Hot Rods your scary situation in a hot rod

I was driving back home from the bar with a buddy, probably in 1973 in his GT350 Mustang. Of course we're past the legal alcohol limit by far. Raining and hard to see, we come up on a piece of telephone pole laying across our lane and he hit it at about 65.

The impact folded the lower control arms and tires under the car. The car had shoulder harnesses and a roll cage, so we were fine. We're out of the car assessing the damage (at 4 am...) and we hear a car coming, we opt to get off the road and stand behind a tree. A '64-ish big assed Buick creams the Mustang from behind. The car now looks like an accordion.

The Buick backs up... and takes off considering it has major damage to it. Someone must have seen the accident(s) and called a cop. We were a little wet and sore, but survived something that could have been real bad.

 

Summer of 64, started driving march 64, cruising with buddy/girlfriend, myself/girlfriend in backseat going west on city street in Milwaukee near St Micheal's hospital, a pair of cars, took off drag racing coming east, street curves, result, head on collision, I never saw/knew anything till I woke up in the ER. My girlfriend and I were thrown from car, not hurt real bad, concussions, cuts, bruises etc, buddy, some broken bones, bit his tongue off, they sewed it back together, rest of his life, talked/sounded like he had been drinking, his girlfriend, cuts, broken bones, etc, we all fully recovered with exception of buddy's speech impediment. The driver of car that hit us ended up in wheelchair, his passenger was killed, the driver, charged with vehicular manslaughter. I was/am a very Lucky man, I have Many Story's of my stupid kid driving, never any tragic endings as my Guardian Angel has/does watch over me and my lack of judgement at times. I don't think I ever posted this story here, the ugly side of street racing.

 

A dark night on a hilly rural Iowa road through farm country. Four guys in a 66 Plymouth Belvedere. A cow.
Ah heck! Can't even begin to compete with these stories.

 

Back around 1972 a friend had just finished a '23 T. This thing was a monster with a big block, 671 blower, cycle wheels, and no front brakes. The car also had no seat belts but that probably didn't matter as we had no protection around us at all. We took off at a stop light and were sideways for about 50 yards. When it finally straightened out all I could picture is that huge T windshield landing in my lap. When we reached my house I asked him how fast we were going and he said 120. Man to be young and stupid!

 

Almost a major accident I had,with my buggy sprung ,nailhead powered coupe.
Heading for Bulletproof in Centralia Wa. I-5, buddies and I cruising along about 70+mph, there was a very deep dip in the road, just before one ominess steel bridge. As the coupe went into this dip, and upon coming out the suspension unloaded. Which had the coupe land on the shoulder and then a violent jump to the fast lane. Of course my seat belt wasn't as tight as needed, and my head hit the roof headliner wood bows.
Because I built the coupe to be safe for us old folks, no damage to coupe or us, except my pride. After we arrived at the show my buddies thanked me for showing them where that dip was.

 

A couple years ago I was driving home from the weekly old guys picnic at Greg's house in the country. It was a warm but starless night and cruising in the '27 Lakes Roadster was the perfect ending to a nice late afternoon/early evening with a bunch of fellow hot rodders. About a quarter mile from home on my street, which is very dark, with the houses set back from the road, I caught some movement on the left shoulder. BAM! a very big deer came out of the ditch, ran into my left rear wheel and did some kind of gymnastic move as it vaulted over the gas tank, just behind my head.

When I pulled into the garage I saw that the deer had destroyed the Moon disc. Then, I realized that if the timing had been only a split second different I could have been kicked in the head by Bambi's father.

You don't have to be speeding ( I was going 30mph) or screwing around to get in trouble with a hot rod.

 

I knew a bartender, he was coming home from the bar after work and hits a HORSE. There are riding stables north of us and someone let the horses out as a prank. He was driving a Ford F250 pickup. The cab was shoved back at least a foot into the bed. He was lucky to be alive. I asked him is the horse was killed... his response was the horse EXPLODED... musta been a mess...

 

I cringed at some of these stories, have a few of my own but none involved rattlesnakes, deer or horses. But it did bring to mind something that allegedly did happen back around '68 or '69 in Massachussetts and someone here might recall. The story went that there was a Hemi-powered T-bucket that was chased by the police doing about 120mph on Rt 93 in Medford heading into Boston and the T-bucket wrecked with the driver flying a long distance and crashing through somebody's roof. I didn't give it much credence at the time until I drove past the area a couple of weeks later and saw a roof patched with plywood and I swear it was at least 150 feet perpendicular from the highway. Anyone familiar with the details here?

