Odd things experienced while driving a Bronco

[Jeff76]

Another thread about a steering wheel coming off while driving made me think of some odd things I've experienced while driving my Bronco.

Once, while I was in college, I was headed home for spring break. Top off, backseat out, Bronco full of everything in my dorm room, including books, dorm fridge, shelving, and misc other things.

As I was driving I20 west (3 western lanes at the time), I was cruising in the center lane, passing a Ford Courier in the right hand lane (remember those) and something about it caught my eye. I was probably doing 65, and the truck was doing 55-60, so it was a slow pass. About the time I pulled up beside it, I realized that the truck had a spare tire /rim sitting on the top, above the driver's side door. Now this was not too unusual at the time, but I soon realized what had caught my eye. The tire was slowly moving. IE is was not fastened to the roof. As I pulled up beside it, and in what seemed like slow motion, the tire slid off the roof, and landed on the freeway directly between my passenger door, and the the trucks drivers side door. I will never forget the noise it made, something like a cross between a gunshot and and a high frequency 'ping', as it hit the asphalt at 60 mph and bounced 30 ft in the air over my head, in my topless Bronco, over the west bound lane to my left, over the dividing wall and into the east bound lanes causing havoc to oncoming traffic.

I remember it like it was yesterday, and it happened about 1984.

Anybody else got similar stories?

Jeff

 

[miikee73]

My uncle lost a tire off his truck and it bounced over the fence into the Califirnia Aquaduct,for those that don't know of this aquaduct it is a cement canal that runs from northern Ca to southern ca at a slow pace.they keep the surrounding area very clean(tax dollars at work).He found a stick and walked about 2 miles before the tire floated close enough to the side to fish it out.
On a sad note I had some coworkers who were on their way to their honeymoon hotel when a tire off a truck bounced over the K rail and killed them both.
Sorry I guess i'm a littie off topic,not Bronco stories,just bouncing tires.

 

[Rustytruck]

While Driving up highway 395 between LA and Lone Pine I had 2- f14s blow by me, one on each side about 30 feet off the deck and no more than 30 feet on each side of me, wizz by me and pull verticle about 2 miles ahead of me. It was cool and scared the piss out of me, it permentally bent my stainless steel whip antenna as it blew back into the pavement behind me. I was very lucky that I wasn't blown into the ditch. With China Lake navel weapons station nearby I guess they were getting their flight hours. At the time the f-14s were fairly new to the public.
The only bitch was when they went verticle I couldn't see too much of them beacuse of the low roof and windshield in the Bronco.
I was just tooling down the road, didnt hear them until they were right in front of me then you got the full Tom Cruse effect.

 

[Blue Bastard]

i have only had mine for two weeks......working on it mostly. i have mabey driven 20 miles total. in the first two rides i have had near collision with a turkey and a deer! i think its the call of the wild "bronco" name? that or they tink its ted nugent or something and they are running for their lives.

 

[Bronco Junkie]

I drive the Angeles Crest Hwy alot which is a mountain road here in L.A....it is also very popular with bikers.

Every year as close to Christmas as possible my girlfriend and I go up and spend the day in the mountains and eat at Newcombs Ranch (a restaurant up aways).

This year on the way back down a group of bikers catch me. Now, I always try to be courteous and get out of the way as soon as I can. But we are almost all the way down the mountain and there are not alot of turnouts, if any.

The first bike gets on my bumper and waits as we are coming to a turn...but his friend behind him gets impatient and tries to pass his friend and me. Next thing I know...I see a bike beside me in the lane next to me (this is a 2-lane road..he is so lucky no other car was coming in the opposite direction). He has taken the turn waaaay to fast and drifts into the soft shoulder. He tries to keep control...BUT....the front wheel just starts wobbling and he goes end-over-end 3 times but somehow avoids hitting the mountain. I pull over as do his friends. He pops up and says he is OK but his bike (Ninja) is trashed. Bent tank, bent bars, broken levers and fender, etc. A USFS Fire truck pulled up and I was out of there!

