You know you are getting old when:

Zombie_61 · Jun 23, 2017

I've hydroplaned a few times that I can remember. Two of them were on a straight stretch of highway, and since I knew what was happening I simply waited for those vehicles to re-gain traction and proceeded on my way. The third was in a car I had only owned for a week. I was on my way to work in a rainstorm, and lost traction as I drove through an intersection. This wouldn't have been a problem except the road on the opposite side of the intersection curved to the right, while my momentum carried me in a straight line. Fortunately the car re-gained traction just before it became a more serious problem, but for a moment there it was a "code brown" situation.

tonyb · Jun 23, 2017

Zombie_61 said:
... that combined with the also-unusual-in-the-U.S. swing axle that would "tuck under" in certain circumstances led to a lot of drivers losing control and causing collisions.

My old VWs never gave me much trouble on account of that swing axle setup, but my Triumph Spitfire had me wondering just what the hell was going on back there on a few frightening occasions. The driver "unweighted" the tail end of that thing at his own peril.

Trenchfriend · Jul 30, 2017

On "Acqua di Gio"!! HAHAAAAAAAA!

On "Drakkar Noir", they would probably say "Grampa!"

BlueTrain · Jul 30, 2017

Triumph Spitfires had a swing axle, too. It had been based on the Triumph Herald line of cars and it have rise to the expression, "Hark, the Herald axles swing!'

I had two Rover sedans many decades ago and they had a de Dion axle in the rear. Supposedly they have some advantages but when cornering hard, I'm sure the rear end shifted a little, accompanied by a thump. I was never sure about that and never did any research about it and, anyway, that was 40 years ago and my memory has also shifted a little.

scottyrocks · Jul 30, 2017

tonyb said:
My old VWs never gave me much trouble on account of that swing axle setup, but my Triumph Spitfire had me wondering just what the hell was going on back there on a few frightening occasions. The driver "unweighted" the tail end of that thing at his own peril.

I would attribute the difference to, among other things, the difference in weight at the rear. The VWs had the engine and transaxle back there, and the Spittys had nothing. That'll cause a rear end to get light in a big hurry, especially with a swing axle setup.

2jakes · Jul 30, 2017

Any fast passing vehicle on the freeway
will cause my VW beetle to sway on the lane I'm on.

On long distant drives, I notice that speeding vehicles travel in clusters
on the freeway.

I can spot them approaching on the rear
view mirror. Especially at night with the
lights sparkling in the distance.

Soon after, they are in front of me all
jockeying for position.

Afterwards it's calm again until the
next cluster of speeding healots
approach.

tonyb · Jul 30, 2017

scottyrocks said:
I would attribute the difference to, among other things, the difference in weight at the rear. The VWs had the engine and transaxle back there, and the Spittys had nothing. That'll cause a rear end to get light in a big hurry, especially with a swing axle setup.

Makes sense. Many an old Spitfire has aftermarket swing axle travel restrictors, which are essentially straps that stop an axle's travel before it gets to the point that the wheel tucks under.

2jakes · Jul 30, 2017

You know you are getting old when:

You would drive recklessly fast mostly
because of the "music" you were listening at the time.

As a youth I acted as if stupidity was a virtue with regards to driving.

tonyb · Jul 30, 2017

2jakes said:
You know you are getting old when:

You would drive recklessly fast mostly
because of the "music" you were listening at the time.

As a youth I acted as if stupidity was a virtue with regards to driving.

I consider myself fortunate to have caused no serious injury to myself or any innocent others on account of my driving back when I was a testosterone-addled young fellow.

BlueTrain · Jul 30, 2017

2jakes said:
Any fast passing vehicle on the freeway
will cause my VW beetle to sway on the lane I'm on.
On long distant drives, I notice that speeding vehicles travel in clusters
on the freeway.
I can spot them approaching on the rear
view mirror. Especially at night with the
lights sparkling in the distance.
Soon after, they are in front of me all
jockeying for position.
Afterwards it's calm again until the
next cluster of speeding healots
approach.

I've noticed the same thing myself in the morning on the way to work. In the afternoon, however, the traffic is much too heavy most of the way for anything like that to be apparent most days. Woe to he who only drives the speed limit. It is as if commuting is a competitive activity, which sometimes becomes an adjudicated activity. I see frequent accidents, too, nearly always in the left-hand lane. I look forward to the day when I get to stay home everyday.

2jakes · Jul 30, 2017

BlueTrain said:
I've noticed the same thing myself in the morning on the way to work. In the afternoon, however, the traffic is much too heavy most of the way for anything like that to be apparent most days. Woe to he who only drives the speed limit. It is as if commuting is a competitive activity, which sometimes becomes an adjudicated activity. I see frequent accidents, too, nearly always in the left-hand lane. I look forward to the day when I get to stay home everyday.

Not a day goes by that I don’t think about it when
I’m driving home from work.

I work for the TV-news.
I love cameras, photography and the majority of stories
are fine.
But I don’t have the option to decide which assignments
to cover.

There are major accidents occurring everyday.
Every single day.

I also find myself spending more time at home or away
from people, just my camera or painting out in the country.

Zombie_61 · Jul 30, 2017

2jakes said:
Any fast passing vehicle on the freeway will cause my VW beetle to sway on the lane I'm on...

