Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Rick]

Have you ever had an embarrassing moment with your car, perhaps while driving it, or tinkering with it in the garage or on the driveway?

Polite tales only please

RJ
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Rick - Admin
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[RUSTON]

Not really classic related, although the car would possibly be considered one now! I owned a 1963 Austin A60 back in 1970 and it was fitted with worn Town and Country tyres on the rear, I was travelling with my 8 year old Brother on a housing estate in Reading and the roads around the estate were constructed of concrete. Anyway it had been raining hard and the road was slippery, we negotiated a roundabout and as I put my foot down on leaving the island the tyres lost grip and the car did a complete circle in the road! My Brother loved it, squealing "again please Pete" whereas I was more concerned about the Police Panda car parked opposite! However when we passed the cop car the two officer's just applauded us, the one and only time that I have been clapped for my driving haha.

Pete.
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Measure twice...cut once!

[Bitumen Boy]

A couple of episodes spring to mind. A few winters ago I had a blitz around the front end of the Herald - replaced the rotten front valance, worn steering rack, rusty old brake pipes and one or two other fiddly things that were easy to get at while it was all out of the way. As part of the work I squirted plenty of cavity wax into the fronts of the main chassis rails. Fast forward to the following summer when I drove the 30 or so miles to Monmouth on a hot day, parked up on the street and walked off into town for whatever it was (a visit to the chip shop by the bridge was probably part of it). Anyway, a couple of hours later I returned to a knot of concerned looking people on the pavement, and a slick of what looked like sump oil coming from under the front of the car. It was a nasty moment, until I thought to dip a finger into the mess and have a sniff. What looked like sump oil was, in fact, cavity wax that had melted and drained out of the chassis - all right while driving along with plenty of cooling airflow, but once parked the combination of the hot day and residual engine heat had turned it to something with all the viscosity of tap water.

The other one was several years ago when my old Mini decided to conk out in the middle of one of the busiest junctions in Gloucester - where Southgate Street becomes Bristol Road, by the retail park just above the old match factory. Heading out of town in a stream of traffic passing through on a green light, just over the line and - nothing. Luckily a Mini isn't much of a challenge to push out of the way solo, as none of the people walking by felt inclined to assist. It turned out to be nothing of a problem, just one of the LT leads fallen off the coil as the connector, like the rest of the original electrics on that particular car, was a load of junk. I got the crimp tool out, fitted a new connector and was on my way again inside a few minutes, but what a place for it to happen

[Keith D]

Only one comes to mind.

A couple or so years ago our club was invited to help open an extension of the Mitchell Freeway north of Perth. We were all asked to wear period costumes for our cars (all Austin Sevens).

I was dressed in knickerbockers, long socks, twin coloured shoes, a white shirt and bow tie with a fairisle cardigan over the top.

You guessed it! The blasted car broke down on one of the busiest roads in Perth and I had to hang around looking the perfect clot for about an hour until another member arrived with a trailer to rescue me!

Keith

[Bugly]

Many moons ago in New Zealand we had a 1934 Austin 10 that we resurrected from the dead and got back on the road. While the mechanicals were restored and worked well, the car looked quite sad in the body department.

The 6-gallon fuel tank had a hole in the top, so it couldn't be filled to the brim. Also, the fuel gauge never worked, so you never really knew how much fuel was still in the tank ... but it seemed to run forever on what was in there anyway!!

The standard procedure was to keep driving until the car ran out of fuel, and then fill it from the gallon tin that was carried in the back. Then drop into the next petrol station and stick five gallons in the car and one in the gallon tin again ready for next time.

We got the refuelling procedure down to a fine art ... we could refuel at a set of traffic lights and never miss more than one phase of the lights!! Always got smiles from passing cars as well!

[Riley Blue]

I'm still so embarrassed by a faux pas I made in my first car (a Mini Traveller) in 1972 that I'd don't dare write about it here....

[ajlelectronics]

[emmerson]

I have a similar story to Keithd.
When I was 18 (many many years ago) I went to a fancy dress ball at a rugby club about ten miles from home. The dress code was to be as outrageous as possible, but decent.
I elected to go as a pink fairy.
My mother and sister made a beautiful costume complete with tutu and wings, lovely pink tights and ballet shoes. I duly dressed in this outfit, looking somewhat ridiculous, but what the hell, it was a rugby dance. Everyone would be in costume.
off I went in my trusty series E , only to run out of petrol on the loneliest possible part of the road. Can you imagine the image I must have presented to other motorists? A (then) quite brawny bow-legged rugby forward in pink tights on a dark lonely road, thumbing a lift with a petrol can in my hand..........................!!!

[JC T ONE]

[Bitumen Boy]

[Ellis]

Something I still cringe about twenty four years later.

In August 1989 I bought a new VW Caddy pick up and those days commercial vehicles had no radios or ICE. I booked the pick up into a local car stereo installer for a Kenwood Radio cassette player to be fitted with four speakers.

I went to collect the vehicle at 5.00pm, sat in the driver's seat, turned the new unit on. It worked and sounded ok!

Turned the engine on, selected reverse, released the clutch and reversed straight into the installer's unit door!

One hell of a bang but no damage done except to my pride.
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Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[Rick]

One bright summer's day I took my first Spitfire for a cruise around the roads in North Wales, over Ellis' way (kind of). It had a beefy exhaust system on it, and it sounded pretty handy. Knowing Conwy quite well, I decided that the exhaust note would sound particularly impressive burbling down beneath the archway that fronts the harbour, next to the Liverpool Arms pub.

Being a bright day there were many many people supping a pint outside the pub, just as we pootled through beneath the arch, blipping the throttle gently for maximum effect. Being bright red and sounding the part, it got plenty of attention. Attention increased noticeably when the complete exhaust system dropped onto the tarmac below with a bang. Fortunately a couple of bungee straps soon had the exhaust back in its correct position, and we beat a hasty retreat.

Also in North Wales, on another occasion but in the same car, I had the back wheel make a bid for freedom as were were doing about 45 mph along the A55 near Llandudno Junction.

RJ
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Rick - Admin
Home:https://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk
Videos:https://www.youtube.com/user/oldclassiccarRJ/videos
OCC & classic car merchandise (Austin, Ford ++):
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[pigtin]

Took a girlfriend into a cafe in Rye (Sussex) one night in 1959. I was driving a 1947 Austin 8 van. I had parked it on a sloping parking space and we were just finishing our tea, when two policemen came in to announce there was a small van parked in the middle of the road. They just wondered who it belonged to.

In 1963 on the second date with my future memsahib, I was driving my Rover 16 through Ashford (Kent) when I dropped a lighted cigarette between my legs.
It disappeared completely underneath me and I had to try hitching my backside up from the smouldering object adjacent to my gonads, while driving to the side of the road to park out of the traffic stream.
The future memsahib had tears of laughter streaming down her cheeks and only went out with me again for the entertainment value...
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Due to the onset of my mid eighties I'm no longer sprightly and rarely seen in my Austin special. I have written a book though. https://amzn.eu/d/7rwRRqL

[peter scott]

[pigtin]