The Cal-look Lounge

Come on share them  ;D, Was it a wet roundabout? or Straight line twitcher? or was it esacaping the "Law"  :D

What ever your story lets hear it  ;)

Cheers

For me locking the front wheels in the rain, in a corner and heading towards a light pole.
great fun those 125 firestones :)

I have a few.... one just occured the other day on my way to Sargey's....  :o

Almost getting locked up between a big truck and the rails on the freeway >:(

Try that but in a MANX  :o :) Not fun I can tell you  :)

Pushing the loud pedel a bit to hard on the narrow twisty lanes of north dorset  :o still geting used to my car  8)

Racing Having some fun against another Beetle in Germany at Das Drag Day 2 on the roads near Bitburg and having to take up all of the road round a corner. Not cool...  :o

getting off at Katella ave off the 55 freeway and the pin in the pedal assembly came out leaving me with NO BRAKES....downshift like mad foot out the door....luckily he light turned green and no cars in front of me hard right turn and pulled over 200 feet later.....fixed the pin and cleaned my shorts ;D

Tooling down the 91 in my old '67 near Euclid in Fullerton, I change lanes only to find the Buick in front of me at a full stop. I lay on the skids, I feel the 135's start hopping, I'm making the meanest Japanese face I could, screaming like a little girl and just as I come to a stop I feel an abrupt thump. I step out and walk around front expecting the worse. Amazingly, the only damage is a thumb sized dent just above my hood handle >on the chrome strip!< Yes, there was no damage to the hood, no crack in the paint, only this little ding on that skinny chrome strip. I must have been barely moving, the rear bumper of the Buick barely touched the two stock over riders of my bumper, pushing my front end down a bit, and just slowed everything down enough that that big assed rear Buick bumper just barely kissed that little chrome strip. I looked at the Buick pilot, he looked at me, we shrugged shoulders, got back into our cars and got back into traffic.

I couldn't help thinkin that if I had if I had an extra muffin that morning, or if I decided to wear my Doc Martins instead of my sandals, that minor difference in weight may have pushed me just an inch or so farther, I'd be lookin at a few hundred dollars worth of damage.

Whew!

-jeffrey

 :o :o :o!

Your one lucky guy!

More details....................spil  :)

excelerating to 140mph in a turbo swing axel bug, and then using all 4 lanes of the m1 to slow down :o, got home and converted it to irs 8) all good now!

 Back about 1975, with a nice little Berg 1776 in my Zwitter, I found out the the brakes designed for a 25hp motor don't do so well when full throttle and a traffic light are combined.  I learned about brake fade.
Scott Bakken and I were flying up Grand Ave in Glendora...and then flew right past that red light, my foot clearly reaching through the floorboard trying to slow'er down to a stop.

Oh thank you for not hitting anyone in the intersection!

NOT Driving But Towing My 67 VERT me and Friend Larry Rick were towing  my 67 Vert on a VW tow Bar with his Lowered 65 El Camino it had a 327 with a 4 speed anyway we are towing it to his shop  and he is  going threw the gears hauling ass Driving like a Maniaic we get to the shop and I go to release the tow bar from the ball and the ball come's out of the hitch and still attached to the tow bar it seems some where along the 18 mile tow we lost the nut that held the ball on I was so thank full it did not come off the Best Thing about a real low Cal look is the weight of the car was pushing down on the ball the car would have been Totaled if had came loose since we never used safety chains back then..

wheel-barrow in my lane on 118 freeway, 70mph, @ 3:45am on the way to Classic this year.

Late one night WAY BACK on the way home from a rally in OC my gas pedal and speedo were both pegged for 3 miles coming up the 405N transitioning to 605N TRYING to keep up with Shubee in his '69 1700/Webers with my '61 1641/Kadrons! I know he was laughing and grinning all the way!

One night after SMOKING a Subaru WRX I noticed a couple of Downey's finest behind me at a left hand signal in Felony stop fashion. My heart quickly sank, I was sure my car was gone. You see, here in California the officer has the option to confiscate any vehicle participating in a (cough)" street race" (cough).  Well luckily for me the officer decided to let me keep my car as I pleeded with him that I had my heart and soul in the thing. So long story short I got a misdemeanor that has since been expunged and a nice $1400.00 ticket.  So.... boys, don't street race. You Dig.

