No shit there I was.... stranded!!

[Claire]

Tell your story about being stranded with your V-dub or other car.

Here's mine-

Last night I was scheduled to do a live internet streaming audio broadcast with an Oakland Raiders group. (I run a large bay area pirate group) I arrived almost an hour early and decided it would be a good idea to fill my tank before the broadcast, since it was likely to run late.

So off I go in search of gas... It took me a good half an hour to locate a gas station and by that time, as they are few and far between in that part of town, I'd completely lost my sense of direction. (man did I feel stupid!)

So after filling up, I call the pirates I'm meeting for directions and as I'm trying to shift gears with a cell phone in my hand... I stall the engine. I try to start it... and flood it. Oh crap.

No shit there I was... stranded in about the toughest neighborhood in Oakland in the middle of the street outside a run-down laundrymat. So I start pushing my bug out of the street, very glad that I hadn't yet changed in to my pirate gear.

Then 4 homeless guys come help me.

That was all good, until they tell me to get in my car- and that they are hungry and want some money- and for me to take them to go get hamburgers. Um... yikes.

They are all leaning in the windows with their hands in the cab and I've got my purse on the seat with my wallet right on top. I'm in the parking lot, pretty much surrounded by these guys.

So I pull out a $20 and tell them thanks very much, that they did a great job and to get 4 hamburgers, but that I can't take them anywhere. So I sit tight for about 5 minutes, call the crew on the phone to let 'em know where I am, while my engine gets itself together. Fortunately after a few minutes, the engine fired right back up and I was able to make my getaway!
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Custom cars need love too!!

[nik]

How many hobos did you run over on the way out of there?
nik
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It ain't easy being cheesy
Analyze this, Biotch!
WTD: Early "Wrap Around" dash pad

[Claire]

None, they were off getting hamburgers once they realized I couldn't take them in a bug that wouldn't start!
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Custom cars need love too!!

[CarreraRS2.7]

And by hamburgers you mean cheap bottles of wine...
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If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.

Gigi: Saturn Yellow 1974 Karmann Ghia Cabriolet

El Barto: Rosso 2017 Fiat 500 Abarth

[Zarana-X]

[Brandon314159]

1st gear baby...its for mowing down the hobos!

[VWsk8rgrl]

When I lived in La Jolla (snobby area of town), my 67 bus broke down at a light on a hill...I was screwed. Nobody would help me...at the time I had a shaved head (because hair is over rated) and I was wearing a mini skirt ,some fishnets, and my fred perry (looking all kinds of Rude Girl) and nobody would stop. Until finally a fellow VW bus driver drove by and turned around and helped tow me and my bus back to my house.. I love those guys. My engine ended up seizing on me, but that is a whole other sad story.
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I've got the LOVE for VW's....ALWAYS...that is all that matters!!!

[69calibug]

I got 2- My Beetle's idle started dropping on my way home, so I had to stay on the gas at intersections. It stalled on the stoplight on main street, and wouldn't start! I'd had this problem before, usually rectified by hitting the starter with a hammer or crowbar. Now I'm in the middle of the street, and people are honking. Some nice guy got came over and pushed me up onto the curb. I found a random metal pipe in the back, hit it a few times, and I was on my way

The second time, I was driving back from the junkyard one day, and it started to rain. I was driving down a country road, and all of a sudden the car fills with smoke. Shit. I pull over as quick as possible and shut it off, and I sat there with the fire extinguisher ready. Most of the wiring under the hood just fried itself within 2 seconds. I had no phone, so I went to the closest house to use one. I met this strange old guy in his barn tending to his horses, and he let me use the phone to call AAA and a ride home. He told me he had a few old cars in his garage, and he's let me have a look when the rain stopped. The first car was a mint '71 Cadillac with about 21K on it, that he still drove from time to time. The second was a teal green '65 Mustang fastback, all original with 46K on the clock. He took it away from his son in 1974 after he was seen driving wrecklessly around town, and it had sat there ever since. Completely strait with original worn paint, perfect interior and chrome, a real beauty. I got the feeling he would sell it, but he knew what it was worth. The guy still lives there and I see him driving around, and I've never once seen that garage open. Someday I may pay him a visit with cash
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'69 Beetle, '69 Beetle Convertible

[benmac]

one day i was crusin around and it was raining out. when all of a sudden i couldn’t see out of my rear window. i look at my dash and my temp gauge is blinking and all the way to the right. so im doing about 50 when i noticed it i didn’t react and flew into this bank and nearly hit two cars in the parking lot

it get my fire extinguisher out and start looking around for the fire because of all the smoke. now keep in mind its pouring out. well three hours later i start to head home. going 10 feet then the smoke. took another hour to get home.

turns out i hit a bump and caused my coolant line to break. and my fluid was leaking on the trans and burning up. but also causing the engine to over heat.

still raining, good times

[Fish]

[sickbug19]

Huh, coolant line Then I saw that you drive a vanagon

[trents72]

Last time I drove mine I got stranded twice. I was working on my other car and had to make a hardware store run. It's about 8 miles away. Made it there with no problems but on the way back stalled it at a stop on an incline. Tried to start it but the battery was dead. A guy came by and helped me push it to flat ground and off the road. Then about 5 minutes later this elderly lady comes by and asks if I need help. I asked if she had jumpers and she said no but insisted on going home and getting a pair. So she came back with a set and as we were waiting she begins to tell me how her and her friends used to all drive VWs back in the day. I just sat there in aw listening to her. She said she would always stop to help a fellow VW owner

