I was going to limit this to stupid things we have done in cars but what the hell why limit ourselves? lets just go with stupid things we have done, primarily the really stupid things.
I will start. I have done plenty so there is a large pool to draw from however this one is vehicle related.
There was a railroad trestle in our town (this could open a debate trestle vs bridge but we called it a trestle) it spanned a dark 2 lane road,
it was rather small and it was made of wood, it looked like it was made of railroad ties, it was very sturdy looking what made it interesting is how narrow it was, the sides came right down to the side of the road so there was no road shoulder under the bridge, what also made it interesting is that the span was relatively short since it was just a 2 lane road but this bridge had a center support so this in turn made the passage underneath quite narrow. To make things worse the trestle was in the middle of a S, there was a curve at the approach and one at the exit, the weren't very sharp but they were there.
One day about 5 of us (all approx 17 or 18 years old) decided it would be fun to see how fast we could go under the trestle !! we had no way to actually measure the speed ( we never thought of a stop watch to measure time) we just said "damn he's cooking !! the only rule was you had to start before the curve and end after the curve and go as fast as you could.
I participated in this stupid act driving my 65 Tempest. I don't recall us declaring a winner ,its a miracle no one was injured and there were no damaged vehicles .I do remember I damn near $hit my self and vowed never to do it again !!
There had been fatality's at that location but it was never mentioned if they were foul play or simply accidents. (seems the center supports were the culprits)
I guess it was our version of dead mans curve. I guess we were stupid and lucky !! when I look back at some of these things it a miracle I'm sitting here typing this !!
What stupid things have you done ? feel free to post !!

 

Sold a 1961 Corvette for $1450. Sold a 57 Nomad for $650.

 

Don't feel bad ! I had a 57 Chevy sedan delivery, I sold it for less than it was worth to buy another car that I was convinced would get away from me if I didn't act fast. I did however do well when I sold my 64 Bel Air years later so I guess it evened out.

 

The stupids I quickly & painfully recall revolve around cars, mostly in 80’s/early 90’s. More omission than hubris.

Bought a condo instead of a mid year Corvette in late 80’s. D’oh!

Didn’t keep the LS6, sold it to Roger Ausley.

Didn’t buy friend’s 69 RS/SS Camaro convertible, 350, stick, 13k miles for $12k, early 90’s.

Didn’t buy really nice 69 H/O for $6k, I think it ended up w/ Reggie Jackson as it belonged to guy in his circle of collectors/dealers.

Passed on a 70 W30, 4 spd for $6k, didn’t like the MSD box mounted in the pass footwell, otherwise it was wicked nice and all there.

If only I’d kept the crystal ball charged…

Edit - Just thought of another omission while reading lithium battery fire thread. Reminded me that I didn’t buy Tesla stock after it dropped to about $12/share when a few early cars melted down for all to see on the news.

…

 

Out ran the cops twice in cars held together with bailing wire. One time in a car I only had a few hours in my home town.
I had to hide the car in an elderly housing complex right behind the Police Station for a week .... But they knew~

 

This same 61 Vette was responsible for my first speeding ticket. I was returning home from a neighboring town and decided to see what it would do. Topped a hill and there was a highway patrol with radar. I slowed and stopped when his lights came on. When he caught up, he asked me why I didn't keep going because I could have outran him. I came from a small town of 3200 people and had the only Vette in the county. I just said why try because you know where I live.

 

Just a quick story concerning Reggie Jackson,
About 10-12 years ago a friend of mine got tickets to to Barret Jackson Scottsdale with passes that allowed us to access parts of the event that were off limits to most, we wound up in a area where owners of the vehicles would stand (off stage) while their vehicles were being auctioned, we were about 10 feet from Reggie , he had a Camaro on the block I believe it was a COPO , when the gavel dropped Reggie went nuts !!
that's impossible he said (I don't know if he hadn't been paying attention prior to the car hitting the block or what) the car has not met the reserve !!! apparently he was standing with a official from Barret Jackson and Immediately protested the sale !! I mean he plain out lost it !! the official was holding paper work and they looked at the paper work and he showed Reggie the paper work, by this time a crowd had gathered
and they were trying to settle Reggie down and it was getting harder to hear the conversation but I believe Reggie said his personal assistant
must have made a mistake on the reserve price when he registered the car.
The group of people left the area so I don't know if the issue was ever resolved, I have a feeling there was going to be a personal assistant looking for a job ! I can tell you this Reggie was so hot if he had been standing in water the water would have been boiling !!!

