What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

Does your stupid story top this???

I had to get this off my chest. I didn't want to tell my wife b/c she was in the car with me when I spun out just a week before this incident and she's been telling me that I've become more of an "aggressive driver" lately. :rolleyes:

One day last week, I'm driving down a 2 lane street (1 lane going in each direction), i'm doing about 45. About 50-60 yards down the street I see an old guy in a clunker hooptie truck turning SLOWLY into my lane (from a cross street). So, b/c I decided that I didn't want to slow down to like 20 mph, I peeked into the oncoming lane, saw no cars coming, and decided to accelerate around him using the oncoming lane.

Well as soon as I cross into lane for oncoming traffic, pops decides to put on his blinker and make a LEFT TURN at the next cross street! :eek: I had no choice but to either slam into his driver door or swerve left onto the corner/sidewalk.

I chose the sidewalk.

Luckily for me, the corner that I was about to ramp up was one of those wheelchair-friendly curbs (in other words, it wasn't a high curb that would've destroyed my suspension) ;) ... and there were no people or poles there that I could've hit.

So my car finally stopped up on an empty grassy lot (no house there). I got out, checked my car and saw NO damage whatsoever. I hopped in and got the hell outta there.

Needless to say, I was pretty mentally shaken after that. I kept thinking about how lucky I was that I didn't hit that guy, or that I didn't ruin my car going up on to the sidewalk, or that I didn't hit a pole, or worse yet, a person! My stupid ass could be in jail on manslaughter charges if I'd killed someone.

I even thought about selling my car b/c I didn't want to be tempted to drive like a jackass again. It was at least 2-3 days before I got over the whole incident.

Needless to say, I've learned my lesson. And its not that I don't speed anymore, I just don't do it in stupid places anymore. :o

I hope someone here can learn the lesson without having to go through anything close to that.

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

Defensive driving, that's what it's called. You have to assume that the other guy will do the worst possible thing and really expect him to do that. You will have already done the correction and will have the ability to avoid the accident. Sounds so easy, but it's hard to drive like that.

Rev

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

My pony's first owner knows the story (and she doesn't know that I know who she is via the maintenance receipts she left zipped up with the owner's manual), and I am tempted to talk to her about burn / melt marks in the ceiling material above the rear right passenger's seat. What the heck was going on back there?! :eek:

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

I had to think long and hard about this. I've done so many idiotic things over the years, and the histogram of such incidents indicates a high occurance in my 17-to-19-years-old period. :p

One I'll admit to was when I was driving my 4-cylinder LX. I was going to turn onto a road that just veers off to the right by about 30 degrees from the centerline of the road. Well, due to people being lazy about turning that corner (going off the road and kicking up gravel), I overestimated the coefficient of friction I had against the road. :o I lost traction in the middle of the "turn" and skidded, running over the stop sign. I was moving at around 45mph, and if you've ever hit ice at that speed, you know it's not the best feeling in the world.

In hindsight, yes I was moving a little fast, and thank God that there wasn't another car there at the intersection. Still, those stones I hit on the road surface must have been numerous and very small. I shouldn't have skidded, but the best part is that no damage occurred (except to the stop sign post, which was obliterated), no one was hurt, and I learned from it. One of the best driving lessons I've ever received, IMHO, and I think my guardian angel got overtime pay that week. :)

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

wow yeah.. 18 in high school '68 mustang. im turning left out of the school parking lot (4 lanes, 2 both ways) this was before i got my locker installed so only my rear right tire spun ...i stepped on it while i was in the turn and the rear of my car pulled into the lane i was supposed to go in ...but the rest of my car didnt so when it straightened out i was headed toward a car in the oncoming traffic lane - it was a good thing that they slowed down or else i would have plowed into them

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

I had a car for sale, and parked it in the street, taking my sister's car instead. (keep mine safe at home). Forgot my wallet in my car, so I drove back home, parked her 4-speed Mustang on the driveway idling, and walked to my car to get my wallet.
Well... little did I know, her parking brake doesnt work, and it followed me down the driveway, and smashed right into my parked car!!! DOH!
Sold my car anyways, but took $600 less that evening, towards repair of door and fender by the new owner.

