Five Dumbest things you ever did

[Lynn]

Ground Rules:
You can't tell us about drunk driving (we don't need to document that).
You can't tell us about the car (boat, motor etc.) that you passed on in the 70's. Really, all of us over age 55 did that.

I am sure if I think about this long enough, I will want to revise, but this is what I am thinking tonight.
Try to keep it clean. I'll start:

1. Cliff Diving from 70 feet

1.a. Gainer from 70 feet

2. Married at 22

3. Tried to water ski behind a sail boat (hey, we had 50mph gusts). It was fun trying though.

4. Ran home from the church (about 6 miles) one afternoon not knowing there were 100 mph winds and rain on the way. Almost didn’t make it. And... it was raining so hard my ex-wife drove right by me and didn’t see me, almost running over me (yeah, the one I married at 22).

5. Snow skied in shorts for 6 hours (no shirt for about 4 of that) on April 12 one year in Santa Fe. Bright sunshine all day long. Could still see the tan line three years later.

Pics attached for 1 and 1.a.

And the smartest thing I ever did: Married Sherri.

[Mr. Chevy]

In no particular order.....

1. Driving very recklessly through residential neighborhoods in my 69 Nova as a teenager
2. Driving that same 69 Nova at 15 years old without a valid operators license after working on it
3. Riding a dirt bike with shorts on and severely burning my leg on the hot exhaust pipe
4. Entering the ladies restroom by accident at a Panera Bread out of town.
5. Trimming a tree in the yard last summer without first looking for a hornets nest. Yes, I
got nailed several times in the face and neck area by hornets who had a nest in the tree. I was
on a ladder also and jumped off backwards nearly killing myself to get away.

Rich

[Ryan1969Chevelle]

Now this is a good exercise just before New Years.

Good to reflect and not do the same stupid things twice.

1. At sixteen used to take my dads car and go as fast as it would go...bury the speedometer, the needle would stick and as he was driving to work the needle would reappear from the high side

2 At sixteen used to do reverse donuts for hours (FWD 87 Sierra)the speedo needle would get stuck under the zero Kilometers per hour, and bounce up as my Dad was driving to work.

3. Driving my 1969 Chevelle SS 396, married for years but still some kind of Macho man, girls pulled up beside me, I put it in neutral, revved it up, pulled it into gear, and flew backwards, with me flying towards the steering wheel. Not a cool move.

4. Was a "preppy" when preppys were cool, sperry docksiders, lacoste, polo, Ocean pacific, I see the pictures now and laugh.

5. Got married at 20, (I had just turned 20 3 months before) girlfriend/fiance was 19 (she just turned 19 a month before)now this was stupid but it was the best stupid thing that I/we ever did, we just had our 21st anniversary (And our fortieth birthdays recently) and have no regrets. Beautiful (Coma) Chevelle loving wife would tell the same stupid/wonderful story.

Ryan

[Lynn]

we just had our 21st anniversary

Congrats.

[olredalert]

----As you might guess, mine revolve around cars I was either to stupid to buy or didnt have the funds for. Also, cars I sold waaaaaay too soon.

----1. I couldnt raise the funds for my cousins 1965 427 Cobra. Did I say it was serial #3003. I like to forget that part as well as the price ($5500). It was 1969 after all.
----2. I couldnt raise the money to buy one of the three GT40s that actually raced at LeMans. My boss found it and would have let me have it for $30,000 in 1976 with the resto almost done. My offer of $3,000 (which I would have had to borrow) wasnt accepted!
----3. Almost didnt marry Jan, my long suffering wife, as she has kindly kept me alive for the last 35 or so years so I could pull all these bonehead moves.
----4. Painted my 1969 Monaco Orange/black leather L88 Corvette roadster with 3,000 original miles Black.
----5. Selling my now black L88 roadster for $6,500 to Jerome Shinkay!

----There are so many more, but I have to stop. Really, I have to........Bill S

----Merry Christmas to all!!!!!

[302moz]

Bill, Some of the cars that you owned and past on are amazing.I dream about being in the mid 70s buying muscle cars for peanuts. But in the 70s I was in grade school and the 60s car were getting very rusted. John

[camaromb]

Ok, 5 best dumbest things I ever did. Most seem to occur around the winter of '79 in Chicago, lots of snow and cold and being 17 years old.. without alcohol.

1. Jan. '80, -12 deg. f. , -50 deg. f. windchill, high school was cancelled...my friend and I went ice fishing all day on Lake Zurich IL with no shanty, no tent, we thought it was fun.

