Memorable drives or rides?

[Greenpeace]

I sure we all have memories of driving (or riding) something special, and whether we owned it, tested it, bought it or borrowed it, the memory still holds strong.

I have several stand out experiences, but the most memorable was riding a twin shock 6 cylinder CBX 1000 Honda when I was in my early 20s. It was for sale in a local bike shop and a young Greenpeace didn't notice that the long, fairly flat seat had been Armoralled. I got out of earshot of the dealers and cracked the throttle, the only thing that kept me on the bike was my legs hooking onto the back blinkers as my lower body shot backwards off the bike. I had a cookie in my pants that day.
I didn't end up buying it, I bought a much cheaper XS1100 Yamaha instead.

 

[Ceenine]

I sure we all have memories of driving (or riding) something special, and whether we owned it, tested it, bought it or borrowed it, the memory still holds strong.

I have several stand out experiences, but the most memorable was riding a twin shock 6 cylinder CBX 1000 Honda when I was in my early 20s. It was for sale in a local bike shop and a young Greenpeace didn't notice that the long, fairly flat seat had been Armoralled. I got out of earshot of the dealers and cracked the throttle, the only thing that kept me on the bike was my legs hooking onto the back blinkers as my lower body shot backwards off the bike. I had a cookie in my pants that day.
I didn't end up buying it, I bought a much cheaper XS1100 Yamaha instead.

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The fairing is a bit excessive!

 

[Greenpeace]

The CBX held the record for the most powerful unfaired production for a number of years.
When they brought the C model out with the touring fairing they detuned the engine at the same time.

 

[56 Fregate]

A mate of mine has amassed a collection of bikes from the 1970s, 80s and 90s and all are low numbered bikes in concourse condition. I've ridden all of them including a Yammie 1100 and the 6 cylinder CBX 1000 but the one I like the most is his Jaffa Kwakka 900, it's uncomfortable compared to a modern bike but the sound of the naturally aspirated four cylinder of this bike is the best and guaranteed to turn heads whenever you light it up.

 

[Greenpeace]

A mate of mine has amassed a collection of bikes from the 1970s, 80s and 90s and all are low numbered bikes in concourse condition. I've ridden all of them including a Yammie 1100 and the 6 cylinder CBX 1000 but the one I like the most is his Jaffa Kwakka 900, it's uncomfortable compared to a modern bike but the sound of the naturally aspirated four cylinder of this bike is the best and guaranteed to turn heads whenever you light it up.

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Yes a mate of mine has a Jaffa Z900 as well.
Nothing like the sound of a 4 into 4 exhaust, except maybe a 6 into 6.

 

[Greenpeace]

Next most memorable drive was a genuine one owner E49 Charger.
I was 18 and looking for my 4th car (I think I had a "problem" back then come to think of it).
I was driving a V8 Valiant at the time and saw the mustard coloured Charger at the front of a used car lot.
Took it for a test drive with a very young salesman in the passenger seat.
Pegged it to the red line through the first 3 gears, and holy sh#t it was a quick car.
I expected it to be a bit doughy down low with the lumpy cam and triple Webers, but it had low speed torque to burn (literally).
I signed up for it but long story short, I was quoted over $1600 for insurance. I bought a HQ Monaro instead which cost $400 to insure. Both cars were the same purcase price.

 

[Greenpeace]

About a year after I bought the Monaro I was looking for something with a bit more grunt for towing. I saw a very tidy copper bronze 5.9L V8 CJ Chrysler by Chrysler in a car yard.
Took it for a test drive and nailed it at the first set of lights. The driver's tyre instantly dissolved into a cloud of tyre smoke and it only stopped spinning when I shifted into top gear at an indicated 120kph.
I bought it.

 

[Fordman]

Nothing French except my cousin's "hot" 4CV around the streets of Perth in 1966 when I boarded with them for work in the city. It did sound nice, and compared to my car at the time, a Morrie Minor 803cc OHV, it may have been quicker (or not) .
Then I started work as an apprentice mechanic in a Ford dealer, so ended up driving many decent cars, as I was there through the Falcon GT and HO days, not forgetting the odd Ford Galaxie to punt around the block. (edit: Oh, and a few Twin Cam Escorts - nice).
But there were 2 very special ones.

