Anything you've ever driven scared the crap out of you?

[Rocket88]

I can think of a few haddocks that have scared me sh*tless. Fiat 124 Coupe with 7" play in the steering.................several Yanks with far too much power, and far too little in the braking department.............a Rover 2000 where the back axle wasn't actually connected to the car in any meaningfull way..............etc etc

[Pete-M]

Fiat 131 Supermirafiori Sport I bought once.Driving it home at 'ahemph' when the brakes failed completely. Tad worrying that.The other scary thing was a 1960's Dodge with a 10 litre Keith Black Hemi. 850 bhp without using the laughing gas. Drum brakes. Mickey Thompson crossplies. Went like fcuk, didn't stop, and didn't change direction particularly well either.The other scary thing was an Allegro 1750 on cheap remoulds in the wet. Epic understeer.

[VWPowered]

yeah my polo gt as i crashed into a ravine or my mates ol' Carlton 2.2 Mk1 that used to use methanol

[pompei]

Ex wife's Punto going downhill with a roundabout at the bottom. Suddenly no brakes. The main dealer had just had it in for service and recall and had replaced an asymetical S shaped brake line the wrong way round. The pipe caught on the disc and severed. Loss of fluid all round.Needless to say the dealer (Jordans of Hull) refused to admit responsibility, saying it must have come out the factory like that . until we got an engineer's report at which point we were inundated with "gestures of goodwill" Think I'm straying into the Grumpy Old Angry Sod thread...

[retrogeezer]

I wasn't driving but someone scared the pants off me in a Renault 5 GT Turbo.

[wuvvum]

Reliant Regal - woefully unstable, virtually no brakes, and so noisy I couldn't really concentrate on what the "car" was doing. I took it up a short stretch of dual carriageway and genuinely thought I was going to die.Cadillac STS - opposite problem, far too much power for a big heavy FWD barge. The main issue was that unless you kept your eyes glued to the speedo you ended up going 50% faster than you intended, just because it was so quiet and smooth you got absolutely no impression of speed. So when I got to a bend on a local B-road at what I thought was 60 but was actually 90, I ended up on the wrong side of the road, back end sliding out, with half a turn of opposite lock and a van coming towards me. Needless to say I drove it rather more gingerly after that.Volvo 740 estate - not scary in itself, but couldn't cope with towing a Mk4 Zodiac on a trailer behind it, and went into a wild speed wobble at 60mph on the M11, which took it from the hard shoulder to the central Armco and back again, several times. Cue a line of artics behind me slamming on their brakes. Transit 2.0 petrol - I didn't scare myself in this, but my mate who was in the passenger seat still swears I nearly killed him, racing a barried 206 down some local back roads - Transit was as quick as the 206 acceleration-wise but couldn't quite match its handling, which made for a couple of interesting moments.

[nigel bickle]

Floor fell out of a Mini at 50+,seems it was 'glassed in. 2 sides starting seesawing against each other.Spectacular fora car that had 9 months MOT!My (now) wife was towing me,in a Standard Pennant from old to 'newbarn' when I discovered locked (off) brakes (frozen m/cylinder), no handbrake and a nonexistent clutch pedal. I had 3miles down a country lane to get her to stop, couldnt. (Waved back a lot though!)As we approached a major roundabout around 40mph, I saw no option but to mount pavement & undertake, hoping the rope would stop me. It did, having dragged her across said roundabout, backwards.That was the last time she ever towed me, & why I now use A frames as a default positionDodge Charger fell off the rear of a trailer -seems''my mate'' hadn't appreciated rearward anchorage. Made a hell of a mess.Scrap H van -on an early type (bumpermounted) A frame, jumped tow-hitch, overtook me into a large roundabout where it bounced, ending on of the centre reservation of the opposite dual carriageway;frametucked well underneath.Totally bottled it -and scarpered.Hauled a Fiat 1500 out of Brussels in a hurry (late for the ferry) hoping the grabbing brakes would free(-they usually do). 3 did....Sadly the 4th caught fire, big time, necessitating a lot a male urine/tizer/washer bottle water etc to put it out before we could yank the wheel, and unbolt the caliper).Lucky it wasnt the other side-they've got left handed threads - as I discovered when I sheared 2 trying to get that wheel off!I've LOADS more.....

[dollywobbler]

Lola T70 replica. 440bhp in a very light car on greasy, December roads. That was pretty terrifying.Austin Seven. I've driven a few. Always terrifying due to extremely sensitive steering, extreme wandering tendencies, really poor brakes and non-synchro gearboxes. Mind you - I always end up with a smile on my face afterwards...2CV last night. Was going a bit quick for a damp, leaf-strewn and very bendy bit of road. I actually scared my wife and she's quite used to my antics. Fortunately, just steered, held on for grim death and the 2CV actually got us around the bend with very little trauma (doorhandle scraping FTW!).Thirties Morris Oxford Six. Centre throttle and as I headed down a steep hill towards some traffic lights, I discovered that it had a freewheel. I didn't stop too far over the line...(well, what's a car length between friends?!)