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

Stopped at a red light.. Cop 2 cars back.. Light turns green.. Need I say more?

http://www.e2cars.com/fordgirl.gif

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

Winter 1973, Clayton New Mexico, it's snowing to beat the band and as I pass through town at about midnight on my way back to Ft. Carson, I spied a supermarket (ok. . a store) parking lot with all this really pristine snow waiting to be violated. My buddy Kenny was asleep on the passenger side, I'm tired and bored stupid so I'm thinking why not wake both of us up?
I veered off the main highway at about 30 and momentum spun the car about 4 times. When I came to rest, I looked out my window and found myself about 8 feet from a New Mexico state trooper takin a break in the same parking lot. Sad part was, he had his park lights on and everything but I guess most of them were hiding behind a light pole or something.
I got lucky that night. All I got was an arse eatin and a few screams from Kenny. I still think his screeching got the trooper tickled enough to let me off with some of my rear left.

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

all I can say is it was 2:30am, on I-76 coming home from a bar in Philly doing about 85 and all you could see was the top of her head....

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

Well, I guess my crowning dumb**s moment was back when I had my '79. The car had semi bald tires on the front, and an old set of firestone steamrollers (for that rim, they were like 235's) on the back.
Coming down 275, I hit the 60 exit, (it had been raining out, and I had been practicing drifting the car over the lat few months). I decided in a moment of rebellion, that I wanted to "slide" into the merge lane.
Unfortunatly, the rear broke loose more than I wanted, and as I slid into the merge, all I could see in my head was an 18 wheeler ready to plow me. The rear slid about 90 degrees to the left, with me countersteering the whole way, then suddenly got traction on the front, and slung her back 270 degrees, finally smacking the RR end into the divider. I hit hard enough to shatter the fan shroud, bend the shifter linkage (which I was holding onto), and rip the RH side seat rail from the floor. (Making an instant "rocking chair" :rolleyes: )
A guy driving a white camaro stopped to make sure I was ok, then a TPD officer stopped, and helped me push her off the road. He gave me the chioce of making a report, and having my insurnce skyrocket, or "take care of it myself".
1 guess which option I chose :o
Next day, I came back and got her, and drove her (after figuring out the linkage was bent, keeping her from hitting PARK), sans bumper and with a nasty crack all along the roofline for like 9 mos.

All considered, I learned to respect both the elements, and how squirrely a stang can get in adverse conditions. Between that, and a few other incidents, I think I've become the worlds most defensive driver :D

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

trying to fill in the Mustang imprint on the rear bumper with bondo :rolleyes:
Amatures, have it professionally done

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

A few monthes ago I was drivin in my dad's F150 at night on a 6 lane road (3 each way with a large ditch between the seperate ways) (he was with me since I only had my permit) so I wasn't use to his truck at all (4 inch lift, toyed with the chip, and it had the extended cab), but I was a good driver, I always speed, but in Vegas you have to. So he was tired and wasn't paying attention. I noticed I didn't have the headlights on...for about 2 secs I looked down and was verring into oncoming traffic with out headlights on a street with no lights...needless to say thank God I have a fast reaction time and swerved into the ditch between the two lanes. Also just the other week I was driving his truck on the way to work and had to stop real fast, and in the parking lot there weren't any spaces big enough for the truck so I found one that was almost good enough. When I went to pull out I noticed that across from the truck was a truck that was bigger so it was gonna take me hours to get outta the parking lot. Long story short I almost smashed the car on my right's door in and the truck behind me almost ended up with it's tailgate missing. No harm done tho...just to my ego...I need my mustang so I can actually park now...goodbye

