Question time

"bob and john" (bobandjohn) 10/29/2018 at 23:53 • Filed to: None

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What is the SCAREIST vehicle you have ever driven and why? what made it scarey?


for me, it was the Ducati 1198. I had no gear (went to bike night in a car, go figure)

and I took it for a short spin on the freeway. the violence that is packed into that motor....unbelievable. 1298CC of repressed italian nuit job. this is a bike that doesnt ride well at anything under 70%. but once you ride it hard and yank its hair the way its made to do it...oh my god does it come alive. 

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 00:12

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My truck maybe? I know people here think it’s pretty, but it isn’t in fantastic shape.

Or my dad's Corvette? Manual everything.

Urambo Tauro > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 00:17

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Company work truck, definitely. Hard to choose which one though. I guess I’ll go with driving the Express van with no windshield sprayer s during the winter.

!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

promoted by the color red > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 00:17

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Previously, the homebrew Baja SAE car I helped build in college. Zero thought to human factors, had the barest of safety & comfort features (steering wheel was angled like the big London buses around town), and it had a habit of breaking suspension or drivetrain components while in motion.

Now it would have to be my Volvo. Fading front pads, tires dating back to the Bush Jr. administration, and a rust hole where the rear passenger’s side floor once was. Seatbelts...exist. Make sure to bring a flashlight since none of the interior lights work.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 00:18

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1968 Buick Electra 225. The car had a massive engine and despite its heft got up and moved. Couple that go a chassis designed by a drunk sailor it was terrifying to go around corners or over about 75 mph. You could yaw the steering wheel 2” either way  and the car would not change direction.

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 00:20

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Yes

https://oppositelock.kinja.com/1st-gen-dodge-viper-test-drive-repost-for-the-weekday-1829890797#amp-o8Qf1Tz9wdjUWElSN4Cnm0HLAPELDV9jbsN0qro5_h7LNOCBfbxluxr7Gxbm-xKN

E92M3 > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 00:29

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1st gen Dodge Viper. Fast but unpredictable handling, and if you do crash, you expect the car to disi nt egrate

AestheticsInMotion > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 00:31

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V10 manual transmission dodge ram pickup. First full-size truck I'd driven, and it was pouring out. I couldn't start in 1st or 2nd gear without spinning the tires on flat ground, and I was terrified I'd have to stop on a hill. Grandma's neighbor let me borrow it for a few days before I had the Miata 

CB > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 00:32

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2003 Maxima up the Bayview extension in a wicked snow storm with not so great winter tires.

slipperysallylikespenguins > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 00:34

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An empty 26ft box truck in 50+ mph winds. Bridges and icy patches were genuinely terrifying.

dtg11 - is probably on an adventure with Clifford > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 00:35

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probably my girlfriend’s Camry that needed new breaks about 2 years ago, I kid you not (and still needs them).  Somehow there’s still rotor left but dang it’s terrifying if you need to get on them

Keep in mind I have mild PTSD from when I totaled my (parents) 01 Corolla because it lost breaks going down a hill towards a stoplight.

I can confirm the W212 has one solid trunk.

WilliamsSW > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 00:40

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Hmm, let’s see... I had a ‘65 Skylark that took a good 5 minutes to get running on cold mornings, but other than that, it was OK.

A ‘64 Olds that ran great, but had abysmal braking - it was incapable of locking up the wheels on dry pavement. Plus a ‘74 Dart that pulled hard right under braking, and overheated on a weekly basis.

But I worked in college for a place that installed AC, sunroofs, and the like in cars and trucks. They had a lot of shitty ‘drop cars’, but that wasn’t my worst experience.

My first experience driving a true ‘truck’ was in a brand new GMC 7000. They just threw me the keys and said ‘good luck!’. It was a bare chassis, meant for a short (read: heavy) dump truck. Air brakes, and a 5x2 transmission. And I had to drive it 11 miles or so up Western Ave. in Chicago on a weekday afternoon.

The brakes were freaking insane - there was about 1/4 inch of pedal travel between freewheeling, and rear wheels *fully* locked. Again, air brakes meant for a LOT of weight on the rear end, which was missing. Once I got the hang of the transmission (starting from a dead stop in 4th or 6th, I was using 3 or 4 of the 10 gears available to me), I just downshifted until I was barely moving. Still nearly took out a school bus full of kids - sat there shaking for several minutes before I could even move, and damn near called my work and told them to fuck off at that point. The truck was just damn near undrivable without weight on the rear axles and *completely* untrained idiot like me behind the wheel.

