Memorable Car Rides

stever

Tell us about your Memorable Car Rides.

We want to hear your stories about your first solo car drive, the trip to pick up your prom date, the trip to the hospital to deliver a baby, the comedy of errors trip where everything that could go wrong did, your first rally win, the time you got stuck on the railroad track (me), the time you delivered the LTD from San Diego to Chippewa Falls (my wife at 21), wrecks and near misses, you name it.

The catch is that your memory has to revolve around a car.

roadburner

First Solo: on my dad's farm- a 1970 Torino GT 351C at age 14.

Prom(s): 1974 Monte Carlo With Cragar SS wheels

Trip to the hospital: I drove my wife to the hospital in our 1993 Pathfinder SE, but I wanted something special to bring our son home- so the only proper choice was my 1988 M6.

First rally win- I've trophied several times at BMW CCA events in my 1987 535is and 1988 M6, but I've never won outright.

Various memories:

Watching a poor fool in a 2nd gen Z28 hole his oil pan on a frost heave while trying to keep up with my 1973 Bavaria.

Driving across PA on a drizzly Sunday morning in my 1973 Bavaria- and averaging over 100 mph.

Lapping a rainy Watkins Glen in the same Bavaria.

Running to the top of Loveland Pass and back in an E34 525i- and barely managing to keep up with my friend who was driving an E30 M3.

Driving/navigating the 2000 Alcan Winter Rally in a new X5- from Seattle to BC to Fairbanks to the Arctic Ocean and finally ending up in Anchorage. In February.

Lapping Motorsport Ranch in Fort Worth TX in a 2007 Alpina B7.

Knocking the oil pan off a Dinan Turbo 325ix during a rally stage of the 2007 Arizona 1000 "Tour"- and waiting several long hours for a recovery vehicle to extract us from the Arizona High Desert.

Passing every car on the track at least once in my Mazdaspeed 3 during every rainy instructor session of the 2008 Bluegrass Chapter BMW CCA HPDE.

That's enough for now...

PF_Flyer

Oh man... I'll have to dribble these out over time or I'll be typing for days :shades:

We drive a LOT, a habit I picked up as a kid when we drove EVERYWHERE on vacations. And I do mean everywhere so let me start with the wide angle view and our mega vacation from the summer of 1968. My favorite car we ever had, a 1966 Chrysler Newport, towing a Coleman Apache tent trailer. With three kids and a dog, my parents set out on a 6-week, cross country trek that covered 16,000 miles. That is NOT a typo. Here's how the day would typically go. We'd get up EARLY, like at 5AM and break down the camp, pile into the car and get about 200 miles in before we'd stop for breakfast. Sometimes that breakfast would be a diner, but most of the time it would be a roadside stop at some interesting location. I recall eating a breakfast one morning near a gorge with a spectacular waterfall in the Rockies (I'll have the review the home movies to remember the location since we took about 100 hours of film on the trip). Then it was back in the car to put on another 200 miles or so for our planned sight to see that day. Set up camp, see the sights, hit the pool or lake or stream, then off to bed to do the whole thing the next day.

I still can handle driving about 5 hours straight easily, 6 if I want to push it, but then I need a nap

Mr_Shiftright

Having owned so many British cars, I won't discuss breakdowns because I don't want to post so much data as to slow the site down :P

Memorable? Oh yeah---renting a Toyota 4X4 in Johannesburg with a buddy so as to re-visit my friend's former life as a Peace Corp volunteer in Botswana...on one road through a huge game preserve, I came around a sharp bend in the jeep trail and met...an elephant...a very unhappy elephant. Fortunately, having grown up in New York City, I knew exactly what to do----back.....up....slowly. An elephant could make short work of a Toyota pickup.

Those suckers are BIG, especially when there's no fence. :surprise:

lemko

...one was back in December 1992 when my Dad and I took turns driving his 1989 Chrysler LeBaron coupe to Meridian, Mississippi from NE Pennsylvania. We passed through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and into Mississippi on this trip. It was snowing pretty decently for most of the trip until we got closer to Georgia. Then the weather became pleasant and rather spring-like. The first leg of the trip we went 18 hours stopping to stay at an Econo Lodge just south of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Then we went the rest of the way to pick up my sister at Mississippi State University the next day. We then made the return trip, stopping once overnight at a Howard Johnson's near Roanoke, Virginia. No incidents with the car or otherwise.

Next most memorable trip was driving my 1988 Buick Park Avenue from Philadelphia to Niagara Falls, Canada in July 2006. The weather for the whole trip was pleasant, the car delivered phenomenal fuel economy, and I experienced no issues with the vehicle whatsoever. I felt I was taking a chance driving an older miled-up car on a long trip, but the car came through with flying colors.

stever

Miss. State? That's where I learned how to cook a hawg. Note the baseball cap on Bert (named mine Clarence). I hope your Dad stopped early and often for BBQ.

fintail

Don't remember my first solo drive, but I remember my dad trying to teach me to drive a stick when I was maybe 8, before he got rid of the Horizon (maybe that was the intent - I break it, so he gets a new car). It didn't go well. I did a lot of my practice at age 15 in his 1960 Ford Country Sedan (this was in 1992), if you can park and maneuver in tight spots in that land based aircraft carrier, you can park anything.

I remember a long road trip into western Canada in the fintail when I was 20 - the carefree-ness of youth, I just gassed her up, checked the fluids, and hit the road. Today I am leery of any drive in the old beast that's more than 100 miles or so. Of course, the car is a bit older now.

