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It really amazes me how people do not believe. The day I bubbled mine I parked right beside a friends original 60. His hood was up so I opened mine, the only difference was his cleaner was original and dull and mine is nice and chromed. I tell everyone that has a Corvette at car shows about it and nobody ever believes me. I even saw some nice cars at Carlisle with the hood up and no protection. Mine was up for about 3-4 hours. You could follow the angle of the sun right down my paint. Left bubbles about 2" long.
People don't believe I know the same 2 inch tracking burn got me good.
I week after new paint job. My painter had paint left over took me right away the next weekend.
Washed car..cleaning tires on 62...top off..reached over steering wheel to bump/rotate tires..car in reverse...it started .....took off and hit my dads pickup truck..only small scratch on rear bumper...never done that again
I had my "uh oh" moment at a car show but luckily no damage to the car, just to me. Photographer wanted photos of my 65 FI coupe with the hood down, so I closed it. Just as he finished it was time to judge, and I pulled the hood release and only the left side released. Soon realized the crossover cable had separated and the right side was latched tight. I managed to squeeze my hand under the left side, find the crossover cable and gave it a little tug and released the other side. Opened the hood and latched it. I was standing there with my back to the front of the car and looking in saw the brass ferrel laying there so as I reached in to pick it up and save it, others who had been watching and offering advice and help all walked away. One guy had been pushing against the hood and had unlatched it, and when he let go the hood slammed shut. I didn't see it coming and yes, it slammed shut right on my left hand which was right over the latch assembly. And yes, the right side latched... Again! Managed to get it open again the same way as before as my hand swelled up and blood sprayed everywhere.... Good thing I have a red car! Learned to always be careful when other so called experts are surrounding you offering help, and to put the darn pin in the hood latch as soon as it's opened...
Last edited by Texaspilot180; 09-02-2015 at 09:41 PM.
I haven't done it but for anyone that has a lift and has a car without a power antenna and a solid fixed antenna always remember to remove it before lifting the cars.
I've fixed two bent antennas for a friends 69 Z28.
But we all make mistakes.
I haven't done it but for anyone that has a lift and has a car without a power antenna and a solid fixed antenna always remember to remove it before lifting the cars.
I've fixed two bent antennas for a friends 69 Z28.
But we all make mistakes.
It's also good to close the hood before raising the car in the garage. Ask my "53 Healey how it knows.
I haven't done it but for anyone that has a lift and has a car without a power antenna and a solid fixed antenna always remember to remove it before lifting the cars.
I've fixed two bent antennas for a friends 69 Z28.
But we all make mistakes.
I broke the fixed antenna on my '64 in a different way. The garage door opener had been acting up not long before this happened.
The door would sometimes stop rising during its upward travel to full open. Cycling the remote up and down buttons 'fixed' the problem. The door problem was intermittent. I'd get to it later, I thought.
Waited too long. .. The problem slipped my mind.
One day, while backing the car into the garage there was this loud snap sound.
Turned out the garage door had stopped just above the view in the rear view mirror. The antenna was just high enough to snag the bottom of the stopped garage door and bent over until it broke. Lucked out - only the mast broke. No damage to the antenna body mount or paint.
The garage door problem was fixed right shortly thereafter. The long threaded screw that engages the carrier needed to be lubed.
John
Here is my worst one. I was moving my '60 to another garage. My mistake was that I forgot months prior that I had "borrowed" the front latches on the hardtop to use on when I bought another hardtop that did not come with the latches for my '59. Amazingly as heavy as the top is it only took a mile for it to blow off the car completely. The result was not pretty.
This pic should convince anybody...it was my '63 at a Florida cruise in just before I closed the hood !
That white spot had the heat of a supernova and washed the picture out so much the car appears orange...
That parabolic mirror around the air cleaner wing nut is the culprit !
I see you have a pin in the slide on the hood I am going to start that also good idea.
St. Jude Donor '04-'05-'06-'07-'08-'09-'10, '14-'15
Originally Posted by MikeM
If you have a Rochester FI sittin' on top of the engine, you don't have those kinds of problems. Who wants to look at a dirty old WCFB or AFB. Whether it's a SWC or a convertible.
