked like it had been hit by a semi. Had to have a whole new front clip.

[woaface]

Same as TTA, this is the first real adventure I ever had, and I was lucky enough to have a serious situation (to set me straight) that didn't end up in any damage (to anyone or anything).

I was at a light turning right and the road to my left is angled slightly so one can only see traffic comming for maybe 40 or 50 feet. That's usually enough considering the stop light there. My light was red, but I decided I had enough room to go and I went. As my car straightens out I look in my rearview mirror and see some kid in a 91 to 93 Accord come up on my tail really fast. I figure he's just a jerk and he has no way to get around me as traffic is kind of heavy. My friend beside me saw him too and gave me a "let's smoke him" look. So...I did. I floor it and zip to the left lane around a truck, then back to the right in front of the same truck, and this happens a few more times, left to right. He's probably as close to my bumper as I am to my computer screen right now, the entire time. Finally a clearing opens and he takes the left lane and I take the right. The speed limit on that road (Phelem Rd going towards I-85 past hudson) is 45 miles an hour. I look down at my speedo and I'm doin 95 and climbing. As we're racing down through the next light (which was green) I'm only pullin away from him by a little bit, as he's right beside my left rear tire. Past the light there is a best buy truck about 225-250 feet in front of him, and a young lady in a silver accord 250-300 feet in front of me, so both of us will need his lane very shortly. He goes around the truck in the paved dividing lane, and I go beside the truck in my lane, pullin at least 100 or 105 now. We come around the truck at the same time and both of us have half of our cars in that lane. I could have dusted him there by forcing him over which he looked about ready to do, but I came to my senses (finally) and I pulled back over into the right-hand lane. He flys off and I see this poor lady in the Accord just head of me. I start to put on the brakes and I realize I'm still doin maybe 90 or 95 and that I need to stop a LOT quicker, so I put on the brakes a bit more and the fronts locked up on me for about 2 or 3 seconds (I would guess heat) and a cloud of white smoke goes up around the car and I missed the lady by 10 or 15 feet. My brakes are so hot that when I pull into a parking lot a quarter of a mile later, just barely touching them made the car lurch forward same as if I really stompped on them.

I get out of the car, scared *****less and I walk around for a minute or two. I look at my friend and ask if she's (same chick whos dad owns the porsche) ok...she's not the least bit phased by it..."Once you get used to your dad doin 130 between semi-trucks...nothing is scary". I told her "Great, you can drive us home...I feel like a real dumbas$."

And that's that.

[MapleLeafMerc]

Originally posted by MAD-3R
I had my good tires on the front of my 1988 Festiva, and the bald ones on the rear. I caught a strong gust that put me into a spin.


Yet another good reason for a big car like the Marauder!

[CRUZTAKER]

A military companion took me to a road somewhere in south of Seattle in a town I believe called Kent. He said he wanted to show me something. He had me drive up this steep graded hill in a quiet neighborhood that reminded me of the hills in San Francisco. Once to the top he told me to turn around and go back down...as fast as I could. Being 19 and not all that bright, I did it. Half way down there was a bit of a level landing before dropping again. I imagine I hit that landing at about 60 mph. My little rx-7 went airborne....all four wheels....at least 5 feet or more and traveled who knows how far down that hill before we landed. Upon landing, every item in the car was thrown around or out the windows! We both smacked our heads on the roof causing lasting dents in the roof and bumps on the head. I tore off all the splash guards from the exhaust system, tore up the front airdam, and broke two springs. Needless to say I was pissed, but thankfull to keep the car under control. My friend laughed his a$$ off and being the receiver of a large lawsuit settlement recently, agreed to pay for all the repairs citing that....It was worth it cause when he tried this with his monte carlo, he could'nt catch the air, and wanted to see what mine would do.

My oh my, the things we did in our youth for amuzement!

[jaywish]

Well this probably isn't the wildest ride I've been on but it has always stayed with me.


Back in the old days (no 55 limit) I was driving my Red 68 Charger 383 2bbl auto and had a couple of friends, Billyjack & Maryjane on the front bench with me.

I was heading out onto a 6 lane (I287) and as was pretty normal I just floored it.

The entrance ramp was a downhill so that baby flew. I don't really know how fast we went (cause I didn't look) but I know that 3 speed auto upshifted to 3rd at about 96MPH.

So somewhere after the upshift MaryJane (in a high pitched voice with a slightly mainiac tinge) Says....

"Welcome to the Wondefull Word of Speed .. Ha Ha Ha Ha..."

Maybe you had to be there but like I said at the beginning of the post it just it just kind of stayed with me.

[teamrope]

I was stationed in Germany, and my GF (now my wife) lived over an hour from where I was stationed. I had my BMW 525 running at 120 MPH when the DS back tire blew out. The backend started to come around so I turned into it ever so gently. the car was starting to staiten out, but half way in the rh lane. There was a VW golf in that lane doing 80 MPH. The force of the impact effectivly locked up her back tire with the bumper. I kept the car strait and upright, while she was doing 360's down the autobahn. Lucky no one was hurt. Moral of the story, keep it under 100 MPH on M+S tires.

