Technical Have you ever driven a friends car?

Have you ever been offered the opportunity to drive a friends car? Was it worth it, what you expected or did you wonder why you still have an unfinished project?

Bob

 

Had friends and girlfriends with Trans Ams years ago that I drove, What a blast, One with a 455 that would really turn on, I think that was back before drifting was a thing.....guess it was just a combination of cats a** , donuts and fishtails I suppose back then Ive had a couple tame camaros but never owned a TA

My desire was for something from the 50s or 60s even back then too whether I always had something like that or not, but that sure was fun

 

Not that they're aware of.

 

Yes, but I don’t want to usually because I’d hate feeling responsible if something happened but I have a few times.

A drunk roommate had me drive their car home once, that was the night I figured out how tight a donut a Miata can pull!

 

I let a friend drive my channeled, 6-71 blown SBC, 4 speed ‘32 5W and I drove his car. The difference between my car and his ‘40 Tudor with a 350/350 was extreme, at least to me, and after that I called his car the couch car. It was much more comfortable compared to a channeled coupe.

 

Yes, several and some were more fun than others. Back when I painted cars for buddies, it was quite often. Here are a few of the most memorable that were more than just in and out of the shop.

70-1/2 Camaro and even took it to the drag strip while my buddy was off to college (with his permission of course)
55 Chevy with a blown big block and 4-speed
57 Nomad to a car show
67 Corvette roadster on a memorial cruise
74 Corvette roadster on same cruise
60 Corvette

 

Whats a "friend"?

 

2 years out of high school, a friend of mine bought a brand new, special ordered 1970 Boss 429 Mustang. He was working one day and loaned the car to his girlfriend. She came by my home, picked me up and had me show her the "proper" way to drive a 4-speed.

 

A fellow club member had a nice '57 Chevy for sale back in the the mid 80's and ask me if I would drive it to the big show in Atlanta, Georgia as he was unable to get time off to attend.

Since my truck was a least a month away from driving and I agreed, the car had a fresh 327 and it ran strong w/t a 4 speed transmission, I drove it to Atlanta with no problems but the next day the car was dead, we had to trailer the car back home after working in it almost all day, it turned out to be a wiring issue but I felt like it was my fault.

I haven't drove a friends car since. HRP

 

Lots of them and they have driven mine. Let a buddy take my 454 powered '55 for a long weekend. Never worried about it. Saying that I have other friends I wouldn't trust to drive a riding lawnmower out of the middle of a airplane hanger.

 

If it had been me I'm sure it would have burned to the ground. Bob

 

drove a buddies (V8) 48 Chevy coupe one time. I don't know what he did with the gas pedal and throttle linkage but it took a lot less pedal to get the car going than what I was used to and for the first few starts from a stop sign it took off way faster than I intended. he asked WTF I was doing and thought I was nuts when I told him his gas pedal ratio was messed up.

drove my buddies 70 Z/28 which was lowered with gas shocks and springs and stuff. I had a 70 as well with 15 x 10 slots and air shocks. next time I drove mine I spun out on a freeway off ramp going to fast and ended up in the junipers.

drove a buddies 56 F-100 following him in his old 32 Plymouth, he ran a yellow light and I hit the brakes hard and ended up in the lane next to me .... after that he told me "oh yeah, be careful the brakes pull to the right a bit."

 

No never, my bothers friend was driving my moms car and wrecked it. Dad made sure the rest of us knew better from then on. 45 years later I still remember the ass chewing my bother got!!

 

Driving a friend's car is a gamble with the possibility of losing a friend.
Not a good bet.

 

I have to, it's my job.
the most memorable was the last one I drove. a fully restored bright green 69 dodge Daytona with a 440, 4 speed. I have never had so many people react to any car I have ever driven like that ever before. guys yelling "nice car" a traffic cop at some road work asked "what are you doing driving that on these roads? " and then said "awesome car!" a woman in a car screamed "that car is beautiful!" a guy at a light asked "what motor?" when I told him he said "perfect, great car" it was a great test drive........then he told me what he paid for it.

 

Nope NEeva.

 

of course drove friends cars - most fun where in High School days - most exciting was a beater Hot Rod fenderless roadster that one friend had hidden from his parents that we would sneak out and just have fun - registration/ insurance were not anything to worry about - stupid as I look back but, common sense was hard to find then

 

Yeah, mostly to help diagnose or as I put it 'drive to failure' when sorting out a project.
Lots of folks just pussy foot around their car when it has a 'random' issue. So gotta get in it and get on it and see what it does, trying to get people to heat soak their car so the problem pops up is a chore. Testing brakes is another reason. Most folks drive so passively simple stuff like bedding in material usually never happens.

But not normally drive someone else's car, unless it is an emergency, they are plastered, or injured and can't.

I take that back, the chicano/latino crowd. Homeboys always seem to want to ride passenger in their own car to see what it feels like, and to be able to check out the chicas when cruising the barrio.

