Times when your retro make you go OHHHH SHH!!TTTTT

[pauldaf44]

Had a definate brown trousers moment this evening. Accelerating away from a junction on full throttle I go to back off and the pedal stays where it is!! Interesting when there is a car in front of you I was able to hold her on the brake, good thing I adjusted the shoes this morning really and as home was 400 yds away I perservered. I have freed the throttle abit but now have an estimated idle speed of about 4000rpm just what you what for parralel parking with automatic

As a result I will either be trying to repair her tomorrow again or else laying into her with a sledge hammer if I haven't calmed down by morning . I think the chances of her starting from cold with such a high idle are minimal so there maybe many proffanities issued tomorrow

looking on the bright side at least it gave me a thread idea. What moments have you had that have equated a similar response?

Paul

[swordfish210]

My 205 does when the electrics begin to smoulder and i have visions of the whole car going up in smoke.

Hopefully when i put the new loom in it that will never happen again.

[ruffgeezer]

I once bought an AxGt from a lad in Crawley, aside from the fact it stunk of pooh, it seemed reasonable for the price, so I bought it.
As a parting shot, matey tells me the brakes are a bit soft...

...a bit soft actually means carpet mashingly soft, with no effort at all. So I decide to use the handbrake on the way home, nope, that touches the headlining when you pull it.

I didn't half look a curse word rolling up to dartford crossing gate and then jamming it from 5th to 2nd to stop.

[Speedman]

Freshly filled up camper at the pumps + fuel leak onto dizzy =

[tofufi]

Jan 22, 2010 19:56:30 GMT Speedman said:

Freshly filled up camper at the pumps + fuel leak onto dizzy =

You were lucky!

I've got a Fireflex automatic system installed in mine just in case the worst should ever happen.

Having said that, my Bay has had the sticky throttle problem similar to PaulDaf. Thankfully, the extreme lack of power just meant it was more like having cruise control ;D

Still, gives me an excuse to fit those twin carbs

[Deleted]

the ellecy window switches in my old 2000E caught fire on the way home from collecting it! lol didnt realise they'd stuck in the close position and started to smoke from the wiring! Saved just in time at the side of the A38!

There was a moment with my old Sierra on an island in Luton with a big diesel split, good job i was only going nats pace cause jebus even at next to no mph i got into a pendulum effect that felt like it went on for three miles when really it was about 50 yards! lol no PAS either didnt feel it til afterwards but pulled my chest out fighting with the steering!

and my first lesson in black ice 2 months after passing my test in 2001 headed towards a junction at a steady 5mph in my mk2 fess with no stearing responce and all 4 wheels locked. (I was new to driving and paniced) luckly as i hit the main road it was quiet and i found grip.

[petetong]

driving my hiace in the show couple of weeks back.
being rear wheel drive,and having no weight over the rear wheels,makes for some interesting moments at the best of times!!
but icy round about made for an "OH shoot"moment !!! the tescos lorry drive had a smile on his face watching me drifting towards him.. but was'nt to pleased when it looked as if i wasn't going to stop!!! i did..just!
did put a smile on my face thinking about it later mind!!!

[Shortcut]

Many moons ago I had a Renner 5 (one of the first into the country in 1973. 850cc of raw power and an umbrella ear stick). Great fun. Apart from the day the brakes failed. Slowing for a set of traffic lights my foot went straight to the floor and I coasted straight towards the lights. Yanking on the handbrake wasn't going to stop anything in time so I ended up driving straight over the lights on red right between the cars crossing the junction before pulling up about 50 yards past the lights. Plenty of time to think oooooooh shiiiiiiiit and anticipate the huge accident about to happen, but ended up getting away without any contact. Plenty of horns though.

Many moons later in a borrowed TVR Chimera. Too much right foot, 90% left hand bend, greasy road. Again lots of lovely thinking time, frantic wheel twirling but this time a sideways thump into the kerb which folded both wheels on the drivers side up under the car. The owner was most unhappy when I phoned him.

[rupertw]

During the snow I managed to go backwards over a main road in my Reliant. Fortunately I was hooting like mad and a Land Rover had stopped on hearing my hoots. This incident may have been more down to the driver than the car though...

I once went over the crest of a hill while taking the Austin 7 for a test run only to find that the cows had knocked over a stone wall into my path. There was no way I could stop, and to my left was a muck heap, so I decided to just try and aim for the least stony bit. Luckily there was no damage done to the car, although my back took a hell of a beating.

Not a car, but I had my motorbike go up in flames whilst chained to another motorbike which was chained to the ground, in a building full of other vehicles and spares. We had a fire extinguisher, but we had previously tested it and it hadn't stopped, so it was now empty. The keys to the chains were in the house as was the nearest fire extinguisher. In the end we managed to put the flames out by blowing on the flames and beating them with rags!

