Whew!!! That was close!!!!

Thank Goodness I had some power under the hood this morning. I was returning to the home office after grabbing a Tim Horton's coffee. I was travelling on a major street at the time (two lanes in both directions). As I came closer to my turn (left of course) a municipal bus was beside me and slowing down to my right. I turned on my signal to turn left and was slowing down as I approached my turn which was not at a stop light. I checked my rear view mirror to see a rapidly approaching Chevy pick up with two guys obviously engrossed in a conversation. They were probably behind the bus and decided to overtake it when it started to slow down. It then became apparent that they hadn't noticed I was slowing to make a turn in their new lane. Horrors, those a-holes are going to plow into the back of me. To make matters worse, the road conditions were wet at the time.

I hit the gas on the Mark in hopes of accelerating ahead of them as the driver suddenly realized wtf was going to happen and hit his brakes. It was touch and go for a few seconds as the Mark pulled away and the pick up nose-dived and swerved as it tried to slow down before he rear-ended me. He had no where to go either. A bus on his side and on-coming traffic in the other lanes. Teeth clenched and white knuckled on the wheel, he braced for impact!

Fortunately I was able to avoid the collision as the Mark pulled away. Was I ever glad to have the horses under the hood when I tromped on it. Now if I had been driving a Honda, I would have been nailed for sure.

Whew! That was close! Sure glad I always check my mirrors and had an escape route...

RE: Whew!!! That was close!!!!

Scary!! Glad it worked out well. My heart could not survive that!

RE: Whew!!! That was close!!!!

The story I heard, claimed you were going at a high rate of speed in reverse.

RE: Whew!!! That was close!!!!

I had a similar problem once, with the exact opposite outcome, for the lack of the specific asset you cited as your savior.

Back in the day, when i had my thunderbird, i was pulling out of my driveway with 3 passengers. I live on a road with a 45 mph speed limit. To make matters worse, there is a stoplight not too far to my left and the lane that goes from my left to my right merges just to the right of my driveway. I looked, and determined that i had adequate room to pull out. Once i was half in the road, i noticed that the Buick that was coming at me was traveling at a high rate of speed, significantly greater than the speed limit, and the omnirizon that was behind it, was actually trying to pass before the lanes merged!! So i pointed the steering wheel straight at the ditch on the other side of the road, and kicked all 140 hp into action. Alas, it was not enough. I cleared the Buick (in the near lane), and the omnirizon (does it matter if it was an omni or a horizon?) slammed on the brakes for a moment, before slamming into my thunderbird behind the rear wheel, narrowing my trunk by approximately 2 feet and spinning my car about 90 degrees, leaving me resting on the far shoulder. Of course, since i was 18 with 3 teenaged passengers, and the speeding moron in the crappy chrysler had an obese woman and a baby in the car (although the moron wasn't much older), i got the ticket. Apparently watching a thousand cars pass my driveway does not qualify me to judge their speed relative to the norm.

The best part? Since this happened, i've been put in the same exact situation about a dozen times in the lincoln. Each time, there is a slight squeal from my rear tires, and i swing my car ever-so-gracefully out of the way. Gotta love having twice the horsepower in the same chassis.

RE: Whew!!! That was close!!!!

That was a close one Neil. Man, I sure would like to have access to Tim Horton's doughnuts. I tried them when I crossed over the Canadian border from Detroit back in the summer of '94. My Canadian girlfriend and I flew to Detroit and rented a '94 Rose Mist Town Car (purple pimp-mobile) and drove on to Toronto and then up to Penetanguishine(sp). I remember her telling me that as soon as we found the first Tim Horton's, we had to stop and get a coffee and doughnuts. They were absolutely tasty. Remember, being from extreme South Texas, we have taco shops like the rest of you up north have doughnut shops. They were a nice change from the norm.

That was truly a great trip. The areas of Canada I saw were absolutely beautiful. From super-clean Toronto, to the pristine North Bay area, all the way down to Niagra Falls.

That water in the lakes and ponds sure is cold though! Talk about major shrinkage! ;-)

RE: Whew!!! That was close!!!!

happened more then once here...

my friend and I traveled down to Miami for the weekend in his '01 Lexus Gs300.... don’t get me wrong.. the car is GREAT.. just too damn slow.. (GS300 = inline 6) (GS430 = healthy 300HP V8)
I went crazy when i drove it around the city of miami.. just wont pick up speed, esp in highways.
I couldn’t wait till I got back home and floored the mark on my way to the bank.

RE: Whew!!! That was close!!!!

The GS300 is an inline? Thought it was just a warmed-over Camry V-6. That's neat if it's inline, apparently they were trying for some BMW action?

RE: Whew!!! That was close!!!!

Yep..the GS300 is an inline 6..same one in the IS300 and the Supras. That Inline 6 from Toyota has been around sinse the 60's. Not sure how old the Beemer inline 6 is. Unlike the BMW inline 6, the Toyotas IS bullet proof...it's a fantastic engine.

If I had a GS300, I'd be running a 100HP shot of NOS..which that engine handles easily....

RE: Whew!!! That was close!!!!

225HP 3.0L inline 6....... It’s a GREAT engine; one of Toyota’s finest... Don’t get me wrong, very reliable and has a long life... but does not cut the mustard when your used to a 14.8sec Mark.

Although………. I wouldn’t mind a GS430 pumping out 300 healthy horses, getting high 13’s stock.

RE: Whew!!! That was close!!!!

I've always wanted a 96+ LS400, now the 430's I guess - those things are LIBRARY quiet - they are soooo nice - I just don't know enough about them to tinker with it on my own and would have to take out a second loan just for any mechanical problems.

'course, it's said that Lexus is the almighty supreme being with low unscheduled maintenance... I dunno, I just like this Mark too much to try anything else!

RE: Whew!!! That was close!!!!

Scary story. Good for you by staying alert and aware of your surroundings. I don't know why, but I've gotten in the habit of checking my rear-view mirrors when slowing down. I've almost been hit far too many times (and in a car whose whole back end is a brake light for Pete's sake). I've also taken to keeping biiiiiig following distances and braking very slowly (although neither of those would have helped in that particular situation).

[font color = blue]Tony - St. Louis, MO[/font]
1998 LSC - Toreador Red/Light Graphite
1989 Mustang LX 5.0 - Scarlet Red coupe