old yellow 78
Well-Known Member
It was such a nice day today that when I got home from work, I decided to take OY on a 30 mile round trip to the house I've been working on. The route takes me through a state park, and I was cruising along at about 40 MPH when suddenly a deer comes trotting out from the brush on the right side, right in front of me. I braked hard and turned left, tires screeching because the rear wheels locked up. The rear end started to come around to the right, so I turned right and then the rear started to slide left. I almost lost it completely and almost slammed it into the guard rail! It felt like it could easily have rolled over! Scared the crap out of me! I don't know what happened to the deer, but luckily I didn't hit it. I was REALLY lucky that I didn't completely lose control, I know I very nearly did. It made me realize several things: 1. OY's power brakes are WAY too "power", and I am so used to anti-lock brakes. 2. I am not at all used to OY's newly installed, but ancient power steering which is REALLY touchy, but I am used to the variable assist of modern cars. I'm sure that I oversteered trying to correct the slides due to it being so touchy. 3. It's perhaps interesting to be able to say "it still has the original shocks on it", but even though they only have 30K miles on them, they are still 39 years old and have the body roll resistance of a marshmallow. They will be replaced VERY soon now. 4. If I would have had to hit the guard rail, it likely would have been the end of OY. Strange how the mind works, but I was thinking just that even as I was trying to get it back under control. When I got to the house, I decided to just leave OY there and drive my truck back home with it's airbags, antilocks, and tangible power steering - it rattled me that much. I didn't want to take the chance of driving OY back at dusk with Bambi's lurking behind every tree, plus I don't care as much about the truck. Whew! Lucky day.
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