Who has the craziest car/truck related story?

I will start with one (of many)....
This will be 32 years ago now (darn). I was 26. Local junk yard would have this special day (maybe once a month) where you paid $25 to get through the gate and you could have anything you could carry out. They had this flagged exit area marked off and you had to carry all your stuff about 10 yards to a finish line. Thing is, you had to carry everything, including your tools. Luckily a guy told me that as I was going in with my toolbox, so I turned around and picked out the basic tools I figured I would need and wrapped them in a cloth.

I saw a guy pay for six people to go in and they attempted to carry a whole car out. They failed to get it all the way across without sitting it down.

Anyway, back then I had an old 1979 4x4 Subaru wagon. I needed a MacPherson strut and other assorted things. I roamed around the yard, scoping out the Subarus. There were a few. One had an engine that looked pretty good. I was like, I have always wanted to rebuild a Subaru motor. They are all aluminum block and heads, but water cooled opposing cylinders, unlike the air cooled VW. I don't know the weight, but not like a cast iron block. Still, heavy enough.

I unbolted the engine, got everything disconnected, removed the hood, stood on the wheel wells, grabbed the intake and lifted the engine out of the car. Got it down on the ground. Cut the seat belts out of the car, flipped over the hood and made a sled. Sit the engine on my sled. Removed the strut I needed. Found two Jackman wagon wheels. Started across the field to the exit area. Got over there after a bit of a grunt.

Piled some old tires up very close to the starting line and then sit the engine on the tires, thinking then I don't need to bend over. Tied my tool sack to the motor. Used the seat belts to sling the wagon wheels and strut over my shoulders. Then I picked up the engine. There is a guy standing there with a clip board watching me. My legs were really feeling it and it was a struggle, but I slowly walked to the finish line. As I went the guy with the clip board started cheering me on "Come on, you can do it!". I made it across, turned around and asked "This all mine?". Guy says "Yep, most I have seen anyone carry out for $25".

I did rebuild that motor and put lots of miles on it.

Sorry, meant for this thread to go into chat section.

IN college, a good friend of mine was working on his 55 cadillac engine, in his dorm room. We went through aircraft mechanic school together then decided that wasn't going to pay the bills. Anyway, he spent $25 rebuilding the thing top to bottom. I was envois at his crazy mad old school techniques. Hand made all the gaskets. Only true cost was valve job by another friend, $25. Anyway, he knurled the pistons by hand right there on cardboard sheets with a hammer and knurling die. He did that because he would have needed to bore and use larger pistons. The knurling raised the effective diameter just enough all he had to do was hone the bores. He was still driving that same motor 30 years later, no smoke.

Several years ago I went to look at a 77 Bronco that was listed in a want ad paper. The owner would not give any details other than he wanted $1500 for it. When I drove up to his place there was a nice looking Bronco in the drive way. It was a bright green. It only had 69,000 miles on it and the only thing wrong with it was the passenger side door was missing. I asked about the door and he told me that the Bronco had been parked in his barn for the last 5 years due to it being in a wreck. He had found all the parts to repair it except the door. Then he told me about the details of the wreck. Him and his son worked in a near by town at a paper mill and they drove the Bronco back and forth about a 65 mile round trip every day. Work at the paper mill got slow so they asked for volunteers to take a lay off. So his son volunteered. The man got mad at his son and went to give him a chewing out but his son told him the reason he did it was because he was single and could afford some time off but most of the guys had families and could not afford it. His father still was not happy but he let it go. The next day the man is driving to work by himself. He came around a curve and there was a large in the road that had blown over due to a storm during the night.. A large limb came through the windshield on the passenger side bending up the windshield frame, tearing off the back of the passenger seat, and bending up the passenger door. His son would probably have been killed if he would have been riding with dad. God was certainly looking out for this boy. I did buy the Bronco and found a door the same color.

