What's Your Most Jalop Story?

"CounterTorqueSteer" (countertorquesteer) 01/14/2014 at 18:26 • Filed to: Story Time

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When I was 19, I had saved up some money and it came time for me to buy my first car. I had been driving my parents' '08 automatic Mazda 3. I didn't know how to drive manual, but I knew my personal car would have to be one. After searching for a couple months, I found a green 2003 Mazda RX-8 with 60k miles for $11,000. I was elated. The next few days were spent driving...ALOT. I taught myself to drive manual and instantly fell in love with the car.

Two weeks later, a tragedy. I hit an 8 point buck going 60 mph and totaled the car. I was heartbroken.

Through this experience, I discovered what the high and lows of car ownership feel like. I am thankful for the experience, but still miss the RX-8.

EL_ULY > CounterTorqueSteer 01/14/2014 at 18:30

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Jumping railroad tracks at night in the middle of fucking nowhere northen Mexico. A 8 year old me and my drunk ass uncle in his 77 Celica GT. Dirt road rally stage shit :]

That car's name was "la muela" because it was all rusty. (referenced to a cavity covered molar) A true jalopy :]

Casper > CounterTorqueSteer 01/14/2014 at 18:31

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Well I was writing a long post and Kinja ate it. I don't know probably either how a cow upgraded my 300ZX or when I replaced my DD 300ZX I totaled with an autocross prepped 240Z... If we are looking for a story to summarize my relationship with Kinja, it would be the Datsun pickup and shot bees at me when I used any dash controls.

For Sweden > CounterTorqueSteer 01/14/2014 at 18:34

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Did you keep the deer?

Aya, Almost Has A Cosmo With Toyota Engine Owned by a BMW. > CounterTorqueSteer 01/14/2014 at 18:36

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Here in Indonesia, you won't get a license if you can't drive stick.

And the thing is, i learn how to drive in my parent's W140, which is auto.

So i go to the driving school and learn how to drive stick in a 1996 Camry. At first 15 minutes i think manuals is really fucking annoying because i contsantly stall the car for 15 minutes or so. And then i start to get the hang of it, and really like it.

It's kinda small chalange to get a rev-matching shift.

CounterTorqueSteer > For Sweden 01/14/2014 at 18:43

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Went back the next day and it was already gone.

JustWaitingForAMate > CounterTorqueSteer 01/14/2014 at 18:43

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Realizing that we didn't have a car to drive down the coast for our annual trip my mate and I ended up at a car auction the day before we had to leave. Purchased an old VN Commodore that was leaking oil like a sieve, over heating and basically falling apart for a few hundred dollars, which we then proceeded to rally that night to test it out. We got air, it bottomed out when it landed, did something bad to the suspension, but we still drove it down the coast as if it was a stolen rental car. It lasted a week of unspeakable driving horror, then was sold at the next auction for $100 more than was paid for it.

Z_Stig > CounterTorqueSteer 01/14/2014 at 18:43

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My first e36 was in pretty rough shape when I first got. It was a 328 so it was good fun still, but I really wanted an e36 M3. Well, I decided to just slowly enhance the look of the 328. I did a bunch of body work, obtained an M3 front bumper, was prepping for paint, and was trying to decide on Estoril Blue or Hellrot.

Well within days of finishing the bodywork, and old man in a 300C ran a stop sign and just completely destroyed my little e36 :(

The story has a happy ending though; with the insurance payout (thank god for carrying collision on that Bimmer) I was able to buy my E36 M3 - in Technoviolet no less :D

Orange Exige > CounterTorqueSteer 01/14/2014 at 18:47

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I crashed my Miata last week and basically totaled it :/

Not my first car, but my second. Man, it was a great car though and way better than my AW11. Only had it for 3 months to :(
Not worth nearly as much money as your RX-8, but it meant just as much to me as your own Mazda did to you.

Cool first car though. Too much money to spend on a first car imo.

Leadbull > CounterTorqueSteer 01/14/2014 at 18:50

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I traded in my 240 wagon for a Miata. It was all good and dandy, but the lack of wagon-ness left a void in my heart bigger than the void a loaded spring once left in my liver. One day, I just couldn't take it anymore, so I backed that sucker up into my heated garage and went to work. After nearly five days, I opened the door and emerged... in a shooting brake-converted Miata I'd built with my bare hands and generous amounts of JB Weld. Sweet sunlight, it's been too long my friend. I dropped the visor and drove to PetSmart, where I drifted the crap outta the parking lot before buying a corgi, which fit comfortably in the back of my track prepped Mazda.