2. Skitching around the snowy neighborhood streets behind the Chrysler wagon my friend's parents owned. The rear gate was the perfect height to hold while standing with the rear window down. Hockey shin pads were great to use to slide on your knees while skitching and holding the bumper, not so great for the jeans over them. Mom wasn't happy. The dumb highlight for me was going 50 mph behind the wagon down Euclid Ave. in Mt. Prospect, I wish I had a picture of that.

3. Jumping off the 2nd story rooftops into the snow piles.

4. A nice summer day at the lake, filling the ski boat with 5 gals. of gasoline while leaning against the boat, I didn't notice the stream of gas soaking my swim trunks...wow that boat was hot!... jumping in the water didn't help!....a burning fireball and a swarm of stinging wasps comes to mind....a great torture method for sure.

5. College spring break '82 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on the beach... bad rip currents and someone in trouble off shore..I went out to help the guy, I remember holding his head up as long as I could as others came to help. I barely made it back to shore myself. Never underestimate big water.

[Fast67VelleN2O]

This was all before I got smart on cars and parts.

1. Parted out a very real Black/Black deluxe ex race car 1968 Z28 Camaro. No motor or transmission. Emblems were filled in and car had rear flares. I thought it was an original big block car (due to tach redline) at first but it had small block heater box. Car was rusty so I parted it. Still had the DF wheels up front and BU 12 bolt. This was around 2000.

2. Ended up with a BE 12 bolt that had a broken ring and pinion out of Harry Tillman speed shop in 1999. Fixed it with a Richmond gear 4.10, painted it up, and sold it at Englishtown for $900. This is before what I knew what BE meant. I just thought it was cool it was original 4.10.

3. Didn't buy original true barn find at farm in Salem NJ 1970 Chevelle SS 396 4 speed Medium green functional cowl car all original for $1500 because the car had wheel locks (sitting on Ansen slots) with no key. I only had a 2 wheel dolly at the time. Couldn't get it home so I passed on it.

4. Didn't buy 25 Muncie transmissions for $2500 in 2004. Don't know why but that just seemed like a lot of money at the time.

5. Sold a super nice 1967 Fairlane GT 390 4 speed convertible in 2006 for $7500 because I only paid 4k for it a week before. I always wanted one. Why did I sell it? Still kicking myself on that one.

[camaromb]

Ok, I thought this was non car dumbest 5 things... my dumbest 5 things car wise is much more than 5, but we all missed cars and parts back in the day, who knew.

[DWR]

The one that takes the cake for me was helping neighbor back his nice orange/bvt 68 ss big block auto air camaro onto a pair of steel ramps on a slick concrete floor. Car jumped straight into the air, shot ramps forward and landed on them bending both rockers. Car was later painted black and sold at Carlisle in early 80's.

[marxjunk]

1. traded my 71 GTO 400 4 speed, triple black, even for a junk mustang fastback...

2. didnt buy the Sox and Martin race car i found in southern missouri for 2500 bux..had the money thought too high

3. parted a white 70 Judge Ram IV 4 speed...black spoiler car...title was screwed up..Mssouri had horrible title laws back then

4. Parted a black with white striped 71 W-30 loaded, and i mean loaded power everything tach etch

5. Passed on a 71 Hemi R/T Charger, Missing the motor for $9,000..thought it was too high...it was in the 90s...I was a GM guy..just didnt get it

[twertsy]

1. "Rode" a bike down an incredibly steep hill on a 1/2 mile tractor trail, with no brakes.
2. Insisted I was "big / old enough" to load my Grandfather's lawn tractor onto his truck....straight through the cab.
3. Drank way too much and jumped way too often off the cliffs/trussel at the "Powder Hole" in Berwick, PA. Very high jump (~70 ft.) and approximately 100 sq. ft. landing pool. Been closed/patrolled now for a long time due to death(s).
4. Drove way too fast in the Shelby, top down, without the cover. Did you know at 140 mph the top does not stay in the down position without the cover on? BTW, 140 in 4th, still two gears left...
5. Confronted a Hispanic "gentleman" regarding the theft of my $2500 (in 1990) Shon pool cue....amongst about 50 of his "friends," in Salinas, CA. Wasn't a brainy move.

[njsteve]

All mine involve selling cars back in the old days.

Like I have said before...I have sold more million dollar cars long before they were worth a million dollars, than anyone else on the planet. <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/rolleyes.gif

1971 Hemicuda auto Convertible (yellow/white)
1968 LO23 Hemi Dart (later turned out to be Dick Landy's 4-speed car)
1971 Cuda 440-6 barrel 4-speed convertible (orange/black every option)
1971 Cuda 440-6 barrel auto convertible (red/black 19k mile survivor)
1971 Hemi Charger auto (orange/white, sunroof, 38K mile survivor)

[KevinW]

I like Steve's answers! I saw some of his pics of past cars, it was a shame <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/frown.gif Yup I did all the old car regrets too. But two things still stick in my mind.

