give us your worst motoring moment ?

[mr wilks]

apologies but this is the last post of a trilogy i can still remember the time i tried to enter a car park frazzled from a long drive in the south of france & forgot i had 3 bikes upturned on the roof yep = disaster but not my worst so here goes / unfortunately it involves my most hated car purchase ever , a rover 820 fastback . trying to impress my new wife we booked into the Hoole Hall Hotel ,C hester , early 20,s for some xmas shopping .
had just fitted new bigger TSW alloys so was liking the car .
8-30pm , getting ready in room when reception rang our room phone
" hi , is your reg H191 HND ? " "yes" i replied thinking they were going to say the white with bigger wheels looked good 8)
" we just wanted to confirm you were aware that your car has no wheels on it ? "
i'd been scousered it seemed & it capped a torrid time that only ended when the car went from my life , 2oyrs later i still can't revisit the area it traumatised me so much

 

[inkey$]

Driving an 85 FIAT Uno from London to Dartmoor on the last day of the millenium. On the moors, 10mph, thick fog and lost trying to find a large farmhouse with a long trail of traffic behind me. Passengers: three friends who had been enjoying the [copious] delights of Mary Jane for the past 4 hours laughing at roadsigns/trees/anything/me.

 

[Stuart Truman]

Hmm. Probably this...

Taking the family for a photo and being thoroughly frazzled by a gaggle of screaming kids. Finally snapped and turned around to shout and drove into the back of the car in front. My one and only "at fault" accident. The other driver was heavily pregnant and I felt like sh1t for ages afterwards.

 

[mrlozzer]

Easy one. Car completely dead (seized engine, devoid of oil) on the side of a deserted country road on Christmas Day, miles from anywhere. This was in the days before mobile phones. My then girlfriend was with me and was very miserable. Cue lots of earache, followed by a three mile walk in the pouring rain to a farmhouse. Quick phone call to my brother, followed by another three mile walk and a very, very expensive taxi.

Learned several harsh but important motoring lessons that day. And ended up single again...

 

[Bing]

First 'grown up' company car, nicely spec'd Lexus IS200, only a year old. Blagged a change two years early - my boss drank regularly with the head of fleet and I 'needed' a proper car because the Rover 218vi I had was impractical with only 2 doors. Had it for four weeks, on the M4 near Swindon, disagreement with a driver in a 4x4 who thought I should pull into traffic to get out his way at 'high speed'. When he got in front of me (in the middle lane by this time) he properly stood on the brakes - I over-reacted, tried to steer past, hit the central reservation at 85mph, spun across the motorway, sideswiped a lorry with the rear and spun back again. Stopped in lane 3 facing 3 lanes of rapidly slowing traffic. Scariest thing that has ever happened to me, period. The first and only car I have written off - though I just stepped out and lit a fag, car was a mess but I was fine except for a bruised shoulder from the seat belt. Debatable who did what wrong and was to blame, but taught me a lot of lessons I have never forgotten.

To add insult to injury, when I got a hire car delivered 3hrs later to get home it was a poverty spec 1st gen Vectra that had been massively abused and the stereo didn't work. Tbh, I am not sure which was worse - the crash, or the 125 mile journey home...

On the plus side, I got a replacement a week later - same model, much better (Sport) spec

 

[mrlozzer]

On the plus side, I got a replacement a week later - same model, much better (Sport) spec

Every cloud has a silver lining, eh!

 

[Bing]

On the plus side, I got a replacement a week later - same model, much better (Sport) spec

Every cloud has a silver lining, eh!

Funnily enough, the cars were identical in colour too - silver

 

[Dave1971]

It's a toss up between two so I'll tell you both.

I was in quite a good job at the tender age of 21 so went out and bought myself a 3 year old 1991 Lotus Elan. One day I was in a rush to get to the girlfriends house as we had day trip to York planned, Thinking I'd save save some valuble minutes I took the back road, rounding a bend I came across a section about 30 feet long that was about 12 inches deep in water. I sat for a minutes thinking about weather to chance it or not, I watched a couple of cars go through with no problems so thought bugger it and went for it. I forgot that the Lotus has the turbo intake tucked right at the bottom of the front bumper. It sucked a load of water into the engine hydraulic locked the engine and cracked the block.£2500 to get a new engine fitted

Ok next
About 10 years later I was living in Holland, I just finished an afternoons scuba diving at a local lake and was on my way back the main road via a scabby little B road wth big rutts down the side of it. Moving over slightly to avoid an oncoming car I managed to get two wheels in one of the rutts, fighting to get the car back on the road the car flicked sideways one way then the other as I tried to correct it. Two wheels hit (the only piece for bloody miles) a piece of concrete, flicked the car over in a full 360 spin landing back on its wheels. The car was a total loss.