HOOSIERS BRO

camaroboy68ss > CounterTorqueSteer 01/14/2014 at 18:53

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I will always laugh about this but when my grandpa bought our current project car (56 Chevy 150 custom) it was still running and driving. It has a small block Chevy and a Muncie 4 speed stick. My grandpa had owned it before I was born was happy to have it back now. Right before we started to tear it down he wanted to take it around the block one more time.

We took off him driving and me riding shot gun, we get the end of the street and he hammers it getting some good one wheel peel. He was ear to ear grinning. He power shifts through the gears and we start to slow down then. We head into a small residential area and he stops and asked me if I wanted to drive. I had never driven this car before but I had dreamed about it forever because I grew with a picture of it next to my bed since I can remember. I hop in(I'm 17 at the time and knew how to drive a stick at that point since my 68 camaro is a 4 speed) and take off.

I was goin easy through the neighborhood because it had no exhaust on it. We had only gone 300 yards and I was going to shift when all the sudden was a loud PING and the clutch pedal going limp. I get it in neutral and off to the side of the road. We pop he hood and find the z bar had one of the ears snapped off. I was heartbroken and a little pissed that this happened right after I had got behind the wheel. We closed the hood and since we only about half a mile out from the house I thought we would go back get the truck and tow it home. But my grandpa just looked at me and said, "we'll today you learn how to drive with no cultch". Great. He's like sit down and watch. So he gets behind the wheel and puts it in 2nd and starts turning the motor over. The car is lurching and after getting a little speed the motor fires and we are moving. I though ok we will just limp it slowly home.
We came to a busy street intersection and had to stop which killed the motor. We turned and waited on the side of he road until it was clear and lurched off again. Going from 2nd to 3rd was the worst noise I've ever heard before in a car. Right as we pulled into his drive way we almost hit the house because the motor didn't die at he right time and it wouldn't come out of gear. As soon as it was stopped my grandpa just looked at me and laughed, " well I now have a really good reason to tear it apart instead of keep driving it" we laughed and pushed it onto his lift to start tearing it down. Now the car is almost done and made sure the clutch won't had a repeat episode.

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > CounterTorqueSteer 01/14/2014 at 18:54

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When I was 12, My mom and I went to Greece for the last time before moving to the US. This trip was of the "no expense too great" kind, since we knew we'd never see that beautiful country for another 2-3 years, at least. So, we went to the island of Kefalonia, and there rented a 1.4L, 85Hp fiat punto. This fiat was a pretty bad car, but what I learned is that my mom is a truly godlike driver. One day, coming back from the main town of Argostolion to our hotel (75km round trip) we were being tailgated by a then new 2011 Seat Ibiza Cupra. I saw this car parked earlier that day, and noticed that it was not quite stock....
Anyway, my mom got mad with the guy tailgating us, and slowly drove faster and faster on the twisty, Cliffside greek road we were on. If there was a point in life where I experienced true fear, it was when my mom drove that punto. SHE OUTDROVE A 220HP SEAT IN AN 85HP RENTAL PUNTO! That ride, in that car, gave me new admiration for my mom, and for that little econobox, whose crappy gearbox and crappy engine, for once in it's life, roared with the sound of excitement

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > CounterTorqueSteer 01/14/2014 at 18:54

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Autocrossing my 1997 monte carlo dubbed "lol car" I was on a course based out of a 1/2 mile oval with a figure 8 in the middle and two attaching roads on each of the "loops" in the 8. I'm screaming out of the loop and onto the oval when I freak out because I thought I overcooked it. I back off the hilariously weak brakes and pitch it hard left at the top of the banked part of the oval to make the sharp left to go back down and get the next gate. My eagle GTs howled the entire time and I was certain I wasn't going to make the turn in time, but I somehow did. I slashed over half a second off my best time from the morning session. I had one run left. I knew that was the last piece of the puzzle for me getting a decent time so I focused on that turn and the next few gates and ended up slashing another second off of my time and ended up in the top 10 for the day. The 30+ people below me were a mix of stunned and absolutely terrified that I bent the laws of physics to let that happen.

