Reminiscing: Stupid Things you did to/with your Car when You were Young

[Perry Wilson]

My local movie theater parking lot is smooth black asphalt with just painted parking spots no concrete curbs or stops. After junior prom I decided to take my date and do some 3rd gear entry drifts in my s2000. was having a blast parking lot was loaded with smoke. All of a sudden that smoke was blue and red. wasnt bad the cop was impressed that I could hold a 60-70mph drift so he let me off with a warning. Also used to go down to the drag strip on 82 before it was repaved. Used to do about 160 on a two way road that was littered with potholes. If you have ever been on a bass boat that had to much trim to were the nose starts to sway, thats how the s2000 felt at 160 on 82.

[evandael]

i constantly drove my e30 and jetta on sidewalks, through fields, those rails-to-trails bike paths (crushed limestone, about 8 feet wide), up hills.. i never got too stupid, but i had fun pretending i had a off-roader in my economy cars.

[ParsedOut]

On my first car, 89 Camaro (shaabuddy!) the fuel pump took a crap. Instead of dropping the rear axle to get to the fuel pump, I just cut a trap door in the rear hatch area...then...I used an angle grinder to cut the steel fuel lines (uhhh) to remove the pump from the tank. Then I put it back together with fuel hose and a bunch of hose clamps. Held up just fine for a few more years, although I could have easily been disfigured for life with that stupid angle grinder move.

Lucked out.

[LagunaSecaBlue]

My first car was a 91 318i...
Auto Zone Cold Air Intake.
Those Platinum Bosch Spark Plugs that apparently are worse for E30s.
Took it up to 140. (TWICE)
Jumped Railroad Tracks Daily onto way to School.
Attempted Drifting on wet roads with buddies, parked it in a ditch but then nailed a sweet Drift around a corner.
Rallied it in the Desert...ON WASHBOARDS. Original Suspension was officially destroyed at this point.
That car was destroyed by the time I sold it but it was so much fun learning Manual and what to not do in a car.

To this day my scariest driving experience was Graduation night in High School when I was doing some spirited driving, responsibly I must add, to show off to my friends in my Dads brand new Mustang, then as I was speeding out of the parking lot and went to brake to go around a light pole in the middle of the parking lot. (Mind you this is the worst high school in the state, the parking lot is easily 20 years old with loose gravel and pavement on the surface.) As I am braking the car locks up, my foot is to the floor on the brake in disbelief I look at the dash to see the TCS and ABS lights both out. I go into a slide sideways at about 45MPH towards the light pole and at the last minute drop it into first and whip it around. Scariest thing to happen to me yet, there is no feeling like it when your brakes are out and you need them desperately.

[anabolice30]

Fast forward about 1.5 years...same E30. It was raining outside, and I decided I wanted to pull a hektik skid on a narrow, sweeping turn near my house. I put it in second, clutch kicked it, and promptly spun out and hopped the curb. Destroyed my right rear weave, bent the trailing arm and my subframe.

Holy shit, are you me. I did the exact same thing. Raining, second gear, hopped a curb. I was coming home from school and I decided to kick it and impress my new girlfriend. Spun a full 360 degrees, thought I saved it, spun 180 and hopped the curb with both wheels parallel. I feel so bad about it even today.

[MoparJ]

Let's just say that I probably single-handedly kept Bondo in business for a while there..... :p

And stickers all over the back window...but hey, all the cool old-school drag racers did it.

[LJ851]

Good stories, not enough pictures.

[FunfGan]

I put a 60 year old v8 in my car.

[mbonanni]

Not me, but one of my buddies.

He skipped school to buy his first car, an e36. Bought it in the morning around 10 I believe. He spent the day driving it, learning manual and what not. Later that night around 8 I went over to check it out. He insists on taking me for a drive even though his dad is saying no we can do it another time. He finally gives in.

We drive around town for a little and then my bud decides to drive out to the more "open" roads. First we go over this bridge thing around 90-100 and the car bottomed out and was scary af. he slows down cause it shook him up a little, drives a litte farther and gets comfortable again. Comes into a 15mph corner at about 30, realizes he is going too fast, locks up the wheel, we do a 180, then flip into a ditch my side first.

Not only did he have the car for less than a day, but he neevr asked me if I was alright. what a derp.

Ever since then I have been scared to drive like a crazy, so I do not do that much stupid stuff

[Loupoz]

Be 19
Make deal with mother in law to borrow opel astra wagon for ~100$ a month
Drive like ass hat for 8 months
Fall, trees start to drop leaves, road gets slippery
Total astra, going to fast in a speed chikane
GF and whole family shits their pants
Walk away without a scratch
2 weeks later buy my first E30, 89' 320i
3 weeks after totaling astra, drive over roundabout, 110-120 km/h
Roundabout sorta acts like a jump, sending me over into a ditch
Go up from ditch, through bus shed, onto field
Check myself to see if anything happened, cant find anything
Only sheetmetal not bend on car is right rear door, and trunk lid
Get out to check another car thats crashed before me, because no lights in roundabout, was 0600.
Immigrant dude sitting in other car having neck pains
Start assisting him, and stabilizing his neck - Got training from army
Ambulance arrives, takes him away
GF and father in law arrive, GF pretty much shits herself again
Another ambulance arrive, they dont believe i was in that smashed up BMW
They take me to hospital to get checked out
Walk away without a scratch
Thats how i totaled 2 cars within a month and walked from both without a scratch