[DOHC 4.6]

My wildest ride was in a military special ops HUMVEE. It was outfitted with full Kevlar armor, a full roll cage, and high sided racing bucket seats with 5-point harnesses. The back was empty except for the mounting racks for various pieces of "special" equipment. It was designed to penetrate a hostile area, allow the personnel to do their job, and get out as fast as possible. Can't say where I was or why I was riding in it, but I will say that I never would have believed that a HUMVEE could move so fast over nasty terrain or jump so far until this ride.

[BUCKWHEAT]

Tonite coming home from work,,,,it's raining in north Texas (after about two years without any rain) and the roads are slick. The MM has been spinning out the rear on any power-on turn so I am on my best behavior. At my subdivision I am signaling a left turn off of a two lane road. In my rear view mirror I see a Ford Escape coming up behind me slam on the brakes & lose it. She (yes) gets it coming around with the back end headed off the road. Ditches on both sides! Just short of me (I have moved forward by now for obvious reasons) she goes off the road missing the ditch onto a church lawn. No damage whatsoever, other than the deoderant fadeout. I'm impressed.

[martyo]

Originally posted by BUCKWHEAT
I'm impressed.

With the deodorant???

:confused:

[Rollin'Thunder]

Glad to hear you made it home in one piece. Just a little more, and you might have had more than deoderant fadeout!

[jspradii]

Heading from Shreveport to Oklahoma City on Friday, December 12, for a hockey game on Saturday nite (Dec 13), I was westbound on state hwy 9, about 6 miles from the bustling suburb of Pink, Oklahoma (on my way to Norman, home of the Sooners of OU). It was 34 degrees, dark, 6:30 p.m. and on a very wet, very well travelled two-lane asphalt road. Speed limit 65mph.

I come up behind a '92 Town Car doing 50. I decided to pass. I fail to take my tranny into third before I go around, leaving it in overdrive (this 300A has no traction control). As I pull around the Town Car, I put the gas down to pass. The tranny downshifts to third, and the rear tires break loose. I fishtail to the right, correct, fishtail to the left and the momentum spins me TWICE in front of the oncoming Town Car, across his lane, not more than three feet between his bumper and my passenger door! I could see the terror in that poor man's face as I continued my spin into the muddy ditch on the right side of the road.

A kindly local fetched a chain and drug me out of mud up to my rear axle. No obvious body damage done, but the right tail pipe is bent up under the frame, and I have to limp a very seriously vibrating car into Oklahoma City at 40 mph, since I'm not exactly sure what damage was done, frame-wise, control arm wise, wheel wise, etc. I don't find that out until later today (Monday, December 15). Nobody hurt. Town Car kept going.
No doubt in a state of shock. It was a humbling experience for me, to be sure.

I hope he (Town car driver) didn't get my license number, or I may be getting the cleaning bill for both his upholstery and his underwear. High ratio gears can be damned dangerous on slick roads. I shouldn't have had to have been reminded of that. However, the MM is one hell of a stable platform in a high speed spin. A rollover never appeared likely to happen. I love this car!

Once it set in that three people may not have seen Christmas 2003 because of this incident, I had to thank the Lord for his intervention and deliverance, as well as for good solid design engineering by Mercury. Kids, don't try this at home (or anywhere else, for that matter).

[jgc61sr2002]

Jim - Glad to see you were not hurt. Sounds like the damage is minor.:(

[jspradii]

Thanks! It looks like no damage to suspension parts, but just to be on the safe and sure side, I'm taking her in tomorrow to have a 4-wheel alignment and frame inspection done. This is one well built platform!

[TAF]

WOW Jim!!! First I want to say I'm REALLY glad that you are O.K.!!!

Second...your observation is correct and it has not been talked about around here much...but the early "A"s certainly DO get a little squirrelly with taller gears on wet roads.

We all talk about 1-2 chirps...which are no problem...but those chirps on dry roads become fishtails on wet ones. If been there a few times myself. This is especially important to remember for us "early owners".

Get her checked out, cleaned up...and you take care. The Lord decided we needed you around here.

[jspradii]

Thanks Todd! Look forward to going to Hallsville this weekend & see cruzer and the North Texas gang. Then on to {Bristol} and any other get together I can make between now and then. Marty's getting fresh with his times, so it's time to go back out and set a new goal for him to shoot at!:banana2: :banana2: :beer:

[SHERIFF]

In 1973, myself and a fellow deputy were driving a pretty new 1973 Plymouth Gran Fury I (440 V-8) westbound on Interstate 64 (his issued car, not mine). The deputy had altered his rear gear ratio and set his carb jets up according to some specs a member on the Richard Petty team had given him.

He wanted to see what improvements the mods had made. The last time I viewed the speedometer it looked as if it had gone about 15 mph past the 140 mark.

It is the fastest I have ever been on land, and the Interstate looked like it was 15 feet wide at that speed! I personally do not ever wish to go that fast on a public highway again as long as I live.