By the end of that summer, I was driving cabover truck tractors on the Kennedy...

DipodomysDeserti > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 00:41

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A 1979 CM185 with a leaky head gasket. Nothing says “fun” like siezing up an engine going downhill in traffic at 50+ mph. Riding out a fishtail, hoping the retired Canadians behind me were paying attention. Good times.

My CL450 is pretty spooky. Being able to do 100+ with only cable operated drum brakes to stop you makes you realize your mortality .

Maxima Speed > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 00:46

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A former coworker had a late 60s Oldsmobile convertible, I think it was a Cutlass? It was a project car but also his daily driver as it was his only car. Having never driven in an old “muscle car” I was determined to get a chance to drive it. I figured it wouldn’t be very dangerous because it was pretty slow. I was wrong.

I should preface this by saying that; I knew the car was in rough shape but I had no clue what I was stepping into. I finally convinced him to let me drive it and he promised to let me floor it once. He claimed it could get squirrelly but I doubted it.

I sit down in the driver seat and look for the seat belt latch “oh it’s broken” he says “ I just tie it off here”, ummmm no thanks I’ll take my chances with bring ejected over being trapped in the car. I begin thinking about how this is a convertible and that if we rollover I’ll be dead. Oh btw the interior is stripped out and for some reason a piece of metal is sitting against my leg in the driving position and I don’t have a seat belt.

I start the car and he tells me to pump the breaks before I take it out of park or else they won’t work ummm what am I doing here. Next he tells me “oh btw there is a little bit of play in the steering”. I’ve driven vehicles with some loose steering, my dads pickup has about an 8th of a turn play. To me that’s unsafe levels of bad. I kid you not this car had a whole quarter turn worth of dead space where the steering did absolutely nothing!

I begin tenuously driving regretting my decision to drive this death trap and we come up to a stop light. We are about double the length you even think about stopping and he says “ease onto t he brakes it doesn’t stop well...... easy!” I began braking and there was no brakes so I keep pressing, gradually increasing pressure. Bam! The car is braking now. Turns out t he brakes are so bad they are basically on off switches. I don’t even know how that’s possible but that car was like t hat. I cautiously roun d a corner and accidentally squeal t he tires. “Oh yeah, the rea rs are bald” says the owner. He wasn’t exaggerating, there was exactly zero tread on the rear wheels.

Needless to say I never put the petal to the floor or did anything other than try to keep that monstrosity in the road as looped back to the starting point as carefully as I could, all the time praying I wouldn’t die in any number of horrific manners.

#1 lesson learned that day. Always inspect a vehicle before you decide to drive it and decide for yourself whether or not it’s worth it.

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 00:50

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A 1994 Dodge Viper.  The brakes had about half as much power as I thought they should have for that much engine.  Also, no airbags or ABS or anything.

MiniGTI - now with XJ6 > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 00:53

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Someone let me take their S2000 for a spin when I was young and stupid, or at least inexperienced, probably about 2002 . I was used to the understeer tendencies of my 93 Civic and gave it too much steering input turning left form a stop. Fortunately it was a wide road and the S2000 just fishtailed a little instead of smashing through the median. But a code brown moment for sure. 

E39, K5. Whatever it takes. > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 01:09

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Love this question!

A Ducati 900SS informed me of its intention to kill within five miles of the first ride. Every input was a fight, attempt to return was met with insane resistance. Finally a wide space appeared, slowed to u-turn, and a gravel patch decided to test leg strenth.

Dislocated left hip. Bike stayed upright.

Oh, did I mention my buddy purchased this bike 4 hours prior.

Damn thing drove like a dream the entire ride back.

I wish the ambulance ride, t wo nights in the hospital, and need for a cane (three weeks) were a dream.

pip bip - choose Corrour > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 01:11

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Old truck with dodgy brakes 20 years ago

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 01:50

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C7 Z06 with the traction control off on city streets, or a Ducati Hypermotard 11 00

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 01:57

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Test drove a 90's silverado single cab, short bed. 2WD, 350 V8, and very little care and maintenance. The pitman arms were so bad, the wheel had a solid 180 degrees of play before any input was received. Aaaaaaand on reflection this is 2nd place.