 

It was summer break from college. Coming back from long beach island(NJ) over the causeway meatball sub on my lap girlfriend passenger side. I ask her to take the wheel while I take a bite, she says okay. Just as I start to bite hear my name screamed. We were into the next lane, yanked hard on the wheel but clipped a jeep. Both vehicles pulled off the road on the other side of causeway. No injuries thank God. I gave the man my recently cashed pay check $200+ no cops necessary. My girlfriend had not heard me correctly. Told her it was my fault. The fender of my Celica gt was rubbing on the tire. Took my frustration out on the fender by yanking it just enough to stop it from rubbing.
Not a prod moment.

 

Once in college, in my recently acquired '68 (in my sig), myself and 5 other frat brothers in the car were heading down a 2-lane blacktop at ~60 MPH. The "navigator" who knew where we were heading yelled "Turn Here!" about 100' before the intersection where I was expected to turn right. Under normal circumstances I would've kept going to the next road to turn around and come back. Instead, I yanked the steering wheel to the right followed by jamming the brake pedal to the floor. This started the car into a 4-wheel skid with just enough CW rotation so that by the time I reached the road, the car was pointed nearly straight at it (sliding nearly sideways). I had scrubbed enough speed at that point that when I let off the brakes, all 4 wheels grabbed and shot us down the road without any tires leaving the pavement. Everyone was amazed that I pulled off that turn without landing in a ditch.

 

Lol.. this could be quite the thread.

Most recent stupid thing? Had two people laying on the fender while I was in that wheel well trying to get the upper ball joint into the spindle enough to thread..while the car was supported by the jack under the lower control arm.

I've got many many more stories for only being 31 🤣

 

-Not buying a 69 W31 off an original owner. Woman in her 80s. She could no longer push the clutch. Blue/Black, no vinyl top, white stripes, 80K miles, no console, California clean and complete down to the nuts n bolts...$3500, 1987. Just bought my 68 442 for $1700 and didn't have two quarters to rub together.

-Not buying a 68 W31 out of a driveway near me. Was rough but not rusty and was complete with numbers engine trans. $1800, 1984

-Selling a 68 saffron/white 442 vert. Didn't have the storage and needed the $$...2006.

-Beating the **** out of a clean 68 fastback 327 stick Impala. Crashed it sold it for $500 in 1982.

-Not buying a low mileage loaded grandma-owned 71 GS Stage 1 off of my buddy because I thought they were too grandma looking...$4500! 1981-2.

 

Like the good Dr. it was '79, 17 year old kid with no nickels and had to pass up a 70 W-30 for $1895. They did let me test drive it a few times though.
At least I got to do that. What a blast! Sold the 66 442 hardtop in my sig for $2500 in '90 to get me to Marble Falls, no regrets.

 

Does marrying your first wife twice count?? 🤔😱

Lesson learned...

 

For what its worth Your not the only one ! I worked with a guy that did it ! both times a train wreck !!!

 

If i get started C O is going to have to expand it's publishing ability

 

Let's just say, thank god there were no mobile phones around to capture the ignorance of my youth. Remember ignorance is a learning experience, stupidity is when you do it again. I now plead the 5th.

 

So true, well phrased.

 

I am so thankful we didn't have cell phones and all the cameras that today's world does.

PS: I know plenty of people that married the same woman twice. I got my younger daughter so I still have to be thankful. She got hers so karma works. Ha ha. I appreciate what I have now.