Jason

Had just got my 1914 running, car wasn't finished, no interior but took it up the road with the front seats just placed inside.  Floored it my brother shot into the boot area and i fell off my seat unable to see where i was going.  Just hit the brakes and hoped for the best.

The saciest moment I had in my Bug was the day before Thanksgiving 1998 I was driving to work in my '67. It still had the stock drum brakes and they probably needed to be adjusted. I had just installed my first stroker engine the previous Sunday.I was hauling ass down and freeway and traffic came to a sudden stop. Just as traffic was stopping, a young lady in a Honda changed lanes in front of me. Had she not been there I would have had no problem stopping,  but I ran right into the back of that Honda. The only damage it had was a pair of scratches in the bumper from my front overriders going under it. My bug needed new fenders, hood, headlights front apron and a bit of work on the spare wheel well. It also needed a windshield because I hit it with my head. The girl in the Honda got a ticket for careless driving and I got one for following to close.

Well, another of those "moments", although not scary, but they could have been.
This might strike a note with the old guys who were around in the early Bug-in era.

We members of the DSK would always have our twice yearly party the night before the Bug-in. Of course, there was a lot of fun and HEAVY drinking going on.
Any other other guys in clubs remember those good times too?

 When the drink ran short, the time had come. 
Now we had an inordanant number of Weber carbed built motors for a club from the San Gabriel Valley.  Didn't much matter that it was usually about 12:30-1 am, we'd all get out, fire 'em up, and quite blasted beyond reason, haul ass down the 57 & 5 to OCIR.
I think the best time we "posted"for the trip was about 22 minutes Glendora to OCIR.

And the activity in the dirt at OCIR the night before Bug-Ins! It was the happening place to be in the middle of the night. Trying to sleep in your car( or the dirt), and usually feeling pretty shitty hungover during the days events.

It was GREAT-- Then!   But as to drunk driving...ahhhh, a fun part of the past, but not really the wisest thing to do anymore.

august 1983, i had just spent the day installing my adjustable front beam in my first vw, a 65 sunroof, with my uncle who lived in yuciapa. finished it up around 8 pm, my dads brand new dodge ram d-50 had just had a ladder rack installed and was at my grandfathers house not to far from my uncles so i figured i would just tow the vw home and kill 2 birds with one stone. my grandfather warned me not to go to fast because the weight could cause problems stopping safely, so i hopped in the truck and started westbound on the 10 freeway at 55mph. all was going great until i got to sierra ave in fontana, a german sheppard appears out of nowhere and decides my lane is the best place to look around, i SLAM on the brakes. SHIT HITS THE FAN, instant jack-knife, the truck is doing 360's, my bug is doing cartwheels, shit is flying everywhere. suddenly all is quiet and i open my eyes, no pain so i must be alright, glass is in my lap from the broken door window, broken windshield, i look in the mirror and realize i t-boned on of the eucalyptus trees on the side of the road and wasted my dads new truck, hes gonna be pissed to say the least!!!! now i start to look for my car, not to far away, only about 10 feet, to my right, on its roof, leaning against another tree, completly totaled, wasnt a straight panel on it, 2 cars in less than 5 seconds gone. the good news, the dog was unscathed, i guess thats good news :-\

there was the time I got off work and walked out to my Bug and found a huge, hulking German Shepherd panting inside of it. I had left the windows down behind my work and the vet next door thought the dog looked cute in my car.

WTF?

Not so much driving, but having the cops pull their guns on me and a friend after they pulled us over. Guess we should not have jumped out of the car so quickly.  ;D

--louis

I very good friend of mine's daughter just turned 16 and he purchased here a late model New Beetle convertible.... After two months of ownership, she got a ticket.... a biggie. Going 110mph on the Riverside Freeway, by herself... The New Beetle has since been sold.