I once test drove a V70R wagon. I did not buy it. The gas had a solid 3 or 4 second lag on input. The brakes were not present. Warning lights everywhere (bt only after the first mile....) and a VERY ALARMING AND SUDDEN smell of gas upon unintentional hard braking. The car was a complete pile of shit. I gave it back to the guy trying to sell it and he acted like it was 100% normal and he drove it everywhere. I was wiling to fix it but his price was sky high (like, price as if the car was 100% okay). I left and drove very far away before he could get in his deathtrap.

boxrocket > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 02:48

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Various customer and client hoopties in conditions that would make Tyler Hoovie and David Tracy both back away in terror.

Also the Porsche Cayenne Turbo I was in today as a sighting vehicle at the racetrack I was at. Not so much as a lack of confidence in the driver or car, but the knowledge that with the speeds and forces involved and knowing what happens to a 2+-ton top-heavy vehicle when a tire blows out at close to or over 100mph. 

RPM esq. > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 02:56

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More situational than vehicular, but the vehicle didn’t help. Many years ago I drove an Isuzu cabover tow truck overnight in a rainstorm, on a then-infamously dangerous mountain road in Central America (subsequently much improved) after a tow truck driver showed up to rescue a broken-down cab stinking drunk. The Nissan taxi we started out in was on the back. At times the driver did not recall how graciously he had ceded the driver’s seat of his truck to some fucking gringo. My then-new girlfriend rode on the engine cover for several hours and successfully defused the situation (largely by being a pretty girl in a dress riding on a 2-seat tow truck’s hot, greasy engine cover, but also by cussing out the drunk-ass owner of the truck in Spanish any time he woke up or protested). I made my flight but I heard later that the taxi didn’t survive.

I’ve nearly shat myself in a Viper and an early 911 Turbo too, but neither of those threatened to shoot me.

Future Heap Owner > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 10/30/2018 at 03:43

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Manual brakes?

CRider > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 04:39

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A mid 2000s Yamaha Raptor 700R I rode at a friend s property a few years ago . This thing is, out of the box, an 8 0+ mph ATV that has no problem throwing idiots like me in hospitals . And what made the one I rode even better is that it had bent handlebars because the last guy who rode it, wrecked it.

So the thing didn’t track straight and both of the handlebars were pointed the wrong way. Not that it mattered much, since this thing could pick up the front end at will and any throttle at all made the front end very light. And since ATVs have stick axles, it would hop and kick all around, searching for traction, finding it, and sending you this way and that every time it did. It had ‘dislocate your shoulders’ power in every gear, just holding on was a workout and it had way more power than traction. It was terrifying. It was so much fun though, 10/10 would almost kill myself again.

Captain of the Enterprise > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 05:22

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I paid $50 to drive a Ferrari 360 Modena around a short lap at a small airport. It was so fast it actually scared me. Also the fear or wrecking it was intense. At the time I hadn’t driven stick yet and the instructor had me shifting with the paddles so that was new to me as well. It felt loose and alive at the rear which was scary for me. I took a lap in a Lamborghini Gallardo after the 360 and felt more comfortable in that. It felt so much more planted and secure so I enjoyed that one more.

I think it wouldn’t have been as scary if I’d driven faster stuff before but I was in high school at the time and the fastest thing I’d driven was a civilian spec Crown Vic. So it was a hell of a jump to go from that to a 360 and a Gallardo. Fun but scary,  especially that 360.

Manny05x > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 06:28

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For me it was the fz 10 that power was brutal and it was everywhere. I also rode one of the fzero electric bikes that was super scary the unlimited torque coupled with a horrible suspension taking a corner was a task of its own.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 07:05

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I had a Series 3 Land Rover.

Land Rover had seen fit to put the engine, gearbox and transfer case out of a Classic Range Rover in it and they called it the Stage 1.

Like many Stage 1 owners, the first owner of mine (the Royal Australian Air Force) saw fit to remove many of the things that Land Rover had added to the V8 engine that restricted its ability to typical early 1980s mediocrity.

After its military role of chasing aircraft up and down runways had been completed, it was sold through a variety of careful owners to a young gentleman from Sydney’s North Shore.