 

I might be an exception to the married the same woman twice. We've been together for a combined total of 42 years.

 

My grandmother married the same guy three times. They finely figured out that they could live in two houses side by said and be friends with benefits.

 

No way I could decided what was the dumbest thing I ever did. Some things I done people would think was stupid and to this day I do not. I was doing freestyle on 4 wheelers and 3 wheelers both. I was actually the first person ever to hit a kicker ramp on a 3 wheeler. None of that is really stupid when you know what you are doing.
I would have to say one of the dumbest in my book was doing a freestyle show on a windy day. We knew better but didn't want to refund the money so the show went on. I ended up being blown off course and landed from just over 30 feet in the air to flat ground. I walked away but done nearly $4000 in damage to the 4 wheeler and didn't even flip it. Luckily I had great sponsors and they covered almost every dime of the damage. Looking back, there are many things that I don't know how I walked away from. I can only say that God watching after me for some reason. Never broke a bone.

Another one was hitting a 200 foot natural terrain jump with no practice runs. I believe that was the highest I had ever been on a jump. They were estimating I was over 60 foot in the air.

Car related, there were many but nothing I am willing to type.

 

We’ll nothing as of this morning. I raced a trans am on a back road yesterday at 58 years old that was stupid ( but I beat him ) . Over the years ? Yikes 😬

 

Back in 1979 I changed my oil and forgot to put the drain plug back in.

In 1986 I turned down a gorgeous triple black '70 W-30 convertible with a four speed; price was $7500 and I though that was too high.

I lost 2 garage door openers and one $200 pair of sunglasses by setting them on the deck lid. (If you ever set anything on your car, put it on the hood so you can see it when you drive away).

Got married a second time.

I have a friend, John, who had a '76 442 with a 455. He put headers on it, and immediately had to hear it run with open headers. He forgot to put the oil filter adapter assy on first and fried the engine.

 

I smoked a land cruiser's harness by using a metal housing kill switch to a metal dash and it shorted to the housing. Was used to good oil filters, my mom's crappy one from a lube shop left it on. I put new filter on (so doubled up gaskets) and promptly soaked everything in new oil till I shut it down. Melted a carb part with torch trying to heat up enough to pull pressed in orifices out. Dented a door turning too tight into a garage.

Tried to pry out a cardboard staple with a utility knife (was 9). Got a couple nice stitches out of that one.

 

Putting all my old baseball cards in the spokes of my bicycle. That haunts me today knowing what they're worth.

 

Oh, yes same here !!
I had a uncle that had a baseball card collection, he had daughters and no sons, one day he gifted me his baseball card collection figuring I would appreciate them more than his daughters, I was a baseball fan probably about 10 years old, old enough to love baseball but not old enough to appreciate the card collection !! many of the cards wound up in the spokes of my bicycle the ones that didn't wind up in the spokes wound up destroyed in a basement flood because I didn't properly take care of them, STUPID !!!!!

 

I worked with a guy that divorced his wife and married his mother in law. True story.

 

I think we have a winner

 

You're supposed to go the other way.

 

my friends sister in law,married her ex son in law

 

Her Mom knew things and has special talents!

 

WOW ! Now that one is beyond stupid.

 

Were these people on drugs? This is beginning to sound like daytime TV.

 

Sounds like candidates for the Gerry Springer show!

 

Never, NEVER casually jump your car when you are dead hung over from the night before. I crossed my jumper cables and fried my fusible link before I could get them off! Nuff said.

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by bassinguy View Post
I worked with a guy that divorced his wife and married his mother in law. True story.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oldolds88 View Post
my friends sister in law,married her ex son in law

I hate to say it, but my aunt pulled this stunt with her daughter's husband, only they started messing around before the divorce. It's been so long that I'm not even sure any of them were divorced yet when the shenanigans started.

 

Remind me of RedGoat a former CO member that measured the distance between his battery posy with a steel ruler [once]

 

^x2^

All time winner...