Submarine car
Not me, but the wife (who has a bit of a history when it comes to car calamities):

One sunny afternoon, she took a visiting friend to the beach. On the way home, she decided to take a shortcut along a tidal road -- i.e. a road that is partly submerged at high tide. The tide was well on its way to being high as she arrived at one end, but it's quite a detour to go the long way, and when the car ahead of her went on she decided to take her chances.

They made it OK across the first underwater stretch, but the tide rises in quickly there and by the time they'd arrived at the far end, the car in front decided that the next underwater bit was too deep and stopped. She decided to go back the way she'd come, hoping that it would still be shallow enough to get back.

It wasn't.

Engines don't like breathing water: it seized rather violently (bent con rod apparently) halfway across, leaving her stranded in foot-deep water. The RAC eventually arrived to fish her and the car out, but it was curtains for the engine and to be honest, the car never really worked properly again even after it was replaced. Luckily the insurance covered most of the cost.

Even more luckily, we managed to find some mug who was willing to trade it in for more than it was worth and replace it with something less...damp.
( reallywittyname veraciously conspues lexiphanicism on, Fri 26 Oct 2007, 11:32, Reply)