Another airport beater car story

Let'sgoflying!

Let'sgoflying!

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Dave Taylor
Didn't we have a post on the worst and best airport beater cars we'd driven? I had one yesterday that made me question my sanity. If it was an airplane, no one would have thought of even getting in! I should probably have my d.l. revoked for using such poor decision making with regard to accepting it, but it was this or the entire trip was a waste. Arriving at the car, I could tell there was something amiss immediately - it was much lower on one corner than the others. Someone had changed the tire, and put an idiot spare on the front right. I believe you aren't supposed to do that, you are supposed to move a good tire to the 'steering end'.(?) I went and asked for another car but they said, 'that's it'. Getting in, I notice it has the required reg and safety inspection stickers. Too bad they are 3 years out of date! Kinda hot yesterday afternoon, so I push the down button on the windows --- ooops! the entire switch housing just descended into the armrest and can't be reached now! I fish it out and my window doesn't work at all, got the others cracked open with the hope they will close again. Car starts! yay! Oops...1/32 of a tank of fuel, hope we can make the nearest station. A/C 'on'....hmmm must have lost the refrigerant charge, hot air. Set the rear view mirror. Scratch that, no rear view mirror! Just a wire dangling where it connected to the map lamp or something. How about the side mirrors. RH one....missing. Check. LH one...present but non-adjustable. Check.
There was more fun but I have to check in at work.
We survived but I stuck to the residential roads, furtively looking over my shoulder for police cars :(
 
HA! Wow, that was hilarious - I'm nearly crying..

I've never had anything that bad, but over at HFD we grabbed a courtesy car that was like a 1995 Ford Windstar minivan with a flashing yellow strobe on top. All sorts of problems with it. Had a nice laugh, but hey, it's free! Can't beat that.
 
Best Beater I ever got was the ramp plow truck at Racine. This was a 1987 red Jeep Commanche pickup truck (manual transmission with a shot clutch). The kicker was that it was in June, and the plow blade was still attached. I wish I had taken some pictures.

Pete
 
My favorite "loaner" airport car came from Custer, SD. The airport manager drove us to his house where he had an old Jeep CJ7 with a four speed. What a blast that was to drive around Custer and Mt. Rushmore. I hated to give it back!
 
Anthony said:
My favorite "loaner" airport car came from Custer, SD. The airport manager drove us to his house where he had an old Jeep CJ7 with a four speed. What a blast that was to drive around Custer and Mt. Rushmore. I hated to give it back!
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My favorite place! :)
 
Excerpts from a story I've yet to finish about my trip to Montana in an Ercoupe with my best friend. This was in South Dakota after a very long day of flying.

The FBO guy had told me there would be a car waiting next to the building, and there it was: a heap of an early 1990’s-vintage car. And I mean a heap. It was rusty, crusty, and falling apart. Julie and I checked around just to make sure there were no other cars. Nope, this was the one. We wrestled the squeaky doors open and threw our bags in the back seat. The key was in the ignition. It started—barely—and that’s when I noticed that the windshield was just about one spider-web-like crack away from shattering. I figured out how to turn on the headlights, which pointed in two different directions, and drove toward the gate.

....

As I was walking away from the car, Julie asked, “Did you lock the doors?” I hadn’t bothered to, but I supposed it would be a good idea, so I turned around and locked them. It was a struggle considering that one of the back doors didn’t want to open. I locked each door one by one. I don’t know if power locks were invented before this car.

...

When we got back to our mobile junkyard of a car we found that the passenger side door opened right up despite me locking it. There was just something hilarious about that so we started laughing. Julie climbed in. I went to my side and unlocked my door. It unlocked with the key but I couldn’t get it to open. The handle lifted but it didn’t seem to grab anything, and the door wouldn’t budge. We laughed harder. I yanked on the door as Julie tried to push it from the inside. We shook the whole car trying hard to open the door. I buckled over in laughter and stepped back. We were dying to get to our hotel after having problems and delays, and now we couldn’t get the car door to open so I could get in. It was so hilarious and sad, this place we were in and this piece of junk we were driving. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. The door handle had a piece of wire sticking out of it that was probably someone’s sloppy repair job. I figured one false move and the handle would fall off in my hand. Julie and I wrenched on the door one more time. It finally opened...
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I missed out on that jeep at Custer last summer. Had to settle for a convertible from the local Chevy dealer. The car came with a parking pass to Rushmore, which was a nice touch.

