Terms Which Have Disappeared

[vitanola]

I was driving my Flivver in an eastern suburb of Cleveland on an icy day. I was descending a hill at the bottom of which was a red traffic light. I slammed on the brakes, which of course in a Model T reside in the transmission. Both rear wheels locked, and I continued to slide down the hill into the intersection. Of course I was frantically sounding both horns (Klaxon and bulb) and shreiking the exhaust whistle. As I sailed through the (empty) intersection the passenger side rear wheel hit dry pavement. With the drive shaft locked the driver's side wheel, which was on glare ice, began spinning backward at double speed. Then THAT wheel gained purchase, and the car began began spinning around the axis of the differential case. Two revolutions. I then continued through the intersection.

I ordered Rocky Mountain accessory brakes that very evening.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I think I would have ordered a double scotch.....

 

[Stearmen]

Exiting the freeway downward ramp just as the rains came down
on a dusty ground that turned muddy slick.
I did a 360º on my '63 beetle.

From past experience, I did not apply the brakes.
I sat there (trying my best not to show embarrassment)
as my bug made the complete circle.

Meanwhile, the lady behind me, wide eyes and mouth looked
on in disbelief.
As soon as it completed the circle, I was back on course and in my
best "Buster Keaton" look, continued as if this was the most normal
thing when driving in the rain.


If someone was to pay me to do this again.
I don't think I could.
I'm not that good a driver.

The question is not why you did a 360 in a Bug, the question is, who among us hasn't done at least a 180 in our Bug!

 

[Zombie_61]

Exiting the freeway downward ramp just as the rains came down
on a dusty ground that turned muddy slick.
I did a 360º on my '63 beetle.

From past experience, I did not apply the brakes.
I sat there (trying my best not to show embarrassment)
as my bug made the complete circle...

Almost everyone I've known who has ever owned an air-cooled Beetle or Karmann Ghia was very familiar with the phrase "Turn into the skid".

 

[LizzieMaine]

Almost everyone I've known who has ever owned an air-cooled Beetle or Karmann Ghia was very familiar with the phrase "Turn into the skid".

Ah, happy days.

 

[Trenchfriend]

The real, authentic Porsche-driving.

 

[ChiTownScion]

I was driving my Flivver in an eastern suburb of Cleveland on an icy day. I was descending a hill at the bottom of which was a red traffic light. I slammed on the brakes, which of course in a Model T reside in the transmission. Both rear wheels locked, and I continued to slide down the hill into the intersection. Of course I was frantically sounding both horns (Klaxon and bulb) and shreiking the exhaust whistle. As I sailed through the (empty) intersection the passenger side rear wheel hit dry pavement. With the drive shaft locked the driver's side wheel, which was on glare ice, began spinning backward at double speed. Then THAT wheel gained purchase, and the car began began spinning around the axis of the differential case. Two revolutions. I then continued through the intersection.

I ordered Rocky Mountain accessory brakes that very evening.

Suggestion for new attraction at WDW: "Mr. Vit's Wild Ride."

 

[vitanola]

Well, I was but twenty at the time. I think that all twenty-year-olds survive the occasional "wild ride".

 

[Fading Fast]

Well, I was but twenty at the time. I think that all twenty-year-olds survive the occasional "wild ride".

I owned a used late '70s firebird in the '80s and that thing could hug a dry road like no tomorrow. I felt like a race car diver taking turns, until it rained - then the car lifted off the road and became Sonja Henie without the control. One skill it forced on you was learning how to go with and control a skid; that or die.

 

[2jakes]

I owned a used late '70s firebird in the '80s and that thing could hug a dry road like no tomorrow. I felt like a race car diver taking turns, until it rained - then the car lifted off the road and became Sonja Henie without the control. One skill it forced on you was learning how to go with and control a skid or you'd die.

Did you survive the crash?......

 

[Fading Fast]

Did you survive?...... ..