Tell him to replace it with a 25hp split or oval. Wont have that problem any more.  :D

--louis

PS: I thought about recommending a bus, but that could present other "issues".  ;)

Here's another one... Remember Jeff Kawaguchi's candy red Looker on the cover of the second California Look issue? Ever wonder where that car went to? Well, about 1977, Jeff was making a high-speed pass on a long stretch of Highway 39/Beach Blvd., near Rosecrans and "Motorcycle Hill" (La Mirada) when he lost control at over 100mph. As you may know, there is a ditch between the west and east bound lanes, and Jeff ended up heading into that ditch. The car never got  totally sideways (or did he?), but did get so crossed up and out of shape that the passenger side door handle got ground flat.... But the car never ended up on its side or roof. Somehow, he saved it from going all the way over, but in the process, ripped off those beautifully molded fenders and destroying that perfect body work. The car was never seen in that condition.... until he made a Baja Bug out of it. Rumor has it, he still owns the car, still under the car cover, never to show anyone it again.

I would say mine is going through the traps at 103mph ( still have the time slip) upside down, sliding on the ragtop.

 :o

glad you lived to remember it!

who was it from DKP in the mid-late 90's that did that at sacramento bugorama? green ragtop, brm's, i remember looking at something in yhe swap section and looking up just in time to see that car flipping and then slamming into to guardrail before coming to a stop on is side if i remember correctly. gnarly crash to witness

That was Art in his 67.

Mine happened back in highschool, when I was young, dumb and often made really stupid decisions...Like racing a Kid I didn't much care for against his 69' Camaro Z28.  Happened on the street during lunch.  Came up on some traffic and went to apply the brakes and the drivers side brake cylinder burst.  Car jerked hard to the left and I ended up going part way up an concrete island divider, while my passenger-side fender went into the side bumper of the car in front of me.  (the car I hit happened to be a 70' bug) Luckily the girl driving didn't even care about the damage to her car and even though we exchanged info, she never contacted insurance (I was lucky twice)  Talk about embarrassing though.

However less than a week later, the kid I was racing decided to show-off when he saw that I was behind him waiting at a traffic light.  It goes green and he lights up the tires while making the turn onto the same street I had wrecked.  He ended up driving his pristine Z28 into the back of a lifted truck and wiped out the entire front end and crushing the radiator.  I didn't feel as embarrassed after that. 

Although I wasn't in my bug, I was riding with Mark Ramirez in his black '67 following Billy McKinley and Mike Sosa in Billy's Guards Red '57 Ragtop [Billy may have been Prez of DKK at this time] and we were on our way home from the Speedway races down at the OC Fairgrounds. It was late on a Friday night and we were all well primed. Coming from Harbor Blvd down Bastenchury there was this long poorly lit left hand sweeper that Billy decided to pass a slow moving El Camino on the right. Next thing we saw was a flash of sparks from Billy's alloys and all of a sudden the '57 lifted up off the ground and then end over end down into the gully on the right. We freaked. Mark slammed on the brakes and we ran down the embankment expecting the worse. This gully was a drainage overflow and it was filled with these giant granite boulders. At the bottom we find Billy's ride, upside down, smoldering with what was left of the alloy's still spinning. We looked inside and they weren't there. We then heard their moans. About twenty feet away, in the only grassy spot within fifty yards, the two of them were laying next to each other. How they landed there I'll never know. They were beat, both went to the hospital for a few days but came out ok.

That was one hell of a scary night.

-jeffrey

Not in a Bug, but in my Ghia - howling through some country lanes, late as usual, I came over a hump back bridge far too quickly, and didn't expect to see a sharp 90 degree right hander immediately after the bridge! The 145's just about gripped enough to point the front around the corner, but the poor 165s at the back didn't stand a chance! I had the car swinging like a pendulum back and forth, but it didn't go all the way round and i didn't hit anything - drove a bit slower for the next few miles...

The year: 1974

I'm 16 years old out late one night in my newly acquired U.S. spec, original paint, '55 Oval. I was driving up a concrete alley that had a little water down the middle... hit the water about 20 mph, yank the emergency brake and pitched it sideways until I came to a stop... wow that was cool. Smart kid that I was, I circled around for another go at it... this time I picked up the speed a bit, hit the hand brake, pitched it sideways (again) but mid slide I got out of the brake, gassed it (all 1200cc!!) and pulled out of the slide! SWEET!! At that point I should have stopped. Nope. Not me. Just ONE more time before I go home... This time I hit the water at about 40 mph, grabbed the hand brake, went violently sideways, went up a 45 degree embankment and put that nice old car on it's roof... The car slides for 100 feet or so, sparks everywhere, back seat comes out, battery dumps acid all over me, gas leaking everywhere... I thought I was a done deal.
I crawled out a window and with the help of some guy we pushed the car back to rubber side down... what an idiot I was...