Firstly, in 1970, a guy who was having trouble with his Shelby Mustang GT350 was referred to me to look at it privately, he became a regular acquaintance of mine, and as he ran a small construction company in the North West, trusted me with that car for months at a time, ostensibly for work to be done, but what a car to cruise about in! It was 1965 model 289ci V8, 4 speed alloy trans, factory extractors, dual point distributor, solid lifter valve train - all OE Shelby production. Haven't got my own photo but this is the model - they were all the same colour - It was possibly the first (only?) one in Australia:

The other real special was in 1971-72 when I worked at Ford Research Centre in Broadmeadows VIC, and the big chief of Ford Australia imported the first De Tomaso Pantera in Australia - the Pantera was a a combined effort of Ford and De Tomaso in a vain attempt at competing with Ferrari on the open market. I was the chosen mechanic (mainly because the other guys just weren't interested in working on something different - to me it was like a dream. Got to road test it a few times around the assembly plant area, which was quite large, and remember getting it up to about 120 mph (190kph) on the access road around the plant - yes, it was a bit scary slowing down, locking the rear wheels with down changes, but I was young then. Rear mounted Ford 351ci V8, 5 speed ZF transaxle. These are my photos at that time:

 

[Greenpeace]

Firstly, in 1970, a guy who was having trouble with his Shelby Mustang GT350 was referred to me to look at it privately, he became a regular acquaintance of mine, and as he ran a small construction company in the North West, trusted me with that car for months at a time, ostensibly for work to be done, but what a car to cruise about in! It was 1965 model 289ci V8, 4 speed alloy trans, factory extractors, dual point distributor, solid lifter valve train - all OE Shelby production. Haven't got my own photo but this is the model - they were all the same colour - It was possibly the first (only?) one in Australia:

View attachment 210717

There was an almost identical GT350 in SEQ in the early 80s, it was a 1966 though as it had the functional brake scoops on the back guards. My brother and I were mates with a couple of the local springworks owner's youngest sons.
We went to pick up my brother's XA Falcon springs and lo and behold there was a GT350 sitting in the workshop that they had just reset the back springs on. The middle son had already driven it and said " it goes pretty good for a 289". As the eldest (sensible) brother and their father were offsite fitting some heavy machinery springs the middle lad said "jump in".
The four of us piled in and began thrashing it up and down the streets around the springworks.
Not sure what the car's owner would have thought about four teenagers thrashing his pride and joy up and down, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
However it did go pretty good for a 289, especially considering there were 4 burly lads in it.

 

[Greenpeace]

I had only driven a clapped out Austin Freeway wagon and a Morris Minor 1000 when I bought my 3rd car, a well used 1972 Renault 16TS.
After the first two cars the Renault felt like an F111.

 

[Greenpeace]

When I was 14 I bought a 1972 T350 Suzuki Rebel at a local Yamaha dealers for $100. The only catch was it was a rolling chassis and the engine/transmission was in a wooden crate in a thousand pieces. A couple of gears had missing teeth in the 6 speed box but they were still available through Suzuki at around $20 each IIRC. Everything else was fine and I soon had it back together and running.
Its performance was a revelation after a diet of riding 50 to 125cc bikes beforehand. The first ride was also the first time a young Greenpeace had exceeded 100mph.
Fortunately we lived in rural Victoria at the time so I used to cane it around without interruption from Mr Plod.
Joe Eastmure on this model Suzuki won the Castrol 6 Hour outright in 1972, but was disqualified because his horn was missing.
He won the 500cc class on the same bike the following year, but the outright win went to the new Z1 900 Kawasaki.

I bought another T350 some 20 years later this time a 1970 model (smaller fuel tank), and the little bike still impressed me after all that time.

 

[Andy's first frenchie]

My experience is not as historic, cool or eclectic, but my most recent memorable ride is when I was recently looking for a commuter/grocery getter with a bit of fun, before deciding on purchasing my French Lemon (aka 207 GTi), I test drove a 2011 Ford Fiesta Metal with about 130,000km.
I've always known the Focus and Fiesta of that era were very good handling cars, even base models, but I've never driven any model.

The steering and chassis is quite amazing for an ordinary car and its the sharpest turning car I've ever driven. Perhaps a little too sharp as you change direction at the slightest movement of the steering wheel.

Keep in mind I come from the world of MX-5s and have driven every model, and many levels of modifications, except the latest ND.

I'm saddened that French Lemon isn't really comparable.

 

[Greenpeace]

I guess a memorable drive doesn't have to be just about speed and power, does it?

I bought my 1949 Morris J van from a car yard on Brisbane's Northside. It was in a yard that specialised in used light commercials and the oddly curved bright green roof sticking up above a sea of boring white attracted a passing Greenpeace like a moth to a flame.
Anyway (much to my wife's delight) I bought it and got a permit to drive it home.
Turned out the brakes were almost non existent so that made the return trip through the heart of Brisbane in peak hour traffic a "memorable drive". Of course the situation wasn't helped by all the Wallys slowing down and cutting in front to check out the oddity in their midst.

