Event Coverage Funniest, sorriest, worst thing ever happen while going and picking up a car?

This just popped into my mind while reading another post. About 8 years ago I decided to sell a 40s model Chevy pick up that I had acquired years ago. I park a lot of my old vehicles on a strip of timber about 1/2 mile long 100 yards wide and on a fairly steep slope.
A guy comes and picks up this pick-up, wormed his way through the timber. Backs his trailer up and winches the truck onto the trailer. Not wanting to try to back out, he sees an opening ahead where he can drive out! Only problem one 12 inch tree blocking his path. He asks if he can cut it down to get out? Sure , he does, cuts a couple sections off the trunk and proceeds to head down the hill. Well he cuts it a little sharp and catches the trunk with the rear wheel of the trailer and starts spinning. Well, he jumps out with his chainsaw and starts cutting another foot or so off the trunk. About the time he gets through the tree, it gives and down the hill goes his truck, trailer and his newly purchased Chevy pickup!
We both just stood there ... there was no catching it..... he had left it in drive!
Well, he was lucky........untill the very last tree before breaking out into the field, and center punched that tree! Caving in his bumper, grill and bowing his hood up! Luckily he was driving one of those Chevies that has the radiator a long ways from the fan! He drove it home!
Just thought maybe there are some more stories about retrieving cars out there?






Bones

 

That's quite an adventure!
When I was 18 I had a 1957 Ford retractable hardtop. Squealing tires took a toll on the rearend. I found a good buy on rusty 57 fourdoor with good rear end. My Father was rope towing me on the freeway to get it home. Drivers rear wheel came off and tore away the rusty quarter panel. Must have surprised the drivers around us. We robbed a few lug nuts from the other wheels and limped it home.

1 more car I promise, Rex Winter
Dry n windy Lubbock TX

 

This is going to be good.

 

This didn't happen to me but an a guy in the neighborhood.
I drove tow truck for AAA when I was in high school and college.
One day a local guy come in the station to see about getting some vehicles towed to his new house. He had a trailer, a boat and trailer and some cars. We give him a quote but he wasn't happy about the price.
The next weekend I get a call about an accident close by. I respond to clean it up. It is the same guy. He tried towing his truck connected to the boat trailer with his El Camino and the whole thing got squirrely. The boat flipped, the truck kissed the El Camino and there was stuff all over creation.
We ended up towing everything but not to his house
I drove for AAA for about 4 years, and still have my Class A license, and to this day I hate trailering.

 

??? have a pic of this set up?

 

Not car related but kinda same thing . Went with a Buddy to pickup a 48 Pan , it was sitting outside for years , we got it to fire and stay running . Funds changed hands and off we go home . We get about a mile from home the rear cylinder is blowing oil like an oil rig blow out , we stop for a RR crossing . As the we are sitting there and the train is chugging by , next thing I know my Buddy is heading down the track beside the moving train . About 30 yards down he lays the old timer down on its side , wheel still spinning , engine running . I catch up to him , throw my hand over the carb and smother the old dude out . He is white as being caught red handed by a cheating wife’s husband . Mind you the train is still bustin by at 40 MPH ! Once it passes , we notice , the rocker spring had snapped on the clutch pedal allowing the clutch to engage and away he went , just as if he wanted to take off . I never sit with anything in gear and the clutch depressed from that day on . We got the old timer up , pushed it back to hard top , fired it up and finished the ride home . A squirt or two of ATF and Acetone mix and in a couple of days she was running decent and not smoking to bad , he drove it for a few years that way , before a total rebuild was done . Turns out a 250.00 investment netted 15K , finished . I just wish it was a Kunckle and I would still have it .

 

Back around '72, my brother and I picked up a '46 Plymouth coupe. One of the tires was completely flat so I took my air tank along. Tire was leaking pretty bad so I told my brother we might have to stop and put more air in. We were pulling it with a rope and hadn't gone very far when I felt the tire going flat. I was hollering for my brother to stop and he thought I was saying go faster. When he did finally stop the tire was completely flat and bead was away from the rim. Some how we managed to get it aired back up and made it home. Tire must have gotten real hot and softened the rubber, because it never went flat again. At least while we had it, never did anything with the car and my brother sold it.

