What's the dumbest mistake you ever made on your ride and what did it cost you?

Was trying to change the oil in my gearbox ford 4-speed and turn a stud and a click was heard inside and disconnect the reverse, What a fool

 

The car i'm buildin' now I spent a whole day replacing the inner and outer rocker panels on in a mad dash to get it "drivable" for a show that was coming up in 2 days. The next day I trailered my car to the exhaust shop to get pipes run full length, when I went to put the car back on the trailer to take it home it didn't seem to wanna climb back up the ramps. It made it about half way on then stopped, then I stalled it. SO...I roll back off the trailer and have another go at it. This time a little faster(when all else fails hit the skinny pedal a little more) I made it on the trailer this time, but still had a little bit of trouble getting over that hump. As I go to strap down the car to leave I realized that I crushed the passenger side rocker panel. That "trouble" I was having loading the car turned out to be that I was smashing the lower fender and brand new outer rocker panel into the fender on the trailer... DOH!

This was last summer, I still haven't fixed it. Trailer made it out OK though.

 

Back in 1979 I paid a so called friend to paint my car. I would have been better off taking it to Miracle or Earl Scheib.

 

I was so excited to fire up my newly rebuilt 65 Mustang (In 1979, late at night, parts store closed, working on the car in my dad's garage in Michigan. I was putting the finishing touches on hours of work and trouble shooting) and I didn't have the positive battery to starter wire so I used one of my mom's extension cords.
The starter gear engaged half way and ground all the teeth on the fly wheel half way off! Oh shit! Long story short I had to pull the engine back out and put a new ring gear on the fly wheel. Good thing I loved wrenching on cars.

 

Loooooog time back, I worked at a gas station pumping gas. Merecedes comes in and hoping for a good tip, I decide to show how fast I can get the car checked out and full of fuel.

Stick the nozzle in and let her pump while I check the car out. Finished in record time and got a sweet $5 bill. Then... just before the owner starts it up, one of the other guys comes running over all excited and crazy! "Dude, you just pumped gas in this car!" Not getting the problem, "Yea, and the whole tip is mine!" That's when the owner told me his car was diesel.

He hadn't started it, so all we did was push it in a stall and drain the tank. I gave the tip back.

 

4 Years ago, I thought I could build a working 700r4 out of 2 that didn't work. It's a real long story that includes making a deal with someone that had a major drinking problem and "disappeared" for days on end. After losing a bunch of money on a tranny that didn't have reverse, I had a real shop do it right for about a grand.....At least I tried, and took this photo to remind myself that you get what you pay for.

 

Pacer?

 

Couple years back I had an OT Bronco II...lifted, 33" tires, just a mud toy. Well, starters don't like being wet for long, and it came time quickly. So I put in a new Bronco II starter and it worked for about a half dozen starts, then just a grinding noise. Four starters later, I'm thinking maybe it's not the starter. So I pull the motor and replace the flywheel. Same problem; half dozen starts and a grinding noise. Couldn't figure it out, so I sold the truck.

Next owner found out the problem - turns out I caused the problem by installing a BII starter where the PO had installed a Pinto starter to match the 2.9l motor. Pinto 2.9l and BII 2.8l motors are close, but the Pinto crank is about 3/8" shorter than a BII crank. So when I put in a BII starter, it only engaged about 1/8" of the gear. Now keep this filed away - it may prove useful.

 

Young and stupid as usual, working up under the dash of my 64 Galaxy I couldn't get the light in a place where I could see what I was doing. So, the defroster duct was out from the side I wanted to work on so I put a large light shining through the windshield, through the defroster opening and now I could see what I was doing. Had the repair almost finished when I heard a "pop". One real nice crack line up the drivers side of the glass. Live and learn.......

 

I went through 4 different brake booster/ MC combos before I found one special made for my Falcon- Total Cost? a flippin bunch

 

Nov, 2002. I had my 66 Chevy II post over the pit for its first oil change on the new 327 I just built for it. I drained the oil and changed the filter. I climbed out of the pit, then the phone rang. I talked to my GF for about 30 mins, get back to the car. If figure I better check the timing, start the car and head into the shop to get my timing light. When I come back, you can guess it, locked up tight. The car sat there in that same spot till I sold it last week. I figure that costed me about 5k. 2500 for the 327 and the 2500 dollar loose I took on the car from when I bought it. Owned it for almost 11 years only drove it 1400 miles. Live and learn.

 

Traded my 62 belair wagon dd for a basket case 70 chevelle. That was 3 years ago. STILL WAITING for the title. At this point im polishing my special lead pipe.

 

Had the Scout parked under a drive on hoist. Decided to make some adjustments to the front end. Jacked it up about 2 inches and then couldn't understand why it got tough. Kept pumping (like and idiot) until I heard the metal crumple. I had creased my roof right across the back and put 4 gouges into the paint / metal.

I looked at it for about 6 seconds then simply let it down and went home... where I threw up

Thanks to Myron at MacDonald Autobody the roof has been fixed and it is now Pearl White from the previous Hyundai white

 

1977, Installing my new engine and trans in my first "real" car, a 69 Camero. I was so anxious to get the engine in the car that rather than spend the time (4 min.) to find a chain, I used a motorcycle tiedown to strap the engine/trans to the hoist hook. I ignored the little popping sounds as I lifted the engine, figgered I'd just do it quick. Just as the bell housing cleared the front of the car the strap broke.

The left fender and the bumper were the only sheetmetal on the front of the car that didn't get damaged. The pan, pullys, alt, fuel pump, and bell housing, and a new set of headers were bent or broke.

I as a 17 year old...cried, I learned many a life lesson that day.