 

[Greenpeace]

Another non speed and power related "memorable ride" was when I bought my Harley Servicar. I bought it sight unseen up near Childers and the seller agreed to get a RWC and put 6 months rego on it.
Being full of "youthful" exuberance I decided I'd get my wife to drive me up there and I'd ride it home.
The seller had the machine ready to go: it was fueled up, oils checked, tyres checked etc
The bike isn't overly fast and is comfortable at 80kph. The Burnett "Highway" down through Ban Ban Springs was a shocker at the time. I spent as much time sideways completely out in the dirt, dodging white posts, as I did on the bitumen.
Every time I hit the endless sections of corrugations the rigid arse end would bounce right off the road. The big wide bars sprouting out the sides of the big headlight nacelle made me feel like I was trying to wrestle an angry Texas Longhorn.
I managed to make it home (after 5 hours riding) in one piece and got very sore in the chest and arms over the next few days.
I did a bit of research on the bike and noted the tyre pressures were only meant to be 16 psi.
The owner had taken the back wheels (Ford pattern) to his local tyre shop to get new tyres fitted for the RWC. The tyre shop duly fitted a pair of 245/60/14 car tyres to the car rims and inflated them to a car like 32psi. I dropped them down to Harley's recommended 16psi and instantly it was a whole new bike to ride.
That was 15 years ago and it still feels like yesterday. I still have the bike and for once the "sight unseen" was actually "as described". Got to win one sometimes I guess.

 

[Greenpeace]

The day I bought my Triumph Rocket 3, (I think about 8 or 9 years ago) I also test rode a V4 XVZ1300 Yamaha. The Yamaha was a really nice one owner bike, and I came very close to buying it on the spot and not even worrying about looking at the Trumpy.
I ended up thinking "bugger it" and continued on to Brisbane.
The Triumph was several years old and had been modified for more performance. The 2300cc inline triple itself was still standard, but it had been de-catted, had factory performance "mufflers" fitted, a performance air filter, the computer had been remapped and the electronic torque limiting had been removed.
I went out of the seller's drive, rolled the throttle on in first gear and had decided I was going buy the bike before I even made the shift into 2nd.
It made the 1300 Yamaha I'd just ridden feel like a postie bike.
I'd ridden plenty of fast bikes in my time, but it was the way that the Triumph delivered the power that was so impressive. Just rolling the throttle on it the first couple of gears had the 240 wide rear tyre completely overwhelmed and the bike snaked and weaved up the road, leaving a fat black line behind.
I still have the bike and don't ride it that often, but every time I do I end up grinning like the village idiot.
To put it in perspective, in it's current tune (at similar rpms) the bike has more power and torque than an early Range Rover V8, and it is also 1500kgs lighter.

 

[Greenpeace]

A recent "cookie in the pants" memorable moment.
At the top of one of the steepest hills in the district, contemplating 6" of fanbelt screwed/glued to a block of wood jamming into a 12" pulley being the only braking material on the Douglas. Big breath and away! Muttering to myself "stop, drop and roll, stop, drop and roll".
Oh wait, "drop, roll and stop, drop, roll and stop".
Anyhoo, in spite of the smell of burning rubber permeating the air by the halfway point, the brake did continue to keep the momentum down to an acceptable rate. Hallelujah!

 

[Greenpeace]

I bought my Reliant Regal from Perth sight unseen 7 years or so ago and had it delivered to a Brisbane depot. The seller had left the WA rego on it, so I got my wife to take me down there so I could drive it home.
Of course after being fed a diet of Mr Bean and Top Gear, I approached the trip home with a little apprehension.
Didn't take long though to realise that, from the driver's seat I had no idea how many wheels it actually had, it drove just like any other small car of a similar age.
The other thing I soon realised was that I was going to have to get used to having my photo taken, (a lot).
This photo was taken the day I got it home.

 

[The Gonz]

My old Seagate Barracuda - that was a fond blast from the past - among my best drives for its time.

 

[Graelin]

I sure we all have memories of driving (or riding) something special, and whether we owned it, tested it, bought it or borrowed it, the memory still holds strong.

I have several stand out experiences, but the most memorable was riding a twin shock 6 cylinder CBX 1000 Honda when I was in my early 20s. It was for sale in a local bike shop and a young Greenpeace didn't notice that the long, fairly flat seat had been Armoralled. I got out of earshot of the dealers and cracked the throttle, the only thing that kept me on the bike was my legs hooking onto the back blinkers as my lower body shot backwards off the bike. I had a cookie in my pants that day.
I didn't end up buying it, I bought a much cheaper XS1100 Yamaha instead.

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[Graelin]

I owned aCBX twice. I sold lots of things that I should not have lol