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Have You Ever Caught Air?

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  • Have You Ever Caught Air?

    A much NEEDED thread..... Bullit anyone?

    Off Road does NOT count!
    Last edited by RockJustRock; June 15, 2018, 02:00 AM.
    My hobby is needing a hobby.

  • #2
    Just once, as a kid, and maybe only half the car. '72 Vega GT 4-speed, right turn up a driveway into an alley, yes-going too fast and the driveway ramp may have been a little steeper than I was expecting. All I know is, I went from turning and looking at the asphalt to going straight and looking at the sky then a moment later coming down and turning again. There would be other learning incidents of all kinds, in that car.
    ...

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    • #3
      Yup...several years ago on HRPT in oklahoma... in a hurry to catch up... following GPS on a two lane.... crested a hill where the paving ended and a drop off to large, loose gravel road in the bullet......the GPS was programmed to avoid non paved roads...
      damn lucky to have not wrecked.... said my prayers and thanked God for the save....
      Patrick & Tammy
      - Long Haulin' 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014...Addicting isn't it...??

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      • #4
        For me the answer is "maybe". In Milford, MI (my home town) there's a REALLY steep railroad track crossing with the tracks on top of a hill. There are MANY scrapes in the pavement where trailer hitches, rear bumpers, etc. have hit the asphalt. I'm pretty sure I flew Mom's Buick Special over that but the road is straight so I didn't have Loren's experience. That was in 1965 and the crossing was still the same the last time I was in town a couple of years ago. Now that I'm old I decided not to try it again - caution or common sense seems to have multiplied in my "golden years".

        Dan

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        • #5
          Absolutely!

          Pardon me if I've told this one before . . . The best "Dukes" imitation was in a glacially slow 283/Powerglide-powered '63 Bel Air wagon. No working speedometer . . . It was so ridiculously torpid, you could run it foot-feed-to-the-floor wide-open on graveled section line roads . . . .

          Except for this one I found out you couldn't . . . .

          That "wicked" wagon popped up over a hill and launched skyward like the Blue Angels' "Fat Albert" used to on the JATOs. In mid-flight, I looked over at brother GP in the shotgun seat just in time to see his scrawny, unbelted, teenaged body slam into the headliner . . .

          Not having previously flight soloed in a Junior Johnson wagon, I mistakenly locked the drum brakes in mid-flight. When she hard-slammed back onto terra firma, the now-flightless long-roof bottomed out and gravel-slid into a bar ditch.

          Somehow we extricated it. But the tip of the exhaust pipe had been smashed flat by the road-hugging weight of the left rear fender on impact..

          P-FITTT,. . . P-FITTTT . . . PFITTT . . . . She wouldn't run over ten or fifteen miles an hour because of the impromptu exhaust restrictor.

          We limiped it back to the house. Then we panicked about the impending arrival of Mom and Dad from work.

          We found a hacksaw and hurriedly sliced off about an inch and a half of squished tailpipe. Those cat thieves with the electric Sawzalls had nothing on us that day.

          Our parents never suspected a thing.

          Decades later -- during one of those holiday "family confession" sessions -- I finally told the story to Dad (RIP). His only reaction: "I always wondered why the wagon started smoking up the rear fender."
          Last edited by Gateclyve Photographic; June 15, 2018, 07:19 AM.

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          • #6
            there was a railroad crossing near where I went to high school, I think the question to any of us (and the far shorter list) would be who didn't jump it. It really was perfect (until someone died and they 'fixed it') nice straight road, gradual rise with sharp drop off to a slight downhill landing.
            Doing it all wrong since 1966

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            • #7
              My inspiration for this thread from the insightful SBG's PDub at Atlanta thread.....

              Originally posted by pdub View Post

              Coming down the hill and trying to steer at the same time going into 10A at Road Atlanta, it feels like the car is doing that. Of course it isn't doing that. But it sure feels like it is.

              The guys that drive a car to the point that it actually DOES that, they are A) insane, or B) exceptionally fearless and talented. I'll choose "B."
              I resemble that comment. I have jumped several of my cars long before Dukes of Hazzard. You need to grow up RURAL to do that stuff. Live in a town of 10,000 or more and you can't get stupid enough or disregard the law enough. I never made flaunting the authorities my main "hobby" but some kids AND overgrown kids round my parts DID. One town cop had the speed shop in the nearest city DONATE an engine for the festivities. More details upon request if you like.

              Go find a hilltop or hump back bridge and jump Red. Approach it gradually so you don't bend or break him, but do it. Bucket List if you HAVEN'T jumped a car.

              I jumped a four door Skylark with my buddy and two giggling teenage girls, no big deal. Got me some second base...Her "Aunt" was visiting or who knows?
              Last edited by RockJustRock; June 15, 2018, 10:09 AM.
              My hobby is needing a hobby.

