QOTD: What Was Your Most Memorable Test Drive?

Having been on a few trips to the dealer lately, this question comes naturally. Well, not because any great thrills arose from my visit to the local Hyundai retailer, but older memories are often shaken loose through mundane experiences.

The dealer experience isn’t normally one that inspires an upturning of the corners of your mouth. Frankly, if I never had to walk into one again, I’d be a happy man. But joy — and terror — can be found in many places. Good or bad, what dealer test drive memory stands out in your mind?

For my dad, it was the economical car that nearly killed him. Having just landed a job, dad headed on down to the local Volkswagen dealer to see if this diminutive little car he’d seen in ads was actually worth driving. Maybe long-haired flower power resided in its tiny engine compartment (it was 1968).

The test drive went well, I recall him saying, until he approached a stop sign located immediately after a sharp little turn. A hook, really. Coming up to the stop sign under moderate braking (or so he claimed), the VW lifted its inner rear wheel to such heights, emergency countersteering was required to prevent a rollover. The Beetle was returned to the dealer unscathed, and the unnerving episode compelled my dad to head to the Ford lot in search of a Falcon.

For me, the most joyful test drive memory originated at a dumpy used car lot in my final year of high school.

Up here in Canuckistan, there once existed a strange entity: Grade 13. No longer in existence, this grade saw students attend maybe half a day’s worth of (essentially useless) classes, interspersed with stretches of boredom. What to do? If you were like me and my friends, you went car shopping. Usually, $1,000 served as the price ceiling.

This particular BHPH lot accepted society’s dregs. Rusty, beaten-up compacts, mostly, plus a strong contingent of flaking midsizes with opaque headlight lenses (this was the turn of the century, mind you — the only clear headlights were of the sealed beam variety). It wasn’t these rolling pillars of mediocrity that tempted my little group, however — it was the bargain basement land barges left over from brighter days, sitting ignored and unwanted in the far corners of the lot. I’ll forever regret missing out on that light blue Lincoln Mk. VI ($1,000 obo).

One day, a pristine ’89 Grand Marquis appeared, looking dignified and aspirational with its turbine-style wheels, whitewall tires, and vinyl top. Inside, soft blue benches beckoned. Bingo! To be honest, none of us actually entertained the possibility of buying it, but who’s going to turn down a chance to live out their greatest car chase fantasy? And so, grandma’s old car got the workout of its life. The old Merc’s 302 V8, floaty suspension, and over-assisted steering worked just as expected. Wider grins were never seen.

So what’s your best test drive memory? New or used, frustrating or uplifting — surely you have a story. Let us know in the comments.

[Image: Hemmings]