What have you done that's STUPID?

[screw]

One time, My buddies and I went on a booze cruise to Montana from B.C.. On the way back, after we crossed the border back into Canada, we rolled the car we were driving in. Twice-end over end and about 4 or 5 rolls on it's side taking out about 150 ft. of fence and a few trees. After the car stopped everyone got out to check out the damage except ME. I was still sleeping in the back seat. Well, I guess I woke up, got out of the car, stood beside a tree and had a good Pee, got back in the car and started hollering to the others "C'Mon LET'S GO!!!........................didn't go far

 

[Sam_Fear]

Just came in from the garage. I was working on getting my 350 to start - first time since I got it. Pulled the plugs and squirted some MM in em. Pulled the dizzy to prime it. Made me a shaft and tested it by hand. Seemed to pull good. Hooked the drill to it and gave it a couple slow spins - good pull and heard a little gurgle in the valve cover. Cool - cranked it up and heard a lot of puking! 3Qrts+ all over the floor!





.....no filter

 

[rockabillyrat]

Just came in from the garage. I was working on getting my 350 to start - first time since I got it. Pulled the plugs and squirted some MM in em. Pulled the dizzy to prime it. Made me a shaft and tested it by hand. Seemed to pull good. Hooked the drill to it and gave it a couple slow spins - good pull and heard a little gurgle in the valve cover. Cool - cranked it up and heard a lot of puking! 3Qrts+ all over the floor!





.....no filter

Did that once only I forgot an oil galley plug not the filter.

 

[Lightning]

I was riding with a good friend of mine in his brothers P.U.,when he pulled into a station to get some gas - well I had to see a man about a horse and proceeded to the restroom, while my buddy filled his brothers truck up - I get back and he had gone inside and I noticed that there was a big huge puddle all under the truck and it's gasoline - I notice that it's still pumping so I go over to shut it off - he had taken the cap off and stuck in the nozel and set it on auto and went in to get some oil - Well, he didn't know that his brother had removed the" in cab tank", cut the filler neck off so it still had a cap and remained on the side of the truck so as to cover up the big hole it would have left in the body and had put two saddle tanks under the bed.- A little over $24 dollars and 8+ gal. later - Boy - talk about a mess and it was burning my eyes just standing there. Fire dept. came - they shut down the station, cleaned it all up, they towed the truck off to decontaminate it, it cost him some big $$$$$ to pay for the expences. Never was able to get rid of the gas smell in the truck - he tore the body off and had it blasted to bare metal and you could still smell the gas, it just filled every nook and cranny inside the cab.

 

[Kruuzin]

I was drilling through a piece of 2X4 at the first hole the bit really busted trough tha back of the 2X4. I thought will I'll just drill it till i see the first little bit of the bit and run the bit in the other way. As I was doing this, drilling toward my stomach, I thought this is STUPID and at that precise moment the spade bit hit me. Thanks the lord I had a thick sweatshirt and a T-shirt on. Still ended up with a one inch target on my belly for a couple of weeks...I can still see it..LOL...damn near perfect target little dot in the middle and a larger circle around it..ahhh life in the shop....chuckle...

 

[HOT40ROD]

Here another one for me.

Years back I had a 74 Ford bronco That I was changing the intake on. I had the intake off and was cleaning up the gasket area to install the new intake. As I was cleaning the surface I put the scraper on the lip of the fender right above the starter solenoid. As I was working I knocked the scrapper off the lip and it landed on the solenoid across the battery and starter connection and the engine started to kick over. As it kicked over fuel shot out of the open fuel line into the dist. which was open at the time. The spark from the dist. set the fuel on fire and I was off from under the hood like lightning. I manage to get the fire out by beating it with the rags I had.

I had no fire extinguishers close by.Now there are four fire extinguishers in the shop and one outside by the overhead door.

 

[Sam_Fear]

I'd say that was a little wake up call from Karma!

 

[CR55]

After reading Trippers post in another thread about the car jumping in gear, I'm reminded of the time my Mustang fastback wouldn't start. I had just went into a store and had parked on the side of the building. When I came out my car wouldn't do anything and I knew the soleniod was starting to go bad, so I jumped out with my trusty screwdriver and proceeded to jump the starter. The car started right up, but due to a slightly worn out transmission it didn't jump in gear instantly, but it did as I walked around the side! I had left the car in drive and shut it off without noticing. The car was heading for the side of the store! I finally was able to jump inside and hit the brake with the car approximately a FEW inches from hitting the store!!! Stupidity at it's finest![cl...CR

 

[bill-der]

That reminds me of an old Jeep story... (i could go on forever with stupid jeep stories.. I think driving one lowers my IQ instantly)

In college I parked illegally so I could run into an admin building to go pay a bill real quick...

I came out and my car was not where I left it so I assumed it got towed. I started looking around to figure out what to do, when I saw it 100ft away with the front right fender resting against the bottom edge of an 18 wheeler trailer! I guess I left it in neutral with no e-brake...If my jeep wasn't lifted, it would have hit right across the windshield and been much worse and if the truck wasn't there, it would have gone across the road and straight across a field where people were out reading in the "quad"... Luckily no one saw it, and I was able to pop the fender back out and tell people it was "Trail rash"


One more jeep story while im on it: I thought it would be cool to "climb" the edge of the parking lot of my building from the pavement onto the dirt hill in the jeep to see how far it could go at about 45* incline. I made it just far enough that my back tires left the blacktop and onto the dirt, and got scared so I started rolling back when my tailpipe dug under the blacktop. I tried to go forward, but couldn't do anything to get the tailpipe out and had to have a tow truck come and just yank me out. The good news is that I got to run open exhaust for a few days and a nice cat back replacement system and installed it myself for less than the shop wanted to replace it to stock.

 

[likes_2_tinker]

jeep stories i got one thats not mine but funny
a few years ago when i was going to vo-tec one of the mechanics was screwing off out in the paking lot after a big snow. The school had cleared the snow into big piles and this guy decieded to try to climb one. A bunch of the other guys had done it or left there vehickles parke up on the snow piles but this guy decided to try to climb the tallest steepest one, and ended up tipping over and there he sat on his roof just in time for every one else to see it comming back from lunch, but i guess it gave the auto body guys somethig to work on. glad i was a welder that day because he made everyone in his class look stupid that day.

 

[bullet]

Decide I'm going to wash the skylight.
Bucket of water and a sponge in hand I climb out the second story bedroom window, hop across a couple roof valleys & wash the skylight. Looking up I discover I'm stuck on the other side of wet cedar shingles from the open window I need to get to.
I thought to myself ( but not long enough obviously ) I'll just run, plant one foot on the wet shingle and jump across the valley to a dry area of roof. WRONG ! ! !

If you know anything about wet cedar shingles ............ last thing I remember was running and planting my one foot on the wet greasey shingles. Don't remember cracking my head on the skylight, don't remember leaving the roof & don't remember landing on the concrete stairs at the front door.

Woke up to my wife saying, the ambulance is on it's way. Split my head open requiring many stitches, broke my left wrist and several ribs. Doc said if I was conscience when I left the roof, I probably would be a para or quadrapalegic, if not dead.

I was real lucky on that stupid move. Can we say DUH.

 

[HOT40ROD]

Here another one.

I had a 1968 Mustang Gt 390 4 speed car with a fiberglass hood.

One day I was working on the car and when I was done I closed the hood and when it to wash up. After that I came back out to take the car for a run. So I got in the car and out the road I went with no issue. On the way back I decided to jump on it to clean it out a little. I got to about 75 MPH when all of a sudden all I seen in front of me was a blue hood then no hood and just the motor.

Here I forgot to put the safety pins back in the hood pins.

 

[HOT40ROD]

Not me but it happen in my shop the other week.

The neighbor came over and ask if he could use my gauges to set up the carbs on his Honda. I said sure just bring it over and you can us them. So he bring the bike over set the carbs and he is standing along side the cycle reving it up. And I do not know why but he lifts his foot and steps on the shifter and puts in in gear why he is still reving it.

The bike takes off across the shop missing all of the other bike hits the parts cleaner and knocks it over then shoot out the side door taking part of the door frame with it and does a end over end roll in the yard.

I looked back at him and said what were you thinking. The look on his face was priceless.

I was mad at the time but now every time I think about it i just laugh and wish I would of had a video of it. We now call him "Broken spoke".