 

I have a couple of good ones.

First one happened when I was middle school. My grandfather decided it was time to get rid of his Harley and traded it for a 65 Impala SS (factory 4 speed, bucket seat car). So one day we took the Harley to the guys place dropped it off and then went back and unloaded the utility trailer and rented one of those U-Haul trailers. Under the pretense we were loading a 65 Nova as the first store wouldn't rent a trailer for a Impala. We soon realized why when we went to pick up the Impala. A 65 Impala track width just fits inside the deck of the trailer and then the wheelbase is pretty much the length of the trailer. The guy wanted to load the 65 so he hopped in and began to drive the car up the ramps. Since it took a lot of finesse to get that car onto the trailer as it was so wide, the guy rode the clutch and burnt it up as we finally got it on the trailer. We strap it down and off we go.

That drive home was the worst towing experience I have ever been a part of. Out back pretty much everything past the rear wheel was overhanging the trailer. So really any kind of speed and that trailer was all over the place. So what usually take 30-40 mins to get home took a couple of hours due to the low speed we could go. I was already really starting to develop a distaste for a 65 Impala.

Once home backed the trailer up to the shop with enough space to unload the car right in front of the door. Since the clutch was toast (could still smell it) we decided to push the car off the trailer. It wouldn't take much to get the rear tires on the ramp and have it come off the trailer. So told my grandpa to get in the car to hit the brakes so it wouldn't roll into the shop door while pushed on the front bumper to get rolling. He was adamant that he could hold the car in the back and after asking again and him saying it was fine, I deferred to his seniority on car unloading. So get all set and yell 1,2,3 and pushed. The Impala rear tires hit the ramp and down it went, my grandfather couldn't hold it (underestimated the weight of that car) and was literally knocked out of his shoes. I somehow ran to the rear the car and helped woah it up right as our butts touched the shop door. Yeah that was beginning of the nightmare of owning that car. Was not sad the day it was sold and went to California.

 

This one goes way back, like 1965. I was 14, my buddie was a couple years older and was legal to drive. We had drove his dad's 54 Ford pickup to the local store for a pop. There was a guy hanging at the store that had a old Dodge cut down and shortened , no body. We called them woopies. It had sit for years so I ask him about it. He said for $5 it was mine. So stupid me jumped on it! He let me use the 6 volt battery out of his tractor and we sucked a little gas out of the pickup. It would turn over, had spark but wouldn't start. No problem, we hooked a chain to it and I thought it would start while pulling it home. I hooked it in high gear (fluid drive) it turned over pretty good at about 30 mph , still no start though. We were about two miles from home when the trans exploded, the drive shaft dropped and all hell broke loose and shit flew all over the road. To top it off the rear end was half assed welded to the frame and it broke loose too. We got it off the road My older cousin lived close and he had a tractor with a 3 point hydralic lift so we went to him to help us. After I had to catch hell for being such a dumbass he got the tractor and we chained the rear end up under it the best we could and he picked it up from the rear and started down the road, with me standing up holding the steering wheel to keep it on the road. All went pretty well until we came to a little hump in the road and the rear end hit the road and threw it up in air, and threw me about 20 feet off of it and I landed in a creek. I was lucky that I just got beat and scratched but nothing got broken. We ended up tossing the rear end in the pickup and finally got the junk-assed woopie to my Grandpa's barn yard where it sat for a while and I sold it for junk, for $5. I am 68 now and my cousin is 81 and he still gives me hell for that deal every time he thinks about it. It's a lot funnier now than it was at the time!!