1. sold my original smog exhaust manifolds off my 69 SS 4 speed when I sold my 69 El Camino auto (apart) and kept the auto manifolds because they &quot;looked nicer&quot;

2. drove my 69 with L60 tires and air shocks in the snowy nj roads (was not a good combo), spinning out and going over curbs and in ditches seemed common <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif

[K code Mustang]

Also Steve... selling OUR Charger.

[Canuck]

1.1968, While trying to strip paint from a wheel in my parents basement, I used too much chemical stripper. Soaked the excess with an old towel. With still some stuborn paint to remove I though I would use heat!! Wheel caught fire,tried to douse with towel, towel was in flames as I grabbed it and exited house, up a flight of stairs down a hallway and out the side door. My mother came down stairs to a smoke filled hallway and the smell of burning chemicals, asked what happened? I said &quot;nothing&quot;.
2.1973, After agrument with a girlfriend I decided to head out of town to collect my thoughts, was travelling along a piece of road I knew well,about 25 over the posted speed limit of 40. Remembered the road as straight, but mounted rise in the road(its was 10:00 PM and dark) to find the road did a hard right. The rise had me weightless for a moment and with no brake or steering controll, when I landed I did a four weheel drift off the road, tearing up a tire and rim, caved in the rocker panel and the gas tank. Was still able to brive away with a $1100 hard lesson, next time I had an agrument with a girlfriend...stay home and drink. This was done to a one year old 73 Duster 340.
3.1999,In my shop a few yars ago, I had the bright idea of compressing a coil spring aqbout two inches by lowering my hoist(with a car on it) to install compression clamps. The spring did not hold and launched itself skyward into the door of the car on the hoist. Nice dent!
4.2000. Sold a pile of NOS and good parts at a Denver, Olds Club event. Two years later bought a rare 71 W30 4 speed convert and ended up seeking out and buying most of the same parts back at about twice what I sold them for.65 cent Canadian dollar didnt help.
5.Drove through whiteout conditions to get to a concert we had tickets for! Hotel we had stayed at offered to have us stay comlimentary because of the storm. At one point drove off the road. Got out of the car to find road and when I looked back could not see car. Only because dog was barking could I locate car. It was th prairies in -22 conditions.


Paul

[travlnz28]

Like most teens I have done a number of rather dumb things. However this example was dumb enough to count for five. In 1972 just prior to graduating from high school my friend and I were driving on the freeway one night in his Dodge Colt (not exactly a high performance car!). My friend had a spotlight that could be plugged into the cigarette lighter and it had a red cover on it. I really don't remember whose idea it was to put the spotlight out the driver side window and shine it on the car in front of us but that's what we did. Of course we were cracking up just thinking about what is going through the drivers mind ahead of us. Well the driver didn't fall for it at first and just kept driving so my buddy flashed his bright lights a few times and that was enough to convince the driver to pull to the right. As we accelerated past him by BA was pressed against the window. As we passed him my friend caught a look of absolute hate in the guy's eye and we knew we were in trouble. The car chased us down the freeway a few miles before we were able to take an offramp the guy couldn't manuever fast enough to make. We weren't laughing anymore and it was the last time that spotlight was plugged in.

Please don't try this at home.

[markinnaples]

Car related (because if I had to put the real dumb stuff, I'd have to include my 2nd wife):
1. Locked the keys in our 74 Cutlass. In the rain. Running. In the middle of the street. (good thing I was good at the wire hangar trick)
2. Backed my sister's car up the driveway with the driver's door open (didn't realize I was that close to my dad's car so that my door was bent backwards, ugh)
3. Instead of washer fluid, put gas in my gf's windshield washer tank (someone else put the funky colored gas in the washer fluid bottle, not me)
4. After a night out, came up a winding hill and when I crested it, got airborn and slammed my 85 528 into the guardrail, bending it in half. (thank God for the guardrail and those giant Nazi bumpers, otherwise it was a 30 foot drop)
5. After the Christmas party and then leaving a buddy's house, lit 'em up pulling out of the street and when my 78 T/A continued sideways about 50 ft until I got traction and firmly planted it into a sizable tree stopping me from a 20 ft drop into someone's backyard. (my dad bought the story about someone hit-and-running my T/A until the next afternoon when he was picking bark out of what was leftover of the grill - but he was cool as heck about everything and I sure do miss him now that he's gone)

I could go on, but you only said five...

