Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Ellis]

Which or what has been the scariest or most frightening journey you have made by car, sea, air, rail or whatever?

Mine was in April 1995 when I was asked by the brother in law of a friend to go and look at a Triumph Stag near Oswestry. He was eager to buy one and collected me just before 9.00 AM one Saturday morning. I will add that I am no mechanic, enthusiastic amateur perhaps but I knew my way around a Triumph Stag and what to look for.
Those days I had a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4x4 and my companion had turned up in a Vauxhall Calibra - one of the more powerful ones and perhaps needed to prove his driving prowess.

I knew within two minutes that it was going to be an "interesting" journey. Inside the village's 30 mph limit he was already up to 50 mph +.
He cut corners, overtook cars approaching bends and took no notice of speed limits or traffic signs - double white lines and so forth.
If he could drive with skill I would have not have been so concerned but he had none. Tailgating cars within only feet of the car in front unnerves me at any time but braking at the last minute when approaching them really set my teeth on edge.
I protested after 20 miles of this hell and told, not suggested to him to either slow down or stop and let me out to make my own way home.

The remainder of the journey was better but far too fast for the twisty A5.
The Stag was not worth buying as it turned out.
I remember saying to myself " if the Good Lord lets me arrive home safely I promise never to get in a car with this idiot again".

I don't ever recall being so frightened in any form of transport either before or after.

I am not attempting be amusing or facetious here but when the Calibra's driver asked me how much he owed me for my time, my answer was :

"A prescription for Valium to get over today".

Your experiences please.
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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

[Billf]

We lived in India (Goa) for over 3 years. Every day driving there is an adventure, even just nipping to the local shops. i have been driving for many years, in the UK and in Europe and the States. But Indian driving is a law unto it's self. But in 3 years driving over there we never had an accident. A hell of a lot of near misses though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnGpMmmbliw

We went to Jaipur for a couple of weeks and was going to hire a scooter. but just stuck to cabs instead. the driving there is just mental.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLUm3Q-7iZA

But have to say the mining trucks are the worst.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXRdtIUBAuc

[peter scott]

You shouldn't have included all modes of transport.

I think my most scarey journey was landing at Edinburgh airport in very strong blustery crosswinds. I can't remember what the aircraft was but it was a passenger jet with about 150 passengers.

As we approached the rolling was really excessive and fast, perhaps +/-30 degrees, or that's how it seemed. I thought I could see the wing tip touching the grass on one swing and when we actually touched (banged) down it was so heavy I really expected to see the fuselage break open.

When we reached the terminal building the pilot announced "Sorry about the landing. Miller's the name if you want to avoid me in the future!"

Peter
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https://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[baconsdozen]

Towing a scrap VW transporter on a large borrowed trailer with my Hillman Minx estate for a friend. The car had been loaded onto the trailer before I arrived and been left resting on the jockey wheel,unbeknown to me the VW contained some engines,gearboxes and other bits and was too far forward on the trailer. As soon as I got on a main road the trailer started snaking and tried at one point to overtake me. This happened at anything over thirty and every time anything overtook (which at thirty was quite often).
Common sense dictated I should have turned round and left the thing where I'd found it,but I still carried on hanging on to the wheel and keeping my eyes glued on the speedo and wing mirrors for signs of police cars or overtaking trailer.
My mate knew nothing about the vehicles extra cargo having as far as he knew bought only a VW shell,although single handed I doubt I'd have managed to get it all out anyway.
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Thirty years selling imperial hand tools for old machinery(Now happily retired).

[emmerson]

Similar to peter's I'm afraid. Flight from Barcelona, at the start of which the captain announced that the Number 2 would fly the plane home.
All went reasonably well; after all he couldn't be blamed for the weather could he?
However, when I realised that we had circled Cardiff three times, and the man sat opposite me was praying, I began to worry!
Down we went, eventually, much too fast, and I thought he would go round again, but no, full reverse thrust, full flaps, and the bl**dy thing stopped in mid-air! (well, that's what it felt like) Then dropped. Like a stone. somebody then took control, and brought the thing down, one wheel at a time. Crash! LH wheel Crash! RH wheel. Tremendous crash! Nose wheel.
The plane rolled to stop, still out on the runway, then slowly taxied in to the terminal. In absolute silence. Nobody breathed until we were docked, then there was a mad dash to get off as quickly as possible Anne is somewhat disabled, so we waited till last. When we got to the door, the captain was ushering everyone off." Did you enjoy the flight sir? " He asked "Well" I said " I thought the landing was a bit rough" Deadpan face he replied " And which one did you think was the worst? First second or third?"

[Bitumen Boy]

[Billf]

[peppiB]

In a car - riding in Mesherschmitt (sp) bubble car in 1965 - one behind the other formation (I was in the back). Terrifying as lorries raced past shaking the thing. 30 mile journey and I was pleased to be out. 2 days later the lad who owned it turned it over and it never ran again

In a plane - 1966, Butlins Skegness and 3 of us took a 'pleasure' flight. There were 2 planes operating. On landing we nose dived into the field and turned over. We had lost a wheel on take off and the pilot didn't know. A van came from the terminal (shed) to rescue us and take us back to said terminal. On the way back the driver asked whether the pilot was 'Grandad' or 'Moses' Funny I didn't fly again for over 20 years, and only then because I was paid a silly amount of money to do some aerial photography

[Keith D]

I've been laughing at some of the stories with aircraft landings.

I learned to fly in the mid seventies and my instructors impressed upon me that there were two sorts of acceptable landings.

A Good Landing - One you could walk away from
AND
A very good landing - One where you could use the plane again!

Scariest drive in a car ever was as a passenger in a baby Nissan in Colombo, Sri Lanka twenty odd years ago. They are totally mad!!!

Keith

[Billf]

[goneps]

[Ray White]

I was once a passenger in a decrepit A55 van being driven by a former stock car racer. The guy scared me half to death with his reckless antics at high speed. The van eventually came to a halt when he took a hump back bridge so fast that we took off and landed on the opposite side of the road where the rear springs came up through the floor. That shook me up.

[badhuis]

Scariest ride I had was when (35 years ago) I had a hitch hike with someone driving an Golf. When I entered the car I saw he wore no shoes. Then he drove with his right knee bent, foot on the seat under his left leg, the left foot doing the throttle business. His right arm was resting on his seat back, his back against the door and he steered with the left hand. (LHD car) Not wearing belts of course. That combined with reckless speeds and keeping no distance made me leave the car unannounced at the next stop (a traffic jam). I still shudder at the thought.
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a car stops being fun when it becomes an investment

[Rusty]

Like a lot of you, my scariest "ride" was a flight I took in an old Russian airliner in central China ! When we took off this thing shook that much that a lot of the overhead lockers opened up and dropped luggage all over the place setting the tone for the rest of the trip, the cabin pressurisation was pretty ho hum so some elderly Chinese women in the row next to me were panicking when the bag of crisp packets they had started to expand out the top of their bag just as their ears started to hurt and then the whole cabin got a very burning electrical smell pervading it for the rest of the flight. When we landed there was almost a "stampede" to get off the thing.

[peter scott]

Not really scarey but like Rusty I found flying on internal flights in China 20 or 25 years ago interesting. The Chinese have different perceptions of numbers to us westerners and for some reason the control tower (I think it was at Beijing but may have been another city) had the number 666 painted in giant black letters down its support column!

Peter
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https://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon