Close calls

[1972_Targa]

I came across this photo of the drive back to San Franclsco from 2002 Fest West in San Luis Obispo back in 2002 with my thirteen year old son Tim. We came close to bad shit/major injuries/possible death that day. On PCH 1, with water on one side and a rock wall on the other, we drove into a tight blind right hand turn, only to find a semi tractor trailer coming in the opposite direction and taking up a sizable chunk of our lane and short radius. After a fair amount of maneuvering, bouncing and braking on both of our parts, the Targa came to rest tucked under the trailer with our windshield about a foot away from the trailer frame. I thought Tim would be scarred for life, but rather his response was an excited “Wow!” (that reaction should have been a great indicator of challenging things to come). After untangling without a scratch, we felt invincible and drove home like bats out of hell listening to Lenny Kravitz...

 

Any other 02 tales of close calls?

[GerryD]

Wow that was sounds scary. Nothing unusual close call aside from some reckless drivers cutting lanes.

[Gordon]

About 15 years ago I'm sure the driver behind me on the LA 405 freeway had to change his underwear after my rear window separated from my tii (along with the window gasket) after hitting a big bump on freeway.  I wondered why it suddenly got real noisy in my car. I looked in the rear view mirror and saw the rear window flying through the air before hitting the freeway and shattering.  A huge cloud of brake smoke and cars scattering in the SB lanes.  I just kept right on going,  checked the radio and no sig alerts. I had a new headliner installed the week earlier and obviously the shop didn't reinstall the rear window correctly.  

Edited October 31, 2022 by Gordon

[Mike Self]

I'm sure it's happened to many of us:  young teenage girl (hate to be sexist, but that's who she was) on her cell phone, blew through a stop sign where I had just started to make a left turn (after stopping) in my 73. 

 

Something told me she wasn't gonna stop so I did.  As she passed by (never slowed down) I beeped at her (well, air horns--more than a beep!) and she looked up with a puzzled look on her face, never realizing what she had done.  

 

mike

 

PS--post more incidents--I'd like to use 'em in an upcoming column about the perils/decisions on driving our 02s on a regular basis...

[Tdh]

@Mike Self,

 

this one my not count since I wasn’t in my 2002, and it wasn’t a close call…and he car was totaled.  Here goes anyway…

 

december 10, 2020 I was driving my TR6 down a local highway approaching an entrance to a neighborhood. A guy in a white Jeep Wrangler was cued up to turn left out of the neighborhood across the lane I was in and onto the highway. I could see him on his phone paying zero attention to his surroundings. When I was within about 75 feet off him (going 50 or so), without looking up he slowly rolled out into traffic, and when he heard my brakes chirp, he looked up and just stopped. All I could do was aim for the front wheel So I didn’t  end up under the Jeep and hang on for the ride. Before/after photos below.

Edited October 27, 2022 by Tdh

[adawil2002]

Returning from The Vintage show in Hot Springs in 2016. Peter Stillwell in his 1800Ti/SA & Grice Mulligan in his highly modified 2002 & I in Vern, turned right to drive the hilly back roads. It had rained earlier, the roads were damp & starting to dry.

 

We had gone probably 10 miles & were setting a fast pace as we rounding corner after corner overlooking a valley. As we were getting to the top of the 'mountain' I tapped the brakes to settle the suspension before a right hand curve. Off the brakes, as I began to turn, the front wheels lost grip, the steering wheel went full right lock! Immediately had both "feet in" as I was heading to the edge of a stone wall & held on for the ride while waiting for impact. The impact never came, the nose didn't buckle & the hood crinkle, though I did swear a bit. I had stopped with only 2 inches to spare hitting the stone wall. 1 foot to the left, there was no wall, just a sheer drop into the valley. 

 

Learned a valuable lesson that day. Don't out drive your tires, I was running new Kumho TA11s. Now any time its wet or damp, I dial far back.  

[Dug Nichols]

Coming back from Mid America last year I was driving the twisty roads North to Lawrence KS with Scott and Bickles, and we were having a blast pushing it hard, rotating who was in lead and who took up the rear. I'm in the rear for a section, and we're on a straight-away for a little bit that has a long slight dip down, a road coming in from the right only, and then a long straight slight rise, giving us a good look at what's ahead.

 

First thing I see as we're flying down hill, very fast, is that coming the other way on the two-laner are two trucks back to back. Now, at the T up ahead where the road from the right is coming in, I see a car coming from that T'd road. The T'd road has a stop sign for turning left, and a curved turn with a yield sign for turning right. And the timing is going to work that I'm going to be going through that T right as the two trucks come past me head on. 

 

I'm eyeing that car on the right because I'm getting into a situation where I won't have an escape route if that car is turning right and doesn't see me and yield -- it will put me in a situation where we would collide with the sides of our cars, and I'd be pushed into a head-on collision with two trucks. Toast. 

 

I'm slowing my speed to see what's going to happen, and mind you this is all happening in mere seconds, due to the rate of speed of travel we were doing, and sure enough this car on the right is not going to yield at that sign and finding myself having to make a split second call on trying to brake and hopefully get enough slow-down to not side-swipe the entering car (and surely not make it through this) vs. accelerate and swerve to avoid the car and thread the needle between the oncoming trucks. I chose the latter. It was tight. Very very tight. 

 

Scott and Bickles ahead of me watched it all go down in their rear view mirrors -- it was a situation we were all three aware of the risk of. We stopped shortly down the road and talked through it, and I shook off the tense energy shooting through all of me, feeling very lucky to have made it through. I am lucky to be here.

 

 

[Dug Nichols]

9 hours ago, Dug Nichols said:

Coming back from Mid America last year I was driving the twisty roads North to Lawrence KS with Scott and Bickles, and we were having a blast pushing it hard, rotating who was in lead and who took up the rear. I'm in the rear for a section, and we're on a straight-away for a little bit that has a long slight dip down, a road coming in from the right only, and then a long straight slight rise, giving us a good look at what's ahead.

 

First thing I see as we're flying down hill, very fast, is that coming the other way on the two-laner are two trucks back to back. Now, at the T up ahead where the road from the right is coming in, I see a car coming from that T'd road. The T'd road has a stop sign for turning left, and a curved turn with a yield sign for turning right. And the timing is going to work that I'm going to be going through that T right as the two trucks come past me head on. 

 

I'm eyeing that car on the right because I'm getting into a situation where I won't have an escape route if that car is turning right and doesn't see me and yield -- it will put me in a situation where we would collide with the sides of our cars, and I'd be pushed into a head-on collision with two trucks. Toast. 

 

I'm slowing my speed to see what's going to happen, and mind you this is all happening in mere seconds, due to the rate of speed of travel we were doing, and sure enough this car on the right is not going to yield at that sign and finding myself having to make a split second call on trying to brake and hopefully get enough slow-down to not side-swipe the entering car (and surely not make it through this) vs. accelerate and swerve to avoid the car and thread the needle between the oncoming trucks. I chose the latter. It was tight. Very very tight. 

 

Scott and Bickles ahead of me watched it all go down in their rear view mirrors -- it was a situation we were all three aware of the risk of. We stopped shortly down the road and talked through it, and I shook off the tense energy shooting through all of me, feeling very lucky to have made it through. I am lucky to be here.

 

 

After the incident, where we chatted with a local and a guy heading South took this sweet picture.

[Tdh]

37 minutes ago, Dug Nichols said:

After the incident, where we chatted with a local and a guy heading South took this sweet picture.

I have the twin of the car on the far right.