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

last year i was driving home from work, it was dusk. i top a small rise in the road and this reeealllly old couple was coming slowly with a blinker on to turn left. i slowed down and thought i was giving him time to turn..ok? well the dumbass stopped right in the middle of the intersection, so it was either hit the house on the right, or hit the cornfield to the left.. what you do? i hit the cornfield. i wasn't quite as lucky as you mike. i ripped the exhaust off, took out the oil pan and tranny pan, ripped the fuel and brakelines off the cadavalier. then she went to the boneyard.. she wasn't worth putting all that money back into. but the only thing i could think of at the time was to hit the cornfield,so i wouldn't hurt either one of them. i feel ya...;D

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

well i had a free 81 tercel that i jumped dukes of hazzard style over a small table top jump in a gravel pit back in my home town. it was alot of fun to beat the car into the ground, still ran afterwards that was surprising.

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

Well, I will have to select one from the list.....
I was 16, just got my license and had a day off school in February. I picked up my friend from band practice in my mom and dad's Olds Delta 88 (2 door). It had a chevy 350 with 4 bbl. When we were leaving there were some other kids outside waiting for rides. I decide it would be cool to do a burn out so I hit the gas and turned the wheel to make a left turn. The car fishtailed 180* and I was now pointed the opposite direction heading towards a small retaining wall that was along the sidewalk. I countersteered to the right, hit the curb, hit the wall and panicked. I threw the car into park (even though I was still moving) and got out (car sitting on the sidewalk). To my amazement, the only damage was a scuffed white wall tire. (so I thought). I drove the car home and my buddy and I washed the car (in February in Pennsylvania) to clean the white wall tire. My mom thought we were nuts since it had started to snow. Fast forward 10 months to state safety inspection. Lower ball joint needs replaced because it is shot from somehow being bent. My parents never said a word although I expect they new something. I l

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

i was on the highway and i got behind sombody that was doing 60 in the passing lane and there was a car next to him in the travel lane doing the same speed. the car i was behind wouldnt speed up and move over so i could get by him,and that shit pisses me off more than anything. so after a while of this i got feed up dropped it into third and went right between them, i made my own passing lane. needless to say as i look back on that move it was probably a bad choice??

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

i pleed the 5th on this one.......1,2,3,4,5thhhhhhhh........i did alot of stupid things to my cars when i was kid years ago........boy i sure do miss those times being so green and inoccent!!!!!!! bahahaha.........

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

I have many moments of "Achievement" from my younger days (17 - 20)... but my best was last month. I just bought an 89 GT with 3.73's and Micky T's on a beautiful afternoon, problem was it got dark quick on the way back and started to come 'Hell and High Water'. Soooo right about the time I hit the long Tennessee River Bridge on I-65 North through my state of Alabama the tires get loose and the water picks me up (bridge pavement slick for slicks) and I end up staring at oncoming traffic after doing a 180... Not Good!
My wife was behind me and barely avoided me. We were both very lucky because many people go off of that old bridge... the state troopers were sort of well.... angry at me.

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

Alright. I had this piece of s**t 1983 Z28 that the previous owner had built and installed an awesome 350ci in. The body was crap, however. So a friend, steve and I decide to do some off roading with it and we drive through this big puddle in the road and going about 45mph, and the dirt road goes over a small rise that we hit and get air from, but at the bottom of the rise on the other side are some massive ruts where someone with large tires decided to dig out. Well, we hit the rut coming down from the small jump, and when we bounce, I lose my grip on the steering wheel, and suddenly we really are going off road right through the forrest, glancing off of a few trees. I learned then why you should always wear your seatbelt as I nailed the roof (T-Tops) and bent the steering wheel with one hand, and ripped the dashboard with the other. When I finally got the car back home, both T-Tops were cracked (Chevy used real glass back then instead of the plastic junk of more recent times), the rear axle was slightly off center, the front end was bowed upward, to include the core-support, the radiator was leaking, oil pan was leaking, multiple bends and dents in the exhaust pipe,, and last but not least, I could turn the steering wheel from side to side and the car barely responded. I had cracked the front subframe right between the two upper bolts where the steering box was attached. Steve called a friend with jeep who managed to pull us out back onto the blacktop, and the Z barely made it home. I don't think we went faster that 20mph the whole way home. We had to drive through the city to get home, and all the way everyone who passed us stared. It's funny now but I still remember how embarrased I was that whole drive home. Needless to say, I parted out what I could and junked the rest. One more muscle car lost to stupidity.