 

Funniest, sorriest, worst...you be the judge

On our 3rd date, I had this girl I was seeing flat-tow my project Model A coupe (with a Buick V6) across town to a muffler shop for a complete exhaust system. It was her first time towing with a chain.. she did a great job and NO COMPLAINING ! ! !. Decided at that point she was a "keeper"...been married to her now for 37 years. (she has since learned the art of complaining though)

 

A friend of mine says I should write a book about all my car adventures. Here is one.
The place: A small junkyard up in the hills of southeastern Minnesota.55 miles from home. Year 1977.
The car: 1963 Chevrolet SS 4-speed. Factory tach.
The set up: Had found the car a week before and bought it. Owner of yard said it was driven in.
I'm 18 and bring a buddy along to follow me as I drive it home. Trailers are for race cars.
Car has no seats. Car has no exhaust past the manifolds. No gas tank. I have not heard it run,no idea it will move.
Have a 5 gallon portable gas tank,gallon of both oil and antifreeze, extra gas,5 gallon can to sit on.
Car has no title or plates. Did I mention it didn't have any rear shocks? What could go wrong??
Install battery(no hold down...safety last!!) and set gas tank in passenger area.Run hose to carb,no clamps as I forgot them. Check fluids and fire it up.
It runs!!!!!!!!! you can imagine the grins on our faces. life is good.
Engage clutch and it moves so we are good to go. Start heading down the hill to leave the yard.Steep\ Test brakes and find there may be one that kinda works and roll onto the gravel road in front of the yard and thankfully don't have to stop. Only 55 miles to go
Ever drive a car with a stick and seat and no rear shocks? Every time I shift I have to put my chest on the steering wheel so I can depress the clutch and shift. Car surges forward and all I can do is hold on to the steering wheel and try not to fall off the can I'm sitting on.
Meanwhile the back of the car is bouncing up and down. Exciting stuff.
Wind up and down the hills and finally hit the flatlands. Time to relax a little. Easy peasy to get home now. Except
for the one county mountie on the one long stretch 5 miles from home. Get the red light treatment. Dang, so close.
Pull over and recognize the officer. Whew. Ossifer Dave comes up and looks the car over and just shakes his head.
Finally says "Bob,you ain't right in the head. Get this POS home and don't bring it out on the road until it's safe"
Yes,sir!!

 

When in service, I was home on leave and I was swapping out the 390 in my Fairlane. I had just gotten a 300 dollar bonus check. That was great since I was only making 300 a month at the time. Well, I had to go to a rent all and rent an engine hoist, the kind that towed behind your truck with a bumper hitch. No problem getting it home, getting the engine swapped and I was in a hurry to get the hoist back before they charged me another day since I wasn't rich. Well in my hurry, I forgot the safety chains on it. So I am making a turn onto the street and the hoist pops loose and rolls down the street on its on. Finally, it ends up smashing into a woman's 69 Chevelle. It caved in the driver's door, the same one that she said she just got out of the shop repairing. My cost? $300. Karma I guess.
Just as I got out of service my wife and I were headed back to Alabama from South Carolina. She had a 59 Rambler, the little one. She paid $10 for it from one of her friends. She had been driving it locally with no problems. But when I cranked it up I noticed the oil light on. No problem she says, the sender was broken said her friend, it had been that way for years. She is driving in front of me and after about 30 miles or so I could hear the rods knocking from the old Rambler in MY car. She pulls over and we decide to ditch it. We find a deserted logging road and drive it down there, pull the plates and start to go when a state patrol car pulls up. He wants to know what we are up to since there had been some burglaries in the area. I tell him that I was just checking out that old abandoned car. He buys it and off we go.
I think she learned to pay attention to oil lights after that since she was out a 10 dollar car...

 

Ive got several. One was when my two eldest sons where 4 and six years old. Im working a winter job. and there is a 66 chevell 4 dr htp listed in the local shopping paper. $75 I had a 62 GMC pk but it had a broken rear axle. so I was driving my 66 ford F600 to work. I had to work so the next day my wife got my mother to take her to look at that chevelle. Nice enough car , 327 powerglide. However the windshield was missing and No radiator. So Debbie buys the car. Sunday we take the F600 to go drag it home. its pretty cold. no rear hitch on the F600 so we cant use a tow bar, Its gonna be a drag it on a chain deal. So we get there and Debbie puts on my coveralls and we chain the car to the F600. about Ten miles from home. And we are going down thee highway about thirty MPH. the boys looking back and saying she is still smiling. I look in the mirror & I know that smile! We lived down at the bottom of a steep hill. And since the power brakes didn't work too good with it not running I creeped real slow down that hill When I turned into the yard. Debbie opened the door and stepped out. Just let the car go. It ran under the rear of the F600 and destroyed the perfect front cap on that chevelle. When I got inside Debbie was next to the wood stove still smiling. and she was really cold. Face was frozen eyeballs about blew out dirty tears streaming. And that smile still there I know it very well. Its the Penis shriveling smile a Indian woman gives you right before they slit your throat. I didn't say a word

