Larry P

Are you man enough to admit to the dumbest thing you have ever done to a car? I am and I'll start it off. When I was 19 I wanted to lower my 60 pontiac convertable. I removed the front shocks and installed threaded rods and pulled it down. It looked good great with the fake tear drop spot lights. It didn't ride to good and cracked an A arm. My first suspension lesson.
LP

AZDoug

I am an engineer. I don't recall ever doing anything stupid with machinery. Women is a different subject.

Doug

wmf62

didn't tighten an oil pan drain plug... plug fell out in the middle of a trip and i didn't stop. when i was able to stop and get a new plug (actually a tractor spark plug...) i filled it up and continued on.

eventually threw a rod through the side of the block put the rod cap stayed on the crank so it still had oil pressure. stuffed a rag in the hole and drove on...

a little rough at idle but it smoothed out at higher rpms, so i drove on... and continued to drive it that way for many months and many miles til the timing chain finally broke.
Bill

anyChevy

I've made plenty of mistakes on cars in the last 30 years, most of them before I was 20, but I've learned from them all

DansYellow66

As a teen ager my buddy had a 67 Cutlass and he wanted to raise the rear end a little to rake the body. Seeing a set of shock absorber extensions in an auto store one day we got the idea that was what they are for. After all - didn't air shocks do essentially the same thing and this was a lot cheaper. We installed them only to be disappointed that we didn't seem to raise the rear any. Oh well - little ventured, little gained - so we decided to go for a ride. It did seem to make the ride a little stiffer but we were getting some noise back there. At home, we crawled under it and found both shock rods with about a 30 deg bend from bottoming. A couple new air shocks later we were a little smarter about suspensions.

Frankie the Fink

Put air in the left front tire of my '60 Impala. Gas station had no air gauge (neither did I) so I just filled it until it felt 'firm'. About 100 yards down the road the tire exploded ballooning the fender in the middle. I was 16 and lucky I hadn't blown my fool head off!

Low Rider

The correct way to lower a car (when you are 16) is to use the torch at your dads body shop......make sure he is not in the shop.......and heat the coils in front until they are cherry red......it will drop like a rock. The rear leaf springs are a little harder but possible....step one ...make sure dad is not in the shop.....heat the longer leaf at the end until cherry red, have your two other automotive experts jump up and down on the bumper until desired height is obtained, reheat as necessary and keep a fire extinguisher handy for when you sit fire to the insulation .......you may have to lower the air pressure in the tires to improve the ride ( I found 5 to 6 psi to be about right).......

BOB WINSKI

My buddy worked at a boat yard and he borrowed a carb from a boat.Yea borrowed catch my drift .I was 16 at the time had a 57 Belair with a corvette motor in it.Put the carb on took it for a spin the dam thig caught fire.Was set up for a boat motor Not much damage

C2Driver

LMAO!

Lou64

My mom drove my 84 Mustang a couple of times when I was in high school. One day I noticed steel belts sticking out the side of one of the rear tires. I checked it and it had over 90 lbs in it. She had seen the tire was low and filled it (at home with plenty of tire gauges handy). Women and cars are like oil and water.

Dave K.

Just minor thing. Back in the early 70's, it appeared as if my right exhaust was plugged on the '62. So tinkering with it. I put my mouth up against the pipe and blew real hard. Yep, it was plugged. Took allot of fiberglass packing out of that pipe. I was pleased with my work and went up town to run errands. I came home and my wife was laughing real hard at me. What is wrong with you I asked. She asks, have you looked in the mirror? When I did, I kind of looked like Al Jolson in reverse with the neatest and blackest ring around my face.No one uptown said I word! Probably laughing too hard to tell me.

John BX NY

Dropped a catalytic converter on my head working under a car while on a creeper...still have the scar to show for it.
This engineer has done many dumb things...

cv67

At 19 was working in a shop
Pulled the muncie out during lunchbreak 67 rs to do the clutch those were quick and easy

Jacks used in the shop were huge guess who didnt use jackstands

car slowwwly came down on me rolled myself in the tunnel as the car was lowered a lot as it was. Just barely got out a muffled help as the car squashed me BAD. Couldnt breath
been claustriophic since.