Jon
 
Kate, Why oh why did you try to lock an airport junk heap???? It's not like any theif in their right mind would steal it!
 
I grew up in Custer. The only time you lock your car doors is during zucchini harvest time - If you don't you'll have a car full of zucchini
 
gkainz said:
I grew up in Custer. The only time you lock your car doors is during zucchini harvest time - If you don't you'll have a car full of zucchini
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Too funny. Do they have a Zucchini parade also? :D

Loved Custer and the Black Hills, can't wait to get back to the west.
 
When I flew in there a few years back it wasn't a Jeep but a station wagon. Man, that thing was bad, but not as bad as you're describing. We had the electric system quit on us as we're driving out of the airport, so the speedometer goes to zero. It got us to the hotel, though, and we drove it through the herd of bison without getting trampled!
 
On the other extreme, at Houston Hobby a few yr ago I got a Jaguar. I mean a real Jag!! I was almost afraid to drive it. I didn't think I have enough auto insurance to cover even the slightest ding!
Of course I looked sooo cool pulling into the Subway to get a 6" mesquite chicken sandwich, in a jag.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
On the other extreme, at Houston Hobby a few yr ago I got a Jaguar. I mean a real Jag!! I was almost afraid to drive it. I didn't think I have enough auto insurance to cover even the slightest ding!
Of course I looked sooo cool pulling into the Subway to get a 6" mesquite chicken sandwich, in a jag.
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Don't all the Signatures have Jags? When I went into Lunken (Cincinnati), a pilot I was meeting up with, who went to Signature, had a Jag.
 
gprellwitz said:
Don't all the Signatures have Jags?
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It's the MillionAirs that have Jags, at least some of them do, the one at Hobby for sure. I've also had a Hummer and a Mini Cooper as courtesy cars.
 
Missa said:
Kate, Why oh why did you try to lock an airport junk heap???? It's not like any theif in their right mind would steal it!
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Because we hadn't checked in at the hotel yet and still had our bags in the car. Otherwise I would have left it open and encouraged someone to please put it out of its misery... :D
 
Everskyward said:
It's the MillionAirs that have Jags, at least some of them do, the one at Hobby for sure. I've also had a Hummer and a Mini Cooper as courtesy cars.
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We had to stop at the MillionAir in Albany, NY last night...they had a BMW 3-series.
 
Everskyward said:
It's the MillionAirs that have Jags, at least some of them do, the one at Hobby for sure. I've also had a Hummer and a Mini Cooper as courtesy cars.
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Thanks, I couldn't remember for sure. I typically can't afford either of them, though sometimes they're the only game in town. Of course, there are perqs!
 
Everskyward said:
Do they look at you funny when you pull up in a 1900 full of pax?
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Hahaha, I'm sure they would. We were doing an empty mx ferry...it was just a little before midnight when we pulled in there to get gas. I think the TSA would deposit bricks if we let pax off at an FBO.

We parked next to a Piper something (SE recip, long nose, retract, really nice) and got a really strange look from the family when they came out to their plane. We also parked next to Santana's plane...he was in town for a concert. Nice plane, too.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
On the other extreme, at Houston Hobby a few yr ago I got a Jaguar. I mean a real Jag!! I was almost afraid to drive it. I didn't think I have enough auto insurance to cover even the slightest ding!
Of course I looked sooo cool pulling into the Subway to get a 6" mesquite chicken sandwich, in a jag.
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Yeah, not surprised about the Jag there - Hobby is actually their corporate HQ. Also, if it was a Subway near Hobby, I'm sure you did look cool - that's not the nicest area of town! Ric lives near there, and he's a braver man than I...
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Didn't we have a post on the worst and best airport beater cars we'd driven? I had one yesterday that made me question my sanity.
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Dave, I just found this thread...how funny. I laughed and laughed at your description. I know it isn't supposed to be funny, but.....:D
 
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