Anyway, long story short... the B.S. story I told my Mom (and others) was I dodged a cat and wrecked the car...

nice.

Reading DKK Fred's story reminds be of of a time when I was only a mere pup of 18 , I was giving a mate at work a lift home in my first 67 .
It was summer and it had just stopped raining after a short shower , coming up to a railway bridge which climbed up on a sharp right hander and then down again to the left following the track , having just fitted my first pair of sway aways and koni's to the front beam and being keen to see how much better my car handled  ::) I went a bit quicker than usual  ::)
The car started to feel a bit light climbing into the first bend , by the time I had crested the bridge the back of the car had overtaken me and we were facing the wrong way still spinning the car continued in its own little pirouette until we had gone a complete 360 on top of the bridge straightened up and continued down the left hander with no fuss at all .
With no real surprise my friend declined my offer of a lift the next day . I still go over that bridge from time to time and cant believe I managed to do that without touching the walls or hitting a car coming the other way .
the upside of my experience was that lowering the front didn't help it go around wet bends with a full height rear end  ;)

I was rushing to get to trade school one day and was going a little faster than usual. I caught a break and got behind an 80 year old woman turning left at a green light. In order to "catch" her at the light, I had to speed up and "bumper up" to her car, and that's when the trouble began! The light turned yellow and she SLAMMED on the brakes while just beginning to go through the crosswalk of the intersection. She stopped on the second line of the crosswalk (while the light is still YELLOW!!!! >:() and "BOOOMMMM!"....I slid right into the back of her car at 10 or 15 miles per hour with those little 145 tires completely locked up! My head bounced off the windshield and ended up leaving a spiderwebbed crack all the way across the drivers side. She told me that she never stops for that light when it turns yellow but she just "froze up" this time! I managed to push the apron and hood back a few inches, both fenders were pushed as well, and the bumper was the only thing that didn't get damaged. Her car wasn't damaged at all!

The best part about it was the fact I threw a German hood on the car and "cobbed" everything back together (so I could drive the car), and 2 weeks later my coworker decided to "burnout" in reverse while parallel parking in front of my car. You guessed it, he plowed right into the same spot where I just had the accident, except this time it was really f$%ked up! I ended up getting $1800 from his insurance. My dad and I put the car in the shop on a Friday afternoon, tore it apart, stretched the apron back out, did the bodywork on the fenders, and primed everything by Saturday night. Sunday morning the car was completely reassembled (with wet primer ;D) and my hood latch now functions better than new. As you can see in the "before" photo, the car had already been hit in the front before I bought it (as indicated by the turn signal location on the drivers side fender. The primer was still fresh from my first accident when I got hit the second time. Luckily everything worked out great in the long run!

(http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/431377.jpg)

(http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/431380.jpg)

-Andy

First test drive in my '54 rag-top after I'd put it on a '67 'pan. Two miles from home, engine quit, I look in the rear view mirror to see smoke pouring out of the rear vents. Fuel line had come off and ignited... That sure made me break out in a sweat! ::)

My moment was after my first dragrace with slicks and after i got home i was to lazy to take them off and next day i had to go to school and drove the car with slicks in the rain.

At a crossing i took off and the car went sideways nearly hitting the curb and other cars parked but i managed well and didnt hit anything.
After that scary moment i drove like a bitch to school and after school took the slicks off immidiately,haha 8)

Hi,

Doing my favourite thing in the late 90's taking my beetle out for a drive on the country lanes.
Going uphill taking it left on a nice wide corner allmost 90 degree. ( my favourite corner)
As i nailed it in 2nd gear to get the car sideways I lost 2nd gear, just about when the car started to step out...
I was passenger from then on and spun the car upteen times and ended up facing the traffic
the wrong way round... luckily the man behind me was my brother on his Bike.