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

I owned a 64 and 1/2 in Hawaii in 1985 that was not in the best shape. It had a habit of stalling out at the most inopportune moments. It stalled on me at a stop sign. I needed to turn left onto a right turning hill that ended at a stop light. I had the bright idea to get out of my car, push it and then jump back in. I got the car rolling and turned onto the street, heading down the hill. I could not, however, get my self back into the car. I ended up riding on the outside of the car, having to reach in and steer it down this hill. All the while, wondering how in the hell I was going to get stopped at the bottom if, as it turned out it was, the light was red. Macgyver training came in handy when I slowly steered the car into the curb, which slowed the car to a stop eventually. That is, to this day, my life's most embarrassing moment. It was full daylight and several witnessed drove by and clapped.

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

I had a piece of crap 87 camaro that I loved to do burnouts in, and I loved to go driving in fresh snow, well try to drive anyway, and just spin out and have fun, I didn't care too much about it and I had hit a few telephone poles at 5mph and put nice dents in fenders, I hit a station wagon on black ice, I crushed my front license plate, cracked the cheap crap plastic bumper, so I put one of the LeBra's over it. I hit a school bus real lightly while doing one of my spins, not even enough to dent the car, but the bus driver insisted on reporting it, bitch. But the funniest thing that ever happened in that car was when I was screwing around in the snow as usual, and I spun too quickly out of control, went down a whole block spinning, and as I straightened the car out I screamed as it went onto someone's lawn and hit a large landscaping boulder about one or two feet high. The car actually scaled the rock and both wheels were off the ground. I couldn't back the car off of it, it crushed my radiator support and cracked my nose even more. I didn't even think to take pictures being so embarassed and stupid. I had to have my buddies tow me off the rock, and it did more damage coming off the rock as it scraaaaaaaped the underside of the car and ripped the front fascia almost completely off. i got a new radiator, a new bra to hold the nose on, and I was good to go, I just hammered that radiator support flat as possible. I have never gone sledding since.

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

not to be unoriginal, but me too :D

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

When I first got my 88lx I had some pretty bald rear tires, i practiced spinning out and controlling the skid so that if I was ever in a skid for real I could react quickly. Well I was making a very wide left turn in the rain, I had a brand new centerforce clutch, and i let out on it too quickly and applied too much gas as I was shifting into second, and the car spun like it was on ice and did a 180, I was facing a bus, thank God it was going so slow through the turn behind me. I got new tires the next day.

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

oh, i remember! once i tried speeding up on 3 humps! my car went straight at my mothers garden! man, that was a disaster! :D my car had some scratch and had to polish the side! and fix my mothers garden! :rolleyes:

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

I have ton to choose from but this is probably the dumbest:

I had my 91 coupe at the time putting down around 500rwhp it had full drag susp 90/10 50/50s the whole bit. I was on 255/50/16 BFG drag radials aired down. Its 2 or so in the morning on this flat straight stretch of road in the middle of nowhere and the need for speed hits me. So I slow down and grab second and nail it the car spins a little then hooks and I am off, I grab third and am sailing, I grab fourth and the car is moving keep in mind it has 3.55 gears! usually that settles my need for speed, but not tonight oh no, I start wondering just how fast this SOB will go so I do what any dumbass would do and cram 5th. I finally chickened out at 5500rpms (calculates to about 176mph) the car was still pulling but with aired down drag radials and drag susp. you can imagine how scary it was.