 

{ A Story } Not me, but my good friend Moose. He went to get an old model A sedan that he bought from a farmer. Back then we just flat towed our old cars with an old pipe, and chain. He was going down this grade when he notice in his peripheral vision, that a car was passing him. So he slowed down, and waved it on by. That's when he noticed that the car that was passing him was his A sedan! Fortunately it was out in the country. Then the model-A left the road at the bottem of the hill, and came to rest against an old apple tree out in a field. He hooked it back up, and was on his way. Photo is of my friend { Moose } not with the old A sedan, but another old 32 sedan we dragged home too. But he didn't lose this one. Lol Ron.....

 

I think they are taught with the marriage license.

 

The clutch story reminds me when I had to sell my 66 Fairlane convertible. The clutch was so toasted, we couldn't even get the damn car up the trailer ramp, 3 of us could barely push it up. Guy said he was going to drop in a 427. Still wonder sometimes what happened to it.

 

I went with my brother-in-law down to Toronto to pick up a used car he had purchased, and on the way back he wanted to stop by his father's place near Oshawa. On a backroad near his dad's place two dogs came running out from a field. The first one made it, the second not so much. Dog ran straight into the driver's door, was killed instantly, and left a nice dent.

 

Throttle stuck on a 69 firebird and up the trailer it went and out over the front and into the bed of the pickup. So....we ended up with a firebird with no radiator, lower valance, grille and a truck with a destroyed tailgate and no tail lights. No sure if the purchase was worth it.

 

We'll it wasn't funny at the time but back around 1988 I had traded a car for two 47 fords, one was the coupe I built and the other was a fourdoor parts car. I had made the trade just by looking at some color photos as the cars were on the eastern side of South Dakota and I was living 40 miles from the western boarder of South Dakota. We had a nice spring day so I rounded up my pop's and another friend and headed East to pick up the coupe. I figured I could get started cleaning and fixing on the coupe and then go back and get the fourdoor. When we get to the Farm where the cars are sitting the farmer that was storing them says the cars are behind the barn in the feed lot. We walk around the barn to check everything out and the coupe has no wheels and tires(no problem I brought wheels). But the big problem was the car was frozen to the ground! We ended up loading the four door so at least it wasn't a wasted trip.

 

Here's a Story on a car buying experience in 2002. A racing friend knew I was looking for a family driver car and called me on one in his local newspaper, called seller, me and we go look at it. check it out, I seem to remember doing a CarFax on it, 2 years old, low miles, very nice car, priced right, only problem guy was Russian and did not speak much english, conversation was interesting, we had to do the deal at his bank as he owed more on it than I was paying for it. OK we meet at his bank in the city, I bring a cashiers check from my bank, easy/peasy, Not So much, I had never heard of this before, his big name bank would not accept my cashiers check from my big name bank, I had to do a bank wire transfer, OK call my bank, they handle it for me but we have to wait, his bank will call me when transfer is completed. I have to entertain guy for a while, nice enough guy, bank finally calls, we go to bank, he pays off his loan balance, signs title, bank clears title lien, But his wife has to sign title also, banker puts an X where she should sign. OK we go to his condo, I wait outside and he brings title out, she signed it where the buyer should. SHIT ! Now I'm getting upset. Take deep breath, call my friend who's in the car business and found this car for me, tells me take her with ID, him with his ID to DMV, explain situation and they will fix it, reissue a new title, sellers signs off, issue a new title in my name, not so bad, 2 + hours at DMV. So........ after meeting at his bank at 9:00 AM, I leaving DMV with a clean title in my name with my new plates at 4:45 PM in our new daily driver. An all day adventure to buy a car, will say, excellent car, we owned it 10 years. Quite the F story IMO dealing with language barrier, they seem to be nice enough people and have not/will not ever get in that situation again.