When I said what happened to my gear box he just said: Mate, your reaction was about a second to slow  8)

No damage just a lesson, no matter how well you think you can drive sometimes it is beyond your influence....

Cheers Stephan

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 !!

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.

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.

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

(http://blogsimages.skynet.be/images_v2/002/594/732/20081005/dyn008_original_800_600_jpeg_2594732_0961b4c55d162075bb431663bdfd5e8e.jpg)

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"

When my car "lifted" a little over a hilltop while racing driving alongside a 911 convertible. At about 120mph.

When I was 17 I had a '71 1200 running a big block 1500...
Front was really low, back end stock & running winter grip tyres..
Back end went out on a bend one Sunday afternoon & came around the other way digging into the grass & flipping onto its roof :-[
End of bug!

Another time was in Russell's bay window coming back from the French super vw nats late one night...
Fog, lack of attention, a big roundabout & kerbs / crash barriers left us with a very battered bus to get home with... ::)

You know how I let you drive my car around the pits to warm the motor up Bud ? not gonna happen no more  ;) ;D

was about 1986 in my 63, i got my first set of cool rims: chromed sprint stars. i was so excited i forgot to tighten the lugs on the rear rims, so i lost a wheel on the test drive (embarrassing, in the middle of the buisiest street in town)

This topic take me back to 1992 and my first summer holiday trip with the boys. My car was a 1969 model, lowered front, nice stand, Sprintstars, flat black and with a 1600ccm engine. It was my first car and I loved it! It was also my first year with the driving licence even though I had been driving for a while. The weather was absolutely amazing and I packed the car with 2 friends, 2 cases of beer and our luggage and headed to the south coast of Norway. My driving style at that time was inspiring and the guys riding with me, now drinking beer, wanted me to go even faster. We listened to Pearl Jam "Ten" album and I gradually increased the speed like you always do when you listen to driving music. We soon got to a part of the road that had some really nice, long turns and our speed was approx 90 - 100 kph. We went over a little hill that lifted the car slightly and just after the hill we had a right hand turn followed by a sharp left turn. We managed the first turn with screaming tires but when I wanted to turn left the rear tires lost their grip and the car turned toward the other lane with screaming tires. Then the magic happened... just when we thought we was going to hit the fence the tires manage to grip in the tire tracks in the other lane and placed the car perfectly in the other lane heading back home. I quickly changed gear and got the car going in case someone was approaching from behind and I drove to a place where we could park safely and catch our breath. The guy in the back seat got out and pucked and decided that he have used his luck for the summer and jumped on the first bus back home.

2 years later and you could still see the tire marks after our drifting session. Today this stretch of road is not longer in use but everytime I talk to the guys we remind our selves how much luck we had.

-BB-

Hi

My scariest moment in my Ghia (sorry no bug)
in full HD

http://members.inode.at/297533/der_unfall.wmv


MeXX

Ohhhh shit!!! :o :o :o :o
That looks sooo extreme! And in the Background the Musik...Look like a Episode from Cobra 11,but this is real!!
I respect your Courage to drive again after this Moment(and much faster too...)

Ps: Do you race this Year at Bitburg?

Regards M.Jufer

Dear Mirco

DDD in Bitburg is on  my race calender.

MeXX

Oh wow, Mex, I know how you feel because I rolled my 1303 at Santa Pod in 1999 during qualifying.

I had a scary moment last year at a race here in Poland. The video below is the semi-final, which I ran gently because I knew the other car was slow- a circuit track prepared Nissan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-lvtyOzeFw

Then after a very quick turnaround, the final. My crew packed the parachute nicely, but forgot to attach it to the car and so when I pulled the chute at about 120mph (I had to try a bit harder because this time I had a supercharged, NOS Mustang on slicks) I didn't slow down. As you can see in the video from the semis, there is a forest just after the finish line. I stopped, but those trees got awful close.

Ok thanks Mexx,will see your Perfect Racecar there..

Regards Mirco

+1
damn  :o

I remember that well - I was pitted next to you. My first season of racing!

farkkk!