 

[CR55]

I'm right there with ya Bullet! This was definately the stupidist thing I've ever done! I was staining a log cabin under construction and was on the 2nd floor deck with no rail yet. I needed to reach a section that was a little too far away from the edge of the deck. I remember listening to the radio and hearing the DJ say it was 1:00 and I thought I've got to hurry here and eat lunch! I leaned way out holding onto the edge of a piece of window trim while wearing my brown cotton gloves and the next thing I remember is waking up on the ground , it's dark outside and I'm looking at my arm wondering why it's twisted in such a weird angle! I got up and fortunately there was a phone in the house and called home to tell my wife to come get me, but I didn't know where I was and I neglected to tell her where I was going that day. Passed out again and she finally found me. Woke up hours later in a hospital with 9 ribs, 1 arm, 2 collarbones, my jaw and my skull broken for a total of 40 breaks in 14 bones and punctured my lung in 3 places. I landed on the top edge of an open door. I don't remember falling and I'm glad for that! I also learned to tell people where I'll be and never trust brown cotton gloves!...CR

 

[rustydusty]

I've done so many stupid things that I really had to think about this for a while. I was installing an exhaust system on a 69 Dodge Dart big block convertable I had. Had a bottle jack under the rear shock mount... you can guess the rest. Anyway, by shoving and forcing the exhaust parts together I rolled it off the jack. Fortunately the wheels were on the car and I escaped with just getting the wind knocked out of me and a diagonal bruise across my chest! I swear as the car came down and hit me I was out from under when it rebounded and before it came back down on its second bounce! I never again crawled under a car that didn't have jackstands and blocks in front and behind at least one wheel.

34 Chevy 3 window coupe
75 Sportster custom

 

[bullet]

Here's one for the books of NOT thinking.

My younger cousin who was born and raised on a farm should have know better than to do this stupid faux pas.

Neil was shovelling grain into a square aluminum hopper that had an running auger attached down at the bottom. To get a better shovel full with his scoop shovel he climbed onto the top edge of the hopper and strandled a corner. I'm not sure where his mind was but it wasn't on safety or what if.
Well you probably guessed by now what happened next...........................

His foot slip and he fell into the hopper where the auger grabbed his foot and proceeded to chew it up the tube like a meat grinder grinding hamburger. His foot than his leg went about 3-4 turns of the screw up the auger before the engine stalled. He lay there for some time before his dad realized he couldn't hear the motor running and came around the corner of the barn to see what was up. They had to use a cutting torch and cut the auger in pieces to get his leg out. He lost the leg just below his knee.

Even to this day I can't imagine what that would have been like.

 

[Davidhud29]

Here's one for the books of NOT thinking.

My younger cousin who was born and raised on a farm should have know better than to do this stupid faux pas.

Neil was shovelling grain into a square aluminum hopper that had an running auger attached down at the bottom. To get a better shovel full with his scoop shovel he climbed onto the top edge of the hopper and strandled a corner. I'm not sure where his mind was but it wasn't on safety or what if.
Well you probably guessed by now what happened next...........................

His foot slip and he fell into the hopper where the auger grabbed his foot and proceeded to chew it up the tube like a meat grinder grinding hamburger. His foot than his leg went about 3-4 turns of the screw up the auger before the engine stalled. He lay there for some time before his dad realized he couldn't hear the motor running and came around the corner of the barn to see what was up. They had to use a cutting torch and cut the auger in pieces to get his leg out. He lost the leg just below his knee.

Even to this day I can't imagine what that would have been like.

 

[Torch]

It's not what I've already done that concerns me

 

[TudorP15]

WAY too much to list..

I don't have the time, NOR the incentive to post every stupid thing I've done building cars. But one in particular would be.

Get into Hot Rod building for money...

Seriously, years ago, me and a hot rod buddy of mine went in partnership to build hot rods as a business. We didn't think things through, because he, as well as myself always got praised for our work. We built cars for ourselves, and both of us being a perfectionist, could never leave something alone long enough to make any money on it. We would build something, but spend so much time on it trying to make it perfect, that the owner would get upset because we were taking too long, and of course in a business sense, the longer you spend on something, the less you actually make. So, both of us being that way, we didn't balance well to put out a quality product, in a timely money making mannor. But, it was fun, lol..

 

[Tim...Ok]

Was changing the motor in my 70rss/ss Camaro..late model 327..had most everything hooked up and went to put the starter on..that block only had 2 start bolt holes,so the starter that fit the block wouldn't fit the flexplate i had in it..pull it back out to change the flexplate..

tunnel rammed smallblock in my 64 malibu SS,changed the oil,drove about 30 feet when I noticed my oil pressure drop to zero..had double stacked the gasket on the oil filter,blew about 5 qts. of fresh oil out on the ground in seconds..

16 yrs. old.. had that 64 chevelle on a bumper jack,one back tire off..crawled under it for some reason..thought I could feel it moving,so i slid out in a big hurry..just as i cleared the qtr. panel,smack..car hit the ground

about 25 other years of stupid stuff I can't think of at the moment..

Tim