77 bronco

Back about 2005 I was at a friends house visiting and he said his son had a 1977 bronco in Huntington Beach California and father 98 years old told the son to call the Salvation Army to come and get it . And I said wait a min. I saw the son he is 80 years old at church one day in Tucson and we talked about the bronco and he said he would never sell it 2 months later saw him again and he said I could have it for a buck but when he comes to town I would let him drive it ok.So in the middle of the night I took with my car trailer and brought it back to Tucson .The reason it was parked in a mini storage from 1986-2005 broken bolt taking off water pump .It only had 78k miles on it then now it has 86k. Only drive it in the summer .Needs paint this winter not original ford but nice original interior several friends offered to double my money

... These don't have to be Bronco stories do they.
Back when I was in High School I was already building hotrods. So I had a 1956 chevy 2door .. Nice 6cyl 2door auto 308 rear axle. I think I gave 200.00 for it.
SO I pulled a 283 from a wrecked 57 chevy I'd hauled off. I'd took the heads off because the guy I bought it from had thought the block was broke in the wreck.
So I'd hauled the short block to the house in a farm pickup. I was working on it in the old dairy barn . But I needed the heads to take in for a valve job.
.. But it was coming a flood &It rained for like 7 days .. SO I NEEDED THOSE HEADS ...
SO I got a good quilt off my bed & took it to my shop ... My shop was about 500 yards from the house. It was way to wet to drive. SO I wrapped the 2 heads in the quilt ... PICKED THEM UP TO MY CHIN & Started walking to the house. I could barley walk in the mud. The closer I got to the house the lower I was carrying those heads. When I got back to the house those head were at the very finger tips. I think it took my 15 minutes to walk & carry those head from the bottom.
... THEN I took them to town.
It turned into a 283 bored .125 making it a 301 ... Power pack heads . 300 hp intake manifold & a C series AFB. Swapped in a 3 speed with a hurst sifter .. 4:56 p/trac ..

Later the man that owned the Ford house hired me to pull the motor from a 1956 Mercury Crown Vic 312..
.... $50.00 buck I was going to get rich. I thought some of my buddies would want to help me But they all wanted 10 bucks to help .. No I WONT Have anything to put toward my next project. SO I DID IT MYSELF . I STARTED FRIDAY EVENING after school . & went back Saturday morning .. Wow every thing I tried was hard nothing worked. But I got it to where it was ready to come out .. I had it pulled up a good foot but it'd still not come loose. I'd pried with every tool I could find. I'd been on top the motor then I got under it & pried .. I let it down & picked it up nothing . SO I went to the house & got the rock bar that we used to build fence with. I stuck it between the motor & the trans & pull with all I had . THAT MOTOR POPPED LOOSE & THAT MERC. Hit the GROUND ..
IF I'D BEEN UNDER IT I'D HAVE BEEN DEAD.
.... 17 YEARS OLD I pull back & got myself a Coca COLA & SET ON THE WORK BENCH & Said THANK YOU LORD FROM NOW OWN I'LL DO A BETTER JOB AT CHECKING OUT THE ...'' WHAT CAN GO WRONG'' TODAY I STILL LIVE BY THIS STORY.
THANK YOU LORD...
... MY PARENTS WOULD NOT HAVE LOOKED FOR ME UNTIL MIDNIGHT & Maybe not until the next day.
... The ford house owner built that motor & put it in his 1956 T'BIRD.
HE'S STILL a friend ..& He's still building Fords of all kinds . He has several BRONCOS.

In 1982 I bought my first car, a 75 Monte Carlo. I started with $400 and bought a used sleeper sofa off a family friend. I then traded that couch to a guy my dad knew for his rolled Jeep. The final act was the rolled Jeep for the Monte Carlo. Truly a deal with the devil. A 400 ci engine for a 16 year old. Ended up blowing the engine doing 130 mph driving home from work one night about a year later.

I've posted a full story previously but in a nutshell my wife bought my Bronco for my 40th birthday, later that same year I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. After 18 months of going through treatments off and on I decided life is to short not to live by the beach...we sold everything including the Bronco she had given me (which was then a daily driver). We moved from Colorado to Florida and I've been in remission ever since. After being in Florida nearly 5 years I was surfing craigslist one day and typed in 1967....and up popped my Old Bronco for sale in Key West. We bought it back and I drive it to work most days now. My old Bob Marley CD was still in the player when I started it up...there were two owners since I had sold it in Colorado. Blessed is an understatement. ��

I bought a Bronco once....