I was going to my garage that is 25 km from home in my 63 Surfin'Bird bug, garage is on hills and to get there i have to run on a curved road, i was relaxed driving when a Turbo tuned fiat got quite up on my ass and started to get hi rpm to invite me in run, we had done about 6 km at hight spedd when after a long left turn we met a police car that was entering in a road and while passing it i saw right clear the whit of policeman that was looking at us. I imediatly decided to run away before he decide to run for us and stop with obivious consequences, i had quite a hart attack till i got in to the garage and had the doors closed to hide my bug. Fiat was lost in my rer view mirror since police car appears.....

In the burn out box when Lil Jay crashed in the lane I was about to run in was pretty scary.

I watched lil jay's run from the shed, my head was in my hands when he went over  :-[

I was the car down the track just before Jay, I missed the crash entirely but he'd just come to a halt on the track as I got out of my car to get my ticket from Amos.

Not as bad as Mex but still a lot of damage. About four years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7wFSyBG1Dg

My scariest moment was being the normal "immortal" teenager in my newly finished '67.  A friend of mine was in the passenger seat.  Another friend of mine pulled along side of me at the stop light.  Being the typical street racer, I snapped the throttle a few times while looking at my friend who just pulled beside me.  The typical head nod was given as to "yes, on the green".  Once the lights changed green, I am on the throttle and shifting gears, seeing my friend's truck getting smaller and smaller in my 4 panel wink mirror.  For some odd reason everything was happening in slow motion as I glanced at my speedo, and see I the needle dancing closer and closer to the 120mph mark.  I let off the gas and slowly hit the brakes.  Now I feel the car's rear end feel a little light and feels like it's swaying side to side.  In my peripheral vision I could see my friend grab on to the door handle and edge of the seat.  Keep in mind I did not install the original seat belts as I was planning on installing a set of Diest 4 point belts.  I eventually got the car slowed down and under control on the blacktop.  I remember it was silent in the car for a while before I was cheering "I smoked'em!!!".  I was playing it off as cool as possible.  I would bet there was an imprint of my ass grabbing on to the seat as an added way to hang on to the car if I ever dump and roll it into the sugar cane fields nearby.

I reinstalled the Sway-A-Way camber compensator as soon as I got home.  I ended up talking to the guys at the local parts store about what happened.  After hearing what they did to combat the same problem and being in high school with limited funds I copied the same solution.

Mine is a blow out at 70 mph on a country road at night my first bug ended up sliding on both sides down the road all three of us got out fine I was so gutted my dad brought me the yellow 72 the next day 

found some pics and the last parts alive and also the sign we hit when the front tyre blew at at 70mph

(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i149/gluemixer/9856C371-3C3D-4C45-BC31-1C67841087FF-659-000000D9B8A391D1_zpsee2cd362.jpg)


(http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i149/gluemixer/972BAFA8-897B-4255-AE0F-D63329A1538E-659-000000D9C3B48545_zps2e2ef1f3.jpg)

andy

Bringing up an old thread for fun. My scariest moment was in Sam's '63 a few years back. I was racing it for some reason and there were some intermittent gusts at the track, but the car felt pretty stable so I didn't think much of it. The first pass was alright, 14.3 or something like that, but I definitely felt some wandering around the top of the track. Not one to get scared, I pulled back around for the second run in the right-hand lane. Launch was good, the car felt good going through the 1/8th mile mark, but right as I crossed the 1000' line, a gust of wind pushed the car about 4 feet towards the centerline and blew a giant tumbleweed into my path. Given that the car is on skinny little front runners and has stock drums, all I could do was to let off and hope the car would keep steady as the weight settled back onto the nose. Luckily everything went fine, and once the sun went down the wind died with it, so I wound up clocking a 14.02, the fastest that particular combo ever went at Bandimere, and had the only pass I've ever lifted off for.