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              • #8
                BTW, in a modern car, a good indication that you're yumping hard enough is that the traction control light will come on when the computer detects the airborne undriven wheels at a different speed from the drive wheels (or maybe when the drive wheels surge while in air) . . . Not that you should be watching the instruments mid-flight. VFR only.

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                • #9
                  SO..... Youthful Vehicular Civil Disobedience Thread, Yay or Nay? OR am I headed down another "Moat Polarizing Ever" Rabbit Hole? Remember I am a very needy person so I will want a lot of group participation. I ain't no Jean Shepard (look him up, RECOMMENDED!). I certainly don't get paid like he did. So don't expect me to produce like he did. I want to be entertained too.... but a teaser. "Three Brothers, A Crown Kit Corvair, An Olds Aluminum V8 Vega, An LS something 70 Malibu and Numerous Short Track Stock Cars".

                  I was SO friigin' bored during that Dukes Of Hazzard fad.
                  Last edited by RockJustRock; June 15, 2018, 10:12 AM.
                  My hobby is needing a hobby.

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                  • #10
                    RJR, why wouldn't you write the stories? Just change or withhold the names and locales to protect the innocent . . . .

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                    • #11
                      Most memorable jumps.... Let me see.... The Skylark was GOOD, can't fault first time 2nd base with a possible Triple or Home Run. But it was on a series of whoop de doos. No difficulty factor and definitely un-BangShifty ride.

                      No the prize would go to my "winter beater" '71 Barracuda. Winter Beater because it was ONLY '78, IT was ONLY a 318 and the rear quarter condition was unknown because of a well done "Chicago Style" fiberglass rust repair. At least a buddy said "that's the way they do used cars in Chicago". And it had a Vinyl Top. The factory was next to the river so the railroad crossing on the way in was elevated and not. Really steep because the spur for the loading dock had to be ground level but the main track was elevated for the Trestle Bridge. Great starting point for "Tracking" though....

                      But before I get "side tracked" too far.... (ask me about tracking some other thread, some other day).

                      Air Shocks, Cranked T-Bars, Late for Work one night at 10 PM and it was ON from then on. The spur was prone to potholes from frost heaves so why NOT just sail over them? It went on for days that winter until SNAP one night and the Barracuda developed a terrible lean to the left AND the column sihift semi jammed. I was scared I lost my beater until I took it to a station with a lift. The guy said "I'm not gonna tell you how, but I can fix it all in one day for $40" when he got around to looking at it and calling me while I was day sleeping. When I picked it up amazed he said "And you call yourself a MoPar Guy" showing me the severed T-Bar he replaced with one, just any one, from a junkyard.

                      So it was ON again until one pay day. That was during the rise of VHS and a local store was willing to shatter the price barrier of $10 a T-120 Fujis if I bought a case. It was snowing, the roads were treacherous but DESTINY called. Only one lane plowed but Woo Hoo, I had Saturday Night Lives to record. Woke up at 2 PM flying to the factory, spiked the landing, hit the brakes to slide 30 yards into the driver side door sill of the Fed-X van that delivered the checks on it's way home. No Insurance, posted bond, but had to walk to work and groceries for a year, except for the occasional Road Warrior run (with one front fender and headlight). And The Fed-X driver bitched for weeks about freezing his ass off holding the door shut going home.

                      And the Barracuda? That spring one morning I hear KARUNCH as I was dozing off. Guy late for work with a mostly frosted over windshield. What was funny and/or interesting about that? Because of the T-Bar incident it wouldn't go into Park, I didn't care and it ran away over half a block when it got hit. Cop and Frosted Driver were just plain bewildered. I woke up wondering about the bizarre "dream" I had that afternoon.
                      Last edited by RockJustRock; June 15, 2018, 10:36 AM.
                      My hobby is needing a hobby.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Gateclyve Photographic View Post
                        RJR, why wouldn't you write the stories? Just change or withhold the names and locales to protect the innocent . . . .
                        O.K., but I REALLY need a nap.

                        A quickie though. Scarlet D-150s with warmed over small blocks, big tires and chrome stacks jump real good. I miss my Lil' Red Express. No one memorable flight though, but SAME factory for sure!
                        My hobby is needing a hobby.

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by RockJustRock View Post

                          O.K., but I REALLY need a nap.

                          A quickie though. Scarlet D-150s with warmed over small blocks, big tires and chrome stacks jump real good. I miss my Lil' Red Express. No one memorable flight though, but SAME factory for sure!
                          And let's keep it stories, not lectures and this isn't a contest..... well not officially.
                          My hobby is needing a hobby.

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Gateclyve Photographic View Post
                            RJR, why wouldn't you write the stories? Just change or withhold the names and locales to protect the guilty . . . .
                            Fixed it. You miss so many humor possibilities.

                            My hobby is needing a hobby.

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                            • #15
                              Right about now PDub is really regretting confessing he'd never flown a car....
                              My hobby is needing a hobby.

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