[njsteve]

Oh, I forgot these:

1) Trying to install the oil pump pick-up on a Chevy oil pump at four o'clock in the morning after coming home from a night on the town. I used the tried-and-true method of slipping a proper sized open end wrench over the ridge on the pick-up and then hitting the wrench with a 32 ounce ball peen hammer. Worked great all the other times...that I didn't have my thumb on top of the wrench. <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/eek.gif

2) Helped a high school buddy build a Pontiac 455 in his basement...when it was finished we both noticed at the same time that there was no way to get the engine out of the basement and up the wooden stairs to the garage. Had to take it apart again and reassemble it outside.

3) Installed a complete 426 Hemi engine on a cheapo engine stand. Tried pushing it sideways, thinking the casters on the wheels would turn correctly. The engine immediately flipped and fell to the ground. Not really fell, per se, but performed what seemed like a 20,000 mph, meteoric, re-entry into the atmosphere, and punched a hole through the concrete floor. Didn't damage the engine at all - didn't even chip the paint on the block.

4) After getting the rolling body of the 70 Hemi Charger painted in 2004, I brought it back home and was unstrapping it from the enclosed trailer. I didn't chock the wheels. Once I took the last strap off the front suspension, the car started slowly rolling out of the back of the trailer...and down the driveway about 75 feet...with me hanging on the radiator support trying to slow it down with my shoes smoking from the friction...knocking down a section of the six foot tall stockade fence pickets...and into the backyard, all while clearing the two main 8&quot;x8&quot; support posts for the stockade fence by 1/2&quot; on either side.

5) Installing the three position crank gear in the wrong position on my 455HO and aligning it with the TDC mark on the timing gear. Only to find out later that the engine wasn't at TDC at the time. That was a fun time trying to diagnose THAT no-start situation.

[twertsy]

I forgot one too. This past summer, I let my son hook up the trailer, and didn't check it. (So really, my fault) Pulled the front of a newly acquired Mustang onto the ramp, at which point the tongue rose, trailer pushed forward and straight into / through the tailgate

[marxjunk]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: twertsy</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I forgot one too. This past summer, I let my son hook up the trailer, and didn't check it. (So really, my fault) Pulled the front of a newly acquired Mustang onto the ramp, at which point the tongue rose, trailer pushed forward and straight into / through the tailgate </div></div>


I did that last year..nice dent in the tailgate....and i'm still getting tortured by friends about it...

[ZAPPER68]

Here's one...for the time being, more to follow...we were out jack lighting (hunting jack rabbits at night while riding on snow mobiles). I was riding shotgun (literally with mint Winchester Model 97) and fell off a couple of times trying to keep up the the wiley wabbits.

My buddy finally got one in the headlight and I stood up and squeezed off a round. Unbeknownst (sp) to us the barrel got jammed full of snow when I fell off previously and as soon as I pulled the trigger there was this horrific KABOOM and a flash of fire. The barrel exploded and ripped apart from the muzzle to a couple of inches ahead of the magazine.

We made a beeline to the farm, into the shop, gun goes into the vice and we sawed off the 'nasty bits' and continued hunting. I kept that 'modified' Model 97 for years with the short barrel and finally sold it to a friend that needed it more than I did....a new full length barrel was part of the deal.

[twertsy]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: marxjunk</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: twertsy</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I forgot one too. This past summer, I let my son hook up the trailer, and didn't check it. (So really, my fault) Pulled the front of a newly acquired Mustang onto the ramp, at which point the tongue rose, trailer pushed forward and straight into / through the tailgate </div></div>


I did that last year..nice dent in the tailgate....and i'm still getting tortured by friends about it... </div></div>

I blamed it on my son (although it was really my fault for not checking!). So he took the ribbing. Traded a guy in AZ, his no longer needed tailgate for a 20 inch LED light bar I had extra. Good as new, except for the new dent that somehow appeared the day after I installed it.???

[GaryC]

My first marriage at 21 years old. The wife and the 2 kids we had together...the most evilist (if that is a word) punks I've ever been associated with...and still feels like I have railroad spikes jammed in my eyes. At least she's dead (the ex), my youngest son is hiding out in Oregon so he doesn't have to pay child support for his two kids and a middle daughter that has 3 kids from 3 different fathers, uses my current wife for her own gains, and flips me off every time we're together because I tell my wife to stop helping her. What can I say. Life's a beotch and then you die. Only one good thing ever came out of this marriage and that was adopting her son when he was 6 months old when we got married. Even though he isn't of my blood he turned out to be the best son a father could ever have. How does something like that happen?