Show Us Your 1:1 Scale Car!

My 1:1's and loose model renditions.





The Avalanche hanging off the road is a true story.

Some 15+ years ago on a beautify sunny March day, my son, age 7, and I went train chasing in Central PA.  We took some of the usual routes and latched on to the NS mixed freight and just kept following it.  We'd race ahead, stop at a crossing and watch it go by.  Race ahead and do it again and again.

We started to get into unfamiliar territory which was very sparce.  I had a GPS in this 2008 Avalanche and it had RR tracks on the map.  So, I just followed the road that was closest to the tracks.  

We got to this mountain and started going up.  Switch backs, curves and roads that started to look more like trails.  But the GPS said the road went all the way around and back down, so we stayed with it.

I probably should have stopped, when the road turned to dirt and a sign said, "Continue at your own risk".  But we still had road, and the tracks were right below us.  But a good way down.

We came around this curve on to the north side of the mountain and it was nothing but ice.  It was a beautiful day but the ice from the hard winter is the last thing to melt on the north shady side of the mountain.

Very slowly I started to back up.  But the truck kept sliding right toward the edge of the drop off.  I tried to turn the wheel left to swing the back end back onto the road but the more I did that the more I kept going toward the edge of the road.  

I was able to stop, got my son out of the truck put him on the other side of the road and gave him the cell phone.  I told him, if I go over the edge, call 911.  He was a brave kid.  I could see his eyes welling up, but he stayed strong.

I got back in the truck... forward was no longer an option.  There was so much ice, that forward just kept getting me closer to the edge.  Backwards should have worked... turn the wheel left and back up, swing that rear back on the road.  But that kept getting me closer to the edge as well.

Finally, in desperation and against everything I thought was right, I turned the wheel right, put in in reverse, hit the gas and somehow the truck swung around in a direction it was not supposed to go.  I was right in the middle of the road pointed down the mountain.

My son jumped back in the truck and we slowly proceeded home.  About halfway home, I said, "Well... that was interesting.  Any lessons learned?"  My son, right on queue replied, "When the sign says proceed at your own risk... turn around".

Smart Kid.  We did this model scene to remember that day.  But I don't think either one of us will ever forget it.

No new tech here; the wife has a fifteen year-old Saturn Vue and I'm flogging a pair of old roadsters, '67 Sprite and '01 Z3:





The Sprite is currently laid up with misdiagnosed brake issues; BMW is my "daily" driver.