 

Took my "new" Model A roadster acquisition down the main drag, headed for home in 1963. Got three blocks, and three cop cruisers blocked me in, guns drawn. They thought I was the former owner. They had been trying to get Richard for weeks. I said I just left his house. They flew over there, and he saw them coming. So, he bailed out a bathroom window into the adjoining orchard. They finally got him by staking out the boys gym and waiting for him to get naked and wet before nabbing him. He had 37 traffic warrants outstanding!! His Dad super grounded him. I think I saw him again some 6 months later. Ouch.

 

Thinkin i might be done in less than a year was my biggest mistake, b4 the snowball effect....LOL

 

I bought a '69 Mercedes 280 S with the cool Bosch headlamps when I lived in Venezuela. When I was leaving to live in the US, I gave it to my wife's family and it was promptly stolen.

 

did a flamejob the real expensiv way ,all hok kolor and so on, finished it, did a small burnout in my garage straight into a wall :-( Luckywise it is 15 years ago and i was 25

 

In 1991 I had this awesome 1962 Buick Skylark 2 door hardtop. I had spent a year freshening up the 215 aluminum block/head V8, lowering it, body work, door solenoids, etc.. After all of this work I couldn't get the Rochester quadrajet to work. I pulled it apart and found the ball bearing in the accelerator pump had stuck in its orifice. My neighbor(a logger, not a mechanic) told me that he could "fix" it. Unbeknownst to me, he had drill through the body from the underside knocked the bearing out from behind, and filled the hole with a non fuel safe epoxy. The car was running great! I pulled over to get a soda and stand around looking tough at a local convenience store, when I went to start it up I heard a "woof" from under the hood. I didn't turn the ignition off, I just ran around and opened the hood. All that fresh oxygen really helped that fire get going, and my ignition being left on really helped deliver fresh fuel from my freshly installed electric fuel pump. To make a long story longer, I sat there and watched my car burn for about five minutes until a guy about half a block away ran over with a fire extinguisher. After a year and several thousand dollars, I sold it back to the guy I bought it from for $400 dollars. He never paid me

 

Didn't put a return spring on a carb properly. This was an O T big block Nova with 2 week old fresh paint. Took a buddy out to impress him and got on it. Went like a bat out of hell with the 427. Came up on a turn in the road and let off , the engine kept reving.

Being the 18 year old genius that I was I turned the key off so I wouldn't blow the motor. Well this locked the steering, which in turn made me miss the turn, ripped the right rear tire and rim off when it hit the pole and curb at the same time.

At that same moment I managed to unlock the steering but too late and hung on for the ride. Hard to control a car on three wheels on dewy grass heading for some bushy/vine type thing. The pole took care of the passenger side and the bush thing wiped out the drivers side.

Good news I had it slowed down a bunch and nobody got a scratch except the car, which got totaled. Spent the money I should have spent on insurance for body and paint. lots of lesson's learned on that deal and to this day if it's a locking column I'm workiong on, I take the locking ring out of the column. I also pay real good attention to how the return spring is attached also !

 

Bought a truck in Alaska with no serial numbers or title, and started building a sbf... nightmare. but its still fun.

 

No, but I had a similar scare ....the kind where panic sets in. I was in the process of building my 48 Ford Coupe. I had the body on , engine in, and the Mustang II front end in. No front sheet metal on. I had used the original front axle bumpstop bolt holes as the center for the MII. I was at Nats East in York walking around looking at cars when I came across a guy with the hood up on his 48 working on the engine. I went over and started talking with him . He had a MII front end under it , and when I started checking it out I noticed that there was something wrong. I can't remember what my reference was ( dimensionally) but placement of his crossmember was significantly different than mine. Did I screw up locating mine ? Of course I'm 600 miles from home and have no way of checking mine.

On my walk back to where by buddies were with their cars all I could think about was how the hell I could have screwed that up. Talking with my friends about it ( one of whom had helped me lay out the cross member ) we decided to go back and take a look at the car I saw. The guy was still working on it with the hood up. While I was talking with him about my issue one of my buddies nudged me in the side and said, " Its not a Ford " . What, " Its not a Ford dumb ass......its a Mercury, the frame ahead of the firewall is 6 inches longer that yours". Which explained the difference.....mine turned out perfectly centered in the wheel opening.

Drinks are on me !!!!!

 

Thats a bunch of bad luck! But i bet he never paid you cause he hated you for what happened to the poor Buick

 

I had a 39 Buick sedan, a street rod with 455 and automatic. I was almost done with it, just some final tuning. The last time I started it the engine idled too high...about 1200 rpm. Leaning over the engine bay I started engine with screw driver shorted across starter wire, the engine promptly fired, I heard the rear tires spinning and barking on the shop concrete floor, I was too stunned to move as the front wheel rolled over my foot, the car had about four feet of momentum to launch itself into a 2x6 framed exterior wall. The force of the impact broke both halves of the very cool 39 buck grill, creased both front fenders and knocked the wall off foundation by two inches! Lesson of this story is to put fixing the neutral safety switch to the TOP of your list!!!
Total repair costs 1100.00.... Fenders never looked right, traded it at a loss for a 1933 Nash three window that needed every thing! Lesson learned!

 

Not as expensive as some but after spending $600 getting my reshaped bumpers chromed, I decided to go with the satin nickel look on everything.

 

Well you guys are making me feel better every day that goes by.....I guess
Here's a pic of my stupidity. still can't figure out how the hell I did it though.

 

left water in a fresh motor with 0 miles. When we finally got our cold snap of the winter it cracked the block and heads.....shit

 

the yellow looks good to me man, nice ride

 

Live free or die... but don't drive !!

 

Too true!!!

Dan