Brother in-law called. Had blown the engine in his van and he had a really big job he had to do the next day. He needed the money. He told me he had a 350 some guy had given him. It came out of a racing boat. Engine had a spun a main bearing. I was in my 30's back then, so an all nighter was no big deal. Anyway, I loaded my tools, stopped by a parts shop and bought a crank kit for a 350. Got to my brother in-laws place. He helped me pull the engine. I worked all night installing the crank kit in the 350, swapped over parts I needed, installed the engine. I remember sitting out in his back yard, working under the stars, torquing the main bolts and looking up at this really bright moon around 1AM. Primed the oil and fired it up just as the sun was coming up. Brother in-law got to his appointment. I was beat.

56f100bbw said:

Back about 2005 I was at a friends house visiting and he said his son had a 1977 bronco in Huntington Beach California and father 98 years old told the son to call the Salvation Army to come and get it . And I said wait a min. I saw the son he is 80 years old at church one day in Tucson and we talked about the bronco and he said he would never sell it 2 months later saw him again and he said I could have it for a buck but when he comes to town I would let him drive it ok.So in the middle of the night I took with my car trailer and brought it back to Tucson .The reason it was parked in a mini storage from 1986-2005 broken bolt taking off water pump .It only had 78k miles on it then now it has 86k. Only drive it in the summer .Needs paint this winter not original ford but nice original interior several friends offered to double my money

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If that is original paint, might be worth saving if you can.

Best buy, went to look at a 5.0 5spd Mustang. It was pretty nice condition, loaded full of new parts, aftermarket parts and detailing/paint supplies. Then came what do you want for it, lady owner turns and says her ex-boy friend who bought her the car, left her for someone else and head to Vegas.....how about $50?

Scary part, drove it home and found out a few miles from my house that the new stainless brake lines were installed but not tightened. I had to use the emergency brake for the last 2 miles.

56f100bbw said:

Back about 2005 I was at a friends house visiting and he said his son had a 1977 bronco in Huntington Beach California and father 98 years old told the son to call the Salvation Army to come and get it . And I said wait a min. I saw the son he is 80 years old at church one day in Tucson and we talked about the bronco and he said he would never sell it 2 months later saw him again and he said I could have it for a buck but when he comes to town I would let him drive it ok.So in the middle of the night I took with my car trailer and brought it back to Tucson .The reason it was parked in a mini storage from 1986-2005 broken bolt taking off water pump .It only had 78k miles on it then now it has 86k. Only drive it in the summer .Needs paint this winter not original ford but nice original interior several friends offered to double my money

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Great story! And now I know whose truck that is. My buddy saw it at the car show in Show Low a few months ago, said he talked to you, and sent me a pic of it.

Todd Z.

Several years ago I was very into offroading. We were at Tellico in NC, and I was driving a Unimog. For those unfamiliar, it is a sizable offroad truck made by Mercedes. 44" tires stock, diesel engine, portal axles, lots of gearing, etc. Well it was in decent shape but the park brake was a little touchy. We were at the end of our trip and trying to decide if we were going to just call it a day and go back to drink and grill steaks.

To get out and talk, I stopped on a steep trail and put one tire over a large rock to act as a wheel chock in addition to the parking brake. I get out and quickly my 3 yr old son wants out. I get him to unbuckle himself from his car seat, and he steps over the gear levers to the driver's side and I pluck him out.

Well as luck would have it, I turn around to set him down and he says "Daddy, the Mog is rolling." I turn back around and it is headed off backwards, down the hill by itself. I go running after it. As I chase it, I find out that it had run over a yellow jacket's nest. Stung twice thru my shirt. Felt like being shot with a BB gun.