[stealthstylz]

My old Rover 200 had a plastic throttle body that used to stick open. Quite scary cogging down to go into corners and when you let of the brake the car would accelerate.

Matt

[Davenger]

Jan 22, 2010 20:02:34 GMT @weblefeck said:

the ellecy window switches in my old 2000E caught fire on the way home from collecting it! lol didnt realise they'd stuck in the close position and started to smoke from the wiring! Saved just in time at the side of the A38!

There was a moment with my old Sierra on an island in Luton with a big diesel split, good job I was only going nats pace cause jebus even at next to no mph I got into a pendulum effect that felt like it went on for three miles when really it was about 50 yards! lol no PAS either didnt feel it til afterwards but pulled my chest out fighting with the steering!

and my first lesson in black ice 2 months after passing my test in 2001 headed towards a junction at a steady 5mph in my mk2 fess with no stearing responce and all 4 wheels locked. (I was new to driving and paniced) luckly as I hit the main road it was quiet and I found grip.

Diesel on the road, that old chestnut.
Hit a patch of diesel stopping at a roundabout in my old Golf.
Shot straight across and hit the roundabout.
I was lucky I wasn't hit by anyone.
By bum hole puckered up and tried to eat the seat that night.

Had a fishtailing incident with my mate Jim in his modded XR4i.
Hit a patch of water on the A12 at about 70 (ish) going from Chelmesford to Colchester.
That was a brown moment too.
Aquaplaining is not fun at any apeed, let alone motorway speeds.

[Deleted]

austin cambridge van bought for teh engine an box with a few days t+t on it.. was on way home and had to do stop.. first shock was pedal hitting floor as the master cylidner punched out of the rotten bulkead..second shock was pulling up the handbrake only to have the cable snap... engine was sweet as a nut though............

[Fennec]

When I was young and stupid, (I'm older now...) I was racing a mk5 escort in my VW Polo (1986 model), when we came up to a roundabout at the end of a dual carriageway. We both braked, but I locked up and went straight over the roundabout!

[skinnylew]

Had a few moments like that:
Hit a big puddle on A1 in a torrential downpour. at 50mph. in a Fiesta on 17"s. on a slight bend.
I was only 18 at the time and going sideways on a motorway across two lanes scared the life outta me!!

The rest are all user error:
Had my Ax GTi sideways an awful lot, not always gone well though.

Was in a convoy to the French Car Show one year, nice roundabout, sideways as per.
only this time the new anti skid gripped and it spat me out backwards up a kerb and across a verge missing a lamp post by inches. Damage - one burst tyre, and severly dented pride

On the way to work once i span on a greasy roundabout. in rush hour. Was funny facing the on coming traffic then using the handbrake to get round the right way ;D

[austinpowers]

I have also had some fun ,and it always seemed to happen with fords.
First my mk1 escort 2.1 (180 bhp) throttle pedal jammed on when pulling
away at a junkshion ,I kicked the pedal until it came off but the engine sounded
like a beetle.Luckily it was just a rocker that broke and not a piston. Next on the
first day of owning my mk3 capri the brake's failed going down a steep hill .
A Granada that used to spin me around at a drop of a hat,that turned out to be caused
by a large hole in the fillernek,strange it never leek ed when i filled it up at the pumps.
Then to top it of I brought a XR4i fitted with a auto box and a RS500 limited slip back end, and
the night i brought it,it snowed and I had never driven in snow before now that was fun.

PS. I hope this makes sense but I'm not good with computers and I'm dyslexic.

[grizz]

I think my brakes worry me most.

Stopping time is calculated in days not seconds.

[Llewelyn_]

Sliding my 928 GT sideways through somebody's garden wall was my worse brown trouse moment :-)

Here's a mid repair shot:



Sad times!! The filler looks bad but in actual fact my friend did a brilliant job of getting most of the dent out prior to that shot! The only other thing it needed was a weissach axle. £800+vat from Porsche. £60 from a breaker! WIN.

[sutty2006]

sending my rwd manta into a bush sideways at walkin pace. It was like slow motion.... i couldnt do anything about it!

[popuptoaster]

Ive had to many to mention, the jammed wide open throttle on an automatic cortina with a tuned engine in it, the stack light merc with the bnrake pedal that occasionally went all the way to the floor with no effect at all, the cortina that caught fire, and many many more over the years with decidedly weird handling due to general worn out ness.

[psychophil]

100e with 1600 c/flow stub axle snapped on front drivers side , really lucky as it was in the car park just after a spirted drive,, inlet pipe fell out of weber carb in Granada ,,caught fire but was able to save the car