 

I remember one story that was reported in all the BC newspapers back in the summer of 1961 or 62. A driver was speeding in a high performance car along a stretch of the newly built 4 lane Trans Canada Hwy. The car went out of control, flew off the highway, and did a four point bounce off a tractor trailer that was in the rest area below the highway, and came to rest on the access road. All this happened without serious injury to the driver or the passengers, but the car was a write off.
The newspaper posted a picture of the wheel marks on the trailer, very impressive. I'll bet that the truck driver thought his life was over.
You couldn't get away with that today, because all the tops on the new trailers are as thin as paper.
Bob

 

One of my buddies was driving this time, it was about 3 in the afternoon, we were running about 70 down a loose gravel road near his house. The area was pretty hilly. We topped one of those hills, and a St Bernard dog was laying in the middle of the road. Of course he jammed on the brakes, but there was no way we were going to slow down enough to even hope to miss the dog. Horn blaring, gravel flying, my buddy was even flashing his lights as we were hoping the dog would move. At the last second, the dog got up and wondered out of our way, We couldn't have missed him by more then a couple of feet as we flew by, still going way too fast.
It didn't make any difference in the way we drove. We were indestructible kids and it was simply another close miss, there were a lot of them! Gene

 

This one is a little different.

One night I was in my 1962 Galaxie Victoria Club Coupe. This was about 92 or so. I was headed south on Al Hwy 79 coming in to the Pinson red light. It was about midnight, so there was very little traffic.

As I coming up to the traffic light I overtook an old vehicle. (4 lane divided Hwy) It had one dim taillight and as I was coming up on it I could tell it was.....old.... very old.

As I passed him, I could see it was a Juniper Green 1947-53 AD Chevrolet. I got by him and his headlights were that yellowish color like you see on 6v vehicles.

That old truck was loaded up with a bed full of old wooden chairs. This old truck was legit. It looked like it was straight out of 1951. Skinny tires, the lights, the paint...the load everything. It was the real deal. The most original intact antique vehicle I have ever seen.

So I cruise on down to the relight and get in the turn lane. The Old truck catches up and stops beside me. There is a good bit of light at the intersection so I can look the truck over wave at the driver or give the "thumbs up" as I 'm in my Galaxie. Too I'm an enthusiast of AD Chevry Trucks. At the time I had 2, so I was familiar with local trucks and kept an out for them.

I made eye contact with the driver. Holy Sh-----Oh my Goodness.....Look Away ......just look away. I'm a friendly guy, I did not wave I did not do nothing but grasp the wheel and look straight ahead....going I did not see that.....Come light I did not see that.....Come on light turn. The driver an ancient human being in overalls and a old cloth ball cap looked.....Dead! Not poorly not having a bad day but Dead!

To this day he was the scariest person I have ever seen. I was a Paramedic for 20 years and have seen all kinds of stuff. That guy was scary.

I never seen him or the truck again.

 

Dude, where do I start?

 

This was by me in 1976 or 1977 IIRC. One local kid buys a new Trans AM and was probably doing 100 + where it was not prudent. The story goes that the driveshaft front joint broke and the car was catapulted through the air. This was in the wee hours of a Sunday morning. The only thing that alerted people was the car's battery hitting the side of their house. There was a mark 20' up on the house where it impacted.

I pass the site pretty often. The kid was ejected out the t-top and the car came to rest upon hitting a huge oak tree. Dead was an understatement. The car was under wraps in a locked storage yard under a tarp for years while a lawsuit was underway. I never found out the outcome if there was one.

 

Driving my 1940 Ford pickup to the storage shed where I put it in the winter, black ice on a bridge, going sideways down that bridge at about 40MPH, seemed like 110MPH. Hit the dry pavement at the end of the bridge where there was no ice, and got real close to the ditch but managed to stop first.

No damage, but you couldn't have pounded a mustard seed up my ass with a sledgehammer for a minute or so.

 

You wandered into a time warp portal. Poor guy had been caught in another dimension and has been driving that stretch for 60 years. You are lucky that it didn't catch you too....

 

Great story. Everyone story on this thread is terrific .

Scared myself in about 2001/02 when I was in a fairly unfamiliar city here in the uk in a standard '54 ford Popular (same as 48 to 53 Anglia).

6 volt electrics, useless original lighting so I could neither see nor be seen ,skinny bias ply tyres, vacuum wipers which slow and stop the faster you go and with about 45 mph top speed and no seat belts, heater or demister and pouring with rain and nearly dark.

Got slightly lost and missed a road sign so the fast modern traffic kind of dragged me out onto the fast moving dual carriageway with powerful vehicles doing 70 to 80mph .

Vehicles joining from slip roads didn't realise I just couldn't change lanes to let them in.