True story (probably told it on this site at some point as I have very few stories worth telling), driving home from a college girlfriend's house late on a rainy night - perfectly sober and well aware that the car hydroplaned, always (!), the second it rained - I was two-hands-on-the-wheel, no-radio-on alert. On a 50 MPH, two-lane not highway, not-city with-no-street-lights road, I came to a down-sloping-and-turning-to-the-passenger's-side part of the road. Even as I slowed the car down, it just slipped across the center line and started aggressively sliding to the other side.

I did what I could do - and had done before but never in this extreme - and went with the skid with my foot off the accelerator and only lightly touching the break (feeling for control to come back). It wasn't working and I kept sliding and I was now fully in the on-coming traffic lane. As the skid continued the car's tires hit the curb (on the far side of the road) and that jolt somehow allowed me to regain control and reasonably quickly steer the car back to my side.

At the exact second I got the car into my lane, a huge truck flew by me in the other direction - in the lane I had been in seconds before. I have had a few other close calls - as do most people - but that was the first truly "I could have died" moment in my life. And I know it was pure luck - luck the car regained control when it hit the curb / luck the truck wasn't 1 or 2 seconds faster - that allowed me to survive.

Fun car though. Thoroughly enjoyed owning it.

 

[2jakes]

^^^^^
Thanks to a Clint Eastwood movie, I over slept
and missed my flight which crashed.
I saw no reason to tell my folks.
They were worried enough as it was.
From the times I spent with my uncle Sam.

 

[Fading Fast]

^^^^^
Thanks to a Clint Eastwood movie, I over slept
and missed my flight which crashed.
I saw no reason to tell my folks.
They were worried enough as it was.
From the times I spent with my uncle Sam.

That is incredible. As a percentage, very few planes crash (even in the bad old days of the '60s and '70s). Very glad you are still with us.

Needless to add, I did not share with my Mom or Dad (who would have blamed me) my car skidding story.

There probably has never been a teenage boy in the recorded history of time who went home and told his parents about his near-death car experience. If your parents cared, it would be cruel or were tough (like my Dad), it would be just another way for them to criticize.

I don't think I would have told them even if I had died.

 

[2jakes]

Did you survive the fatal crash?......

I don't think I would have told them even if I had died.

I get the feeling that this man reading what we've been posting so far,
would've said...

"Yep, that makes perfect sense!"

 

[BlueTrain]

I never owned a car until after I got out of the army. I never put as much a five miles on my parents car or truck.

 

[Zombie_61]

...I think that all twenty-year-olds survive the occasional "wild ride".

Not me. I was a good kid.

 

[Stearmen]

I never owned a car until after I got out of the army. I never put as much a five miles on my parents car or truck.

I was 21 when I finally got a car. I used to put my feet down on the motorcycle and ride in the snow! I got the car for the usual dumb reason, a young woman! When she told me to get rid of the motorcycle, I traded the car in for a bigger motorcycle. Smartest decision of my life. Sold it five years later so I could learn to fly. I some times find myself waking up in the middle of the night, longing to touch the elegant curves of the motorcycle that got away!

 

[Zombie_61]

...My first vehicle was a used VW beetle with Snoopy painted on the driver's door. Red,white & blue stripes on the rear V-shape engine door...

My first was a used '61 Beetle painted "Paprika Red", which was actually a dark orange color. Six months after I got it I had it painted a proper red, replaced the anemic 1200cc engine with a 1600cc that I had built up to 1835cc, and a transmission that could handle the extra torque. I can't say it was the best car I've owned, but it was probably the one I had the most fun driving.

 

[kaiser]

I was 21 when I finally got a car. I used to put my feet down on the motorcycle and ride in the snow! I got the car for the usual dumb reason, a young woman! When she told me to get rid of the motorcycle, I traded the car in for a bigger motorcycle. Smartest decision of my life. Sold it five years later so I could learn to fly. I some times find myself waking up in the middle of the night, longing to touch the elegant curves of the motorcycle that got away!

BMW R60/5, miss it still to this day.

 

[BlueTrain]

I think I made a comment in this thread that some expressions were older than I thought and my example was "weekend" from a 1943 or 1944 movie. Well, I just ran across a YouTube video of a "Weekend" music video, a 1938 German record. It was a foxtrot.