Close Topic Options

[Spaz]

Historically, Apex/Mobius has done these in the past, however he's no longer around, and I've considered doing this myself anyway in years past.

Regardless, onto the details. These were previously started in October, but seeing as Mobius was in Canada and I'm in Minnesota, it's warmer here a bit longer. Now that we're into November and temps are dipping near/below freezing every night, it's about time to get out the tally sheet and do work. The Twin Cities have a fairly good distribution of imports and domestics, so it won't be hard to get something close to a decent distribution, and I will take my data from now until spring shows up. I drive around 300 miles per week on average, mostly highway, so I should have a good chance of keeping this going.

Sample requirements are to remain the same as Mobius' from previous years:

1. Any car that sits on the side of a freeway that is either abandoned or sitting there with 4-way flashers qualify to be counted unless :

a ) it has a flat tire ( in which case it is not a question about the reliability of the car ),
b ) it has obvious collision damage ( in which case it is the driver which is in question, not the car's reliability ).

2. Any car that is being towed on the highway, same a ) and b ) conditions apply.

3. Commercial vehicles are exempt ( they are normally driven into the ground by people who don't care about company vehicles ).

I will note that I will not be using any data I could acquire from my job, IE, if someone breaks down in my parking lot or comes in saying their car is on the side of the road. I don't wish to make changes to the game plan which could skew the results.

I will probably update this at least weekly, if not more frequently than that. If I forget just get on my case.

Sample data:

1. GM (6 vehicles)
2. Ford (3 vehicles)
3. Chrysler (2 vehicles)
3. Toyota (2 vehicles)
4. Honda (1 vehicle)
4. Porsche (1 vehicle)

This post has been edited by Spaz on Dec 2 2011, 04:47 PM

[JEV]

yay, it's back.

I will await the results.

This thing always has surprising results.

[Spaz]

Last night I saw a mid-90s Suburban with the hood up and two guys trying to fix it.

[Spaz]

This morning, a Ford Econoline with the hood up, nobody around.

[Jardim]

Saw a explorer with state police tow warning stickers last night........Abandoned Exploder

[Spaz]

Got a list of them from the past few days, it's been below freezing here for a large part of a few days, so they'll start popping up a lot...

Mid 90s chev truck
90s camry
Late 90s caravan
944
2000s Grand am
Late model bonneville

[Spaz]

90s Ford Taurus, got only a glimpse, but the dude was not in the car but poking around outside it.

Early model Chevy Avalanche, being pulled via tow strap by a Suburban. GM is winning, weird.

[Jardim]

Shocker!

Mid 90's corolla, on side of I-290

[Spaz]

Late 90s Jeep Cherokee on a ramp with the hood up yesterday.

[Bubs]

Yesterday, heading back from Vermont:
Late '90s Dodge Ram van, hood up with steam pouring out
'90s Chevrolet Lumina in lower-resale-value purple - no suprise

[Spaz]

My updates might fall off until next Tuesday, I'm house/dog-sitting for a buddy and it puts me 5 minutes away from work with maybe half a mile of highway.

[DownhillFR-S]

DMC DeLorean on the side of the road, hood up, no one in sight. I was stunned. Actually slowed down and looked around for a bit (fairly desolate highway) to see if something bad had happened, but couldn't find anyone.

[Spaz]

I haven't seen shit in the past week, we'll see what happens once I'm back home tomorrow, I've only burned 1/3 of a tank since last Wednesday.

[RalliKai]

Dodge Neon on the side of a highway. No driver but I saw him about 3 quarters of mile from the car.

[Mazda ina Ford guy]

Finally something to report, after weeks of nothing.

2007-ish Durango, 4-ways on, driver on cellphone.
Early 2000's Gran Am, abandoned, tagged by Highway Helper.

[Spaz]

Drove home from my buddy's tonight, saw an Olds Aurora on the raised shoulder with flashers on.

[Spaz]

Toyota Camry, off the tarmac and abandoned.

Honda Del Sol, on the outside divider, abandoned.

Ford Windstar, on the shoulder, abandoned, indicative yellow 'X' on the rear windscreen.

[Mazda ina Ford guy]

Late 90's Taurus, abandoned on freeway.

[Jardim]

1999 GMC SAVANAH

Driven by me. Brake line blew. at this mileage.

Image size reduced, original size: 1280 x 960. Click here to view the image in its original dimension.

[Mazda ina Ford guy]

^Disqualified, you see, you're doing it wrong. :trollface:

This post has been edited by Mazda ina Ford guy on Dec 2 2011, 07:14 PM

[Jardim]

Oh shit the van's got commercial tags, but im the only one that drives it anyway. (only guy in the company besides boss who has license)