Driving to work at 6.45am just getting used to my newly built, not run in yet, 1915, my first big valve head motor, w120 cam 44 idfs etc. early February, car was badly set up. No front sway bar ass in the air, cheap shocks. A camber compensator on order but not delivered yet. Driving through a built up housing area that led via a 90 degree bend into open fields, I got a little over confident in the corner and to much gas and the unseen black ice had the rear step out, I tried to stay in it but the back end came further round until I got off the accelerator and the car snap spun 180 degrees and hit a wall going backwards breaking the gearbox from its mounts, smashing the brake drum and tearing the rear wing off the car and almost the door too, car stuck in the middle of the road blocking traffic while I waited for the cops and tow truck to come. Absolutely gutted the car was mint pre accident but a complete write off now, spent 3 years and every penny building it. Lucky I wasn't hurt and the insurance covered the cost of the car and damage to the wall, and worse was, the compensator had arrived when I got home possibly would have avoided the accident had it been fitted. The corner it turns out is notorious for crashes and a BMW did the exact same later that same day! It's now had a grippy surface coating added at the spot too late to save my 67 tho 🤢😭 I spend more time on handling mods these days[attachment=1]

my scariest moment: 12 years ago on the highway: A truck in front of me lost a truck a tire that was lying on the load bed. I had no chance to react and hit the tire at 100 km/h with my old 67. The cars front was lifted in the air, I could only see the sky :o
After the front wheels had road contact again I immediately stop at the side of the road and checked the car. Apart from a slightly bended anti-roll bar and some scratches nothing happend!

Towing my 70 og paint never bumped car on an A frame the night I got it delivered. Foggy as hell could hardly see beyond the bonnet of my car. Doing about 50 mph when out of the fog appears a huge round about. Hit the brakes and instantly went into a skid, car turned left first then to the right, hit the round about kerb with the right rear wheel of bug, then snapped back the other way and eventually came to a stop facing the wrong way on the round about with ferry traffic approaching in foggy darkness. Needed to get out of there fast, soon as I began to move I knew something was wrong but I had to get it off the road fast. I dragged us to the petrol station a half mile up the road and stopped there to assess the damage.

Broken right rear wheel, bent rear diagonal arm, wheel hitting wing, couldn't believe I had gotten away so lightly, then I checked the front, the bumper on left front had hit the rear of my car and it had pushed the buh bumper back into the wing and the wing was hitting the front wheel. Managed to pull the bumper and wing out enough to stop rubbing.

Continued home at 10mph with a squealing right rear wheel that was half flattened. Tire came off just before I pulled into my drive.

Managed to fix everything the next day but 2 wings still wear the scars after surviving 50 years untouched until the first day I got hold of it.

No more A framing for me

To many to choose just one  :o :D ;D

Accelerator stuck on full throttle on the oval when on a dual carriage way was fun. Learnt about using loctite on linkage grub screws that day

Scariest moment.
An evening in 1991 2 friends and I were on our way home from a club meeting in Silkeborg. At some point I began to change lane to overtake a slower moving car. As I am approx ½ way up on the side of the car I´m overtaking another car pulls out from the left turning against me, 35-40 yards away. I slam the brakes to clear the car on my right, so I can get out of the overtaking lane, but too late. Hit the other car which ripped my front left fender and wheel off which then demolished the inner wheel housing and squeezed the inner panel right into the clutch pedal and left me with virtually no steering. The car scooted back over the right lane and into a ditch and came to a stand still. Nobody got hurt apart from a bruce here and there. The car was totalled because it had gotten twisted on the left front to righ rear angle :-\

I had the 36mm thread portion of a swing axle drive shaft snap at 85 on a dual carriage way. Believe it or not this bug had took 3 years to build and was my 1st real blast in it. Anyway, Single system brake cylinder. Wheel and drum came off. (No brakes) It stopped on a round about. Recovered it that night, moved it to Layby and left it for the night. Went back for it the next day ,and were the bug had come to a stop there were road works with a big hole in the road. I was lucky really.
The only damage was a flattened drum backplate

1st.
As a teenager speeding down a steep road in Anaheim hills with lawn sprinklers making the road wet.
Lifted the throttle and my close ratio gear box/engine braking caused the rear to slide sideways.
It felt like forever I had the E brake all way up and was sliding sideways down the wet road while looking out the drivers door window.
Then it suddenly straighten out and corrected.

2nd.
Crosswind gusts on the Firebird dragstrip.
Middle of 3rd gear got a good side gust started thinking if that happens again I'm aborting the pass.

3rd.
Scared for Art at the drags in SAC when he lost control in front of me.