[Mr Lobster]

Renault 4CV. Hopeless brakes, vague steering, felt very vulnerable on the A1. Glad when it broke down.Suzuki SJ. Had it for a day on a Greek island. Steering wheel had only a notional connection to the steering. Until I got used to it it was a relatively scary thing to drive.

[Pete-M]

A few of us built a Renaut 4 Gordini Turbo years ago.Took one very rotten but mechanically sound R5 Gordini and a very solid R4 and swapped anything that would fit to the R4.Initially we just fitted the engine and box. Boost was wound up a bit for added comedy value. 115ish bhp in an R4 changes the car from being friendly and easy to chuck about into a rather different beastie altogether. The tyre smoke and torque steer was biblical and the brakes weren't up to much.

[FredTransit]

Oh yes, two transit I can think of, one bought to scrap and one we still have. The scrapper was a 2L pinto petrol chassis cab with a pick up body, had loads and loads of good bits on it (for us) but brakes and a reliable wiring loom were not two of them. I drove it to where it was to be broken with a fire extinguisher on my lap, the bare wires passing over the petrol tank was the scariest bit.The luton we still have had been returned loaded by a driver for me to complete a job one saturday. He mentioned the steering was a bit wandery but many Mk2s are like that. I did 4 miles to the drop off skidding all over the road, drove back and didn't touch her again till the steering box was done. Turned out the drop arm was almost totally detached from the box, and he had been driving it like that for weeks......

[pandamonium]

This.

 

 

In the dark.

 

In the wet.

 

In Scotland.

 

On the A76.

 

With Goodyears on one side and Nankangs on the other.

(Not on the wheels pictured above)

[trigger]

Having drive lots of cars there have been a few times I've crapped myself.Taking a very old and shagged Fiat Regata courtesy car back to a garage which had no brakes, No clutch and not wipers, In very heavy rain.Mitsubishi 3000 GT when i was 18 returning to a garage up a country lane with heavy boots on oh and a Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo not long after, Both cars where real weapons!And a Ford Escort RS Turbo, taking it to the garage for work when it ran out of petrol on the A12 at rush hour, I can to a stop length ways across the slow land and the fast land on the slip road, I had a lorry swerve at the last second to avoid me.Thank god for the Police riot van going up the slip road full of coppers who stopped the traffic and pushed me off, I just froze!

[Dukestar25]

Yes, my 1981 Mini HL had all-round drum brakes which made stopping impossible at any speed on a wet road.My next near-death experience was with my 1984 Sierra which I named 'death-trap'. Despite buying it (in the dark ) with a 12-month ticket, the brakes only partially worked, the brake lights worked when they felt like it, the cabin smelled of petrol every time I drove it and the body and floor were made only out of rust. I used it for 10 months before it finally died. I was sad to see it go There was also a Mk2 Transit minibus which recieved an engine out of a written off 2.0 Capri. Impressively quick in a straight line but cornering was, shall we say.... Interesting (the engine was the only bit we changed, everything else was still Transit ).

[Rusty Pelican]

1984 , 3am , Going to Llandudno , Sunbeam Stiletto fitted with a full race 998 , at the time this road ended with a large roundabout , after doing between 80 and a ton for quite a while went to slow down for said roundabout , I initially dipped the clutch to change down , thought the motor was going to explode such were the revs , throttle cable jammed wide open , how i stayed upright is beyond me , turned the engine off in desperation resulting after a second or two with no servo , still shaking now

[Father Ted]

Yes Grandfather Steptoe's Fowler road roller. Braking took the form of throwing the bastard into reverse, applying some large wooden and rubber blocks t the back wheels and in extreme circumstances throwing a baulk of wood under the front roller. Fortunately top speed was walking pace. Unfortunately the large metal wheels had as much grip as a Labrador puppy on laminate flooring and 20 tons of metal at walking pace takes some stopping.Why did he buy it? Fook knows, it cost him £25 IN 1970 and he had the bloody thing for years - he used it to advertise the shop.

[pompei]

Being towed with a rope is always shit-scarey. Years ago my Mini broke down and was recovered by the garage owner in his rodded Corsair. At about 50mph.

[trigger]

Oh another near death moment was when once i was sent to pick up a Jaguar XJ6 3.6 Automatic up from a garage for some body repair work, i drive it out of the garage down the road and went to brake but the car wouldn't slow down, the throttle had jammed.So after driving whilst standing on the brakes for a few more miles panicing i decided to shift to into neutral, only to miss and get reverse!The rear end locked up and i managed to snake it to the side of the road.Upon looking under the bonnet i found the mechanics had jammed the throttle with a set of brake pipe clamps! So as i put my foot down the cable wouldn't came back like it should!

[bigstraight6]

I drove a friend of a friends TVR 350 a couple of years back, incredible acceleration and totally shit brakes made it a memorable experience, as was driving a Honda acty van down the A38 many years ago in a November storm comparible to the one we had at the weekend, that was bloody scary as the little slab sided van was literally being blown all over the road!

