I let my ex wife, who couldn't drive, move my Granada Scorpio, start the car, put it in "D", release handbrake, gently push accelerator, how hard can it be?
So she starts the car, so far so good, selects D, releases the handbrake, and the car starts creeping forward, for some reason she mashes the loud pedal and my beloved Scorp is wheelspinning up the yard.
Fortunately she hit the brake equally hard and nearly put herself through the windscreen!
Buying a Rover 800 was a bad move when it dropped a valve.
Buying a second one was an even worse move, the belt tensioner disintegrated. Bang.
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Went to the tip with loads of stuff on the roof rack from clearing out in-laws pad.
Ignored the height restriction and there was a loud bang and hey presto through flow ventilation on the Cortina.
Part of the roof rack with contents still attached has gone through the rear window.
A new window was fitted and then I found that my carefully fitted Hella third brake light no longer mated with the profile of the replacement window.
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Rover 10 (1934), Plymouth, mid fifties. My father wanted to put Cords multiple rings on the pistons. We left the crankcase in and lifted the block off the pistons, put the rings on in situ and then put the block back onto the pistons, closing the rings one by one with a screwdriver until all the pistons were back in the bores. One of the most fraught jobs ever, but after that you know that with ingenuity and patience almost anything is possible.
It ran OK afterwards, but the steering was so lethal that he didn't keep the car long.
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now this is stupid.....my son had a problem with his airfix (thunderbird 2) model as the wing sections kept coming apart....after the third repair i got a bit miffed..so at repair number 4 i decided to seal the deal with super glue...applied glue to components and snapped them together.....excess glue hit me straight in the eye, didnt even hit the eye lash....misses took me staight down the a&e...4 hours later all bandaged up and left, the next morning the glue had seperated from my eyeball....unlike the time whilst using a stihl saw to cut steam pipes in a cellar... steel splinter got me in the other eye...back to a&e
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Looking back, this could have killed me or badly burnt me, but it didn't. I certainly learned a lesson though.
At the time, my mate and me were in our 20's and we had a building in which we used to mess about, buying, fixing cars and doing the odd repair for the neighbours. In this garage we decided that we needed to build an inspection pit so as to be able to fix things underneath the cars.
We dug and built it ourselves, complete with electric lighting and a power supply for our tools if needed.The problem we had with this pit is that every time it rained, because our doorway was at the bottom of a slope and also because of the ground water level, the damn thing would fill up with water halfway and often reach the lights which we had recessed into pit, covering the lights. We were forever emptying that pit and sometimes the lights would "fizz" a bit. I should also mention that the size of the pit meant that we had to climb down into it by way of an old wooden ladder with a couple of rungs missing and then pull the vehicle forward over the top of us so blocking off our exit until the car or whatever was pushed back.
One day a women who lived up the road who had a Fiat 127 asked me to have a look at it as she could often smell petrol, so I got down the pit, handbrake off and pulled the car over me and found that her petrol tank was severely corroded. She agreed a new petrol tank, so next day, I set about the task and decided that I should drain the petrol into a drum with a funnel stuck into the top.
Now picture the scene.Me down the pit on my own, the car over the top of me, lights "fizzing" and petrol streaming from the tank dropping about 3/4 foot into the drum. All was going well until after about 5 minutes I started to feel a bit giddy. I then realised what was going on.
The petrol was doing an efficient job of mixing with the air and filling up the pit with an explosive mix of petrol vapour.
I rolled the car back and got out of that pit quicker than I had ever done before, switched the lights off and ran outside and waited.
Nothing happened, but looking back I think what could have been and it still makes me shudder to this day.
Edited by Mr.Tee43 on 25/12/2009 at 17:24
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With friends, was showing local lass how to start a BSA Bantam. Engine running, into gear. She bunny hopped, throttle open, until she ran into wall. Bruised tender bits, but nothing serious. Showed to think of consequences if it all went wrong. And not to play in confined spaces!
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Odd reaction from a lass !
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I was fitting some new wiper blades, which is a simple but slightly fiddly job. My fingers slipped and the metal wiper arm snapped back against the windscreen, cracking it badly enough to need a replacement for the imminent MOT test.
But there's more. The windscreen replacement company asked if it was on my insurance. My insurance didn't cover windscreen replacements. The fitter explained that they charge insurance companies about double what they charge private individuals!
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We used to fit quite a few Weber conversions to replace the dreaded Ford VV and my mate fitted one to a Cortina Mk5 2000, job done, he slammed the bonnet down and a large dent appeared in said bonnet - he'd fitted the wrong kit :(
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Well somewhat embarrassed after all these years Humph, i may as well enter into the spirit of your thread. Many many years ago i lived with my fiance and her parents. They had a council house and round the back was a row of council garages. I got them to rent a garage and duly put my car in it. I then had an Austin 1300 my first car. Put the car away one evening, the next morning it wasn,t there. I rung the Police an officer came round. Showed him my empty garage, he then tried and opened the garage next door. To both of our suprises my car was in it. You can imagine my embarrassment, but surely this could have have been easily done. Imagine a row of say 20 identical grey galvanised garage doors. Go easy on me BR,s.
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Back in the day's when it was illegal not to drink and drive, I came out of the pub, jumped into my Zephyr 4 Mk3 with my mate Kevin, stuck the key into the ignition, and realised it wasn't actually my Zephyr 4 at all, but one very similar parked in the same street :)
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>>and realised it wasn't actually my Zephyr 4 at all but one very similar parked in the same street :)
Yeah yeah!!
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Actually I believe him. I once drove a Cortina identical to mine from Kirkcaldy to Dunfermline and back. I had parked in the High St and returned to what I thought was my car.....Put it back as near to where I found it as I could and foxtrot oscared in my own car. Never heard any more about it.
How about things you have done but will absolutely not do again....
1/ "...think I'll take the rad cap off while the engine's still hot....a cloth will keep my hand safe..."
2/ "...think I'll jack both front wheels up at the same time....be OK to crawl under...."
3/ " I can pour this hot coffee no bother without stopping if I put the cup off the top of the flask between my legs...."
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Collected some keys from a local garage to go and collect a Polo from No.6...not far from home. Opened it up, jumped in but it wouldn't start, key wouldn't turn in ignition.
Locked it, just going to ring the garage when I saw an identical car, actually in the drive of No.6...across the road...I had been at no. 9.....duhhhh
Nobody saw me !
Ted
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