Wont do ANYthing under a car now without stands and a jack supporting the car. not even for 30 sec

mrg

Back in 1967 I acquired a '55 Chevy sans engine and trans. .. The stock factory front end A-arm springs had been changed out for longer extended springs. 'Jacked up' front ends were popular at the time. The problem with this set up was that the upper A-arm rode on top of the frame rail. Even being careful, every time a bump, pothole, or some other on the road was encountered the upper A-arm hit and banged against the frame top rail.

About a year later the right side upper ball joint popped out of its socket!. . . An abandoned '55 Chevy on the side of the road provided replacement left and right side A-arms. 'It'll be alright', I remember thinking. Some time later the left side A-arm popped out of the socket. The car shot instantly into the next lane. Lucky there was no car next to me. I could see all 3 lanes of traffic slowing down behind me in the rear view mirror as I eased over to the side of the road.

The left side A-arm was replaced with the freebie A-arm from the abandoned '55. .. ('It'll be alright' again played in my head). Then, sometime later the right side A-arm cracked in half. A trip to the wrecking yard, another right side A-arm was installed.

The end came in the form of a citation. Coming in the opposite direction on a two lane road a CHP cruiser saw and heard the front end banging around. I could see the red lights flashing as the cruiser made a U-turn on the highway. What to do but pull over. .. After checking and pointing out the front end that CHP officer was livid!

Not long after the engine and trans were pulled and the car dropped off at the wrecking yard. No way was I going to sell the car to someone else. The car was dangerous...........I knew it. .. I'm just glad no one got hurt because of my stupid actions.

DansYellow66

Same here - but I've defied Darwin's law by gradually doing fewer and fewer of them with age.

claysmoker

Not enough bandwidth to write it all down here.

Do airplanes count? It wasn't my doing but our weapons crew blew a centerline fuel tank off an F4 on the ground, and it was full. Luckily it didn't explode.

cor66vette

I never did anything stupid TO a car but I certainly did do something stupid WITH a car.

The absolute dumbest thing I ever did involving a car was what I did before I had a license. I borrowed my dad's 59 Chevy Impala from the train station where he parked it on his way to work, and took a joy ride with some friends during school hours. I had only driven once or twice at that point so basics wasn't even in my knowledge banks. We got in the car, solid-iced windshield and all, and took off. I figured the windshield wiper would clear the window- what did I know (besides "everything" at that age). At one point in our little escapade, something told me to open the window and look out to see where I was going because I couldn't see jackshit out the front windshield.

Good thing I did because I found ourselves driving on the wrong side of the road doing about 35, and seconds away from a head on with oncoming traffic.

65specialk

When I was 16 I dropped off my girlfriend and decided to but down some rubber in the street with my Hipo 289 Mustang. Just as I crossed the railroad tracks the front u-joint on the drive shaft snapped. It did a frontwards wheelie as it broke both rear springs. The drive shaft was pointing straight back below the rear bumper. It was very easy to see the broken u-Joint. It took a couple of mounths for the bruises on my stomach to heal. Bent the steering wheel with my belly. It wouldn't be so bad today as I have much more cushioning in my belly. Dave

waynehuston

Well Im the dumbest one here fore sure!
When I was 18, bought a late 1963 (S/N 121...) Black, 340 4sp convertible.
within 3 months painted it in my dad's garage blue w/o cleaning the floor! dust everywhere, later that week had it painted yellow pearl with gold metalflake hardtop.

dplotkin

While horsing around with my Mom's car I spun it out on a snow covered road with its *** end up against an old chain link fence. On the other side of the road was a pond covered in thin ice.

Leaving the drivers door open, engine running, trans in neutral, I decide to shove the car back onto the road by putting my feet up against the fence and pushing. I dislodge the car whereupon my legs slide under the fence and my pants get hung up on the ends of the chain link. I watch helplessly as my mother's Mazda GLC put-putted out onto the ice all by itself. Shoulda been there.

Dan