Finally managed to turn off onto a secondary road and almost feel my way home with the battery dying and lights by then almost non-existent .

The most scared I have ever been driving any vehicle...

The relative shortcomings of old vehicles were revealed that day...

 

Gospel truth. Some of the other guys at Lincoln High gave him the nickname, and we had other 'misadventures' in that 3 year period...always the 'hot rods'.
We used to hang out in front of my Grandma's, in Santa Clara. Lots of hot rods, at least 8, sometimes 20. Most fenderless, we thought we were the 'shit'. LOL
We'd line up and just go for a cruise, then Wimpy, Ronny the Baker, Bluto, and myself would 'break out', lay rubber from a stop sign, and the others would join in...COOL! Then the cops'd close in...
Only went to jail once, by the time my license got revoked I had 54 tickets.
No fenders, too low, loud exhaust, headlights too low, all the hot rod stuff.
License was defunct for 3 years. Learned to 'cool it'! Welll.....sorta...

 

going to Back to the 50's in 2016. my 40 Ford had always had a lot of body roll so I added a rear sway bar just before the trip. went to pass a car at 75mph & didnt see a car in my blind spot. he honked & I swerved back in to my lane, over corrected, started to fishtail onto the shoulder & back onto the road. got it under control & pulled off to gather my self. I truly feel that if I hadnt added that sway bar, I would have rolled it. added a frt one since also.

 

One of my scariest was in 61 in my 57 Pontiac. I was racing a guy from Merced in a 58 Vette between Chowchilla and Merced out in the country. Away we went and I was doing well when the redlights lit up behind us. I floored it and turned out my tailights. I knew if I got to a certain spot I could go under a bridge and avoid being caught. As I rounded a long curve there were two CHP cars nose to nose in the road!! Did'nt think I could stop and neither did they! Got it stopped just short of hitting them. They had been after me for a while and I knew it. We all went to Madera county jail and lost my license for a good while--folks were not happy. A while later I was to meet my future bride and folks at Madera courthouse. I was running a little late so hit Hwy 99 in my Pontiac and was running about 85-90. CHP came after me and I took a side road and kept going at a crazy speed. He caught me in 6 miles. I pulled over and guess what? Same CHP who caught me racing. I thought well this is it. He called and said I was being detained and to call the courthouse and let them know. Oh shit!!! Going to jail again!! Chewed my butt for 1/2 hour and followed me to courthouse-told me he better never see me again doing this stuff. Told my folks and future bride-"here he is-he's all yours".

 

Lasy year at the Tri-State hot rod Revival in Julesburg Colorado my brake linkage broke while I was staged up and had the engine stalled up. All of a sudden the car launched and I didn't know what was going on. I realized when I went to push the brake pedal my brain finally had comprehended what was happening so I let off of the throttle and coasted through the pits kinda fast. That could have really been bad on the big end of the track at 115 mph. I was a little shaky after all of that but praising the Lord for His protection.

 

"Up on TWO WHEELS!"
1958, was still working on my roadster. I bought my buddy Mike's faded red '34 three window, "The Red Devil", right on the gunwales of the doors, like The Ca. Kid...Full fendered, warmed-over flathead, locked rear end. (3.78 Banjo, welded spider gears) $275!
I wasn't a drinker, but my pals were a bunch of beer sots...(I laughingly called 'em that)
We were at the club house of some San Jose guys, all drinking beer...there was a gravel parking lot next door, over by Spartan Stadium, off 10th St. One of the guys said they were gonna spin brodies in the gravel...Cool! 3 beers and now I was ready for anything.

Some guys did their low gear spinouts, couple of donuts, I could do way better with my '48 Merc mill! (Oh yeah, "Evel on 4 wheels?")
I pulled out onto the gravel, mashed the throttle, and spun it around...the rear end slid more than I thought...('equal-lock' syndrome, locked rear lost ALL stability once the tires 'slid'...Another guy came out on the field before I was done, so I pulled off.
The beer spoke to me...I fired back up when it was clear, and started out for the center...but instead of low gear, I did it in second...about 50 MPH...Wow! Dang '34 'snap-turned', fast...I turned out, but was near the road...(7th St.? Can't recall) The '34 is just hauling ass, and I'm still turning the wheel to get a feel of where it is, am I turning? "Whoom!" The road is right there, on my left...I'm like...merging onto it, but there's a berm of hard dirt, my right wheels hit it, it's like...a graded 'jump', the car feels like it came up and hit my butt like a sledge hammer! I'm against the door, look out and the street is RIGHT THERE! Like a wall...I stab the throttle, but it's like...all used up...I turn toward the 'wall', (the road!) just to stop, and the car crashes down on all four. Holy Hannah...I was up on two!
When I stopped, 3 or 4 cars pulled up, alongside and behind...Not the cops, but some of the guys...
My pal Ramsay said I was "up on 2 wheels! Ran like that for half a block! What did it feel like?"
An older guy (roundy racer) said it was good I had a locked rear, or I would have rolled it with a 'loose wheel spinning' on the right side. He said it was good sense to gas it when I did...
Hell, I was in a coma. Moon gas pedal was where I probably thought the brake pedal was... LOL Fool's luck!