[Guest]

Going to work in my mates Rover 2600 Automatic in 1989 the brake pads fell out as they were so thin . Only passed my test a couple of months before so I just went sailing through the welford road/regent road traffic lights with my eyes shut and having made it to the other side handbraked it. I had to borrow his Chrysler sunbeam 1000 to get back home. To be fair I preferred the Sunbeam anyway. Allthough I was glad to get my Suzuki gp100 back on the road

[oldford]

Getting towed down the outside lane of the A12 at 70 mph on a 6 foot rope in a dead MKIII Escort was quite memorable.Having complete loss of visibilty at 70 mph, when the bonnet of the P5B Rover that I was driving decided to open.As a passenger on the back of a Triumph Trident 750, rushing down to Colchester one morning to collect a car. That was the first and last time I have been on a motor bike. Not that I could see the speedometer, but I was told that it reached 110 mph at one point. My arms were so dead that I could barely steer the Montego Vanden Plas that I collected for the first 100 yards and came very close to planting it in some roadside furniture.The above made it almost a pleasure to drive a V12 E type with less than perfect brakes.

[wuvvum]

Another experience I'd rather not repeat - 1968 Morris LD ambulance, on the A52 just east of Derby, prop shaft snapped at 50mph, locking up the rear wheels. Just as well the wheels did lock really as the flailing prop took out the brake pipes and handbrake cable so I wouldn't have stopped at all otherwise. So I fishtailed to a halt, half on the hard shoulder and half in the slow lane. The ambulance had no lights or indicators on the back (well it did but they didn't work) so I had no way of warning following traffic - although to be fair they'd have to be pretty blind to not spot a bloody great white box in their way. Fortunately my mate was following me home in my Trooper and that had enough grunt to drag the ambulance off the road even with the rear axle locked up, and I then got AA'd home. It wasn't fun though - that thing weighed a good three tonnes, had incredibly heavy and vague steering and no seatbelts - wouldn't have been at all fun if I'd lost control completely on a busy dual cabbageway.

[shite_meister]

Most of my shockers were done in Rover SD1s, the most memorable was in Devon I was flying my Vitesse along a dual carriageway and was rapidly coming up to a roundabout, thinking it'd be a wise idea to brake imagine the state of my pants when I felt the brake pedal go from normal to nothing, normally I would use the handbrake gently but being an SD1 the handbrake was for ornamental purposes only and was useless. Luckily they have a split circuit system so I managed to stop but the brake pedal was right on the floor as if it wasn't connected to anything and they ain't a small car.Turned out the metal brake pipes cross over by the front chassis leg and had chaffed spunking out precious brake fluid.Also had a fairly rare SD1 Vanden Plas EFi that deceided to blow its heater matrix whilst I was driving it filling the interior will lots of steam, coolant and swear words.Also had a Vitesse that threw a rear door wide open whilst I was driving around a bend, fortunately it was an S bend so the next bend closed it again

[M'coli]

Fiat 126: the first time it exhibited the sudden snap oversteer when going over a sharp crest in the middle of a corner on the Loch Long road (

) as the rear suspension goes light, and the wheels tuck under...

Fiat 126, again in the highlands, finding out the right rear hub has been gradually unscrewing the taper bearing leading to somewhat peculiar handling.

 

The first time out after MOTing the Avenger, it had really unpredictable steering - it was toeing in by about an inch!

[Station]

In 2004, going round THIS roundabout coming off Kelsterton Road at 15mph on a bone dry summer's day in my 1991 Proton 1.5 MPi. For some reason I cannot fathom, the back end went and I fish tailed for seemed like 5 metres, until the car came to a natural stop with no traffic around at all. I got out and checked the tyres and they were fine, so I just drove home.

[retrogeezer]

Diesel spill on the road?

[barrett]

I suppose I ought to add the Bond Bug yesterday, being propelled along the road in something resembling a fibreglass jacuzzi bath strapped on top of a shopping trolley is quite an experience. Thnak goodness the pub was open at the end of it, after a pint of Guinness and a nice lunch I was fit for the journey home.

Does that mean you bit the bullet and drove it home then?

[Pillock]

My Polo G40 once taught me a valuable lesson about engine braking, which is quite severe when there's a ruddy great supercharger bolted to a little tiny engine. Engine momentum is precious.Lifted off just slightly on a wet roundabout but it was enough to pitch the back end around, no amount of amateur wheel-twirling could save me and I ended up facing the way I came. Or rather facing the 7.5t truck that had been following me.Also went through a ford (not a Ford) in my beetle, which had great heating but slightly rotten heater channels. The water rushed into the channels, straight to the back of the car as I floored it up the hill on the other side. The water then hit the exhaust, boiled and came back as steam, which was instantly pumped all over the windscreen blocking my view. At 30mph on a single-track road. Nice.

[dollywobbler]

I suppose I ought to add the Bond Bug yesterday, being propelled along the road in something resembling a fibreglass jacuzzi bath strapped on top of a shopping trolley is quite an experience. Thnak goodness the pub was open at the end of it, after a pint of Guinness and a nice lunch I was fit for the journey home.

Does that mean you bit the bullet and drove it home then?

No, he got it shipped. Perhaps he's glad of that decision now!

[Guest]

Shippped back from the pub? Must be pretty scary.