Anyone have funny test drive stories?

[MT1972cheyenne]

About 6 years ago, I hitched a ride about 60 miles to drive my new project 72 Chevy SWB Fleetside truck home. I had looked at it a few weeks before, but hadn't driven it, or heard it run. When I looked at it, it hadn't ran in a couple of years. The guy said it ran & drove okay, and I wasn't too woried, because I was going to do a frame-off restoration on it anyway. So I roll into this tiny town, & follow the sellers directions to his small shop. The truck is out front on the dirt main street, with the signed title & the key on the dash, so I wave goodbye to my ride. The seller is nowhere to be found. I ask someone in the bar across the street, and get directions to his house a few blocks away. I hop in the truck & drive it to the sellers house, give him the money, and head to the gas station. I gas it up, add fluid to about everywhere, and head out on the highway home. Basically no brakes. It won't rev high enough to ever get above 40 MPH, which is okay, since the steering is so loose. So I am putting down the road 40MPH, using the whole highway, can't stop, and grinning from ear to ear! I will never forget that day!

[red69ss]

Originally Posted by BADPURPLE70CHEVY

Guy sleeping in the back of the car is priceless......

yeah this looked like a every night kind of thing he had blanket, pillows and everything.. really a unique experience.

[Indyuke]

I've had a couple scary ones, but the best was a truck my dad bought for $200. "Was running fine, but then it just quit one day on the way home. Probably just needs to be timed." the PO says. It was completely rusted out, but we thought if we could get it running it would be worth the ride. Plus it had a nice set of aluminum slots on it.

So we towed it to a friends house and worked on it for a week trying to get it running. It had a 283 that was so tired that flooring it was the only way to get up to speed. The first drive I took it for, it was all over the road... I couldn't even keep it inside my own lane, and I would bounce from one white strip to the other while praying there would be no oncoming traffic. For some dumb reason I decided to go get it up to about 50 and take it for a long drive. Barely ran, no power, weak brakes, shot steering, so rusted out it felt like the vents were permanantly open.

We got it back, and proceeded to systematically go through it and patch everything up. Turns out, the reason I couldn't keep it going straight was the lugnuts were too long for the mags. So they bottomed out before they were able to contact the rims. I was able to grab the bedsides and pull the truck back and forth while watching the wheels clunk from side to side.

After we fixed that the handling was better, but it still had no power. Someone came up beside us while going down the freeway, and made as if to race us. He took off like a rocket while we floored it. Our truck didn't even go 1mph faster. It just made more noise.

[magwakeenercew2jh]

Kind of a test drive story:

All of us made sure we were in line at the DMV on our 16th birthday. When it was my younger brother's turn, he was there. Nervous. But he was there.

When the DMV suit-guy came back with my brother and his clip board, he came over to my mother who was sitting next to me on those hard DMV chairs. He said, in hushed tones:

"Mrs. Keener, I'm sorry to tell you that we are not allowed to give an applicant a California Driver's License if they are stopped by the police during the driver's test".

My brother had blown a stop sign on the main drag of Petaluma Blvd.

[cheyenne shortstep]

Went to check out a 69/70 c10 a few years ago that a guy I knew was selling, the truck was a POS but the price was right. So he tells me that it runs good but might need an alignment and off I go, within 200 yds I know I don't want anything to do with this truck as the front end shook worse than anything I have ever driven. When I get back to his place he tells me to back it in the driveway so I turn around in the street, as soon as I start going backwards a ball joint breaks and the thing is in the middle of the street with the right wheel jammed up in the fender. I got out and told him I'll pass and got in my truck and drove away.

On another occasion I took my uncle with me to drive the '69 GMC shortstep I was buying. The guy lived in a tweeker trailer park in Escondido and as soon as we pulled off the paved road onto the dirt road we got lit up and approached at gunpoint by the cops. After a very rude interrogation we were let go, the guy we bought the truck from [not a tweeker] said the cops were waiting for a drug delivery and blew there cover. No wonder they were so pissed, when they saw two longhairs driving an old pickup they thought we had the dope.

[Maxxd07]

When I bought my 70 4wd I never did test drive it since the price was good and it is 90% rust free. When I got it off the trailer at home I told the wife lets give her a drive. So we head out and everything seems ok until I get it above 30 mph and then its all I want to do to keep it on the gravel road. Went about a mile and came back. Jacked the front end up and all 4 ball joints are hammered and the manual steering box had never been adjusted so there was about a quarter turn in the wheel before anything would happen!