By this time, engine had been through a bit. Said young gentleman then paid for a minor engine upgrade that saw the original engine expand from 3.5 litres to 4.4 litres plus rebuilt Stromberg carb ies and dual Genie headers into a complete custom 2.5 “ exhaust system.

All in a chassis that dated from the late 1940s and was equipped with nothing more than the drum brakes from a standard 4 cylinder Series 3 station wagon and no power steering.

The top speed was difficult to determine since I could get the s peedometer to go around 1.5 times. I figured that if the door tops started flapping due to low outside pressure then I was probably going quite fast.

Handling was...not proactive . Four leaf springs. Driver perched on foam blocks and held down by a lap sash belt whilst holding a bus wheel. 31.5" tyres...

How the thing never killed me is a mystery but it was soooooooooo entertaining. I sold it for more than I paid for it when 45 series Land Cruisers started getting expensive and I demonstrated how fast the damn thing could go during a test drive...

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > Maxima Speed 10/30/2018 at 07:14

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Quarter turn of dead space........

Rookie.

My old 89 Chevy 1500 had 1/2 turn either way. It was hilarious to go down the road sawing the wheel from right to left and never changing direction.

Joys of a bad steering gearbox.

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 07:22

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1. 1979 Chevy Malibu Wagon.

Originally a V6 car.

Built 650+hp 502BB mated to a 4 speed manual dropped in the nose.

Suspension was soft/wallowy, yet bottomed out from the added engine weight.

Brakes were stock, soft, and pretty useless.

Somehow it managed enough traction it would pull the front wheels off the ground on the launch, set down on the shift, then fully extend the suspension again all the way through 2nd. This action resulted in almost zero steering at WOT, any steering you did have was delayed yet twitchy.

To corner the car fast you would come in hot, lift the rear under hard braking while downshifting, get on throttle to break traction, then use the rotation of the car to “power” through the corner.

Sit in traffic and the tiny radiator couldn’t keep up with the big block behind it, so the temp would start creeping quickly, leading to cranking the heat to help keep it in check.

2. Home built tube go-kart with a 440 fan cooled snowmobile engine......

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > Future Heap Owner 10/30/2018 at 07:51

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Yep

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 08:15

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E350. They just don’t go where you point them, ever. And they also have a nasty tendency to try and explore the weeds all of their own free will.

Usually I criticize vehicles that don’t have enough power to get out of their own way because I feel it’s highly unsafe. The E350 DOES technically have enough power to get out of it’s own way, but nobody ever told it that. 0-60: Yes. However in the case of the E350 I say this is a good thing as it means you have more time to try and wrestle the pig away from oncoming guardrails, traffic, trees and pedestrians.

The E350 is not a van. It is a sentient being, depressed to the point of being incurably suicidal.

StndIbnz, Drives a MSRT8 > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 08:48

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Challenger Demon, in the rain.  Breath on the throttle and the rear end lights up, don’t even think about turning any of the nannies off!  In the dry, floor it and the rear end lights up but stays straight.  The sensation of speed is insane in a car.  I have an R6, the Demon is just another animal.

AdverseMartyr > Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness 10/30/2018 at 09:07

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I guess this explains the obsession with Voyagers...

AdverseMartyr > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 09:31

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It’s fairly tame for vehicle as far as power is concerned: a mid 90's v8 Dodge Dakota Sport. I turned right just after a light rain, tapped the gas, and the rear end went 90 degrees to the left and pointed me straight at a big tree (memory says it was maybe 5 ft away, but maybe it was more). The wheel went opposite (of course), truck straightened out, and I changed my underwear once I was home.

Scariest was probably the 83 Dodge Colt that was pretty much rusted through everywhere. I went down a curve on a hill in big snowstorm and the snowplow had spread salt without actually plowing anything. So instead of turning I went sliding off the side of the road. I’m still not sure how much speed I gained going down the hill as I was going slow (less than 20mph on the speedo) and braking while in a low gear, but the trees on the edge of the road that caught the car ( and kept it from rolling down a 60+ foot drop) buckled the lower A arm. My father blamed speed, but I’m pretty sure it was mostly that the thing was composed almost completely of rust.

