Feel free to join in and get it off your chest - you'll be surprised how much better it makes you feel

OK, here goes :
Years back when I was living in Atlanta, I had a sloping driveway from the street up to the garage. One day I decided I'd put the 1990 Suburban up on front wheel ramps and replace that noisy driveshaft center bearing.
Here are the stupid mistakes I made :
#3 - I didn't set the parking brake.
#2 - I didn't chock the rear wheels.
and finally #1, which ALMOST cost me my life : I went under the 'burb on a roll dolly ( the only smart thing I did that day ), removed the 2 U-bolt retainers from the U joint to differential, then tried to remove the drive shaft, wouldn't budge. So being the incredible genius that I am, I roll out and go get a pry bar and roll back in.
Well, long story short, the prybar did work, and the 'burb starts down the ramps heading for the street. I grab the frame and go along for the ride, until I remember that at the street, the drive makes quite a decent descent at the curb.
So being on the dolly, I start heading out the side by grabbing more frame parts and clear the thing just before it takes a big bounce at the street.

It rolls across the street and fetches up on the opposite curb, no damage done.
I re-attach the drive shaft and bring it back home.

If you haven't seen the big mistake here, the Suburban is an automatic, the parking pawl was all that was holding it on the ramps ( via the drive shaft / diff / rear tires ).

Whew, I feel better now, but also am now aware that my god-like credibility on this forum will be forever compromised.

 

I am gonna presume this is a "I got one up on ya" thread.

Here is my most stupid.

When I was 14 My dad let me buy Granpa's old 39 Ford businessman's coupe. Along with it we go his scrapped 39 Sedan. Many of the parts were interchangable but the coupe was the coolest and mostly together. After some time, we had a running car and I began practicing drving it at the age of 15. Went to back up one time and before the car stopped, I tried to put it in Forward gear. BANG!

Okay, that was a mistake but, not the story here.


It took three months to get the main ckluster gear for that tranny. (the one in th esedan was already toasted) and I began the task of pulling the tranny off the back of the engine.
Dad's instructions;
"Take off the one lateral cross frame leaf spring assy. Only don't remove the retainer bolt"

I did exactly as he said but the springs would not drop off the frame. So I removed the one bolt that seemed to be holdingit up to the chasis.
SSSSSSproungggggggg!

Okay that must be the retainer bolt.

That was a mistake but, not the story here.


Next I removed the torque tube, unbolted the universal joint and rolled the rear wheel assy back out of the way.
Disconneted the linkages for the clutch and other stuff and began unbolting the bell housing from the back of that honking huge Flathead V/8 engine.
Now, I had no idea what the tranny weighed but I was young and strong and invincible. Besides, is was sitting on two mounts right there on the frame. I would solve the lifting issue once I got the thing loose and could see if I was able to pick it up. Right?

Yeah, right !

That was a mistake but, it is not the story here.


I was backing out all of the bolts. But one, on the top of the housing, just wasn't easy to reach. I could get a wrench on it but could hardly turn it without running into something. Besides, once I got things loose, I would need to have have two hands to push up on the tranny.


So I went in to get Dad to help me with "that last bolt"


He comes out of the house annoyed that I interupted his nap. But that's his job right?

So I am laying under the engine and tranny of this old Ford. He looks into the engine bay and I am loosening that last bolt. Suddenly I feel something grab or land on my ankles. I'm screaming in pain and realize the car is moving sidesways.


Only it wasn't, I was.

Dad had just grabbed my ankle and yanked my butt out from under the car as the engine and tranny literaly fell to the ground.

Seems the tranny was actually the back engine mounts of that set up. When I removed the bell housing bolts, it just separated into two parts and it went down. Straight for my noggin'.

And all that had saved my head from being crushed as I unbolted everythiing was that one stubborn bolt. That and my Dad's quick assessment of my stupidity.



That was a mistake. Big! Huge actually! And that is my big mistake story!


And for the record so was the tranny. Big! It took two of us to lift it back in after the rebuild.

 

Well, I am a little boring I guess. I have made stupid mistakes but no near misses. The last big block a friend and I built back in the racing days was my last big blunder. I put a lot of money into this motor, all the best of everything. Short block was together, got the heads back, and being in a hurry, my buddy set the heads on and started bolting them down. I came along and torque them. When we finally got around to putting the new aluminum intake on, it would not fit. I had the machine shop deck the block, and thought, what did they do. So, after scratching our heads and making a few phone calls, the machine shop decked the block, but did not put the alignment tubes back onto the block and my buddy just set the heads on thinking the bolts would align the heads with the block...Now, sounds simple, but the car set for two weeks while I and the machine shop went back and forth.. It took me a long time to finally set foot in their door again....

 

First oil change, left car sit for a while so all the 'old' oil drained. Came back after a quick mcdonalds meal and continued. Poured all 5 quarts into motor, cleaned everything up, and checked the oil. Nothing on the dipstick? Seems this dipstick forgot to put the pan plug back in. Had to get a ride to get 5 more quarts of oil. Never made that mistakes again. That was in 1974, with a 1969 Buick Skylark.