Also in highschool and during college I worked at the local chevy garage in town. We had to test drive all the trade ins to see if anything was wrong with them. North of town about a mile and a half was the airport and in a town of 800 people it doesnt get used much. So every vehicle that I test drove, including the PDIs,(which were all pickups) laid a patch of rubber as long as they could with out using the brakes. If they couldnt, then the "power brake" philosiphy was applied. That was kind of the burnout spot for every one so we never got in trouble. (I wasnt the only one from the dealership that did that either. )

[chuckmc8]

OK, so I am also into air cool vw's and a THING pops up right around the corner from my house. It was on ebay, abd I bought it for $100 or so. Talk about rusty, I bet this 'thing' didnt weigh 500 lbs, most of it was gone; but i was able to harvest some good parts off it. It had been sitting in the mud with 4 flat tires for YEARS, we aired em up, and you know how tires will have the gi-namorus cracks when they are pumped up after being flat that long. It wobbled a mile home on the tow bar tho behind my 71 super.
I put it back on ebay and it brought $500 to a guy from Montana. Montana, really? I live in Georgia! This wouldn't have been a good deal if the buyer had lived at my house!
So the guy calls me and I think he's BS ing me and its some kinda scam. Sez he knows somebody local to pick it up and I go WTH.....
Here's the good part...wait for it......2 weeks later I get a call from this guy, and he sez that he will be at my house in 20mins or so....he has driven from Montana, without even calling to see if I will be at home!
He gets here, its dark thirty and all he has is a tow bar. I ty to get him to get a hotel room and come back the next morning, but noooooooo, we air the flats back up, he puts on his tow bar....I rig up an old trailer light on the back of the 'thing' and they're off like a prom dress.
They didnt even have a spare tire. OMG
I watched the news the next day, but didnt see them on it......
They were happy as clowns when they left......

[hugger6933]

I got some, after years in the 'bussiness'. I used to chew tobacco and dip skoal, so did my dad. The truck I was driving at the time was a 89 1/2 diesel silverado .I had put in the later model cupholders as most did back in the early 90's. I used a old coke bottle with the screw on cap for a spit bottle. Well here is where that comes into play. I had a guy come to my place to look fro a truck ,he likes my old diesel and takes it out for a ride. It was late july or early august and hot as all get out. He was gone about an hour with my truck so I thought he might have gone to the bank. He finally comes back I ask where he had been so long . He said just up the road a little. He was green as could be and sick as a dog. He said fellow, I don't know what is wrong with your coke but I would not finish drinking it, if I were you It is all lumpy! dang!! he had taken a couple of big ol drinks out of my bottle!! Jim

[timjt]

Almost bought a 73 camaro, loved the sound, crappy interior and possibly some rust inside the sheet metal but im 21 with my 19 year old wife and we just HAD to have a cool car. Ended up not buying it when we floored it and instead of the mph going up the heatgauge went up and then the mph started going up slowly.

[70STOVEBOLT]

Originally Posted by hugger6933

I got some, after years in the 'bussiness'. I used to chew tobacco and dip skoal, so did my dad. The truck I was driving at the time was a 89 1/2 diesel silverado .I had put in the later model cupholders as most did back in the early 90's. I used a old coke bottle with the screw on cap for a spit bottle. Well here is where that comes into play. I had a guy come to my place to look fro a truck ,he likes my old diesel and takes it out for a ride. It was late july or early august and hot as all get out. He was gone about an hour with my truck so I thought he might have gone to the bank. He finally comes back I ask where he had been so long . He said just up the road a little. He was green as could be and sick as a dog. He said fellow, I don't know what is wrong with your coke but I would not finish drinking it, if I were you It is all lumpy! dang!! he had taken a couple of big ol drinks out of my bottle!! Jim

That is the best one yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL!!!

[DT1]

Not a test drive but an experience.
In 99 I went to the Toyota dealership to buy a new Tacoma.
I already knew just which one I was going to buy but for some reason the sales guy needed to convince me on it.
I told him "See that truck over there? Just write it up and I'll be on my way". It's never that simple.
While I was waiting on the paperwork, a young associate told me that management made it mandatory to watch the introduction/safety video before purchase. I told her that if she makes me watch the video, the sale was off. So much for that part.
We were just about to wrap it up when the sales guy started in on the "Extended warranty". I told him "It's a Toyota, I don't need an extended warranty" He stated, "Well, you know, they aren't as reliable as they use to be"
Now that's how to sell a car!
I bought the truck anyway (Without the extended warranty) and just last night it turned 332,000. miles
Maybe I should have got that warranty. After all, I did have to replace an oxygen sensor a couple of years ago.