How is this the most jalop moment? Let's run through the checklist at the end of the day on an 800$ chevy. Tires = shredded. Brakes = cooked. Coolant = boiling. Brake fluid = what brake fluid? Suspension = mystery factor. Chassis = pointless. Engine = gutless. Transmission = hopeless. But you know what? I flogged that bitch like it owed me money and had a ball all day long. Half an hour at the nearby autozone and 50$ in some fluids and a few assorted bits later, I drove it the 30 miles back home and went back for more a few weeks later.

CounterTorqueSteer > camaroboy68ss 01/14/2014 at 18:56

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Great story! Thanks for sharing.

xxxxxx > Leadbull 01/14/2014 at 19:02

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This is the most beautiful story I have read in a long time.

JACU - I've got bonifides. > CounterTorqueSteer 01/14/2014 at 19:05

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This one time at band camp...

Nibbles > CounterTorqueSteer 01/14/2014 at 19:42

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In my teens, I got the opportunity to ride around in some old Saabs - a rarity in a small oilfield town. I fell in love with a particular 900, which I would later learn was an Aero/SPG. I vowed one day to own one.

Fast forward to 2009. I just got together with my wife to be. I was living cheap, crashing on a friend's couch, but had just snagged a great job. Tax time, too! I started searching my local Craigslist and found a 1987 900 SPG for sale, $1500. I had $1500. It needed nothing but a paint job and some interior refreshing. Pay dirt!

I purchased that SPG and went on my merry way. It was fun as hell getting into the red on the APC meter and screaming away. It was everything I remembered, and more. It was a love affair. Mainly Jesus and my hot Saab.

Two months later, I got my plates. It was the girlfriend's birthday, so I DD'd her and her friends downtown for some party time. We left around 12:30 and headed to her place. About three blocks away, someone ran a red light and totaled the Saab. We were okay. I will never forget those two months and, even though I'm recreating it with a different body, I know it's not a real SPG. Maybe nobody else will notice, but I sure will.

No Prius Needed > Z_Stig 01/14/2014 at 19:45

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Is it a manual?

Z_Stig > No Prius Needed 01/14/2014 at 19:57

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Yes, it was. Manuals till I die!

Slave2anMG > CounterTorqueSteer 01/14/2014 at 20:01

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I built my first MG from the scraps of three donated dead ones and a bunch of other stuff including...
- block and crank bought from a friend of a friend for $20
- rods and pistons salvaged from my friend's crawl space
- head and alternator salvaged from a junked Austin America for $50
- flea market tires
- salvaged top from a junkyard

It had no proper ignition switch; I used a screwdriver to start it and had a hidden fuel pump kill switch under the dash. The car I used had had a wiring harness fire so it did weird things. In retrospect I should have used the Sprite body but we went with one of the two Midget bodies...I put the thing on the road for $375 and drove it for 3 years until the thing got so rusty as to be dangerous for the passenger. At that time I happened to find the Midget I have now...so retired the first one, salvaged all the good stuff and still have most of those parts.

Jalop enough? :)

190e30-Now with COSWORTH > CounterTorqueSteer 01/14/2014 at 20:21

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At the age of 15 (legal permit-holding age is 16 here) and after looking for what my first car would be since I was 12, I purchased my own first car.
And it was manual, an ex-SCCA racecar which went to National Championships prior to returning to street legal form, had a full rollcage, bucket seat, and 6pt harness. It also handled like a champ, still sat 5 comfortably, and got 35 mpg.

Also in Jalop spirit, it was way more of a shitbox than this sweet description makes it seem to be.

No Prius Needed > Z_Stig 01/14/2014 at 20:24

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That is an awesome combination.

Slant6 > CounterTorqueSteer 01/14/2014 at 22:13

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Today after adding ATF and changing the oil on my 1965 Dodge Dart the power steering fluid line exploded during the test run. It smelled pretty bad. It got all over the exhaust manifold and stained my driveway/ neighborhood.

71MGBGT Likes Subarus of Unusual Colors > CounterTorqueSteer 01/15/2014 at 00:49

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I fell in love with my first car, a 1971 MGB-GT, and learned to drive stick on it a few years ago. I lost it 1.5 months after getting it to a deathbed request from the original owner. Not the most Jalop story in the world, but it's the story of my first car, so It's all I have for now

jdrgoat - Ponticrack? > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 01/15/2014 at 03:30

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I like this story. I like it a lot.