Comments:
First time must have been around 1995 ... i remember passing a bunch of young girls in a Ford Escort Convertible at 250 kph on the highway ... .
Second time some 5 years ago i had to test a bike that had engine (or mapping) problems, it stalled after a few kilometers.
Ran Out of Gas Today
Arrgh.
While I was waiting in the bright sunshine, by the side of the road, with a gentle breeze cooling my brow, and as my wife kindly volunteered to walk one block back to the station,
This time in 2002 at the end of a 5000 mile road trip, when we ran out of gas in the Jag XK140, just 2 miles short of my friend's home. But he was driving and it was his car, so that had to be his fault? We both walked for it.
There was another time in 2002, but this time I was driving the Chevy Corvair Rampside Pickup with my wife and we coasted to a stop near a business park where I used to work. I hoofed it a mile, while my wife waited, got a can from a buddy and it wasn't too bad an experience (though embarassing to give my old pals a good laugh).
Then once in 1999 while test driving a prospective car to buy, we ran out about a mile from where we'd set out. I just walked back to my car, declining the chance to put in a bid on this car - a Lotus Esprit with a Ford Taurus SHO/Yamaha engine transplant. (ripples due to bent photo, not heat waves or Lotus fiberglass faults).
A happier day when we were featured in a magazine article
(so it was a short wait), I thought about all the other times I've run out of gas.
Prior experiences include:
This time in 2002 at the end of a 5000 mile road trip, when we ran out of gas in the Jag XK140, just 2 miles short of my friend's home. But he was driving and it was his car, so that had to be his fault? We both walked for it.
There was another time in 2002, but this time I was driving the Chevy Corvair Rampside Pickup with my wife and we coasted to a stop near a business park where I used to work. I hoofed it a mile, while my wife waited, got a can from a buddy and it wasn't too bad an experience (though embarassing to give my old pals a good laugh).
Then once in 1999 while test driving a prospective car to buy, we ran out about a mile from where we'd set out. I just walked back to my car, declining the chance to put in a bid on this car - a Lotus Esprit with a Ford Taurus SHO/Yamaha engine transplant. (ripples due to bent photo, not heat waves or Lotus fiberglass faults).
And I can recall an incident in Guildford, Surrey right near the Cathedral, when we lived in the UK in 1992. My English-built 2CV just stopped dead in its tracks. I can't remember how we got fuel but I do recall it wasn't raining, and it wasn't far to go.
A happier day when we were featured in a magazine article
The only other incident I recall was when my Chrysler Imperial Crown Coupe stopped on the freeway only a few minutes after I bought it (with 3/4 of a tank showing). This was in 1982 or so. When I finally trudged up to the used car lot after a 1 hour walk on a hot day in flip-flop sandals, they said "Oh, didn't we tell you the gas gauge doesn't work?"
Am I the only hard-luck, risk-taking fool, or has someone else here got a story or two to tell?
Cazalea
I experienced it....
three times and neither time was easy-going. First time in a European city center as a passenger in my father's Golf MkI the car stopped dead in the middle of a very busy intersection and I had to help him push it a few hundred feet to safety (super embarrassing). He was behind the wheel and the only reason for it happening was his extreme frugality which meant he was accustomed to driving until it was running on fumes so he could optimally measure fuel consumption. Second time was by myself in West LA on Pico blvd heading East from Centinela, fortunately the truck started back up after 3 or 4 attempts and I was able to drive to the nearest station a couple of minutes away from where I had involuntarily stopped. Most recently was heading North on La Cienega toward Santa Monica blvd when my Tacoma simply ran out of fumes and I was fortunate to be able to pull to the side of the road and then walk half a mile North to the Chevron station off of Formosa to get a gallon of gas and bring it back to the vehicle. All in all, lucky not to have had more incidents or something worse happen when they did occur 
. Your photos are priceless! Cheers, Filip
. Your photos are priceless! Cheers, Filip
Hmmm...having trouble cutting and pasting from a WORD doc, so I had to add it as an image... [nt]
No message body
You run out of gas with class! ;) It only happened once, to me. And I was lucky I was only at 300 meters from the gas station... [nt]
No message body
Twice !
First time must have been around 1995 ... i remember passing a bunch of young girls in a Ford Escort Convertible at 250 kph on the highway ... .
On my way back i passed them again at top speed .
.A few kilometers after the exit the bike stalled and immediately i knew i forgot to with it to 'reserve' ... the Escort convertible passed me with all the girls laughing and making fun at me .
.After over 100 cars denying to stop for help (yes, this is Europe) i finally found a guy ready to lend me his bicycle so i could get some fuel 2 km down the road.
As a comparison, this year i had a dead battery on my rental car in Jerusalem, the first car i stopped immediately offered help.
Second time some 5 years ago i had to test a bike that had engine (or mapping) problems, it stalled after a few kilometers.
As i was on the highway doing 130 kph it suddenly stalled again. Luckily i just managed to go from the left lane to the entrance of a petrol station , talking about being lucky it didn't stall in the middle of nowhere.
I was wondering what had happened but when i checked the tank it was empty (fuel light didn't work off course). So i had to walk the last 5 meters to fill it up . Talking about Bim's luck !!!
. Talking about Bim's luck !!!Bim
3 times - albeit 2 still had fuel in the tank
1) As a summer student job I used to work harvests: driving combines, running grain trailers and working down the soil for next years seed - all with some enormous farm kit. Once ran out of diesel in one of these late at night luckily in a field rather than the road - decided to walk back to the farm a few miles away and deal with it in the morning. At daybreak I took another tractor & diesel bowser, put a few gallons in the Ford then had to bleed the injector pump of air locks and that’s each of 8 cylinders on this 14L beast.
(Not the actual tractor but same type)
(Not the actual tractor but same type)
2) Mali - between Mopti and Timbuktu in a beaten up Nissan Landcruiser. Tank was half full but we’d filled up via jerry cans from roadside ‘garage’ at the last stop before desert part - the diesel must have been contaminated and about half hour later the engine misfires, judders & stops. We knew the likely problem but had no means to sort it, so rigged a tarp on the shade side & lied down (on mats - the ‘cran-cran’ - needle sharp leaf litter riddled the sand) out of the direct heat and plenty of water and Scottish beverage and to await a passing vehicle. Some 2 hrs later a truck stopped and helped us drain the tank, clean filters etc & donated enough clean diesel (still recal that taste of the syphon - yuk!) to complete the trip - we repaid his help with half a bottle of JW red label and he was VERY happy.
3) Fuel starvation from Madrid heat in a Jensen FF - caught in slow traffic in city 30+ degrees & the fuel started vaporising before it got to the injector pump. Not a light car to push off the road and with blaring horns of disgruntled drivers in your ears. Managed to get it to the side & waited an hour with hood up for engine to cool and rush hr traffic to disperse. With some clear road all was OK.
Reminds me of this quote:
Music has always been a matter of Energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel. I have always needed Fuel. I am a serious consumer. On some nights I still believe that a car with the gas needle on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio.
👌😎
Fascinating thread..I got nothing but I got more break-up stories than break-down stories. [nt]
No message body