Whats your scariest moment in a cal-look bug?
Paul Bate:
Simples,
Opening up my credit card bill and looking at how much I'd spent on parts! LOL!! :D
Sh*t it nearly killed me !!
glenn:
4 years ago at the track I was in the left lane. When I threw 2nd gear one of the CV joints broke forcing me to into a hard right turn. Luck for me the other car was past and I crossed over to the right lane and missed the wall by inches.
Needless to say I upgraded to Type 181 CVs.
TexasTom:
I was on my way home, headed to pick up a pizza for dinner later ... about 3 pm, Saturday afternoon on the busiest hiway thru Austin,. I get a call from my brother who just happened to have passed me headed the other direction. He told me, "better watch out! Your headed into a rainstorm! Pretty heavy."
Now, I could've detoured at that moment and taken a distant route home, but remember ... I had pizza on the brain ... damn good pizza too.
Needless to say, I ignored his advice and drove my prize '69 right into it. I was travelling about 60mph, not a care in the world when I hit the water. Suddenly the car is pitched at 45 degrees to straight and headed for the inside Armco barrier! DOTs are cool to run on the rears, but not for everyday use! The left front bouced off the inside wall and I flat spun over 3 revolutions through two lanes coming to a stop 90 degrees to traffic, all the while wondering when it was going to pitch up and roll and/or be hit or hit another driver ... neither ever happened.
As soon as I stopped, I looked in the rear-view only to see the decklid pitched up. OMG! The MOTOR!!! Ran back there while traffic was stopping all around only to see that it had popped open ... no harm! Ran around to the front ... not so lucky. The left fender was caved into the tire and the tierod was way bent. I yanked and pulled the fender off the tire, jumped in and fired that mother up ... still runs and is OK!
I limped the car off the hiway and to the nearest driveway, the entrance to the local military base.
Called my brother back and he followed me back to the shop.
In haste and disgust I pulled it apart, never taking the cheesy photo or looking back.
Well, that little incident led me into a full rebuild/restoration that ended up taking close to a year to complete. But, it left the car in the best condition its been in since my brother originally purchased it back in '71 ... or so I like to think!
Finally got a set of REAL street tires too.
Ole:
It was Oct. 4 2008, the last Test'n'Tune of the year at Bitburg, Germany. The Pink Panther ran pretty good and I managed to do a 11.35 @ 114mph, which is just 1/100 slower than the car ran back in 1974 at OCIR. The next pass the car left the line straight like an arrow and it felt good just until about 60 ft before the lights. At almost 8.5k the engine suddenly lost power combined with ugly noise from the back, the car felt like somebody pulled the back of the car down to the ground... I hit the clutch and fortunately the car went on straight, I immediately moved off the middle of the track. I'm a member of the timing crew, guess who would've been the idiot to remove the oildown?
At first I was dissapointed, it took me a while to figure how lucky I've been. This could have ended on the roof, if the car would've gotten slightly out of shape when I moved to the side of the track...
Still get goosebumps when I think at it, the time-ticket says it was 11.91 @ 91mph... :o
Saludos,
Ole
Jim Ratto:
Last summer making a full blooded pass well to top of 4th gear....undisclosed location, in Oelkers white car. Henry just "had to show me"
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