442much

Karen and I were coming back from my friend's (boss) 60th birthday party at his car garage. They had the event catered and hired a live band. We danced while the 442's, Hurst/Olds, Starfires, Judges and Camaro's and Vettes were parked along the wall.

It was a nice day so I brought my 442. About 11:30 pm we decided to leave because my youngest son had a football game the next day and he was at a friends, so go pick him up and head home.

I was driving on the way home at about 60. The road then continues into the acreage's (homes that are on a minimum 3 acres of land). It is very dark and wooded. I slowed to about 50, which is the speed limit there, and suddenly see this deer jump on to the road about 30 ft in front of me. I hit the brakes and turned the wheel and the tires started howling. As I got closer I released the brakes and continued straighting the car out while the deer jumped back in the bush. For the longest time it looked like he was just standing there looking at me....like a deer in the headlights.

Anyway, after we got around him (I don't think we went any slower than 40 miles per hour), Karen says to me "Did you see the size of his eyes when he say us?" I said "Did you see the size of my eyes when I saw him?" The whole event probally took about 2-3 seconds but felt like 2-3 minutes. I remember clearly looking at the deer just standing there looking at us, the car swerved and I could hear the tires, I saw the deer turn around and jump back into the forest. I remember the car straighting out and continuing on and it was all one fluid motion. Brakes, tires howling, car swerving, brakes released, car straighting, foot on the gas, and talking about it. Karen kept saying "I can't believe we didn't hit him. How did we not hit him.?"

I remember looking at her and saying, "I can get the hood, I have an extra header panel, a rad is not to hard to replace, but where in Hell would I get a fender? It would probably have to come from AZ." She started laughing and said "Was that all you were thinking of?" I said "No, once I get the parts I was thinking that I'd have to get it painted again and the folks on Classic Oldsmobile would want pictures." She probably thinks CO is a local parts store.

Anyway, I happy to say that I had new tires and brakes on the car and they worked great. I'm also happy to report that no animals or Oldsmobile were harmed in the telling and acting out of this story.

AZ442

Nice to have good brakes when you really need them. Funny how the female and male brains work.

good to here all is well.

stevengerard

wow, great job avoiding both kills, the deer and the 442 - and you guys. Man that would be scary. I always joke with my wife, I'll heal the 442 doesn't.

Danny Boy

I'm glad you are safe...I bet there are skid marks in your underwear as well as on the road.

After that did you feel the flat spots on the tires as you were driving home?

Olds64

Good to hear that you and the wife and the Olds are ok!

joe_padavano

You're lucky. My wife and I have had a few run-ins with deer. I had one run into the SIDE of my dually, cracking a fiberglass dually fender.

I punted one about 30-40 ft with our 93 Allante. The stupid animal jumped directly in front of the car from a wooded embankment on the side of the road with absolutely no warning. You don't want to know what a used aluminum Allante hood and grille goes for. Makes an original W-25 hood look like a Camaro part. Fortunately, insurance covered that one.

My wife had a string of annual deer hunting expeditions with her 1990 Civic. One even put a hoof through the windshield. I now keep a stockpile of good Civic headlights on hand.

BlackGold

I had an incident similar to Ken's story, except that the deer didn't stop in front of me but continued across the road. Instinctively I stood on the brakes anyway. Good thing I did, because right behind the first deer came two more. My alertness, instinct, and good tires and brakes saved the car, deer, and maybe me.

My nightmare is what Joe described, where there is no time to react at all. I had a pheasant do that to me once on the interstate at dusk. He came out of nowhere at head height. His wing brushed the windshield but there was no impact. I never even lifted from the gas pedal, it happened so fast. All I knew was one moment there was nothing but clear road in front of me, the next, a large bird just inches from my face.

Aron Nance

I'lll be brief as I can. Living in Columbus, OH, headed south on IH70, toward town, 5 PM. Saw a car almost stopped on the entrance ramp (going my way), and a car coming up behind him, at speed). I'm thinking uh-oh. Sure enough, fast car plowed the near. stopped one, veered left, straight across the freeway. I'm watching all this, at 60 MPH, thinking "where am I going to hit that car"? Left front? Then, no, middle, driver's door. THEN: no, left rear. Still haven't slowed down, nor speeded up. Felt my car "nudge" a fraction as I touched the back bumper as the car went by me, in front. I continued south, he hit the median, head on, hard. Traffic behind me stopping to assist him; I boogied about another 1/4 mile, pulled to the side, and had great difficulty getting out of the car, to just stand up. Do not remember if seat was wet, or not. Bad case of the shakes, though.

bil

Years ago I had a deer hit me! I saw it out of the corner of my eye,he made a big leap,caught the passenger side fender of my new Subaru wagon,I swerved just before he hit.Just hit the fender and went over the roof.I stopped and told the (now ex) wife NOT to open her door.I got out and looked-no damage,but the fender was pushed back about 1/4 inch.I told her again not to open the door,so she did-folded the leading edge of the door and the back edge of the fender.At first I was mad,then I figured,her Subaru,not my Olds,her problem! Glad to hear all of you were OK. ---bil

OLD SKL 69

I killed one a few years ago with my 85 Riviera Convertible. It jumped over a row of hedges and landed in the road about 5 feet in front of me. I hit it head on with my bumper. Only damage I had was a cracked headlight bezel. Car was built like a tank. Wish I still had it.

citcapp

scary ride, it seems like time stands still when thing like that happen. glad everything turned out alright.