Then about 2 hours later I had to make a parts store run which was about 5 miles away. Of course stalled it at a light in rush hour traffic and I was the first car at the light :/ so everybody was ticked off at me. Again the battery crapped out even though after sitting for two hours it had enough juice to crank. So I sat there for 5 minutes and called a few friends but had no luck. I started to push the car backwards when finally a nice lady (younger this time) asks me if I need help. This time I had the cables with me and told her I needed a jump. So once the car was started I revved it to the moon the rest of the way to the parts store. While I was there I bought a new battery

[Dub Owner]

My dad works for the city and he foud a hobo sleeping in front of his pump station. He had trash every where. My dad tells the guy to put the trash in his truck. Dumbass stated to walk away and then about 20 feet away he relized and said "Oh, i forgot to put my trash away." Funiest damn thing. another guy asked me for a ride because he got kiked out of his OUTHER HOUSE and has to go to HIS HOUSE and aparently he cold not aford an cmplete set of gloves but he sure as hell can aford beer. Looked like and smelled like a 24 pack. I think he hit the boos alittle bit to early.
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66 bug future lifted full body
67 bug collecting one year only parts
69 westy RUSTY is now my DD
71 411 one owner all original flood victim
74 412 slowly putting back together
78 Champagne II sunroof
85 Vanagon previous DD

[crukab]

After 26 years of driving OLD Vws, I have pleanty of break down stories, heres one : Around June '82 driving my '63 Doublecab from Boulder Co. to Ct., the truck just shuts down on 1-80 in Indiana, spent an hour trying to figure it out, a State trooper stops to say that he's called me a tow truck, which I really did'nt want, but since I did'nt want him looking IN my truck, I did'nt protest to much.....Anywho,as the tow truck pulls up , I reach up & knock loose the pos. coil wire from the back of its clip--------it was'nt making contact w/ the coil so I whip a new clip on the wire & it fires right up!!!! The bitch was I had to PAY $25 for the "Road Service Call" , I paid & got the hell out of Indiana !
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Tom

My Pops:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=604100&highlight=
I know you will always be with me, rest in peace with no more pain. 8/13/14.....

In the yard right now:
'51 Dodge 5 window truck
'65 Bug
'66 Singlecab
'82 Rabbit Truck Diesel from CALI
'86 Doublecab W/T
'91 Vanagon carat/wolfsbrg.Tiico
'88 Dodge Ram pickup
'11 Jetta Wagon

[CarreraRS2.7]

Cassie left me stranded for the first time last week. I was leaving campus after my night class. I had been driving the bug all day like usual. She would not crank. At first the starter sounded like it was struggling, then nothing. There was no solenoid click either. I checked the battery and engine electrical connections, and finally narrowed it down to a starter/solenoid problem. Finally I got some guys that were getting out of class to help me push start it down a hill. It started right up and ran just fine and got me home.
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If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.

Gigi: Saturn Yellow 1974 Karmann Ghia Cabriolet

El Barto: Rosso 2017 Fiat 500 Abarth

[Brandon314159]

[bugracer99]

It was back in the early 80's & I was moving all my worldly goods to an apartment in Daly city (brakin' up with my first wife) in my 68 Baja when I ran out of gas. It was a freking cold night (near midnight) in November, windy & raining. I rolled to a stop under an overpass on 101 near the San Franscio Airport & sat there for nearly an hour. (saw at least 3 CHP's that just kept going, the S.O.B.'s) Anyway, fences around the airport were topped with barbed wire & no exits for a mile or so in eather direction & I wasn't a happy camper, 'till I got an idea! There was a bottle of "190 proof Everclear" in the back & I got to thinking, just maybe............ so I put a few drops down the carb & she fired right up!! I stuck the rest in the gas tank & drove off!! Not much power but I made it to a open gas station I found a couple of miles away! True Story.

[timmaah]

Back in 98 I took my bus cross country... The first day out (from CT) the trans started popping out of fourth. Being the youngin I was, said F it and used a bungy to hold it in 4rth and kept going. That worked until right outside of St Louis when nothing would keep it in 4rth. Got a hold of an Aunt and Uncle in Kansas and headed there. Then found a used trans back in Missouri. I had never even pulled an engine before and ended up changing out my own transmission in the middle of Kansas.

In all I ended up going over 900 miles without 4rth gear. It felt good to get above 50 again.

[Nica]

I broke down in the middle of a busy intersection that whas somewhat sloped,due to a bad fuel pump,caused the 2nd biggest traffic jam in Nicaragua ever,when the cops got there my pump started to work and OFF I WENT.

[63CabDriver]

My dad was teaching me how to drive in his 70 VW bug. He decided to take me to this parking lot at a football stadium, making sure i couldn't hit anything. Anyways, the bug ran out of gas and we were in the middle of this huge parking lot and there was nothing around but desert. So we started walking to the nearest gas station and it started raining. We finally called my grandfather to bring us gas and went back to the car. When we got back to the bug, someone had shot out all the windows, shot the engine decklid and there were probably 3 or 4 bullet holes in the sides of the bug. My dad was already furious for walking in the rain, so you could imagine how hot he was when saw the bug. At the time I was 16 and thought it was pretty cool looking with the holes in the side. Didn't do anything to the motor.