Towing Tidbits: Now With Even More Drunks!

[kmariem]

on - I thought it was more like 35 (??). Maybe they squeezed out more? I only know of these "Metro tuners" by proxy.


edit : both off, in different directions Wiki sez 42.

Still impressive for a gas-only car.

I had a Geo Metro in high school. Best mileage I ever got was 44 mph. While it was a crap car, I was one of the few in my high school to have a convertible! However, in the winter, I had to have multiple cinder blocks in the trunk because the thing would fishtail at less than 5mph!!

[DiRF]

I had a Geo Metro in high school. Best mileage I ever got was 44 mph. While it was a crap car, I was one of the few in my high school to have a convertible! However, in the winter, I had to have multiple cinder blocks in the trunk because the thing would fishtail at less than 5mph!!

Wow, I knew Metros were slow, but 44mph? Yikes...

Yes, I know what you meant :P

I'm rather happy that, even with my lead foot, my Mazda Demio gets 30mpg... I could probably swing 35 if I was careful with the throttle.

[Shalom]

I've got a Subaru Outback on order. (Got tired of the short seats in the Forester digging into the backs of my thighs and giving me leg pain. I liked everything else about the car.) These, with the 2.5 flat-4 and the CVT, are supposed to hit 30mpg. I'll believe it when I see it, though.

(Not getting rid of the ancient Blazer either just yet. That one gives me 18mpg on a good day with a tailwind.)

[Thud-n-Blunder]

Beautiful!

...DUI.. you lose when you call us, you lose when you DON'T call us, you lose when you comply with the cops, you lose when you DON'T comply with cops...

The real winning move would have been not to play the game.

That is the most neatly-worded summary that it's been my privilege to read today!

[Thud-n-Blunder]

Speaking of cars from elder days...

During high school (1981), I had an AMC Rambler that was about the age of my teen-aged little sister. It looked like crap, got horrible gas mileage, and got its rear end mashed in by a drunk driver hitting another car and slamming it into mine... and nothing stopped it. It would start up without any trouble even on sub-zero days, it would stay stable on ice-covered roads... eventually the engine gave up the ghost in spite of the TLC I tried to lavish on it.

Why is it that the cars that look horrible are the ones that last forever? (Not that I minded - it beat the daylights out of my ten-speed. )

[BPFH]

Why is it that the cars that look horrible are the ones that last forever? (Not that I minded - it beat the daylights out of my ten-speed. )

Sheer spite, would be my guess.

My parents bought a 1978 Chevette from a friend in the mid-80s. (Or should that be "friend"? This is a Chevette we're talking about, after all.) By the time I got it (1989), well... It was slow. It looked horrible--when originally made, it had a black exterior and red interior, but by the time I got it, it was starting to rust out, and the red interior plastic had faded to pale pink. The gear shift knob wasn't firmly attached, so if you weren't careful you could send it flying when shifting into reverse. The knob on the driver's side window crank was just plain gone. There were holes in the driver's side footwell--not big enough to put your foot through or anything, but definitely enough to get you wet if you're driving down the highway on a rainy day.

I used to shock the hell out of people by telling them it got 400 mpg. Of course, they thought I meant gas, while I actually meant oil, but hey...

Given how bad Chevettes were, I'm amazed that it lasted until 1991.

[Jester]

Now that, ladies and gentlemen, takes some real brass cojones , to have a late-night accident (possibly DUI related, not 100% sure but I'd bet at least a few samoas on it)...

DUI.. you lose when you call us, you lose when you DON'T call us, you lose when you comply with the cops, you lose when you DON'T comply with cops...

I have a serious question about this, Arga.

Let's say someone has an accident like this, and they call a tow truck to get them home or to the shop. Let's also say when the two truck driver gets there, he thinks the driver MAY have been drunk. Are they required to call the cops if they just have a suspicion of DUI activity? Or is it only required when it's obvious?

I'm just curious, because some people, when dealing with trauma, or if really tired (as many such accidents are caused by overtired or fatigued drivers) may come off as drunk when they are not.

