Technical Have you ever driven a friends car?

I always heard not to let another guy borrow your car or your girl, they might sling a rod in either of them!

 

Had a good friend show up at my house one night, complaining of the way his 302 4 speed short bed Chevy was running. He insisted that I needed to "run it" and tell him what was wrong. Now for some time my old Corvette had been sitting waiting for a fresh motor, and I had no desire or inclination to work on it anytime soon. This apparently bothered my friend and he felt I needed some motivation. It worked, one high revving gear grabbing blast in that little pickup, and we towed the vett to the shop the next day.

 

Sometimes he's the guy who drinks too much one night and in a stupor brags that he set the garage door opener code 1234 (the kind of combination a moron puts on his luggage) and that he leaves the keys under the floor mats in each car. Good times, good times.

 

I was down for a few years after , neck fusion surgery . One of my life long “friends” stops by . “ Hey how about letting me take the Harley for a ride to exercise it a bit ? “ He has been riding for years , a Honnnda guy ! He has on a ball cap . I tell him take the cap off or you will loose it . He says “ look I have ridden for years , Pup , I know what’s goin on !” I’m thinkin your Mom is the only PUP , I know , but I bit my tongue and let him go . Ok , off he goes , 5 minutes later he calls , “ Hey my hat blew off , I can’t get the old MFer to start .” I exit , not more than two miles down the road ,he is sitting there on the cell phone , and will not stop talkin when I pull up . This really frosts my Azz anyway ! Gas is running out of the carb all over the cases , a puddle on the ground . I’m like WTH , did you do ? He says “ I kicked it 3 or 4 times it will not start !” I ask him “ Old Pup , how many times did you twist the throttle ? “ He answers it’s out of gas I choked it and it’s out . WTF ! It probably took me 70 kicks , to clear it out and get it to fire ! Mind you I have a neck brace on at this time . Once it lit , I was gone , pissed as a wet cat . He calls me back , “ How am I supposed to get home , you took the truck keys ? “ I told him hang loose PUP , it’s a stick I’m not sure you can drive it ! I let him sit for about 45 mins before , I ask my wife to ride me back to get the PUP ! He asks why do you ride that roach anyway ! I told him “ PUP , when you get off the porch and sell your Honnnnda you can run with the big Dogs ! “ From that day on , don’t ask it doesn’t happen , anyone else is not drivin my junk ! I really don’t think the PUP , could touch his Azz with both handsc if you turn out the lights !

 

Here's the definition of a true friend. Many moons ago my best friend had just rebuilt the big block in his o/t 4x4. He put about 50 miles on it checking it out a breaking it in. He showed up at our shop, and I threw my towbar and hubs in the back and told him I needed to get a car, and since my suburban was giving me trouble, his truck was elected. Now here's where the 'true friend' part comes in. Next time he saw the truck his motor had 6000 miles on his fresh rebuild, a new tranny(my dime), and had been out of his sight for 8 months. Oh, and he fixed my suburban too.

 

I recently lent my car to a friend as a favour for a few weeks so he could attend some shows whilst I was away on holidays as his car is still in the shop. I had people approach me after I returned, they informed me that when they saw it being driven, it was at full noise. Never again! If I drive anyone else's car I always respect the privilege of being trusted.

 

From the time I was 18 on, I was a mechanic. I drove a lot of other peoples cars.
I also ran my stuff very hard, and most knew that. I had a lot of people want me to drive their car so i could tell them how to make it faster, better, or safer.
As I grew older, I did major repairs on several cars, the owners didn't get them back until I thought they were good to go.
I've let a few people drive my stuff, I figure they can't hurt them any more then I can, but the keys come with the comment that if they wreck it, they bought it. Not everyone would get the keys to my stuff, there are too many idiots out there. Gene

 

a good friend have 5 old cars , but never let another people to drive one ....
they are a 1956 4 doors chevy bel air , a 1957 2 doors chevy bel air , a 1950 2 doors chevy , a 1955 bel air wagon with
a vortec engine and 700r4 in it , and at least a 1934 ford hemi powered .
last year my 1956 olds stayed in the garage waiting for a new engine .
got a call from my friend " are you coming to the car show tomorrow ?
i said no , because i can't drive my car ...and i don't want go to the car show with a modern car ....
he answer : that isn't a problem ; you drive the 1955 , and i take the 1934 ....
so , i drive his 1955 chevy wagon , i was impressed how that car is easy to drive compared to my 1956 olds .....
( a lot of power , discs brakes , air ride etc.... )
i took the 1955 on the road in the morning , and the 1934 ford in the evening ...
good day ... good friend .....
last month , i purchased a beautiful 1953 olds , 300 miles from my home ..
my friend drove the olds for bring her back to my home ....

