Just general discussion, am curious about the worst things that happened to y’all’s cars 
. 79 mustang shot a rod into space here.
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Heading from Big Sur north on A1A in CA. came around a hairpin turn going downhill on a mist glazed road, realized too late guy had stopped in the road. Turns out guy was letting his unlicensed son drive, he thought a car coming uphill was too close for comfort and stopped dead in the tracks. I hit them, the pointed bumper on the ranchero turned into a no point bumper, no other body damage but it pushed the radiator onto the fan. Got towed 40 miles to Carmel, GF and I riding in the car, that was a pee in the pop bottle ride as no way to communicate with the towtruck driver. maybe one other story later.
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Oh wow, furthest tow I’ve ever gotten was like 4 miles. Hopefully everyone was ok. I had some woman slam into me at like 60 but somehow no frame damage
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Everyone was OK at the time, then I tried pursuing unnecessary stopping, and an unlicensed driver as no tickets were issued. 6 months later they claimed whiplash, Allstate settled with them and dropped me!
I had an alternator lock up solid. Burned the center out of the pulley so the serpentine belt popped off. I was just past a rather large prison and by pure luck a tow truck happened by. Towed me into a small town to a repair shop. It took most of the rest of the day to get a new alternator for my Corvette. The parts shop kept sending alternators with the wrong pulley. Finally the shop took a pulley off a customer’s truck in their lot that would be there a while. Then the original belt had shrunk for some reason and parts shops were closed. We rerouted the belt to run the power steering pump backwards. No power steering. I drove it 80 miles home that way. Changed it the next day.
I feel the no power steering, I absolutely hate driving with something broken. I’ve been towed like three times in the last two years hahaha.
It seems like you need to find a dependable vehicle . Maybe something that has not been ’ tuned ’
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That car has been only towed once haha, the other two times were my 2009 caravan
Why the ( Ha Ha ) ? If my vehicle had to be towed more than once in a 2 year period I would not find that funny .
I have had 2 of my racecars towed off the track several times. Once for a ventilated engine block, another for a dropped valve. I limped in with broken transmissions… Well, I lost count of how many!
Because it wasn’t that serious?
Hopefully that’s the worst of it, what kind of racecars were they?
Burned valves in an Austin America at about 7000 miles. My sister had the car when it occurred. It was drivable and I didn’t recognize it until I drove back to college about 4 hours from home. Took off the valve cover and saw that the valves were burned. We lifted the car with a 2x8 on an empty half keg and dropped the engine. Two of us carried it into the house then took off the head. It was trashed (too warped) and I bought another from a local junk yard, then had that one shaved and new springs and valves installed.
Brutal, what do you think caused it at 7k miles? Seems kind of low
Because of the time period it was sold . It was never really designed for US highway speeds .
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He completed a 4 hour trip with no compression, that is remarkable.
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Burned out pistons in a 2.3 liter 4 banger engine in a 1988 Ford Mustang. Caused by bad gas clogging fuel injectors. Engine was rebuilt with new pistons, gaskets etc, for less than $500, but I had to tow that thing back home 400 miles on a long trip. It was New Year’s Eve.
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It’s been my experience that at the track, a car runs best right before it blows up.
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The 235 CI engine in my 1960 GMC step van had several valve guides break and slide down the valves making a horrible racket. Removed the head, strapped it to the rack of my Vespa and took it to the machine shop.
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Not a car but a motorcycle. Back in the 70s I bought a 1942 Harley flathead chopper. Typical of the time; extended springer fork, rigid frame with extended front legs, 1/2" thick seat (kidney killer), and molded with Bondo and metal flake paint. Bought it cheap with an alleged trashed transmission. Got it home and found the trans was fine; someone misadjusted the clutch and it welded the pushrod and clutch screw together. Simple fix and it became a daily rider.
One night about 11 o’clock and 20 miles from the house the bike suddenly started riding smoothly and my kidneys got a break while my curiosity was up. Next day I found a couple of cracks in the Bondo under the steering head. Chiseling the Bondo off I found that some twit had extended the front frame legs with 2 pieces of 1/2" plumbing pipe. Torch, brass, pipe threads and all. The only thing holding the frame together was the frame backbone. The frame flex was what was causing the smoother ride.
In other words; it was a death trap from the time it was built and I, along with a few prior owners, were just lucky. Nothing wrong with frame leg extensions but brass and plumbing pipe is not it.
Stripped it down, replaced the frame, and sold the flawed frame to someone for a proper fix.
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