I was just curious if anyone else had a car die on them in a rather interesting or spectacular fashion?

My car before my first Mini was a 1996 Plymouth Breeze. All around it was a great car for hte money, I bouth it used with 16k on it for $12,000. It was comfortable, economic and roomy for it's size. I drove it every day and put 120k+ miles on it. It was very reliable until 6 months before it died. The transmission slipped out of gear (it was an automatic) and would not go back in. Technician at the shop found that the transmission filter was glazed with gelled up tranny fluid. We replaced the filter ($15.00 fix) and away I went. But the transmission always felt "loose" after that.

6 months later I am on my way to work when I feel it slip out of gear again, but then it goes right back in. On the next hill it slips out again, so I start to pull over when suddenly IT GOES INTO PARK! At 75MPH the results were rather spectacular. It sounded like someone dropped and hadful of marbles into a blender as the tranny ate itself alive. As I fought the car to the roadside, smoke poured out of the back of the car. I glanced down and noticed the carpet under the console was smoking and turning brown. When I finally got to the side of the road, I jumped out and watched as the entire underside of the car burst into flames. My radio blared "Back in Black" by AC/DC as my car merrily burned. Fortunately the fire went out after a few minutes. I looked back doen the road and saw I left about 75 feet of rubber and both front tires were flat.

I went out and bought my 05' MC the next weekend. 3 months later it got squished by an SUV, but probably saved my life with the airbags etc.. Now I have a Chili Red 03' MCS
I bought used. Love the MCS!

 

Would have been hilarious if Highway to Hell would have been playing instead...

LOL, great story..

 

The band I used to play in bought an old Ford Econoline van. It never ran right. We had transmission problems amongst other problems before we sold it to some other poor soul. It was so bad that one time our drummer came into the practice facility after going out to warm up the van for our next trip aboard what had been dubbed our "demon hell-ride" and announced "I have good news and bad news," he paused for a moment and went on..."The good news is: the van started. The bad news is: the van started." But the best moment of the van was on the way to a gig, as we were going up a hill, the front passenger side wheel fell off. Yes, fell off. The wheel pulled ahead of the van for a brief moment before beginning its descent of the hill. It came to rest when it rolled right into the front of...you guessed it...a cop car! The policeman actually had to contain his laughter at the predicament. Oh, God, I'll never forget that van!

 

So this sounds pretty scary...if the sound was this bad, what did it actually FEEL like when this happened on the road??

 

Well, it was very difficult to steer for the first few seconds because the front wheels were locked. But after the drive chain sheared off from the stress I was able to steer again and it was like fighting two flat tires.