In case your wondering the car in question was my boyhood dream car, a mint BMW E30 325i soft top in black.

 

[slick]

Hmmmm well..... where to start.......waking up the day after boxing day remembering I,de blown the house deposit on a Dodge Charger while too full of the Christmas spirit......needless to say it was soon resold

Getting stopped for speeding and getting banned for 2 weeks

 

[Bradders75]

After selling my heavily modified Corsa (I know, I know :roll: ) I got my first 'proper' car at 25 - a 2 year old black Integra Type-R with 14,000 miles on the clock. It was absolutely stunning and the talk of the small town where I lived. For 3 whole days I was the local Daddy. I say 3 days because that's how long it took me to roll it on a country road hoon showing a friend 'what it could so'.

 

[bigdog]

Fortunately this one ends well. But could as easily been the end for me. I was on the interstate controlled access expressway (I-90 South Dakota) driving around in my new to me 74 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe. Upon the sun setting. It start snowing very heavily. But. I knew the road. There are no intersections or stop signs on controlled access roads. I'm doing 55MPH following the reflectors that mark the roads edge. Suddenly I see a STOP sign. WHAT THE HELL!!! I had no time to react nor could I have as it was a snow covered road. Seems I didn't realize that the reflector poles do in fact mark the off ramps as well. Something that I didn't know until that very moment. I had wondered just seconds before why the reflectors had changed from white to amber. The fortunate part for me was the fact that THIS particular off ramp had an on ramp right back onto the expressway. I never let off the gas nor made any steering input. And yet managed to leave the expressway, Blow through a stop sign at the end of the off ramp. got on the on ramp, Reentered I-90 and continued on my way. While doing 55MPH in the snow with about 50ft of visibility. Of course at 19 years old it was damn the torpedoes, Full speed ahead.

 

[pvr]

Making 2 360 degree turns with my 740 on the road from the M23 to Gatwick as I hit some ice in the very, very slight bend and the back of the car came past me. Went across 3 lanes twice but ended up pointing the right direction again and did not hit anything (someone was looking after me ...) and drove on.

Rather brown trouser moment though ...

 

[Mowflow]

When I was about 18 I spotted my friends driving towards a particular roundabout leading onto the M8 near Glasgow in their piece of crap rust red Primera. I felt mighty smart in my 1.9 205 GTi as I came screaming up along side them looking like it was no big deal. I pulled slightly ahead just as we came onto the roundabout (which actually has a railway tunnel below it).

In my 18 year old brain I thought they would all be mightily impressed by my stig like driving abilities and the outstanding handling of my beloved 205 if i caned it round the roundabout. I lost control half way round and pretty soon I was looking into the faces of my friends as I rapidly reversed towards the scene of the accident I was about to have. Fortunately I hit the curb and skidded to a halt just before I went through the barrier and off the bridge onto the train tracks.

 

[Adamski]

Hitting oil on a roundabout in my 3 series :thumbsdown:

 

[wattsie]

Not my best motoring moment...

Look carefully and you will see a 3ft deep stream just behind the car, a tree took the brunt and stopped me drowning!

Following on from all the 'best/worst/first' car threads... this was definitely my best (bar the z of course). 2.0 Titanium, low miles, every toy under the sun, perfect, quick without being silly and still economical.... really liked that one... the numberplate is still above my desk at work.

 

[mr wilks]

not 4x4 though ? :lol:

 

[bigdog]

Not my best motoring moment...

Look carefully and you will see a 3ft deep stream just behind the car, a tree took the brunt and stopped me drowning!

Following on from all the 'best/worst/first' car threads... this was definitely my best (bar the z of course). 2.0 Titanium, low miles, every toy under the sun, perfect, quick without being silly and still economical.... really liked that one... the numberplate is still above my desk at work.

Those tyres look to be an unfriendly sort in the wet.

 

[wattsie]

Yeah they were borderline, ironically it was booked in for two days later to have a new set of boots!

They definitely did me no favours, but as mr policeman said.... "on the edge but still legal". I can only be here as a lesson to others... The lesson being, good tires or not....

Never swerve to avoid an animal... Nail it.

After swerving to avoid said animal hit mud and cow poo mix on the lane and got into a bit of a tank slapper which was promptly stopped by the embankment and a summersault. As i said, not my greatest moment. Farmer got into trouble for having left sh!t all over the road.

Lessons have been learnt, tires replaced more regularly and avoid muddy lanes!