Even worse are those strong and sudden cross-wind gusts. Way back in the late-70s when I owned my '61 Beetle a friend and I were traveling through the desert on a highway with two lanes in either direction when one such gust caught us. One moment we were driving on a nice paved road, the next it was as if we were participating in the Baja 500--that gust blew us completely off of the road. Fortunately there weren't any other cars near us and that particular stretch of desert was relatively flat with little debris, so I was able to maintain control and easily veer back onto the road.

2jakes · Jul 31, 2017

Zombie_61 said:
Even worse are those strong and sudden cross-wind gusts. Way back in the late-70s when I owned my '61 Beetle a friend and I were traveling through the desert on a highway with two lanes in either direction when one such gust caught us. One moment we were driving on a nice paved road, the next it was as if we were participating in the Baja 500--that gust blew us completely off of the road. Fortunately there weren't any other cars near us and that particular stretch of desert was relatively flat with little debris, so I was able to maintain control and easily veer back onto the road.

What's spooky for me is when the beetle,
or any vehicle starts to hydroplane on
the road.

This happened with the news truck.
I managed to pull over safely.
I called in to the assignments desk and
told them that I would be late to my
next story because of the weather conditions on the road.
My boss said to be careful and not
take chances.
She's the best boss I've ever had. She
knows I always come back with good
results.

Zombie_61 · Jul 31, 2017

2jakes said:
What's spooky for me is when the beetle, or any vehicle starts to hydroplane on the road...

Oh, that's almost always a Code Brown experience with a high pucker factor. Once you get that "floating" feeling and you know your car or truck has lost contact with the road, any number of bad things can happen and the only thing you can do is hang on for the ride and hope you regain traction before you slam into something.

belfastboy · Jul 31, 2017

Zombie_61 said:
Even worse are those strong and sudden cross-wind gusts. Way back in the late-70s when I owned my '61 Beetle a friend and I were traveling through the desert on a highway with two lanes in either direction when one such gust caught us. One moment we were driving on a nice paved road, the next it was as if we were participating in the Baja 500--that gust blew us completely off of the road. Fortunately there weren't any other cars near us and that particular stretch of desert was relatively flat with little debris, so I was able to maintain control and easily veer back onto the road.

I have a 25' class A motor home. This spring while driving across an open plain I was broadsided by a decent sized dust devil. Did not see it until a nano second before it hit. Knocked us 3 feet across the yellow and into the oncoming lane. It was over so soon it didn't even spike the adrenals. Not sure there is any precautions to take for a thing like this.

tonyb · Jul 31, 2017

Zombie_61 said:
Even worse are those strong and sudden cross-wind gusts. Way back in the late-70s when I owned my '61 Beetle a friend and I were traveling through the desert on a highway with two lanes in either direction when one such gust caught us. One moment we were driving on a nice paved road, the next it was as if we were participating in the Baja 500--that gust blew us completely off of the road. Fortunately there weren't any other cars near us and that particular stretch of desert was relatively flat with little debris, so I was able to maintain control and easily veer back onto the road.

Those old VW microbuses were the worst for that. I had a couple of 'em, and I'm here to tell anyone within earshot that those 36- and 40-horsepower jobs especially were ill-suited to American limited-access highway use. If you weren't ready to steer out of it, you'd get sucked in to the wake of passing semis. Driving those things was like driving kites.

tonyb · Jul 31, 2017

tonyb said:
I consider myself fortunate to have caused no serious injury to myself or any innocent others on account of my driving back when I was a testosterone-addled young fellow.

I was, however, seriously injured by others. I remain mindful of how quickly a person can get dead in a car. I'm not a nervous driver, but I try to remember the one lasting piece of advice I got in driver's ed, back in 10th grade, from a chain-smoking gym teacher who picked up some extra bucks doing the after-hours driving thing: "Always leave yourself an out," he said. Excellent advice. Assume that other drivers will fail to yield the right of way, will abruptly change lanes without signaling, will attempt to pass when there really isn't space enough for that. Where will I put my car when that happens?

MisterCairo · Jul 31, 2017

Trenchfriend said:
On "Acqua di Gio"!! HAHAAAAAAAA!

On "Drakkar Noir", they would probably say "Grampa!"

Drakkar Noir was my favourite in high school, still up there even today.

My friend and I would use the testers to impregnate our scarves and sweaters with it as we could not afford to buy it.

In fact, in final year he was voted most likely to become Drakkar's spokesman...

Trenchfriend · Jul 31, 2017

@MisterCairo
I love Drakkar Noir, too! But, the final reformulation killed it, sadly.

But some older Germans say, there must have been a reformulation already in the early 90s! And Dupes were available in Germany even already in the 80s (Nivea after shave)! Today, Wilkinson "Sport" after shave is a dupe.

Warden · Aug 4, 2017

You know you are getting old when you attend your favourite 'vintage / retro' fesitval & they start in include bands from the 90s.

Still in shock about this, after all I consider Buddy Holly to be modern.

You know you are getting old when:

Zombie_61

tonyb

Trenchfriend

BlueTrain

Call Me a Cab

scottyrocks

I'll Lock Up

2jakes

I'll Lock Up

tonyb

2jakes

I'll Lock Up

tonyb

BlueTrain

Call Me a Cab

2jakes

I'll Lock Up

Zombie_61

2jakes

I'll Lock Up

Zombie_61

belfastboy

tonyb

tonyb

MisterCairo

I'll Lock Up

Trenchfriend

Warden

One Too Many

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