Fast forward to 1979:
My partner and I had a small rod shop in Campbell. (Industrial section of San Jose) We had bought a neat '29 roadster from a bud who didn't have time to work on it. Car was channeled, I un-channeled it, set it on my genie Deuce frame, '50 Merc Spicer rear, 301 SBC, and slipped a Powerglide in to drive it. F-1 steering, Dago axle, reversed eyes, front and rear...'32 rear spring, kinda 'stiff'.
'32 Packard dash, neat oldy stuff...
Cool Hiboy, so I watched "Hot Rod Gang" a few times...went out for a ride, did some cooool left hand drifts, car was exciting with 7.00 X 16 Bias plies, 5.00 X 16 motorcycle fronts. Cool!
I was playing "John Ashley", so cool in my shades...
So, I'm just wringing this little car out at every chance.
Some hot rod friends were over at Otto's house, hanging out on the lawn...I went past the street, saw them down there, 2nd house on the right.
Turned around, went a block past, turned around again...Racked it up to 60 MPH, lo range P/G, did an incredible left turn 'drift', ran along the gutter, 2 sitting stood up, pointed...I hit the sloped part of the neighbor's driveway, and was up! ON TWO! (had practiced this in my Cal Bug, knew I could do it) 301 screaming, middle of the power band...On 2!
Drove Chitwood style past, then accelerated...accelerated...HEY! (no locked rear! Skyside wheel was just...spinning...) Figured that out pretty quick.
I turned left hard, nearly bent my 3 spoke Bell, luckily, the right side crashed down.
That was the last time for Joey Chitwood.
Turned around, idled up and parked. The guys said, "Wow...Thought you were gonna dump it..."
Otto wasn't so kind. "You asshole, you could've totaled a nice roadster..."

Some years later, at the BMW agency I worked for the receptionist would answer the phone, then page the service mgr. : "Dick Madsen, line two please? Dick Madsen...On TWO?"
Yeah...I'd stop, and remember what it was like to be up "ON TWO"! Great...

 

You are da man! All the cool cars belonged to guys in class of '61 or '62 (probably your class) (I was '64) at Shorewood high school. Examples were '40 Ford Coupe with '50 Olds V8, '50 Ford 2door with hopped up flathead and the coolest... '53 Stude coupe with a '49 Cad V8! Also in '62, Brooks Stevens son, Stevie, would pick up his girlfriend after school in another cool car... A customized grey '56 Ford Victoria with side draft carbs on a Latham supercharger. With the windows open in HS, you could hear the whine a mile away! I don't know what kind of trouble those badass cars got into. Mark

Sent from the red phone

 

about 25 years ago in my OT 70 camaro, just got done "racing" a porsche on the highway on the way to work. really just messing around, seeing who could go faster, stupid.....not sure how fast we actually got up to, way over the limit though. Come up to my exit, downshift the auto, step on the brakes and the pedal is literally gone, it's not there anymore. The little clip broke that holds the rod to the pedal, and the pedal flipped up under the dash. luckily , I was able to downshift and made my lights, and was able to turn into the parking lot and idle to a parking spot and throw it in park. our drive was uphill, so it worked out. that was scary, could have ended really bad.

 

Wimpy, Sneaky, Don S. and myself were Class of '60. We all started very young...My Dad died in '54, (I was 12) so Mom gave in and let me buy Billy Souza's '36 Three window. An older rodder traded me a hopped-up '46 Merc flattie for some stuff (and some labor) so I planted the "Big Merc" (5/16 X 1/4, just a 274" but ran good! It was dye-in-the-wool Hot Rod to me!
Mom wasn't home, so I backed the coupe out of Grandma's long driveway, turned up Benton St. and up to Gould St. It was a looong 2 lane, so I unwound the flattie in second gear...shifted to high, speedo said 85+! Heard a whine, thought "Rear end?" Nope. Santa Clara fuzz.
He followed me home, (13 years old, speeding, 'reckless driving'???) Shoot, I was goin' straight...What could happen?
My Mom thanked the policeman for following me home, then drove it in the garage herself. She removed the battery, and locked it in the trunk of her '48 Cad.
Mom had had fast cars, FAST cars...she asked me where "all that motor" came from. She could tell from the moment it fired.
I owned up to it, and she called older rodder Vince to chew him out for selling this engine. To a Minor! Her KID!
Vince said, "Awww, Mikey's O.K., just let him stew for a coupla days. He's really a smart head...we all like him, we'll tell him to cool his jets..." She said "O.K., we'll see..."
Those guys walked up one side and down the other! They made me feel like a real jerk. It sunk in, because I didn't race around again until I was almost 16!