 

[Jr.mudflinger]

My dad and I went up to Indian Valley in northern CA in the summer of 2010 and while coming down hwy 4, his front driver side tire comes off and we're doing 50mph. He lost control and it jolted to the left (right into a left turning lane going our directon). The tire kept going, hitting a guard rail, crossing the street and finally coming to a stop. The backing plate to the brunt, ripped up the asphalt but no damage to the Bronco. Just a few miles before this, we past a semi-truck going 80mph with a ditch to the left. If it happened there..

 

[Jeff76]

I drive the Angeles Crest Hwy alot which is a mountain road here in L.A....it is also very popular with bikers.

Every year as close to Christmas as possible my girlfriend and I go up and spend the day in the mountains and eat at Newcombs Ranch (a restaurant up aways).

This year on the way back down a group of bikers catch me. Now, I always try to be courteous and get out of the way as soon as I can. But we are almost all the way down the mountain and there are not alot of turnouts, if any.

The first bike gets on my bumper and waits as we are coming to a turn...but his friend behind him gets impatient and tries to pass his friend and me. Next thing I know...I see a bike beside me in the lane next to me (this is a 2-lane road..he is so lucky no other car was coming in the opposite direction). He has taken the turn waaaay to fast and drifts into the soft shoulder. He tries to keep control...BUT....the front wheel just starts wobbling and he goes end-over-end 3 times but somehow avoids hitting the mountain. I pull over as do his friends. He pops up and says he is OK but his bike (Ninja) is trashed. Bent tank, bent bars, broken levers and fender, etc. A USFS Fire truck pulled up and I was out of there!

Not smart, but really not smart to lay a bike down in front of a 40 year old truck. Glad everyone was OK. It could have been ugly!

 

[michahoov]

When I was in college at Pitt, went to visit a friend at IUP in Indiana Pa for weekend of grouse hunting and partying. Left Friday after my last class. Rain turned to freezing rain and then snow. Naturally, the bronco handled the bad roads without any problems, except when I stopped to get gas and my doors were frozen shut. Only time I ever got "locked in" my vehicle. I had to climb through the back seat and out the lift gate.
Had a great weekend anyway.;D

 

[jkskier]

OK this wasn't completely my fault (OK yes it was).

Buddy borrowed the Bronco to run home for the weekend from school. Sunday night he hands the keys back over and tells me he almost lost the entire hardtop on the freeway. Apparently he was driving along and the front of the top just starts lifting up off the windshield! Yes, I had forgotten to put the bolts back in....

 

[Bronco Junkie]

When I was in college at Pitt, went to visit a friend at IUP in Indiana Pa for weekend of grouse hunting and partying. Left Friday after my last class. Rain turned to freezing rain and then snow. Naturally, the bronco handled the bad roads without any problems, except when I stopped to get gas and my doors were frozen shut. Only time I ever got "locked in" my vehicle. I had to climb through the back seat and out the lift gate.
Had a great weekend anyway.;D

HAHA! That is great! We don't have the problem here in So Cal!

 

[DonaldDouchebag]

I once had a CJ try to pass me on an overpass. I could her the guy just hammering on it to try and pick up speed. Right when he was even with me something grenaded and I heard a sound like a boulder being dropped on concrete. The CJ sputtered to the side and I kept on going since there was nowhere to pull over.

 

[DonaldDouchebag]

When I was in college at Pitt, went to visit a friend at IUP in Indiana Pa for weekend of grouse hunting and partying. Left Friday after my last class. Rain turned to freezing rain and then snow. Naturally, the bronco handled the bad roads without any problems, except when I stopped to get gas and my doors were frozen shut. Only time I ever got "locked in" my vehicle. I had to climb through the back seat and out the lift gate.
Had a great weekend anyway.;D

I had to do the climb through the liftgate at least once a winter when I was dumb and still driving a Bronco in MN winters. Fun times.

 

[dube]

Red solo cup back in the 80s. Before it was a song. And a bronco, 69 if I rember. And two girls at a party, still have the doughter. But not that bronco.