 

I never would, because I couldn't replace it if I wrecked it. My buddy had a '73 Cuda. It leaked tranny fluid like a sieve but it was sharp and would run a bit. A mutual friend bugged the crap out of him to drive it and, of course, he ran it into a junction box for Bell South that was attached to a telephone pole. My buddy's parents had to pay for the pole and the box and my buddy was minus a Cuda (he probably saved a ton in tranny fluid though ). Of course, the mutual friend never offered a dime and he made good money working for his dad. Go figure.

 

We never actually traded cars, but when we were younger we would let each other drive, all of the time. This only applied to people who could actually drive though, trusted friends, in other words. I still have a couple of friends here I do this with, but once again, we are in the car while the other is driving. I saw long ago that it was bad business to flat out loan someone your car or truck. Just talked to a guy last night who had done this, and it cost him 1700 dollars in repairs and a 800 mile round trip to get his car back, when the loanee's friend tried some electrical repairs.

 

When I was in about 8th grade I moved my dad's Ranchero from one side of the yard to the other so I could mow under it.

 

I have been a Ford only guy for 36 years... body and engine... a rodder had a '34 Chebby with a Ford 302 in it... drove it around the Cumberland fairgrounds for a half hour... lots of dropped jaws !

 

Kinda forgot my old buddy let me row the gears in his 350hp/327 Vette.......and did I do his....oops no HAMB friendly.....

 

Any Spaceballs quote is grade a Material. +10 points

 

A friend of mine had a pile of shit '64 Ranchero when we were teenagers. He converted it from the column shifter to floor shifter but got the wrong kit so the shift pattern was upside down. The one night he talked me into driving because I was less drunk than him. Really made driving a challenge under those conditions with that shifter!

 

Driven a few friends hot rods. Last year I drove my friends modified 2012 Shelby GT 500 from New Hampshire to the race of gentlemen. My close friends can use anything I own if needed. I use their property with respect and they do the same with mine.

 

Buddy of mine bought this back in the mid eighties. It had four eleven posi, three ninety ford, 4-speed. The guy who bought it didn't know how to drive a 4-speed that well so we all took turns driving around at a campout weekend car show and had a blast.

 

Many moons ago, a friend offered to let me drive one of his numerous 1957 Chevrolets in a parade. Being a red blooded, or perhaps Chevy Orange blooded 20 year old, I jumped at the chance. Upon arrival at his house, I was assigned a red and white 210 two door hardtop with a small block and a four speed. I am sure that I have driven other friend's cars back then, but this one quickly comes to mind. Nirvana.

 

i try to never drive any friends cars/trucks/motorcycles, if something happened to one while i have it it makes me feel like a ass, then i have to fix it.

 

My neighbor is a pretty cool guy, he is a new friend but a good one. I bought the house 2 years ago.
He is a EMT, rides around in a ambulance and scrapes bodies off the highway.
He does not know which end of a adjustable wrench to use.

Any ways, one day I asked him if he was going to take his shoebox to the cruise in?
Older 10 year old resto, completely stock with wide whites, with a newer 302/AOD.
Said he has not drove it in a year because was over heating.

So I fixed the cooling system, It was idle to high, I adjusted it, then fixed a vacuum leak ... runs pretty good ... still needs a little tweaking on a tune up, BUT THE GAS IS OVER 1 YEAR OLD!
I tell him to take it out and drive it, had a 1/2 tank of gas in it, run it out and fill it up with fresh gas.
Then we will finish the tune on it.
He tells me the keys are in it take it out any time you want.
And he works out of town, only home a couple days a week, and the keys are left in it.

2 months later, he drove it some and now is below a 1/4 tank, time to fill it up.
I dont want to drive my buddies car, my wife has driven it and thinks it is fun
I am Afraid if I do not take it out and get some good gas in it, going to have a bigger job then I want to deal with later. Gas is currently 16 months old.
I am planning on my wife, to take me for a drive in my buddies car some day soon.

 

That is my basic overview of the deal, and reason to start the thread. Guess most projects if ever finished are the first Hot Rod or Custom most people ever get to drive.