Correct but you have to scrub that Dog House down to keep that Funky Gray color going
St. Jude Donor '06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16
After being drafted and finishing my US Army Infantry training I drove my 65 to my first duty station at Ft Meyer, VA. When they realized I was too short in stature to be in the Old Guard (think Tomb guard duty) they shipped me across the river to a small fort in downtown DC.
I got assigned to be the Reenlistment NCOs assistant. Not a lot to do as this was the middle of the Vietnam war (1967) and virtually no one wanted to reenlist.
I had a lot of free time so I got a part time job at an auto parts store and spent my off time partying and cruising around the DC area.
I'm out one night and caught a smile at the light from two pretty girls (think American Graffiti T- Bird blonde). I was traveling the correct way on a one way 4-lane street but thought it was a two way street. I whipped around to pass another car in front of me in order to catch up to the ladies and POW! - hit the right front fender of a big azzed luxury car with the left front fender of my car.
The driver of the big car was a diplomat from some European country who was out driving around with (I think) a hooker. He could not speak English and his lady friend could not speak his language.
The DC police showed up and they called the MPs. Fortunately I had not been drinking so I did not end up in jail.
The local Chevrolet dealer put everything back to pretty again but to this day I always check my lanes before changing, no matter what kind of road I am on.
Sold the car to someone on the East Coast the next year when I got orders for Vietnam and it took me 25 years to get another Corvette.
My first Corvette and I in a park on the Potomac River:
I Lit a smoke wrench (cutting torch) and then laid down on a creeper. As I laid down I ran the torch along side the door of a car (not my vette). Nice arced burn path in the paint.
Things I have heard about that had horrific results or death (I'm and EMS pilot)
- Guy welding on his race car, slides under car and the welding rod arced the gas tank. Exploded and dumped 10 gallons of burning fuel on him.
- Starter fell on a guy's head and cracked his skull.
- Hoodie sweatshirt, the hood strings got caught in running belt, and pulled the guy into the engine. Stuck hands out to brace himself and stuck hand into fan.
One I am still bothered by. In 1986 I bought a 1986 IROC Z28 totaled with 6,000 original miles on it. ( Stolen and stripped not wrecked ) I worked on it for nearly a year. I had just finished the paint work and had the car fully assembled sitting in my back yard on junk rims and tires.
I had taken the new factory rims in and had new tires mounted. I came back home and decided to save a little time and carry 2 tires at once from my front yard to the rear yard.
The Iroc tires were about a foot wide each. I got to my gate and set one down as I unlatched the gate. As I came through the gate with the second tire I saw the first starting to roll into my back yard. I had no concern because it could roll straight out into the back yard and not hurt anything. That tire headed straight out until it cleared the back of my house where it suddenly turned hard left and went 20 more feet and crashed into the front fender of my freshly painted Iroc.
I bet I could have repeated that move 1000 times and it would never make that turn again but it did that day. Caved in the fender pretty good. I never thought it would roll away from me as I came through the gate, it did. I thought once it got away it would roll harmless into the back yard and stop, it did not. Yeah I was pretty upset, I was lucky the fresh paint did not crack at all and we got the fender straight again without having to repaint. A buddy with far more talent than I did the repair surgery and it turned out perfect. And we try to not repeat those dumb A$$ things again.
I Lit a smoke wrench (cutting torch) and then laid down on a creeper. As I laid down I ran the torch along side the door of a car (not my vette). Nice arced burn path in the paint.
Things I have heard about that had horrific results or death (I'm and EMS pilot)
- Guy welding on his race car, slides under car and the welding rod arced the gas tank. Exploded and dumped 10 gallons of burning fuel on him.
- Starter fell on a guy's head and cracked his skull.
- Hoodie sweatshirt, the hood strings got caught in running belt, and pulled the guy into the engine. Stuck hands out to brace himself and stuck hand into fan.
Wow right things could be worse ,Everyday is a challenge
After reading the horror stories and warnings about coil springs flying and doing damage, when I was putting the front suspension back in my '65, I threaded a nice chain down the coil tower and between the coils of the spring (and then secured it to the frame). Get the a-arm jacked up, the coil seated, and the spindle attached and bolted. Go to take the chain out and the blasted thing won't come out from between the coils. I stand there for a few minutes and curse because I really didn't want to have to take it apart and put it back together.