The thought of all the things that could have gone wrong....

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

We have a WINNER!!!

I fixed it for ya, hope you don't mind. OH, and...Dave Chappelle'd.

My only bonehead move happened about a year into my ownership of my '65 coupe. Back then it was still rough around the edges, and still had the original 2-barrel carb which still bogged down with the best of 'em no matter what you did to it. I got my flowmasters installed and afterwards went to visit a friend of mine. He wanted to go for a ride to hear how they sound, since he wasn't sure if he wanted them for his chevelle. He asks me to floor it on a road that leads to a freeway on-ramp, and of course I'm like "sure, why not?" The damn light goes yellow and I'm not sure if I am gonna have time to stop (stupid drum brakes), so I don't even bother and stay at WOT. What I don't notice is that the road has a slight hump in it, but when going over it at about 80mph and climbing, slight doesn't mean crap. We go sailing a couple feet in the air and onto the on-ramp. My friend bangs his head on the ceiling while we're in the air (I still give him shit about that to this day :D ) The mustang veered slightly to the right upon landing so rough, which sends us uncomfortably close to the unprotected side of the on-ramp, but luckily this was easily corrected. Everything seemed fine with the car until we got it back to his mom's house (it's on the same street as mine). When I turn the car off, the coolant starts spurting out of the radiator and there's steam going everywhere. I lift the hood and there's coolant everywhere. Apparently, the fan cut into a few lines in the radiator when we landed. I also popped the rear passenger shock, which prompted me to but a new set of gas shocks since they were all very old to begin with. Luckily, that was the extent of the damage, nothing structural at all. Now, about 4 years later, I'm planning on upgrading the wobbly stock suspension. I'm probably going to replace every last little piece, just to be safe.

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

I would have to say one of the stupidest things I have done is. One night me,my brother and our buddy were cruising around town in my 1977 Cadillac hearse that I just had true dual exhaust put on. I let them at a wide spot right before town and I went back to the grocery store turned around. Put my hearse in low gear and came screaming past them letting the pipes rumble. I got in trouble my the cops the next night at the gas station. He said he had alot of complaints about me and I had better slow it down because he didnt want to scrape me off the highway :D

The first time my uncle let me drive his mustang he said was going to show me how to burn rubber. We stop on a bridge that had a little slope to it. He told me to put it in first gear and let the car coast back a little and dump the clutch. A few months later he was putting a different tranny in his car because the input shaft bearing was shot. But it was fun :)

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

Probably the stupidist things I did was (1) when I was 16 2 weeks after getting my license and va didnt know I had been driving since about 13 or 14. Well there is this hill near my parents house that if you can get enough speed you can jump in either direction but one is easier than the other the hard side is going up the hill which I tried I got up to about 70 and didnt have enough speed to jump it so I tried to way down. Well I got about a 3 mile stretch to get speed (my POS needed all 3 miles to get the speed I was at) when I hit the crest of the hill last time I looked was 78mph I went sailing over this hill like dukes of hazzard in 80 zephyr wagon with 3 passengers in it when I landed I saw all 4 hubcaps come off and I saw where they went(still couldnt find them) so I went up to Trash(trak) auto got 4 new hubcaps and went home after that. My dad went to use my car the next day and he said he went 1 mile and came back to me to ask if it had been driving like that for awhile and of course I said yes(idiot me) so he took the car to get the tires balanced and tire shop said that all 4 rims were bent almost like ovals and 3 shocks were blown and stablizer links were broken. So my dad had them replace them. My dad was on vacation at the time.

About 2 weeks later what I didnt know was his co-worker lived on the same street as the hill and new what car I was driving and told my the morning he came back that he saw the wagon go flying through the air one night while the f---er was sitting on his porch having a cigarette. And also saw me and my friends looking for my hubcaps and he would had said something earler but he didnt know exactly how close they lived near each other.

