Whats your scariest moment in a cal-look bug?

[benlawrence]

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  

[Neil Davies]

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.

[Bernard Newbury]

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

[stoneloco808]

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.

[Andy Sykes]

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






andy

[andrewlandon67]

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.

[Flc]

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: You are not allowed to view attachments ]

[Steve67]

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
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!

[baz]

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

[richie]

To many to choose just one 

[leec]

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

[Torben Alstrup]

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

[Garrick Clark]

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

[mg]

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.

[Sam K]

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.   

[henk]

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!!!

[Mangokid revival]

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.

[Rocket Ron]

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.

[Jeff Paull]

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

[Torben Alstrup]

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

[leec]

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

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 

[Larry]

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!