 

No, it’s kinda hard to take a pic of all of it. Just never though about it. I do have pics of some of it! That old Chevy truck was the one I was talking about! I have pics some where of his bent truck. I will post it I can find them.





Bones

 

Another funny one is from the day we brought my O/T 68 Camaro home. I was 8 years old at the time. The car was in decent enough shape to attempt to drive it home. So my grandfather, dad and myself loaded up the truck and took off to bring the car home. Got to the guys place and loaded up the extra parts into the truck and then fired up the car and got ready to leave and head for home. While warming the car up and doing some final checks, the car backfired and stumbled a couple of times, but then smoothed out and purred. So hopped in the car and took off with my dad in the truck behind us.

Most the drive back was uneventful. Car was running perfect. My grandfather and I were high fiving and talking about plans for the car. We were about 10 mins from home on the freeway when the car stumbled and backfired. Both my grandfather and I looked at each other in surprise and we did not even travel 100 yards then... KABOOM! A loud boom echoed through the cabin. My grandfather immediately pushed the clutch in, tossed it in neutral and shut the key off. His did a 180 and he was pissed now. What helped that anger was a teenager pulled over with us off the side of the road. The teen got out, clearly stoned out of his mind and started going off how we hit his little Toyota pickup. We tried to tell him we did not him and then he called my grandfather a liar and that's when things go a little more interesting. Now my grandfather lets most things roll off his shoulders, but the thing he will never tolerate is being called a liar. So this was the day my vocabulary greatly expanded with a whole host of new 4 letter words. After about another 5 mins of tearing the teen a new one and getting it through his stoned head that we didn't hit him and instead blew the motor up in our car, was the teen able to hop in his truck and take off. So now with that guy gone, my dad had finally showed up with a tow rope, so pulled the car home for that last leg.

At home after having a change to cool off, my grandfather then had to figure out what caused that big boom. There were no holes in the block, coolant was still clear, dipstick still showed it was full. So started checking plugs, all were firing perfect. So next checking the ignition he pulls off the cap and has me hit the key and there was out culprit, the rotor was not spinning. He noticed that the distributor hold down was not tight so seeing that he decided to pull it out and we found our smoking gun. Almost every tooth on the gear had broken off, when the car backfired it somehow ate the gear. So he tossed a spare distributor in and hopped all the teeth landed in the pan and hit the key to see if it would fire. Thing took off and purred. So first thing after that we pulled the motor and then the pan and luckily found every tooth in the pan.

 

Another not car but motorcycle related. A friend said his neighbor ordered a custom bike from some place like American Chopper...big bucks. When it finally arrived by box truck my neighbor walked over to see it. The delivery guys had a ramp down when the new owner said "I want to drive it off".(Everyone knows what happened next). Delivery guys argued they're responsible for delivery. Owner argues. Finally delivery guy writes on invoice not responsible for damage, has owner sign it.
Owner gets on...fires it up...drives off the ramp, literally! Off the side.
Luckily he's not hurt, but bike's torn up.
They loaded it back for repairs!

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When I picked up my 50 chevy pu, trailered it 50 miles home, mostly freeway, pulled it into the yard to unload and 1/2 a doz mice jumped off the trailer, As if I did not have enough already!

