I was just remembering some of the fun I have had over the years.

When I was young and more than a little nutty my driver was an 82 Omni 024, I still have that car however the bottom side is really rusted.

It has a regular 2.2 engine with a 3 speed automatic on it. Nothing special but geeze that car flew. I once had to go down the highway with my foot to the floor as I was late for a very important appointment. The speedo maxes out at like 220 km. I was past that and hitting the stop under the 0 km. The car just hugged the road perfectly and never once lost any traction at all. It was only after the appointment that I realized was doing somewhere around 130 - 150 mph in a tiny car.

Many years later driving a k car down the highway in winter I found out what could have happened very easily. I was doing 360's down a highway in the car because of loss of traction due to friggin snow drifts.

A few years ago I had little choice but to use a car I had been working on for a christmas gathering(with permission). Fresh 440 under the hood of a 75 monaco. We have these steel bridges here that originally turned to allow boats to go by on the river. They are 2 way traffic but kind of narrow. I was driving all done up in my finery which is not something you want to walk around in in winter. Got up to the bridge with no problems and hit a small patch of ice. The rear wheels came loose and the car went sideways. I had a choice, hit the brakes and be stuck with the front of the car almost in a rail while the rear of car is again almost in a rail aka meaning I walk in cold weather. Hit the gas to try to get out of the slide or let go and most likely damage the car going over a railing. Or to continue driving sideways over the rest of the bridge which had mostly clear pavement.

I drove sideways playing the gas pedal and producing a bit of smoke in the rear but not to much. I did pass a pedestrian at one point whose eyes were bugged out. On the other side of the bridge where the space opened out without railings I let off the gas and sure enough I went over the sidewalk for a bit before I got it back into its lane.

Thankfully I did not get caught by the police in either incident as they would have seriously given me a huge fine. The owner of the car later did as he got caught doing 90 mph on the highway, limit here is 60, because he told me he wasn't paying attention and the car just wanted to relax at that speed.

This by no means, means I got off completely free either. Once time I got caught speeding in that 024. I thought I was doing the speed limit of 60 but was doing over 80. Stupid speedo gear was munched up.

Another time in the K car I was going down a side road in winter. We had fresh light powder and the road was packed and polished snow aka ice. Hit brake pedal 0 let go 50 km hit pedal 0 ...aww ****.. launch car over the snow embankment and fully into the ditch. My father was less than pleased that the tow truck couldn't get it out and it required a 4 x 6 tractor to get the car out.

My current driver is an 88 fifth ave 318 with a 1970 intake and carb on it regular single exhaust 2.2 gears in the back(metric tag on a 7 1/4) never check what they actually are inside yet. I do know they are regular gears and not a suregrip.

Had to go pick up a truck at a customers house. What the customer failed to mention was that his driveway is thick mud after a rain. A half mile drive through thick mud without stopping got there picked up truck and half mile back out. Not fun and the engine was running a bit warm at the end. Took me an hour to clean all the mud out with the pressure washer. All so we could pick up a 68 fargo camper special whose brakes failed, rusted out and busted rear line.

oh well those are some of my stories. Just thought I would share.

 

sounds like fun , I have numerous stories too but no time right now , I did do ice raod trucking for 2 years moving rig camps 10 or 12' wide & 70 ' long , there was one time I slid about 3 miles downhill to a 90* turn at the river , it was raining so I could not hit the brakes without jack knifing , I was able to barely control it with the rear trailer brakes & got the truck to slide into the corner instead of going into the river !!

 

I've had a literal ton of those moments over the years. Some in my Fury, some in off-road rigs.

 

Well..at my age I've forgotten much of the craziness but am reminded about some of it by my old friends from time to time.
Back in my early 20's I owned a '67 GTX 440 w/Tri-power that was pretty fast.
I worked at the General Dynamics Shipyard (shipfitter) in Quincy Ma. and lived about 45 mins. away and commuted on Rt.128 back and forth.
Working the second shift, I headed home past midnight with a 40 between my legs and a joint in my mouth (this was in the late 70's). No traffic to speak of and I was cruising about 90 mph when I saw headlights come up from behind.Slowing down (cops maybe?) a white Ford Cyclone GT w/cobrajet pulled alongside and moved forwards and back indicating he wanted to race, so we went head to head and I finally pulled away in some long sweeping turns that he wasn't willing to risk at high speeds (130 mph maybe?). One of the best street (highway?) races I was ever in.
Another time on the way to work (Rt.128 again,4 lanes) at the Shipyard, I was in some heavy traffic and running late so I was weaving in and out of lanes passing cars when I noticed a red Ford Torino that looked just like the
"Starsky and Hutch " mobile that was coming up quickly from behind. I thought he was trying to race me and I started getting on it pretty hard through the traffic only to see in my rearview that he was able to stay in the fast lane and people were pulling over (out of the way) for him. I hit a group of cars that I couldn't get around and he caught up to me. It was then that I noticed the blue lights flashing in his grille! Pulling over to the side, he donned his Trooper's hat and came to my window screaming "What the f*ck do you have under the hood?"
After a dozen speeding tickets I had my license revoked. I deserved it!

There are many more stories and races and close calls from that era. I'm lucky to be alive. Some of my friends didn't make it.