 

Driving my 2000lb. coupe trying to stay on my side of the road with 30mph cross winds. Also 1st time death wobble.....................

 

Please forgive me if I posted this before. I may have, but don’t remember for certain. Anyway, here’s my exciting true story about my P15 build.



This began on the day that we transported her on a trailer to my brother-in-law’s garage, to begin the bodywork. We unloaded the car from the trailer, and had to negotiate her down an inclined driveway, with a sharp left turn at the bottom to line up with the garage door.

The car was not yet running, but the brakes were hooked up. They didn’t work very well at all yet, but it seemed that they would be OK for what we were doing. I got behind the wheel, sitting on a loose wooden block since the interior was completely stripped out. The brother-in-law, and son-in-law gave a little push to get the car moving down the driveway. The car started to pick up a little speed, so I stepped on the brake pedal, whereupon the brake pedal went right to the floor. (This is where things began to get exciting) Now I’m beginning to panic, so I’m pumping the brake pedal to no avail. I took a firm grip on the steering wheel for support and the steering wheel came off the shaft. I am now feverishly pumping the brakes while maintaining a grip on the loose steering wheel in my hands. Prior to beginning our trek, I had failed to replace the retaining nut after I slid the steering wheel into place on the shaft. (Stupid move…yeah, I know) Now I’m still rolling, and trying to get the steering wheel back into place. The car was heading right for a Kubota tractor parked at the bottom of the driveway. I got the steering wheel slid back on it’s shaft, and was contemplating steering the car out into the yard to avoid colliding with anything, when we finally slowed down, and came to a stop.

The brother-in-law, and son-in-law were still standing at the top of the driveway laughing hysterically, as they saw the whole episode unfold before their eyes. I, however was not amused. I regained my composure, and after recalling what had just happened, I had to laugh about it as well. I just wish the whole debacle had been captured on a video. I think I would have submitted it to “America’s Funniest Videos” or posted it on Youtube.



Wayne

 

Several years ago, 2 of my sons and I decided o go to cruise the Berlin, Connecticut Turnpike. I was in my channeled 1931 Ford roadster, my son Joe was driving his 1955 Buick special, 401, turbo 400, Olds rear, my son Mike was driving his 1956 Dodge 2 door, primered with flames, 318, Torqueflite, 9" Ford rear. I asked, does anyone have any tools ? They both said no, we won't need any. While going across the Putnam Bridge, my left rear cycle fender broke loose, I ran partly over it, and it got caught in the emergency brake cable. I immediately went sideways into the other lane of the bridge. Now we needed tools. Mike called a friend of his who soon showed up with 2 pairs of pliers. We eventually got the broken, run over fender off, and continued to the Turnpike. I still have the fender hanging in my barn as a reminder.

 

2 more , in the same vw that caught fire
I had wide fibreglass fenders with centrelines on it, driving along one night and tire passed my car..... my buddy says hey ain’t that your wheel?
Wham car slams hard I’m the rear fender and running board come off and dragged the oil pan till it stopped!!! Some one tried stealing my wheels got the 3 lug nuts off and could not get the lock but off untill it snapped off that is!!

2nd was in my 80 camaro flying down the Hwy way to fast and the passenger side t roof came off !!! Didn’t stop, didn’t look to see if it hit anyone just pushed the go pedals down further and got out of there quick !

 

Blew rear tire driving '59 Corvette on freeway at a wee bit over the speed limit- all over the roadway but never into the ditch- guess this is not a hot rod but scary enough-

 

Recounted this type of story in other posts about both my 48 and 50 fords from many years ago, here's a more recent one involving a 67 442 ragtop I owned for a few years. After finishing a body on restoration of a one owner car, the Wife and I took it out for really it's maiden voyage completely done. We are cruising dow n a country road following a pickup truck loaded with scrap aluminum siding, when the speed of both of us gets to the point where the siding decides to go airborne, dozens of pieces of siding are flying through the air and I am right there where it's going to land, fortunately only one piece turned side ways and bounced of the windshield. Lady Luck was with me that day as the top was down and anything could have happened to both us and the car. Ralphie