I'm not referencing the guy in your story, because whether he was drunk or sober, the fact that he was not going to do anything about it till mid-afternoon makes him a douchenozzle. Had it been me (and I had been sober), I would have left a note saying that I'd be buy first thing in the morning to remove it, and if there were any questions, please call me. Because, let's face it, sometimes you break down at 2 am and there's nothing you can do about it.

I was just driving along minding my own business when the tire blew up for no reason, with such force, it dented the fenders! Honest!

Okay, now that COULD happen, actually. 1990-ish, I and a couple of friends were driving from Phoenix to L.A. My rear right tire blew out at 80 mph. I somehow maintained control of the car, despite the fact that the rear end was bouncing up and down (did I mention that this was at 80 mph?), and pulled over to the side of the road, where I changed the tire and limped 15 miles to the nearest service station.

Now, had that happened on a highway with the aforementioned concrete sidewalls, rather than on a highway in the open desert, I might well have done similar or worse damage to my car that day.

Anything goes fast when dropped from a great height....

Anyone else see the Top Gear where they get a VW Beetle to go over 100 mph by dropping it from a helicopter?

(Not getting rid of the ancient Blazer either just yet. That one gives me 18mpg on a good day with a tailwind.)

Both my previous '89 Blazer and my current '00 Blazer got similar mileage, which, while not spectacular, is pretty damn impressive for an SUV.

Why is it that the cars that look horrible are the ones that last forever?

My first car, a 1971 Dodge Colt, which had faded yellow paint that looked ghostly white at night, which I put radio station bumper stickers on the fenders in a (failed) attempt to make it look better, and which I nicknamed the U.A.V. (Urban Assault Vehicle) due to its sheer ugliness, and which only lasted me four lousy months, would like to disagree with you on this one.

My parents bought a 1978 Chevette from a friend in the mid-80s. (Or should that be "friend"? This is a Chevette we're talking about, after all.)

Given how bad Chevettes were, I'm amazed that it lasted until 1991.

That seemed to be the weird thing about Chevettes: they were horrible little pieces of shit, but no matter what broke, they seemed to keep going.

Case in point: New Year's Eve, 1987. 17-year-old Jester goes to his first ever NYE party. Every previous NYE had found me at home, on more than one occasion fixing a stopped up toilet. This was a new town in a new state with new friends, and I lived it up. (Boy did I....but that's another story!) At one point relatively early in the evening, I found myself with three other people, in the one guy's Chevette, which had one of four working brakes, no clutch cable, and various other things wrong with it (because, ya know, it was a Chevette)...and we were four by fouring in the desert, out near the desert party we were at. I have been on few roller coasters that were that terrifying.


Regarding everyone's comments about the size of the Geo Metro, i.e., a "roller skate": a Metro is big compared to a Smart Car. Which is why, when given the choice of free use of her Smart Car by my niece, or renting a car, I rented. Got myself a Mazda 2 which, while small, kicked ass, and was enormous when compared to the Smart Car.

By the way, if anyone is in the market for a small, economical, and damn good car, I highly recommend the Mazda 2. Some of the controls are a little quirky (took me a few days to figure out how to open the rear hatch), but I was very, very impressed with it. Hit 90 mph on the way to the Space Center, and it was effortless. Damn nimble little car, too.

[Argabarga]

I have a serious question about this, Arga.

Let's say someone has an accident like this, and they call a tow truck to get them home or to the shop. Let's also say when the two truck driver gets there, he thinks the driver MAY have been drunk. Are they required to call the cops if they just have a suspicion of DUI activity? Or is it only required when it's obvious?

There's no hard and fast rule on that.

There's no statute law that says we have to call the cops if we suspect you're drunk.

There's no company policy that says we have to call the cops if we suspect you're drunk.

So, it's basically up to the driver if he wants to call the cops and at least ask for some advice/guidance on what to do and take it from there.

Now, there IS a law that if damage to property or injury has occurred, we MUST contact the police because otherwise, leaving the scene is hit-and-run.

I WILL tell the party on scene that the law requires me to call the police, so they at least have the time between when I call and the officers arrive to decide how much crap they want to be in and either stay put and take their medicine or make a break for it, it's all on them at that point.

Honestly, though, the situation has never presented itself to me, all the times we've had drunks call us to help them out of the situation their in, either the police beat us to them, or, there's damage/injury to the point that we cannot NOT call them.