The Mog is still on the trail but is angling towards a tree. My thoughts are "Great, I'll just have to bang out a dent in the bed and that is all." Well the tree was too small, and the bed rides up on the tree and bends it. With the weight transferring more to the front axle, the tires no long want to stay straight, and quickly and off to one side. DUMP. On its side in the middle of the trail. The engine continues to run until the oil bath air cleaner drains into the intake.

Two jeeps help be get it back upright. Oil on top of the pistons prevent it from restarting. We end up striping it down of all contents and take the two jeeps back to the cabin for the evening (around 2am). Did I say this was at Tellico? Pitch damn black. On the way out, the CJ7 I was riding in with my son (in the back), proceeds to stop running. Dead. No electrics, nothing. I radio the other Jeep ahead of us while the driver gets out to look under the hood where he finds a surprise. The other Jeep doesn't understand while I'm asking them to return...until I say "ITS ON FIRE, COME BACK!" I drop the radio and proceed to climb out thru the back hatch of the Jeep with my sleeping son.

The drama ends with a quick extinguishing of the electrical fire. A little wiring magic, and we make it back to the cabin.

Lots of calls on a Sunday morning looking for assistance. The Mog slept by itself overnight but it is still a good mile back on a hard trail accessible via a long winding gravel road. We find two guys with bigger Jeeps to help...the biggest is a lifted Scrambler (CJ-8) with a 454, 1 ton axles and 44" tires. Why the need for big extraction vehicles...the Mog tips the scales at 8600#. Yes that is 4 tons of truck. They follow me with my tow rig and trailer. It takes a good hour once at the Mog to get it the 1 mile to the gravel service road. The CJ-8 has to pull cable once because of steepness and 4 tons of deadweight. The second Jeep assists on the down hills...the Mog has air assisted brakes so when the tank is dry, brakes are almost gone.

We get the Mog winched onto the trailer, and I work my way out of the area. End up driving from NC into TN and back to NC just to avoid steep gravel switchbacks that could leave me jackknifed. Hit a road in TN with a peak 11% grade (Cherohala Skyway), that leaves even my 3/4 Dodge diesel sucking wind. We end up back home sometime late evening on Sunday. My son was a trooper thru the whole ordeal even though he almost had a wide ride in the Mog.

NC_Pinz said:

Several years ago ...

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Good story, thanks. Actually, several good stories above.

I don't have a good one, but this one was posted on another car forum that I thought was the ultimate ironic car story. Guy was to meet a blind date at a parking lot. Drove his car there and while meeting up with his date, his car, which apparently developed a fuel leak, caught on fire in the engine compartment. So while he is running over there, a wire shorted to the starter solenoid and it started cranking. In gear of course. So it start tailing off across the parking lot, on fire, he is running after it, until it runs into another car. Guess whose car it ran into? Yes, correct. I cannot remember whether he eventually married the girl or that date ended right there.

34 Chevy panel inside

Happened about 2 months ago 35 Chevy panel inside enclosed car trailer not good but he walked away ok

A motor story but not car or truck.. close enough:
When I lived in Kansas me and a buddy decided to build us some airboats. I found an airboat place in southern Oklahoma to build me a hull, and I found an aircraft O-300 motor and prop for it. Got it all working but didn't have enough oil cooler or airflow to cool it and blew it up pretty quickly.
So I decided to put a V8 in it.
My buddy owned a big engine shop and said he'd find me a good core. He knew of this place in Dodge City that supplied large volumes of engine cores. A well worn out one was 100 bucks for a long block, 300 for a low miles one. So I said get me a low miles one.
Pretty soon it arrived and it was a brand new zero miles dealer take out of a Vortec 350 from a new pickup. When they sold it at the dealership the customer heard a rattle he didn't like, so they put in a new engine on warranty and pulled this one and sold it to the recycler. We pulled the heads and found marks on one piston where it had a piece of debris that rattled in that cylinder and marked up the top of the piston. Small square dents about half the size of a BB. Whatever cause it had gone out the exhaust. The head was good, piston good, and bore was good. So we put in a low rpm torque cam and installed it in the boat and ran it.
A 2k engine for 300 bucks