The year 1963 Vehicle 1947 ford pickup, Place Bothell, WA out in the sticks
Halloween night. Heading home from a party with two buddies in the front of the truck, passed by a 56 Tbird with two chicks decided we should catch them. Grabbed second gear and hammered the full race flatty for all she was worth. On a strange road gaining on the taillights, all of the sudden couldn't see them any more came over a rise and what do I see but one of those signs with a right angle arrow and a 25 mile an hour curve sign, Hit the brakes started to slide sideways, tried to straighten it out, almost pulled it off but the left rear wheel caught the gravel and that was all she wrote. Hit a line of mail boxes sideways, then into the ditch rolled it 3-1/ time landing on the drivers side. It was weird like a carnival ride. When we came to a stop we were all lying in a heap on drivers door. My two friends said they were ok. We pulled ourselves out of they truck and saw head lights bouncing across the field towards us. It was the farmer in an old power wagon. He asked if we were ok, he offered to pull the 47 back on its wheels, which he did. The roof and the right front and rear fenders where in bad shape other then that it looked drivable. I had to agree to replace the mail boxes and fix the fence and he would not call the cops which I did. The next day Danny did not show up for school come to find out he broke his wrist in the accident, told his dad he did it playing football with us. Man were we lucky. Never saw the Tbird again. Facing my dad when he saw the damage was a whole nother story

442much

Thanks for all the good wishes. Me and that car have been through a lot. But she's always performed well enough to keep me from hitting anything. When I first bought her I had been out west for 6 months. This was the first car I ever bought and even got a loan from the bank without a cosigner. I mean I was raking it in. $4.25 and all I could eat. I worked at a hotel in the banquet department.

I was so excited about my new car that I wanted to show my dad. So, I packed the car and headed east. I left the City of Calgary and 36 hours and 2300 miles later I was in Montreal.

On that trip I travelled though Canada. I got to the lake head and the sun was just coming up. I was doing about 85-90 miles per hour because I was indestructible. One part of the Trans-Canada had a rock face on the right leading into a forest and on the left was Lake Superior. I took the wide corner at 85, and liked listening to the tires squeel as I took it. Before it straightened out I see this moose trot onto the road from the right.

It's funny how the mind works and how fast options come to you in emergency situations. I thought that if I hit the brakes on a curved road the wheels will lock and I'll end up in the lake. If I don't brake I'm going to have a front seat passenger and there was no one around to help. If I try to go around him I'll take the inside to hold the corner but if I don't get it right the rock face and I will be mutually removed. Fortunately for me, the moose and the Canadian wilderness a forth option presented itself. Upon hearing the car come squeeling around the corner, and me on the horn the moose got scared and took off toward the lake. So, all I did was take my foot off the gas.

That was the only time before this time, that I had a close call with an animal. If this was Death Race 2000 I'd be 0-2. On driving back, I took my time...Montreal to Calgary in 43 hours. I neglected to tell my dad this story.

GoodOldsGuyDougie

I thought this was going to be about a Race with a Chevy Impala!

dk-52

Dya get them brakes at Pep Boys?.................

442much

Don't have Pep Boys here. Got them at Alberta Brake and Clutch with lifetime on the discs an pads and 3 years on rotors and workmanship. Forgot to mention the shocks were new too. Got them at Midas in 1985 (guaranteed for life). This is my third free set (2009).

svnt442

I got one for ya. This was in Palatine Illinois about 7 years ago. It was about 1:30 am and a couple friends of mine were going through a wooded residential area on a 2 lane road with a 45 MPH speed limit on motorcycles. A deer jumped from the woods and went between them. It was close. The deer just missed the front bike and the rear bike just missed the deer. That was a scary one for sure.

BOOWAH

Coming back from a Car Show in rural Pa., my wife leading the way in our 80 Cutlass with me behind in the 72 Cutlass, we were approaching a slow moving vehicle ahead. Taking advantage of a passing zone on the 2 lane road, my wife pulled out to pass the slow mover and I followed. Just as I was approaching his left quarter, he put on his left turn signal. Being in his blind spot, I floored it and sped past. What I didn't know is that a car behind me intended to follow me through. When I checked the rear view to assure the driving lane was clear for me to reenter, I saw that car bounce off the right side guardrail, swerve across both lanes and hook it's bumper into the wire guard rail on the left side. It flew up in the air about 20 feet and began rolling down the embankment over and over at least 6 times until it landed on it's wheels at the bottom.
My wife and I turned around and went back, expecting no survivors. When we got there, five of the six people who had been in the car were standing outside of it. The front seat passenger was trapped by the seat belt and we had to cut it to get him out. The knees of his pants were gone and the holes they left were bloody. Virtually nothing was left of the car. The irony was that the driver who had slowed to turn left felt like the accident had been his fault. They were an elderly couple and were severely shaken up. After my initial worry about potental fatalities subsided, I had time to reflect. If I had been 2 seconds slower in passing, It would have been me at the bottom of that embankment! Thanks Oldsmobile for that good old Rocket 350!

mike's88

Reading the headline, brought cold sweat to my forehead, thinking,"Oh no, not another 1?!" Glad all came out in 1 piece.