On Christmas eve 2003  I was hauling ass down the freeway entrance ramp some guy in a Geo Metro driving in the breakdown lane at about ten MPH cut across the end of the ramp right in front of me. I stood on the brakes, the 135's up front locked up, the steering wheel went all the way to the left but my bug continued to go straight. I let off the brakes a little and the front wheels unlocked. I passed by the back of the Geo by what felt like inches but now I was headed across the highway towards the wall. I turned the steering back to the right, the rear suspension of the car unloaded and started to come around. I was pumping the brakes, trying to steer with the spin and doing everything I could to keep the car straight. The rear end of the car pitched back and forth a couple of times but I eventually ended up in the fast lane going in the right direction more or less. The rest of my drive was pretty bumpy because I had flat spotted the 135's. I replaced them with 175/55's a few days later and now it stops on a dime.   

A few years ago when i was on my way to the bug show at spa in heavy rain.
I was going to meet a few friends at gas station not far from my house.
When i drove at a round a bout my engine start to protest,i think because of the rain.and was running on 3 cylinders
I had the brilliant idea to give good bit of throttle to pull the engine tru it.
Just at the moment i took the exit,the engine was running on full power again and 4 cylinders.
My car was going sideways from left to right between the guard rails.thought was going to hit it every second.
But it made it.but was a scary moment.

Henk!!!

I ran my newly restored 1970 1500 bug straight though my daddys garage wall, months before I even got a license. Well, I guess the scariest moment actually was while outside the car, waiting for him to come back from work that day.

Several years ago when the kids were tiny we went for a family drive to a local stately home that was holding a a car show. We had to cross a railway level crossing on the way which had no barriers and in the middle of nowhere.
There was also quite a ramp up and down either side of the tracks. The car was full of picnic gear and family so as I didn’t want to bottom out the car I slowed down and drove onto the tracks. As I got on to the level track part I gave it some gas at which point the car stuttered and stalled. The car is now slightly flooded, sat in the middle of a single track railway, it didn’t like hot starting anyway and this this time was no exception.
The kids and wife are now screaming for me to get it started, so no pressure !! Trying not to flood the engine and after starting to consider abandoning the car to its doom it finally started and we took off over and down the off ramp at speed. Needless to say it was a very quiet drive to our destination and we went home a different way.

One of Mine I caught on video at the track. A energetic 2nd gear spin turned into a 360 that narrowly missed the guy in the next lane.
Luckily I missed the other car, guardrails, and all.
https://youtu.be/5G_TLCJoRkk

Almost hitting a deer at 90 mph on the autobahn. Luckily there was no cars in the left lane, so we barely missed it, and only due to my buddy who was at the wheel at the time was super fast on reaction. Even the deer had pulled its head  back and was preparing flor collision which fortunately didnt happen

Love your Bug. I remember showing that video to a colleague at work who said He didn’t understand drag racing, surely it was easy as you just drive straight  :)

This story seems quite relevant at the moment, seeing as the car is currently in the limelight......

If we all imagine a certain blue, current Volksworld cover car, my friend was one of the previous owners.

We went out for a drive in it one Saturday, over to a mates barn in the countryside, he hadn't owned it for long, so he was getting used to it and its capabilities. He was doing hard launches, burn outs, 2nd and 3rd gear pulls, the car was running great and pulling strong. We all used to swap about in cars and drive each others, so I took it for a drive. We left the barn and I blasted it through the lanes, up a long straight and it felt great! I turned around in a lay-by to head back to the barn, hard launch out of the lay-by and kept pulling up this straight, I lifted off the accelerator and the car kept going, the throttle had jammed open. I knew the road well and it was not long until there was a 90degree right hander. In that split second, instead of reaching for the key and shutting the engine off, i touched the front brake, stupid idea. The brakes locked up and I kept pushing on the brake, the car ran straight, but just kept skidding, we measured it at about 140 meters after. Thankfully the throttle came unstuck and the car came to a stop, on the grass, seconds before a drop into a 6 foot ditch. Thankfully the only damage was the front tyres, which I had a set of in my garage and they were replaced and fitted the next day.

The linkage jammed a couple more times when my mate was driving it, once when he started the engine and the other at low speed. It just needed some adjustments and setting up, but he had lost faith in it and replaced it for a different linkage.

I didn't hear the end of that experience for a while!