[Stubbs67]

I was riding through arlington,tx with my friend one day and I saw a for sale sign in an old bread box station wagon, I like old wagons, so I instruct him to flip a beach and go back. Its a 1988 Subaru GL. We pull into the driveway and are "greeted" by a grumpy older middle eastern man. The car is really clean inside, no smells nothing wrong, no dents or rust outside, so I ask how much and he says $800. He says it is REALLY SLOW, but the 4wd works and gets REALLY good fuel mileage(40+ mpg). Hands me the key and she fires right up, covered in tree sap so I know it had been sitting a while. It runs like a top but man it is slower than a hammered dog turd but it will run 55mph, flat out. I say to hell with it, something is wrong with it so I go back, renegotiate to $700 and finally he signs the title and even "gifts" it to me so I don't have to pay taxes. I drive it to the car wash to wash off the tree sap and find $27 in silver change in the center console. I look down at the gas pedal and notice it looks crooked. hmm so I have my friend floor it (key off) and check the throttle body, and it was open about 20%. I bend the gas pedal back up and adjust the throttle cable and it ran like a scalded ape! I know why it got excellent fuel mileage LOL. I blew a HG last year and replaced the engine with a $150 60k Mile motor. Still runs good and got me through college and to work today!

[DT1]

Originally Posted by Stubbs67

I was riding through arlington,tx with my friend one day and I saw a for sale sign in an old bread box station wagon, I like old wagons, so I instruct him to flip a beach and go back. Its a 1988 Subaru GL. We pull into the driveway and are "greeted" by a grumpy older middle eastern man. The car is really clean inside, no smells nothing wrong, no dents or rust outside, so I ask how much and he says $800. He says it is REALLY SLOW, but the 4wd works and gets REALLY good fuel mileage(40+ mpg). Hands me the key and she fires right up, covered in tree sap so I know it had been sitting a while. It runs like a top but man it is slower than a hammered dog turd but it will run 55mph, flat out. I say to hell with it, something is wrong with it so I go back, renegotiate to $700 and finally he signs the title and even "gifts" it to me so I don't have to pay taxes. I drive it to the car wash to wash off the tree sap and find $27 in silver change in the center console. I look down at the gas pedal and notice it looks crooked. hmm so I have my friend floor it (key off) and check the throttle body, and it was open about 20%. I bend the gas pedal back up and adjust the throttle cable and it ran like a scalded ape! I know why it got excellent fuel mileage LOL. I blew a HG last year and replaced the engine with a $150 60k Mile motor. Still runs good and got me through college and to work today!

So Cool!!

[Putter]

**WARNING** This is one of those "almost traded for a blue-oval" stories.
Back in the early years of my marriage, a co-worker of mine had a '79 F-Series 4x4. Tall suspension, 38" swampers, 351 V-8, etc... I thought this was the coolest thing I ever saw. I had an early model S-10 4x4 blazer. I had this grand idea..... "I'll see if he wants to swap even".
I talked him into it one day after work. We traded titles and I headed home. At the only stop sign I came to (very rural area), it dies on me. I crank and crank and crank. It finally fires up and I finish the ride home.
Proud as a peacock, I run inside to get my honey. Without even opening the door, she give me a "NO SIR. YOU TAKE THIS RIGHT BACK TO BRIAN!"
So, after much negotiation, I convince her to at least go with me to get my Blazer back. (I had hoped she would see it wasn't so bad if she just rode in it.)
On the way to his house, we start hearing this noise. And it starts to wobble back & forth a bit. She goes into panic mode and oders me to pull over and check it out.
As I am pulling into a random driveway, the front wheel falls completely off and we fall quickly to the ground....nose first. (Funny how high a mudder really is!?!?!)
Well, I get the guy to come out and meet me at the scene of the carnage.
Turns out we had sheared off all the wheel studs. Luckily we were on a country road and only running around 45mph.
We swapped back right there on the side of the road. He replaced the studs and we drove our seperate ways. I haven't even considered a blue-oval since!!!

[allengator]

RECENTLY I test drove a brand new Crew Cab Silverado with my Sainted Mother in the front seat with me (I had taken her to lunch) and the salesman in the back.

The salesman was on his best Sunday School manners with my mom.
Even talked about CHURCH... when all of a sudden his phone rang with a very loud ringtone of the song "T!tties and Beer!"

[tapeworm]

I used to do alot of driving for my job about 10 years ago, delivering parts.
I came across a really nasty but cheap 68ish pickup about an hour aweay from home. I had a friend interested, adn we came back a few days later for a test drive.

We got the warning that the brakes were not very good, and you have to "pump them up" if my memory serves me right

As we are driving down the road, we all of a sudden see sparks coming out from under the hood. The battery was sparking against the bottom of the hood! Of course, he hit the brakes, and they just went to the floor. We finally got the truck to a stop, ran out, and got the hood open. I remember somthing red & glowing under the hood from the battery

I don't remember how we got back. We had not gone real far, and I think we drove with the hood popped up a couple inches. Either way it made my really rusty 77 GMC seem like a Caddy on the way home.

[70STOVEBOLT]

Ttt

[mpotts64]

In the early 80's, before internet and instant pictures I was going to buy a chevy truck that was supposed to be in good shape, drove all way across OK City to look at this thing and when I got there it was beat to pieces, the old farmer used to tie his bull to the truck, lol, mechanically it was probably a gem but outside was bad, lol