One memorable drive for me is in November of 09, in a 7-series diesel, went from Wolfsburg Germany to rural north central Switzerland in a day - rained most of the time, took a touristy stop in Rothenburg, had a grand time experiencing everything from ancient streets and country roads to triple digit 'bahn blasts and traffic jams.

Karen_S

And I'll start with this one.

I'm the youngest of five and our family vacations were always camping. Partially because my Dad loved to camp, but the primary reason was we couldn't afford to stay in even the seedy motels. So it was seven of us in a tent that was meant for four. This was a heavy-duty canvas tent my Dad purchased with green stamps collected at participating gas stations.

I vividly remember one of these vacations to visit a national park, which a portion of the land use to be owned by my great-grandfather. We traveled in a two-door Ford Fairlane. Sorry, I can't remember the model year. My four siblings would be crammed in the back seat and I, as the youngest, sat in the front with our parents. I remember peeking over the top of the seat and making faces at my brothers and sisters, and they would try to catch my nose before I ducked down. Great game, until Dad had enough and threatened to leave us all at the next gas stop.

Dad a was a master at packing. Items were:

tent (including stakes, ropes and poles)
large cooler - Coleman metal kind
camp stove
2 camp lanterns
a gallon of white gas
box of cooking gear/dishes/utensils
7 sleeping bags (heavy cotton/wool)
7 pillows
box of non-perishable food
2 folding lawn chairs (For Mom and Dad. Kids sat at the campground picnic table if available.)
2 large suitcases for all our clothes, towels, etc.
fishing poles and tackle box

I'm sure I'm forgetting some items, but all of the above was strategically packed into the trunk of the Fairlane. I recall my Dad and brothers bouncing the trunk multiple times to get it to catch.

It was on this particular trip that the inevitable flat tire occurred as we were a couple hundred miles from the park. The first thing Mom said, "I certainly hoped you remembered to pack the jack." To which my father replied, "Of course, I'm not stupid." Yep, the jack was in the trunk, but while he was turning the Fairlane trunk into a replica of Fibber McGee's closet, he did neglect to include the spare tire, which he didn't realize until two-thirds of our gear was stacked along side of the road. Dad mused, "Hunh, no wonder it was so easy to close the trunk."

So what to do? Dad and the brothers took the flat off while Mom and the girls looked pitiful in hopes some good Samaritan would stop to offer assistance. And did I mention it was mid-July and close to triple digit heat? Luckily someone did stop. He offered to take Dad to a local station to have the flat repaired. Off Dad went leaving the rest of us sweltering in the heat. As I was very young, I don't remember how long it was before he returned, but it was long enough that my brothers created a make-shift shelter using the tent poles and sleeping bags to keep the sun off of us. When Dad returned with the repaired tire he also brought 7 ice-cold bottles of Coke. We never had soda. It was too expensive and "will rot your stomach", so Mom said.

I don't remember much else about that trip, but that icy-cold Coca-cola was the best thing I'd ever tasted.

hpmctorque

Good story, Karen. Do you hate camping now? Did that Fairlane have A/C?

explorerx4

I had a '92 SHO.
Right off my street was an undivided 4 lane state highway, 2 lanes each way.
Usually I drove in the left lane then cut over to the right when it was time to exit.
After having a lot of snow, we had a warm day followed by a cold night.
Like everyone, I was thinking black ice, so i decided to play it safe and drive in the right lane.
Up ahead were a Bronco and an Escort wagon and could see the next traffic light had turned red.
I checked to my left and there was a car next to me.
When I looked ahead again, the Bronco was nowhere to be seen, but the Escort was stopped.
I was thinking, boy that Bronco ran the red light.
As soon as I hit the brakes, I realized I was on black ice.
I didn't want to ram the Escort in the back and I couldn't get into the left lane because of the other car.
Only choice was to run it up the snow bank.
It went up the snow bank and I looked right at the driver though my moon roof!
At the intersection, the snowbank ended and my car banged back down onto the pavement.
It seemed to run ok, so I went to work, looked underneath when I got there. Nothing was leaking.
I called the local Ford dealer and asked them if they could check out my car.
They said the lower right suspension arm was scraped up but not bent and the alignment was fine.
I convinced myself it wasn't as bad as I thought it was until I saw a line carved in that snow bank at least 5 feet above the pavement when I drove by it on the way home.

Karen_S

I wouldn't say I hate camping now, but if given a choice, I'll always opt for the cabin in the woods with a hot tub on the deck. :shades:

A/C? Uhh, no.

lemko

My Dad loved to go camping as well. We had a dark green 1972 Ford Country Squire wagon back then, so there was plenty of room for our gear. That car had A/C, but Dad rarely used it.

This car is a dead ringer for it except Dad's car had the optional bumper guards on each side of the center grille:

Karen_S

Ohhhh, my Dad would have loved that, but Mom would have thought it too luxurious. :shades:

stever

Late May/early June is a great time to do the Alaska Highway. The leaves aren't out but the critters are. A friend of mine drove up to Anchorage from Texas last week. On the section around Watson Lake he saw 11 black bears, a grizzly with 2 cubs, 2 porcupines, some bison, lots of caribou, 3 moose and some sheep. That was just on June 3rd.

Once the leaves come out, the critters are much better hidden.