 

Back in the early 70's my partner and I owned an early Ford parts store. We sold a 1940-41 ford pickup and had to deliver it. on Sunday. My partner hooked up our trailer, we loaded the old truck, and using my partner's almost new F-150 away we went. My partner had just replaced the stainless strips on his truck's tail gate from another mishap. We got to our destination, and proceeded to unload the old pickup. well, my partner had not secured the trailer hitch on the ball, and as the old truck rolled off, up came the nose of the trailer, and then down wiping out the new stainless trim on his tail gate. He put the trailer back on the ball, again, not securely, looped the safety chain around the rear bumper outboard of the bumper brackets, Just as we were approaching the highway, up beside us came the trailer. A guy was across the street from us with his hood up for some reason. He saw the trailer heading in his direction, and proceeded to run out of the way. The trailer jumped the curb, started across an insurance company's corporate manicured lawn. The trailer proceeded to bounce up and down plowing huge divots in the Insurance company' manicured lawn. The trailer finally ran out of lawn, went back into the roadway and hit the asphalt curbing at the road divider, tearing out about 3 feet of asphalt. we jumped out of the truck, hooked up everything securely this time, and hauled ass back to our shop. We laugh about it now, but my partner was really pissed at the time, but not at me.

 

About 15 years ago, I drove about 3 hrs one way to go look at a late 60s Jeepster. Guy had just sold the one I saw in an ad, but said he had another in great shape, just needed a bit of work. We finally get there, and the guy was a bit of a character. He had a motorcycle in the study of his log house, and outside were parked a myriad of collectible cars. He then took us out to one of many out-buildings he had on his property. First he showed us a beautiful antique wooden boat with a Chrysler 413 in it. Next to the boat was a rare older Mercedes sedan he told us with a large 6L V8. By now, I'm very impressed, thinking this is going to be good, but we now leave the building and start heading out into the field. On the way we pass another out-building with more cars including an old Jeep postal vehicle. He then points to the Jeepster in the field. At first I don't see what he is pointing at, but my wife and I start moving towards the spot he was pointing to. Then, I see the Jeepster. Or what was left of it. Weeds and all growing through the floor. I look at my wife and say lets get out of here.
As we pass the guy on the way out I give him hell for making me drive 6 hrs to this see piece of $hit, all the while he's yammering on about how he has a good body guy that only charges $20/HR. The only good thing is I saw a moose for the first time in my life on his property. Let's just say my wife was none too pleased.

 

Here's a funny one Dad (rip) told years ago. After WWII he got a service manager job at Sears Roebuck. He delivered something to a guy out in the boondocks, the customer gave Dad directions then said "park at the end of the state road, I'll meet you there and take you the rest of the way".
Dad follows directions, the last was this long gravel road. At the end was a fellow waiting for him in a Model T Ford. Dad parks, they load whatever it was into the T and they continued down a dirt road. Dad said after a couple miles the guy exclaims "Look! There goes some fool's wheel!!!".
Soon they realized it was the customer's wheel, so they stopped. When they got out, the car tipped. Dad said it happened when they were in it, it was balanced, going on 3 wheels.
Dad went back, got the wheel, he said the guy had a jack, tools and enough parts they put the wheel back on making it to the guys house.

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just look at all the good times I have missed by only moving dead cars with a 3/4 ton truck, properly sized trailer and plenty of tie downs.

 

Here’s one not about moving a car but moving a garage full of parts for my brother when he moved, we had a full loaded flat trailer with a dove tail we used for the stock cars well the last thing we had was a Torque converter that my brother set on the dove tail as we were called to the table for dinner, after we started out to his new place women following in a car 45 miles to his new house about a mile out of town my wife said she saw something large fall from the trailer and made a lot of sparks as it flew off the left side of the road at 60mph. It was about dark so we left the trailer in the drive and decided to go back to find the converter we forgot about. We came upon a guy on the side of the road with a hole in his oil pan he said he hit some large object in the road a mile or so back we helped him tow it to his house and never talked about that lost converter again


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Lost The Brakes On A 1954 Ford Sedan Delivery Bringing It Home Down The Interstate Sunday Afternoon Just When Folks Were Getting Out Of Church And Almost Passed The Tow Car (Mine)...Checked The Master Cylinder And It Was As Dry As Our Leaders Sense Of Humor...Noticed My Co-Pilot Was Drinking A Long Neck Beer And Topped Off The Master Cylinder Then Made It To The Shop Where It Leaked Coors Out Of All Four Wheel Cylinders..Thank You Adolph Coors... ...