If I had what I suspected to be a DUI accident, as in, I could smell it on the driver, or he's falling-down-drunk, I would at least contact the police at the non-emergency number and make a note of it for them and let them decide what to do. If you're still sober enough that I don't know for sure, and there's nothing that warrants the cops (injury/damage) then you just lucked out this time, I guess.

[ADeMartino]

I used to shock the hell out of people by telling them it got 400 mpg. Of course, they thought I meant gas, while I actually meant oil, but hey...

Given how bad Chevettes were, I'm amazed that it lasted until 1991.

Chevettes WERE turds, no doubt about it. But the reason they ran so long was the engine didn't make enough power to actually BREAK anything. That said, I've never had one actually QUIT on me. Over the years, I've owned three - one of which had over 200,000 miles on it and STILL refused to die. And they all got remarkably good traction in bad weather, though in empty parking lots with fresh snow, they were a BALL to deliberately get into a spin.

In a fit of mechanical insanity, we combined a Chevette with a 2.8 liter V6 pulled from a busted-up Chevy S10, tweaked that six a bit, and created a right proper little terror. It went like stink and could really hang on in a turn, but the brakes just SUCKED. And it was more than a little spooky going down the road at 100+ in something that would fold up like an old beer can in a collision. But it shocked more than a few people when it would wind up and disappear in the distance.

[emax4]

I remember my Aunt had a Chevette as well. She told me a story of being stopped by a state trooper going 100 MPH, but she argued that even the car never had enough power to go that fast (which is probably true, except if on a steep downgrade AND on the accelerator). Still got ticketed.

Another time I remember seeing a Chevette with an actual blower (supercharger) on top. I was actually quite impressed, but was thinking I'd be scared to drive it. You're basically riding the engine!

[Ophbalance]

Chevettes WERE turds, no doubt about it. But the reason they ran so long was the engine didn't make enough power to actually BREAK anything. That said, I've never had one actually QUIT on me. Over the years, I've owned three - one of which had over 200,000 miles on it and STILL refused to die. And they all got remarkably good traction in bad weather, though in empty parking lots with fresh snow, they were a BALL to deliberately get into a spin.

My friend had one in the 90s that was still going strong. The bottom had rusted out, so they welded a plate to the under carriage. The struts? They were welded to the strut towers since the towers had longs since rusted beyond use. And it never actually died... it was just put into service as a farm vehicle when it could no longer pass a PA inspection. I'm going to ping him tonight. It wouldn't surprise me to hear it's still in circulation on the farm somewhere .

[Docmayhem]

I remember my Aunt had a Chevette as well. She told me a story of being stopped by a state trooper going 100 MPH, but she argued that even the car never had enough power to go that fast ...

I had a friend who talked his way out of a ticket for doing 110mph (he was actually going faster) by convincing the cop that the little japanese car he was driving couldn't have been going that fast - lucky for him the cop couldn't see the nitrous bottle.

[pzychobitch]

Chevettes WERE turds, no doubt about it. But the reason they ran so long was the engine didn't make enough power to actually BREAK anything. That said, I've never had one actually QUIT on me. Over the years, I've owned three - one of which had over 200,000 miles on it and STILL refused to die. And they all got remarkably good traction in bad weather, though in empty parking lots with fresh snow, they were a BALL to deliberately get into a spin.

In a fit of mechanical insanity, we combined a Chevette with a 2.8 liter V6 pulled from a busted-up Chevy S10, tweaked that six a bit, and created a right proper little terror. It went like stink and could really hang on in a turn, but the brakes just SUCKED. And it was more than a little spooky going down the road at 100+ in something that would fold up like an old beer can in a collision. But it shocked more than a few people when it would wind up and disappear in the distance.

That's when you put in the brakes from a corvette... LMFAO

[ADeMartino]

That's when you put in the brakes from a corvette... LMFAO

It's actually funny you should say that, because in my little circle that little car was often referred to as 'The 'Vette'. MUCH to the ire of the guy who had an actual Corvette.

[wolfie]

That's when you put in the brakes from a corvette... LMFAO

Heck no! Instead of the brakes from a corvette, you need at least the brakes from a frigate, and preferably from a destroyer.