[EDIT:] I usually don't allow anyone to drive my vehicles because my vehicles always have something that needs to be fixed/finished and something I would probably forget to mention to someone else. Or as an esteemed editor at HRM said many moons ago 'car guy safe'.[/EDIT]

 

Yes several friends and family cars never again. Last one was brother in laws satellite we were dialing in his carb so rowing gears down the back road from my house and coming towards me is one of those super sucker trucks that they use for putting in utility poles. Well the operators didn't clean there hoses out and sprayed the front of car cracked the windshield and damaged the grill and we all know how much mopar stuff cost.All and all cost near 2700$














l

 

One (of many) that stands out is a friends '65 GT 350, early '70s I suppose. Damn, that ain't no runna the mill Hi-Po Mustang! He still has it too. Handled like it was on rails, and that little SBF pulled all the way to the twilight zone!

 

A guy at work told me a friend is someone you can trust with your wallet or your wife, all the rest are acquaintances. Didn't say nothing about a car.

 

Yes...
I drove a friends '54 3-B Jeep with a 406" Chevy and 250 shot nitrous. WOW!
Another friend's '70 Nova drag car with a 331" - 350 Turbo. WOW!
Another friend's 700 HP SBC ARCA car. Double WOW!
Another friend's '57 Chevy 150, 283 two-fours, auto. What a dog! Went about 2 miles and back.

 

Best memory would be a buddy’s ‘63 Impala I drove a few times back in the mid ‘80s. It was a maroon 2 door with a 283 & 4 spd. He was working at the cotton gin and somehow got his arm caught in something. Tore him up pretty bad. I drove him down to Tucson for some doctor visits. That was the nearest big city, about 120 miles away. We drifted apart years ago now, but I still want that car.

 

Friend asked me to deliver his Road Runner to paint shop. It was a bit sketchy driving a 4 speed while sitting on a milk crate that moved with every shift. Nice car, everything I expected

 

Oh boy did I ever....

Way back in the late 1970's all us neighbor hood kids had 6 cylinder "Hobby Stock" cars...I weaseled my way into 3 of them...1963 Chevy Nova death trap (roll cage was not attached to the floor or was the seat)...a 1964 Malibu that was a little better (1 1/2" water pipe cage) and then a 1964 Plymouth Belvedere that was sorta safe...the cage was made from 3" water pipe...so it was heavy...

If I had gotten in a bad wreck with any of them I probably would have gotten hurt...but I didn't...

They were all fun back then...I was really really really young and I was out on the local dirt track...so I really didn't care how unsafe they were...I just wanted to race around the track...fun times they were back then...

I would go back in the heart beat if I could invent a time machine...

MikeC

 

The father of one of my school friends said, "there are three things I don't loan out; my wife, my toothbrush and my car".

Not bad advice for a young rodder.

Phil

 

In the early '60's, I was in college and wanted to impress this girl by taking her to my college's homecoming dance. At the time, I had a '52 Ford with no door handles or second gear; not the best "dating machine". I convinced a friend of mine to trade cars for the night, as he had a black '60 Impala 2D hardtop with a fresh "Tijuana Interior". My date was all right, but ended early because they had used something very "fragrant" to pad the interior, and it made the girl sick and I had to take her home.

The next morning, I drove to my friend's house to trade cars. As I approached, I did not see my car in the driveway. It turned out that he had "forgotten" about the bad second gear and tried to speed shift into it, racing some yahoo in a Chevy six. Luckily, I had gotten an early start (thanks to the bum date), so we were able to get to Carmichiel's junkyard before noon to get another transmission. We spent the rest of the day retrieving my car from a distant roadside and replacing the transmission.

The upside of this is that there were enough good parts in the "blown" transmission to allow me to mix and match parts and get it going the next couple of times I "blew a tranny" (a common occurrence in my crowd in those days).

 

I can say yes to this one. The wildest ride I had behind the wheel of someone else's car had to be my uncles 32 tudor while he was in his 32 roadster. Both cars had sbc's, jag rears, and 3:55 gears. One night we decided to line them up. I would love to say there was adult beverages involved, but unfortunately that was not the case. We lined them up at a light, I was in the left lane, he was in the right, light turned green and we both hit em hard. Well, the sedan had a tendency to kick to the right, and the roadster would kick to the left. To put it simply the two cars damn near collided into each other. Truly an unforgettable moment. This was one of many "other people's" car stories that I can recall. Short list:
32 Ford Tudor Sedan
34 Plymouth PE Coupe
64 GTO
67 GTO
66 GTO
2002 Trans AM Firehawk
32 Ford Roadster
70 Superbee
69 Camaro
64 Corvette
1971 Mustang
And I am sure there are many more.......Also, was part of my job for a while.

 

Wanted to clarify, not unfortunately for the adult beverages, stating this bad idea was done with out and "assistance". The night got much worse.

 

Have a friend with several 1968 Shelby GT 500 KR convertibles. I've got to drive 2 of them to shows for him. Used to trade cars with friends in HS once and a while to confuse people. I'm always more gentile with their cars than I am mine. Mine aren't worth anything and theirs were.
SPark