I hope you don't do this with yours!

ddax · #1 11-30-2005, 01:33 PM

My son thought he had it in 'park'!

He came in the house to get his mom and when they went back outside he said; "Hey, where's my car!"

It had traveled in reverse through a hedge at the back of the driveway, through 35 feet of yard, through another hedge, through a small garden surrounded with a landscape timber border and into the stream.

They called me out with "a problem, come quick!"

I found the headlights pointing skyward and the rear wheels churning up the stream! A towtruck cable and eighty bucks later it's back in the driveway with no apparent damage but a trunk full of water! The bank is pretty steep at about a 45 degree angle - the second pic looks much more shallow as I had the camera at an angle.

PeteA216 · #2 11-30-2005, 05:12 PM

Wow is all I can say. My first thought when seeing those pictures was someone took the car joyriding, and got stuck, but thank god that wasnt the case. I'm glad the car was undamaged though. What year is it? Its gotta be an '85 or older right? Its a beautiful car, I love the black. I noticed its missing a hood ornament though. I might have one laying around that you can have if you pay for shipping. If you're interested, just email me at [email protected].

ruberpoliceman · #3 11-30-2005, 06:00 PM

wow is right.lol. You know your car is a beast when it can plow through all that at idle.lol.

kahjdh · #4 11-30-2005, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ruberpoliceman

wow is right.lol. You know your car is a beast when it can plow through all that at idle.lol.

lol, gotta love that

ddax · #5 12-01-2005, 05:59 PM

Pete,
It's an '83 with 90,300 miles! My parents bought it in '84 or '85 with 15,000. After they died my sister took it as a second car for few years and when she decided to sell it a couple years ago I bought it to keep for my oldest to drive. I am pleased he likes it. So, it's been in the family many years (but not many miles). It's in great shape - only rust is inside the bottom of the doors like the pics you posted of your repairs.
The paint was dull on the top surfaces so I spent a long day buffing it down with rubbing compound-polishing compound-swirl remover-"Zymol" wax. I earned a nasty tendonitis in my elbow doing that! Now it looks much better (but my elbow still hurts).
We'll be putting Cragar S/S rims and either Firehawk Indy 500 or BFG Radial T/A tires on it as soon as I finally make up my mind what size to use.

ruberpoliceman,
This 'beast' has a really fast idle - I've been meaning to do something about that!!

1986Z28 · #6 12-01-2005, 08:43 PM

thats gotta suck!!!

randy78 · #7 12-03-2005, 05:31 PM

didnt hurt it, car should be fine, although i would drain gear oil out of the axle and refill it

poor car

PeteA216 · #8 12-04-2005, 01:44 AM

I love these cars... I've owned 3 so far. The cream one that I show off every here and there is my first one, my baby. I ended up having to parts out the other two because of severe rot (one I inherited from my father, the other was a wagon I bought from an old lady that had a freshly rebuilt tranny). I've seen how badly rust can destroy these cars, so I'm doing everything in my power to keep it from taking over my car. I also offered to help my neighbor with the rust problem on his Caprice.

Anyway, I'm actually in the development stage of attempting to convert the engine in my car to run off of hydrogen as opposed to gasoline. If/when I ever get it to work, I'll post a complete thread about it. If this works, I'll probably invest in a larger engine too

silicon212 · #9 12-04-2005, 11:23 AM

Hydrogen? How're you going to fuel that thing? There's not very many hydrogen fueling stations here in the USA, or anywhere else for that matter.

I had once looked into a CNG conversion, but fuel economy with CNG would be in the toilet. In '93, when CNG was $.50 a gallon, it made sense. Not so sure, now.

PeteA216 · #10 12-04-2005, 03:48 PM

I'd generate the hydrogen on my own. Online you can buy laboratory hydrogen generators, then I'd have to compress the hydrogen gas into a high pressure tank. The pressure would be regulated and brought down as it goes to the injection system.

ruberpoliceman · #11 12-05-2005, 07:30 PM

ddax- yea mine idle high to. i finally figured it was the choke sticking so i played with it for a while until i got it how i wanted and now its fine. im still wondering how your son didnt notice the car sliding away, especially with a fast idle,lol. good story though.

Later

ddax · #12 12-11-2005, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ruberpoliceman

im still wondering how your son didnt notice the car sliding away, especially with a fast idle,lol. good story though.

Later

As fast as this car idles, I figure he didn't get it into park but must had had it out ot reverse. There's really no way you could get out on a level surface with this car in gear and not notice before you even got past the open door!

I'm certainly glad it wasn't moving as he got out. He'd have probably tried to get back in and stop it and could have been knocked down and hurt - a lot easier to fix the car than my kid! I've jumped in moving cars before, as I'm sure many of you have, and it's not an easy thing to do. Good way to fall and get your feet/legs run over.

mackamitsu · #13 12-15-2005, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ddax

As fast as this car idles, I figure he didn't get it into park but must had had it out ot reverse. There's really no way you could get out on a level surface with this car in gear and not notice before you even got past the open door!

I'm certainly glad it wasn't moving as he got out. He'd have probably tried to get back in and stop it and could have been knocked down and hurt - a lot easier to fix the car than my kid! I've jumped in moving cars before, as I'm sure many of you have, and it's not an easy thing to do. Good way to fall and get your feet/legs run over.

So ddax, did you get a print made up and framed? you know, a pic so he can tell his kids about the runaway car.

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