Bob

 

I just drove this peppy and nimble little, old school, model A, hot rod. flathead with 40 ford brakes and a bunch of period stuff. I can not believe @GregCT. wants to sell this.

 

I drove a freinds 327 55 Chevy one night with his blessing, we had raced a few times that summer and I always seamed to pull him on top end but he would say he missed third.
So when I got the chance I ran the small block out in all four gears never lifting and didn't miss a gear.
He never heard the end of it!

 

I drove a Tall T and ‘34 Cabriolet that belonged to one of the founding E’ville Iron members (Frog Follies), Steve Meyerholtz. I drove a ‘glass ‘32 three window that Lobeck brought to Frog Follies one year.


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

Yup, Had a high school summer job at a dealership working with a stick shift drag racer who taught me about "reading" the motor rpms, speed shifting a 4 speed etc. and I took those lessons to heart. While in the Navy (mid '70s) a lot of my friends had muscle cars but few knew how to really "drive" them. For example my buddy had a '69 Roadrunner, 383 four speed. He'd wind the motor to about 2500 rpm and sorta speed shift it. I said "Let me show you what this car will do". Turned the motor up to about 4 grand, dumped the clutch, speed shifted at 6 grand and ran it out the back end. He just about shit himself, saying "I never knew this car could do that!". Helped a few other guys learn how to drive their cars too. Great fun!

 

That is what my dad told me when I got my first scooter. " Son there are 3 things you never loan, 1- your money 2- your bike & 3- your wife or girl friend". I stick to dear old dads' advice as best I can.

 

In late '60's I worked in a country town where I shared a house with other workers
One guy had a tuff small car with a big motor and he and car were known to Police
he had also lost his licence for street racing,anyway I had a '60 Holden Ute with a mild motor (pickup to U guys)
so some nite we would swap cars and go cruisin . Cops would pull me over and get pissed cos I was no trouble
to them. He got pulled over one nite in my car , reason "we had our car club name decal" in back window
Cops did not recognise him and let him go as long as decal was taken of ,club name was "Challengers R&C Club"
Guess that name would stir up young kids ???
fun times

 

Hello,
We did all kinds of crazy things as teenagers. Cruised to our heart’s delight, stayed up late working on cars, instead of going out on dates, and sharing our thoughts/ideas between us. My friend’s trust in me for all things automotive was a nice gesture and his skills were with the same things. Only, he did not like surfing, so that portion took a hit.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/christmas-friday-art-show-2018.1133544/#post-12875299

If something was planned and there was a surf road trip coming up, the surf trip took a back seat. One of those was a night of exchanges, between us, for our cars. His was a 1957 white Chevy Bel Air Hardtop, dual quads, 4 speed, Positraction, very low “Cal rake.” Mine was the 1958 black 348/280+ Impala, now with a Racer Brown Cam, lifters, C&O Stick Hydro and Positraction. Now, that sounds like those two should have a great time racing each other. But, the fact was, the races never happened. We were in both cars when they raced someone else, but never against each other.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/reflections.1042507/page-3#post-11812747

Jnaki

This qualifies as one of those things two friends share to the unheard of types of exchanges. My friend had been dating this girl we both met and it was several months later that they “took a break.” He was going to date this girl I knew and his old girlfriend wanted to go to movies with me. What a quandary.

So, to top off this weekend, we decided to exchange cars on the Saturday night, weekend date. I finally got to drive his 4 speed 57 Chevy and he was delighted to drive my powerful 58 Impala. (My Impala had more interior room, because his 4 speed shifter was always in the way)

From after school on Friday night to late Sunday night, we exchanged cars. I went all over our cruising grounds from Bixby Knolls to Belmont Shore, locally, to Laguna Beach in the South and Santa Monica in the North, with his ex-girlfriend. He told me later that he did almost the same, but threw in Signal Hill and Palos Verdes, two well known “Submarine Race” locations.

I don’t know what he was saying about no room with the 4 speed, but is sure was fun driving and shifting on our two day, weekend road trips. I just had to watch out where the hand rested between shifts.

What did we learn from this cool exchange? Well, he had a great time with our friend on his dates and my weekend with his ex-girlfriend got noticed by his friends. So, what was the future outcome? In a few years later, he married his ex-girlfriend, that was my close friend, and moved to Northern California. No harm, no foul… we all remained good friends.

 

Every time I do, I am reminded of how well my car handles and drives... Most cars look good but once you get behind the wheel they are a big let down.. I like my cars to run nice and everything to work smoothly.