I then remembered that I had a good sized pair of bolt cutters from a previous DA moment. Snip, Snip. Chain was a little shorter and I was happy.
Long years ago in Hollyood I was working on my 67 that I'd pulled in beneath a garage apartment where someone lived. Worked on some interior stuff, then did a complete tuneup. Decided to reach in and start the engine to check on the tunup. The tuneup was fine, because the engine caught immediately. Too bad the 4-speed was in first gear, not neutral like I thought. The car surged forward into a hot water tank for the apartment above. Amid a cloud of steam and hot water running everywhere, I turned the ignition off as the guy in the apartment started yelling about an earthquake. There was little damage to my car, but I had to pay for a new hot water tank.
Long years ago in Hollyood I was working on my 67 that I'd pulled in beneath a garage apartment where someone lived. Worked on some interior stuff, then did a complete tuneup. Decided to reach in and start the engine to check on the tunup. The tuneup was fine, because the engine caught immediately. Too bad the 4-speed was in first gear, not neutral like I thought. The car surged forward into a hot water tank for the apartment above. Amid a cloud of steam and hot water running everywhere, I turned the ignition off as the guy in the apartment started yelling about an earthquake. There was little damage to my car, but I had to pay for a new hot water tank.
Did you at least get a "free" steam cleaning as a result?
I actually made this mistake on my Cobra Replica but it's too much of a unique story to not pass it on. I keep the car stored on a set of crank up dollies from Harbor Freight to roll it into a corner of the garage for storage. I typically put it in neutral for storage without setting the parking brake. I built the car on these dollies and they have worked great for me over the years.
A couple months ago I rolled it out and decided to start it before I cranked the dollies down. So I opened the hood and primed the carb until I got a little spillage out of the bleeds. I worked the throttle a couple times by hand and reached in and turned the key and the motor rumbled to life - except there was an additional weird rumble that was definitely not normal. I reached over and yanked a bit on the throttle and the motor reved up and so did the rumble. Thinking what the heck, I glanced in the cockpit and noticed the speedometer was registering about 6 or 7 mph. It took about another second for that to register in my brain - and I shut the motor off as fast as I could reach the key.
I had started the car in gear and it was running on the rollers on the rear dollies! How it stayed stable on the rollers even when I gunned the motor a little is a miracle - It could have walked over the front roller and took off towards the garage back wall. When all was said and done the extent of damage was a bit of red paint worn off the edge of the dolly frames where the sidewalls had made light contact. I was very lucky that day.
I see you have a pin in the slide on the hood I am going to start that also good idea.
Yeah, I was beside a guy's '62 watching it while he ate dinner and the wind snatched that hood just right and it slammed down with a loud bang. Would have been bad if some tourist was noodling around in the engine bay examining things. No damage but I sure don't know how.
I've used the pin ever since...
Get plenty of oohs and aahs over my dual quad Carters; most spectators today have no clue what a Rochester dog house is...prob think its an add on by the owner....unless they associate it with the F/I badging.
I actually made this mistake on my Cobra Replica but it's too much of a unique story to not pass it on. I keep the car stored on a set of crank up dollies from Harbor Freight to roll it into a corner of the garage for storage. I typically put it in neutral for storage without setting the parking brake. I built the car on these dollies and they have worked great for me over the years.
A couple months ago I rolled it out and decided to start it before I cranked the dollies down. So I opened the hood and primed the carb until I got a little spillage out of the bleeds. I worked the throttle a couple times by hand and reached in and turned the key and the motor rumbled to life - except there was an additional weird rumble that was definitely not normal. I reached over and yanked a bit on the throttle and the motor reved up and so did the rumble. Thinking what the heck, I glanced in the cockpit and noticed the speedometer was registering about 6 or 7 mph. It took about another second for that to register in my brain - and I shut the motor off as fast as I could reach the key.
I had started the car in gear and it was running on the rollers on the rear dollies! How it stayed stable on the rollers even when I gunned the motor a little is a miracle - It could have walked over the front roller and took off towards the garage back wall. When all was said and done the extent of damage was a bit of red paint worn off the edge of the dolly frames where the sidewalls had made light contact. I was very lucky that day.
09-02-2015, 08:45 PM
, but I had to pay for a new hot water tank. 