So when I got home from school my dad was waiting there for me and it looked like the top of his was about to blow off(very,very,pissed,very pissed.) After that he took my license away and I got it after about 1 yr after the incident because it took me that long to pay him back $1700.00 he spent to fix the suspension among other things I had broken.

(2) The other one is when I wrecked my mustang (the one in stang stories)...

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

I didnt respect the power that these stangers have when i was younger . i was trying to show off ,did a dounut and ended up in the ditch on the othere side of the road!

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

I forgot of one other stupid thing I did in 96' about 21 yrs old, and I had a 93' lowered sunbird v6 w/2in drop(cut springs)little bouncing at the time. Just moved to MD 2nd day in and I drove my friend home at about 2:30 am. I took off from a light onto a road I had never been on before and never let off the gas. It had a lot of hills on it and saw a cross street coming up and looked for a stop sign but didnt see it until I was right on it and it was too late because a branch was covering it. Well the road crossing mine had a crest on it and dropped down on the other side. Well I tried hitting my brakes but there was nothing I could do but hold on and when I went over the crest I went flying over it and when I landed the nose of the car went straight into the pavement and took a chunk out of the pavement and slide for about 50 ft on the nose and when the rear came down I was finally able to stop the car.

When my friend and I got out of the car there were pieces of the car all over the place but some guy was walking his dogs saw the whole thing and came running to see if we were all right. But he said he thought we got about 10 ft of the ground from what he thought. But we walked back to where the impact was with ground and paced it out it was about 42 ft from the intersection. But he let me use his flashlights and I went to look at my car basically I was missing the whole front clip headlights and all. Blew out 2 front tires,took out rad.,oil and trans pans. My buddies friend came and towed it back to the house. I dont know how fast I was going but it was at least 85 + mph.
The next morning I checked out my car I took out my suspension all front and some rear, broke the sub frame, snapped trans from engine and left holes in side of engine. I called my insurance co. to check out my car to get fixed and they totalled it.

My friend read my last post and told me to put this one in too.

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

Funny that someone would mention the stupid stuff happening in the 17-19yr. old range... same here. I thought I could outrun a cop... and did! But, I would NEVER try that again, as I don't believe I would ever be so lucky. I used the story as a narrative paper my senior year in HS and got an A... it was called, 'The Chase'. :)

Re: What's the stupidest thing you've done in your car?
 

wow its hard to pick one......my wife says i need to learn to drive defenceivly not offenceivly 9and learn to spell lol) one thing that comes to mind is seeing a sheriff under the bridge a sleep, taking off the license plates, pulling up beside, him uncorking the headers, firing up the stang and about making him piss hisself. so i take off let him catch up, give him the one finger salute, hit 3rd and nail it. i found out my stang would do 167 mph with 3.73s. how did i find this out? i didnt realize the cop i messing with (since he was laying down) was my girlfriend at the times dad. needless to say i didnt get a ticket but i never got to drive his daughter anywhere after that.

one i have to mention also is this. back in highschool me and my bestfriend where back roading on this govt land know as the grasslands. we where in his 89 4x4 reg cab chevy with a 454. he has the speedometer comming back around the other way and i tell him there is a corner comming up over the next hill. smartass tells me i am full of shit, so low and behold we top the hill and there is a 90 degree turn and a big ditch and massive bolders. the turn is on a small hill so as we missed the corner and went straight we launched like 10 feet in the air flew over the ditch and bolders only to land in some poor guys camp site, ran through his camp fire bearly missed the guy cooking on the left of the fire and his tent to the right of the fire. we went right through the middle of this guys camp site. the corner was a big horse shoe that went around the ditch,bolders and the camp site, so we ended up back on the road we was originally on and my bud turns to me and says told ya the road didnt turn! we were lucky we didnt kill someone!!! now he listens when i tell him the road turns. i miss being young and stupid