 

I have a 1986 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z that I bought new back in the day. I decided one day maybe 6 years ago to takes the wheels off so that I could strip the clear coat off so that I could polish them to a higher gloss. I pull out my floor jack and instead of jacking one wheel at a time I decided to lift in the center and take both wheels off. I find a stout looking bar running across the rear and start jacking, I get the car off the ground and that stout bar just bends down over the jack. I can not remember what the bar was called but , my go to garage could only find used ones at junk yards. The one he picked up was rusty and pitted and I tried for two days to get it to look decent. The car only had about 5000 miles at the time and everything looked brand new. I just figured since the car was 20 years old there was no chance of finding a new one, but I went to Dodge and they found the only NOS one left in North America. That little FUBR cost me almost $500. On a non car related issue I once grabbed a running electric hedge trimmer with my hand and almost cut a finger off. My wife can't believe I have survived this long.

 

My father was connected with a number of insurance adjusters in the 50s, and he was able to buy a lot of different cars that where either wrecks or stolen and recovered.
Most of them he would sell off, but once in a while he would give me one to drive. I just discovered this picture of a car I had for about 4 months before my dad advised me that he had a chance to sell it, and in exchange he'd see to it that I get another car. I agreed, but in retrospect, it was a big mistake to get rid of it. What I remember about this car, was that the engine was so smooth that sometimes I'd think it wasn't running and the red interior leather seats were so plush, that it was like sitting on a cloud. The biggest problem was cleaning the factory chrome wire wheels. It was luxury at its best and now almost priceless....... Sigh !!!!!

038.JPG 1953 Buick Wildcat, white with red leather interior

Not a great pic because it was taken with a Polaroid Land camera, and pic has faded. I did coat it with lacquer LOL

 

For me, it was selling this car:



And I COULD have kept it anyway, money was not that tight - I sold it out of fear that at 52, I was too old to find a better job and that I'd never sell my house.


Less than six months later, I found my current job and could have easily kept it. If I'd only had stalled a few months... but the pressure was on back then and the place I was working was really hurting. It is barely in business today.

 

Being OCD about keeping my cars clean, when I had my Z-28 in my late teens, early 20's I grabbed a spray bottle of Fantastic to clean the interior. Not realizing what I was doing, I sprayed it on some chrome painted plastic on the dash. I immediately felt a deep sinking in my stomach as the paint came right off on my rag. The only way to fix it was to replace the part with new. That was one expensive lesson.

 

At least you got a clean flush of that oil pan!

 

Can't believe I'm admitting to this one. But as we all get so use to key FOBs these days, I bet I'm not the only one to do this.

When the battery died in my Xfire, the doors were locked. My first reaction was 'how am I going to get the hood open with the doors locked and no power to unlock the doors?'. And then, a few minutes later, I realized I have a car KEY to unlock the doors. lol

 

I was driving my wife's Mazda 6 before selling it to son #2....dropped her off at the theater door since it was raining and drove off into a far away parking space. I get out and flip the lock switch only to see my wife running across the parking lot in the rain...saying I have the key fob.... I had to laugh but I kept my mouth shut. The car will run fine without it, you just can't get back in until you have the fob... Now I have a Mercedes with one of these damn fobs... I did finally tell her the truth when I bought this car....

 

Right after highschool I purchased a 91 exclipse gsx. I really wanted a turbo awd car badly. I got a great deal on it or so i thought. As im driving it home I get on it a few times. During one of those WOT runs the oil filter gasket blew and or the filter cracked. I was literally 1 mile from home.... Yea you guessed it. Being young and stupid I though i could make it home. Long story short. The block seized up a few blocks from home. Ended up parting it out a few months later and luckily was out about $600-$700 after all was said and done. Of course there are more stupid stories but that one takes the cake.

 

I was going to load up a stripped down 1954 chevy pickup rolling chassic onto a trailer to be sandblasted. Of all things,I forgot to bring the come-along. How will I ever get this rollling chassic up the trailer ramps. Got it figured out now! I cut a piece of electrical conduit so that it would clear the ground after bolting it down to the rear ends universal joint craddle clamps. Standing behind and leaning over the rear end with cross member behind me,I started rotating the electrical conduit bar. With the rear ends ratio,it was Soooo easy going up the ramps. After the front wheels were onto the trailers deck,it started getting much harder each foot of travel to rotate the conduit. My arms were about to start stressing out but I was so close to getting the rear wheels up to the ramps top. I was going to give it all I had and determined I was going to make it. Then it happened!!! Oh My Gosh!! I didn't allow for the ramps top angle where it meets the trailers flat bed. The conduit was about an inch to long and hit the trailers deck,not allowing me to continue rotating. I'm now standing inside the chassic,arms stressed to the max. No need to Screem Help,for there's no one around. If I let go and duck down,I will be sliced and diced to death when the chassic roars down the ramps with the conduit bussing from rotating so fast. I only have one option to play out perfectly to survive. Hold the conduit if possible with one hand,my other hand on the chassic that was now as high as my waist. Then making an Olympic jump without my feet hitting the cross member behind me. I made that gaint bunny hop with the help of my hand on the chassic to tell about it today. Don't do what I just did. Squirrel Crusher

 

Squirrel Crusher, I'm not sure, but we are probably somehow related.
With 20/20 hindsight, you should now see that the only mistake you made was not having something handy to chock one of the wheels ....

 

What????? What are you talking about?

 

Most stupid mistake? In 1983, I sold my red 1970 Barracuda convertible for $1900.00. I win.

 

No way Jose. In 1973 I sold my 1967 Camero RS 327 4 speed for $2200.

 

Gotta, Abaton... in 1964, I sold a 1963 a 3 speed Corvette for $1000.00...I win (talk about dumb!!) Carl

 

So, I've got some company in the winners circle. I guess we just can't keep em all. We're not Jay Lino.