EPILOGUE
In laws have 25 year anniversary
They get insurance from astra
Gets rated ~2k more than worth
They're suddenly pretty happy about my crash
Now they can afford big party to celebrate anniversary
GF shits herself whenever we go driving and needs constant contact to make sure im okay
2-3 years for her to trust my driving again

[2mAn]

great stories so far, Ive got a few to add:
-First car was a tricked out 92 Golf. It was a lowly 8v. Stupid kid chose the 8v over a stock 2.0 GTi 16v... smh... Anyways, I totalled that car one night on my way home, because all the highschool kids were chillin at the 7/11 and I was looking over and riding hard. When I return my eyes back to the road in front of me another high school kid is just stopped in the road talking to someone across the street. I swerve to avoid him, but clipped the back of his eclipse and my car spins and rolls all the way over. I only had the shoulder belt, but got out uninjured.

-Friend had a 84 318 that he used to drive the wheels off of. completely bone stock but had some sticky yokohama tires. We used to drive that car like crazy. Anyways, we picked up this chick and went looking for a spot to pull and smoke a bowl. He decides he was going to rally his car over a dirt hill, but the exhaust gets stuck and rips off! We had to drive home that night with the exhaust IN the car and the worst drone ever!

-84 Jetta Coupe. added 15" BBS wheels, but they must've been from a BMW instead of the VW because the offset was different. Used the regular lugs to put the wheels on even though there was maybe 5mm of actual threads sticking through. I forgot to torque the wheels down once and drove ~ 90 miles from Fresno to Modesto and as Im exiting the freeway I hear a grinding sound and as I slow to make a right turn and pull over the right front wheel falls off and goes rolling into the street. I get out and chase my wheel as it rolls away. got some long bolts from home depot to hold the wheel on for a few days until I had a shop install a new hub, rotor, etc. Never forgot to torque my wheels again!

-Driving a mk2 gti Vr6 (my first "project car") from San Jose to Fresno. I was in a rush because I had to be back in San Jose a few hours later (~150miles each way). So, Im going about 80mph the whole time on 99 in central cali. I'm tailgating cars until they get out of my way and I speed past them. An Avalanche moves out of my way, but then starts tailgating me and I think, "my car is faster than that thing," so I bury the throttle in 5th and start accelerating from 80mph up. So does he! Before I know it I'm WELL above 100mph (so is the Avalanche) and we fly past a bike cop who begins to chase us. We both hit the next exit, crossing lanes of traffic HARD. At the exit he went one way, I went the other way. I zigzag'd through side streets and never saw the bike cop. Later that day on the way home I got a ticket for going 75mph in a 60mph I was ok with that ok.

theres more, but thats all I can think of for now

[RGCintha29073]

Undercar neons. What a waste of money...

[ahalfacre5]

bought my first e30. 87 325is. kid i bought it from said it was missing and needed new spark plugs, and that other than that it was perfect. bought new plugs, and knowing nothing about the car, thought it was done. proceeded to drive it up and down back roads at 85+ and do as many burnouts as possible. one day on the way home from the store with a buddy,car losses a lot of power.. think its just simple, go home, decide to pop valve cover off (it was leaking a little oil). found two broken rocker arms. pull off head, put in two new rocker arms, reinstall head, mess up timing and eat up all the valves and pistons.. replace engine, put new rotor cap on, over tighten bolt, and it broke through the head. didnt think it would make a difference, and knowing nothing, couldnt figure out why it wouldnt turn over. ended up selling the car for $750

after that, bought a 95 civic for gas mileage, ended up hating it, and ran it without oil for a WEEK just so i could have an excuses to trash the thing.

sold the civic with a blown motor, and no interior besides two seats and a dash, for $900 and picked up a minty 86 eta with 160k on it. only problem was needing a center support bearing. when i went to look at it, i noticed it had a miss, but after checking everything and getting some info, found out the fuel injectors were clogged. drove it for a week on 3 cylinders because i didnt have time to work on it. fixed it one day, at lunch,and it started raining.. driiiffft weather. took it out, and the second turn i did landed me in a ditch. bent the radiator support just enough for the fan to cut the water pump hose, so i put in an electric fan.. i have since then put the car into two more ditches drifting in the rain. still have the car though and i really learned a lot about the car since my first e30

other than that, i live in the boondocks, so ive driven my 96 blazer through thousands of mud holes, raced a 4x4 utility four wheeler on a dirt bike track with it, and done top speed runs on gravel with that thing.. im really kinda of an idiot behind the wheel sometimes. i have plenty more stories but ill keeep it to these few

[QUKBMER]

I just couldnt keep good rubber on the rear rims of my first car....69 chevelle SS396. There were 2 black lines all around my neigborhood at all the stop signs. Thats the only thing i can think of,blowing my paychecks on rear tires all the time. Back in 1986 i was 18 and had a heavy right foot. ;D

[HarryPotter]

howdy