The second wildest ride I have been on is temporarily losing control of a 1971 Plymouth Gran Fury (440 V-8) on a two lane road. While the road was an exceptionally good road, I let my front right tire drop off the right shoulder at about 100 mph. Being young and inexperienced, I corrected too fast. This sent me flying back and forth from the left lane to the right trying to regain control. It was by the grace of God that I did not lose total control and hit a tree.... as in DOA! I still count my blessing to this day.

[MAD-3R]

LEO: Do you know how fast you were going son?

Speeder: Somewhere between the "M" and the "P."
(as in "MPH" at the Bottom of many Speedo's)

[lgetz]

My wildest rides were both very frightening experiences. The first was in my mom's 91 Q45. A couple of friends and I were cruising on a Sunday evening when a brand new Chevy PU (still had paper tags) begins toying with us. Well we both floor it down a two lane pass a car at over 100 MPH and suddenly a pair of headlights appear coming toward us. Since I was on the wrong side of road I simply got on the shoulder and the car passes by no more than two feet to the right. The car and the Chevy collided and we kept going. Found out later the guys in the Chevy were friends from school. They said they had already slowed alot but the other car still hit the rear of the Chevy and tore it up pretty bad. One guy broke his collarbone but the people in the other car were ok. I don't even want to consider what could have happened if we had hit that car at speed. The second occasion a friend and I went out on the town. It was late and we ended up following a couple of girls we had met at a club. The next thing I remember we're out in the middle of nowhere and I tell my friend to get us home. I dozed off and after that I awoke to see we were rolling and ended up on the side of a mesquite tree. I rolled down the window (truck was still on) and climbed out. My friend was still asleep at the wheel and I climbed back in and shook him awake. We got a ride back to town with some oil field workers and they said we were luck to be alive. I believed them after I saw pictures of the Z-71. The cab on my side was damaged heavily. I had bruises from the seatbelt for two weeks and it hurt to even breathe.

[jerrym3]

1) 1965, traveling down the NJ Turnpike at 2am going to see a buddy in the airforce at Dover, driving a new 327/300 Vette with 3:08 rear. Cruising at 120 when I ran into a fog bank. At 120 mph, I was scared s*****s.

2) Standing in front a a diner (again, same year, same car) talking with the cop on the beat; two cars pull up to the stoplight, one guy yells out at the cop "there's a girl in the car next to us cutting her wrists!!" The car speeds away.

Cop says to us "whose Vette"? Mine. "Let's go"

Talk about a license to kill!

We roared around West New York, NJ, for ten/fifteen minuites trying to find where that car had gone; never did find it, but there were no suicide stories in the next day's paper. Probably a hoax.

3) 1962, sitting in my 57 BelAir 283/220 at the White Manor hamburger haven in Jersey City, NJ. Like other dummies my age, I used to run the car without an air filter because "it sounded cool when the four barrels opened."

Turned the key, car wouldn't start. Tried it again, and noticed the hood crinkling; opened the hood; motor on fire. Guy next to me had a fire extinguisher (what luck); killed the flames, put the air filter back on, started the car and drove away. Just plain old dumb luck.

[Glenn]

O.K. you got to me. Here's my story of my wildest ride. 1965 in Delaware Count, PA. I was in my friend's 1964 Fairlane S/C "K" car, 4 speed - one tough factory 289 hipo that easily spun to 7,500 rpm. My friend's friend was in his unbeatable 1965 Chevelle that HAD a 350/350 HP engine. He recently put in a 427 with trips - 435 HP from a Vette. Never lost a race - ever. He had raced several local cops in their new 440 Furys and beat them bad. Those were the days the cops raced the local hot cars to see if it was even worth their time to try and pull them over for street racing. We never had accidents with the local Police - never or any problems! The only ones that never learned were the PA State Police. They never gave up.

It was a wild night and everybody at the local hamburger joint - Scottie's was anxious for street racing. Three or Four pairs of very hot cars were lining up runs, 383 GTO's, Fairlane "K" cars, 409 Chevys, 383/440 Furys, '49 Merc, 427 Galaxie, etc. We all drove around to lose the cops and came back to a rural entrance to intersate US #1. Two cars drove backwards down the
highway and blocked North bound traffic. Traffic quickly back up for miles on the busy interstate. The car running drove down the entrance ramp two abreast, stopped on the highway and then ran marked 1/4 miles.

Three pairs of cars were ahead of us and it was our turn. My friend's hi-reving worked Fairlane 289 hipo and the 427 Chevelle. You would think it would be a mismatch. But, we were fender to fender until fourth gear when the Chevelle started to pull away from us. We were going over well over 120 mph and looked back and saw several red lights several miles South of us on Route #1 coming from the nearby State Police station. Before we know what hit us cops were everywhere from the North and South. We had done this too many times before and they were out to get us. Fortunately we had a clear road ahead and were already going over 120 mph. What a night - we were all scared to death. The Chevelle had to pull over on a side street to check his tires because he had chunked his new rear drag tires and could not drive over 20 mph. But, guess what we were dong the next Saturday night. Those were interesting days and great memories.

Glenn