The slide and the stop didn’t scare me at all, but when I saw how many layers of rust were jutting out from that bent piece, I realized I was lucky that it didn’t just disintegrate while I was on the interstate.

fintail > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 09:38

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Fintail with a cracked brake line. Just like in Strange Brew, two stops, then nothing. Even better that I suspected there was a problem, but drove it anyway, thinking I could shift my way to safety (but hey, I made it). Also, the parking brake was disconnected, and this was on a 200 mile highway trip.

I drov e a friend’s 83 Monte Carlo after not having been behind the wheel of an old American barge in years. It scared me in traffic, again for the brakes - inches of pedal travel with nothing, then gradual brak es. A different world from the precise W126 I DD’d at the time. Fortunately I didn’t rear end anyone.

My time on bikes has been more scary because of other road users rather than the bike itself, as I am not aggressive on two wheels, not a “look at me I have a bike put me on IG” type.

Hamtractor > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 09:48

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I had a friend in high school, circa 1991, he was the motorh ead of all motorheads. He’d been building this Chevy Monza with his dad since he was twelve. No suspension upgrades, no brake or steering upgrades, but he DID have a Ford 9-inch in the rear to handle the 350 or so horses produced by the built 327 they shoehorned in there. He got drunk one night, so I was tasked with driving us home. At that time, the only car I’d ever driven was my 19 77 Cutlass Supreme, which was not a racecar, it was a luxurious sofa surrounded by metal.

VERY FIRST STOP LIGHT, left turn from stop. I looked like a Mustang at Cars and Coffee... Popped the clutch a little, proceeded to drift the corner into a full spin into the curb 100 feet down the road. Honestly thought that I was about to die at 17, lol.

No damage to the car though, got him home safe and sound.  As repayment for my courage and sacrifice, when he finished the suspension and brakes, etc, he took me to Bandimere (Mile High Nationals, anyone?) for High School Drags and taught me how to drag race.  That car was AWESOME,  Never got to the point where it didn’t scare me, but I took every opportunity after that to drive literally anything that looked or sounded remotely quick, lol. ..

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > AdverseMartyr 10/30/2018 at 10:03

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Na, that’s just from years of growing up around the same old classics, muscle cars, and performance cars.

All overplayed IMO.

Biggus Dickus (RevsBro) > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 10:46

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I have two:

1) Superbike build BMW S1000RR Race bike. Making approximately 240hp at the crank. Owner let me rip a few laps to burn off the rest of the race gas. Mind boggling acceleration and constantly picks up the front wheel. Any gear. Any time. Closest I’ll ever be to riding a WSBK bike.

2) Honda “CR500F” . Tuned two-stroke CR500 motor transplante d into a late model CRF250R frame. I’ve ridden it in dirt and supermoto trim. It’s equally mental.

DucST3-Red-1Liter-Standing-By > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 10:51

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Trying to do a U-turn on a dirt road riding a freaking indian cheiftan. Ne ver again

My bird IS the word > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 11:43

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My trans am. Not trying to beat a dead horse here, but besides the dry rotted tires I just realized this summer I made it 2 1/2 hours with ruined and leaki ng brake lines. Scared me more afterwards. 

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > bob and john 10/30/2018 at 13:39

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Either:

‘07 Jeep GC SRT8. 23 Year old me paid a few visits to the local dealership, convinced them I was seriously considering it, and they allowed me to test drive it. It felt just way more powerful than it should’ve been and like I would’ve been sure to wreck it, badly. Looking back on it now, it wasn’t/wouldn’t be a scary amount of car to handle, but it seemed like it at the time.

2000 E39 M5. 18 Year old me drove my cousins boyfriend’s M5 in 2002. I was too young and immature to really be able to handle that car for anything more than a quick jaunt around the neighborhood - accelerating 0 to 85 back to 0 on residential streets was stupid, fun, but stupid. It was also the fastest, most powerful and brutal car I had driven up to that point in my life, so that also scared me. I walked away with a new favorite car though, and to this day the E39 M5 is one of my top 5 favorite cars.

I’m sure these are both relatively tame compared to some of the responses you’ll get, but it’s all I got.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > bob and john 10/31/2018 at 13:43

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Driving a RWD Xterra with an empty Uhaul trailer behind in a blizzard on the interstate (for hours) was by far the most scared I’ve been on the road.

The Compromiser > bob and john 10/31/2018 at 21:59

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One time I rode this Franken bike. It had speedo issues and the foot pegs were in a weird spot. I couldn't feel the shifter either. Barely made it out of town.