Best Car Memories Thread

[MrSony]

Hoping to start a "Remember the good ol days?" thread. For me, being the young spry 18 year old I am, the good ol days for me go back only about three years, automotive wise. In this thread, feel free to discuss your favorite projects, favorite experience, or favorite thing you've done to your car, truck, bike, boat, lawnmower, whatever. I'll start.

The whole reason I joined this forum:

Back in April of 2014, I got my first car, my 1985 Buick Regal. It had 84,5xx miles on the clock. No rust. Th200/231 V6. It was a dog. It couldn't even get out of it's own way. I did still find ways to whip it around and do burnouts. It was cushy like a Grandmothers living room. Minus the plastic on the couch. The upside is the car had no rust and had a decent service history. It'd been sitting mostly still since 2004 until about March of 2014. Sadly, the poor V6 was not built to be beaten on (the Turbo 6 is another story) and it soon blew a headgasket and within the same day toasted the bottom end by November 2014. The following day, I joined this here forum. It's been a hell of a ride. I've done so many automotive related things I've never done before, to this car and others. It was my first engine build. And it was successful, if you ignore the whole "no oil pressure" situation. I guess you can't spell success without "succ". I've done my first real drivetrain swap. It's been awesome these past two years. I'm creating this thread in hopes that future generations will find this page, read our memories, our experiences, and be compelled to pick up a wrench, crank up some tunes, and make some memories of their own some day. Plus who doesn't love hearing a good story? Post your fondest memories below.

 

[Bonnewagon]

Great idea! Unfortunately my fondest car memories can't be shared on a family orientated site as this. Carry on!

 

[copperhead]

Mine would probably be the time I jumped my camaro through a construction site, in a school zone, in the middle of the night, with no lights...... hmmm wondering if the statute of limitations is up on any of that yet.

 

[HAFROD]

99% of my car memories from being a child all the way to late teens involved street racing. I juked a cop in my 87 Grand National in the late 90s when he caught me street racing. I won the race too against a Formula 350 F body. They caught him but I got away in the dark. Stupid kid stuff but it's still a memory. Lol. I still street race

 

[motorheadmike]

With or without my pants on?

 

[kalidromos13]

In my family my Grandfather and my dad were mutual volkswagen freaks, hell i learned to rebuild a VW engine well before my teens. But we used to go camping a lot in Baja California in a town called Bahia De Los Angeles. My grandfather had a friend who let him keep his Dune Buggies and his Winnebago on his property (which was only about a mile from the beach) so when we would go down there, the Dune Buggy would be there waiting for us. Man my Grandpa could let that thing rip! We would go to the canyons and have a blast!! That old man was fearless and every time we were both screaming with excitement. I miss those days tremendously. I even learned to drive on that Dune Buggy! We had a lot of fun and i learned that you don't need a jack to remove a VW engine hahaha

 

[Bonnewagon]

OK, I remember a "clean" one. I was driving out East on the LIE before dawn to meet my buddy for a day of fishing. I was driving my '68 Firebird 400 4-speed and there was an idiot in a beat up late 70's Camaro with his high beams on tail-gating me the whole way. Traffic was bad so I couldn't shake him. Finally out around exit 65 it loosens up and I nail it to escape the idiot. The road was pretty straight out there so I figure I may as well see what she'll do. I pegged the speedo at 120 and was still going strong when I noticed my exit 68 was coming up. I slow down and slip in behind a big car transporter rig that was in the right lane. As I get off I notice the Camaro finally catching up and as he passes by a cop comes FLYING up behind him and slams on his brakes so he doesn't rear-end him. All the lights and sirens come on and he pulls the Camaro right on over. Out jumps the cop like he just caught The Bandit. As I quietly slipped away I realized the Camaro was probably going to get MY 120+ mph ticket! Good for him, says I. When I told my fishing buddy he said, "Well, yeah, the Suffolk County Police Headquarters is right off exit 67. There's always a cop there. You should have swung back and asked him how fast that crazy idiot was driving".

 

[Longroof79]

This was back in the mid 70's. I had recently bought my Porsche rolling shitbox. It needed everything. I got a 912 engine from a friend that I just got done rebuilding with a 1700 big bore kit, Tricom cam, etc. Well, I just got it running and was out breaking it in around the streets of Brooklyn. At the time a lot of sports cars were being stolen. My car was all in primer at the time. I passed a police car going the other direction, I know he spotted me and saw him make a U-turn...I thought to myself, "oh sh*t, it looks like they're gonna break my balls". I pulled the car up on my driveway. I figured if they wanted to check it out, I had nothing to hide. I bought the car from a guy that I knew working at the post office, so I knew it wasn't stolen.
Well, turns out these cops were from the auto crime unit and were checking VIN numbers.
I let them go ahead and check away. Well, under the hood where there's a stamped body number. It was somewhat illegible due to some rust in the area. They talked me into following them to the station and had me wait inside. I keep going outside to see what they were up to. Well...this overzealous pig got irate with me and told me I was under arrest. He put the cuffs on me and put me in a pen. It turns out I spent the night in jail on a hard slab until I went in front of a judge the next day. My car was impounded. I was more upset about the car.
My poor parents were there waiting for me. I hated to put them thru this BS.
A few days later I went down to the court to get a release for my car, which I was able to do. I got a friend to go with me down to the pound, showed my papers at the gate and the guy let me in. I found my car. I bared got it to crank over, but it started and we got the f**k out of there before they decided it was a mistake.
I ran into the same cop and he warned me that he didn't want to see me driving the car...or else. Well, I made an appointment to have the car inspected by NY state. They affixed a new VIN number and I was good to terrorize the streets again. I had the local congress woman's office help me in this matter. 40 + yrs later, I still own the car and it's been repainted twice and the engine had been overhauled for the second time.
I still have my mug shots to this day.

 

[GP403]

hitting the local car show scene in SW WI in the 80's with dad and the '80 402 4-speed Malibu Wagon. Scoffed at by the muscle car guys, ridiculed by the Model T guys.... little did they know what was being started. Also he always had a 427 decal on the air cleaner and called it that so there's that lol. Yeah its a 427 yeah that's the ticket. Looked like it belonged there so there was always a fair amount of head scratching. Also in the 80's the vacations in the now GP403.... A bit odd being in the driver seat after so long of being in the back. All that and the permanent impression of his RA IV Judge at idle. So rough, so lopey, so awesome. Could almost see the individual puffs of exhaust from those quad tips

 

[Bonnewagon]

Oh my. Jack. You, you are a- a- criminal?!? I should have known. After all, he is from Crooklyn.