[restosteve69]

One of many.....

When I was in high school I had a '71 Mach1. 351C with a four speed. I loved that car because it would roast the tires for a half a block. Being young and stupid, I decided that if it ran good with the carb that was on it, it would run great with an 850 double pumper so on it went. I thought it was cool for a while because it idled like it had a roller, even though I was always feathering the gas. Lol!

Drove it that way for a month or so until one day it wouldn't start. I figured out it wasn't getting spark, so I popped the cap off and reached through the drivers window and cranked it over. The rotor wasn't turning so I knew something was fucked up with the distributor. I went to take the distributor out, not realizing I forgot to turn the key all the way off, and as I pulled it out it went BOOM. There was gas in the oil from that 850 being on there so long and something sparked. Blew the distributor up into my forearm and got my eyebrows. Also blew parts of the valve cover gaskets out. Lol! The distributor gear pin was sheared, so I replaced it and the valve cover gaskets and put the old carb back on. Lesson learned.

I blew the motor a little differently. 🤣

 

[kerrynzl]

My "hard luck story" was also a blessing in disguise!

I had a girlfriend [de-facto wife] that used my Mach 1 Mustang to impress her "new" boyfriend.
It worked! so she ran off with him.

In the end all she and her boyfriend wanted was the car as payment for her share of our house.
It was the best car deal I've done in my life.

 

[ummduh]

Eh my normal failure mode is buying high selling low.

The only one that really got away was a 93 ranger on one tons and 39" tsl's I sold to finance moving to California.

Hated California and moved back to WI, never built another wheeler (cuz there's nowhere left to wheel here).

 

[cranky bill]

And when you claim someone's engine and they deliver it with every external bolt twisted off in the block. They had to make a rule at Tulsa Speedway about doing this.
Did you know that have a claimer rule in some horse racing?

A former boss raced at a local paved oval that had a weekly $1500 claimer class. It got out of hand with guys running engines they had 5 and 6 grand into. Then one night a guy decided to press the issue and claimed the winner. Words were exchanged. Then it came to blows.
Now, my grandpa was a horse guy. Won the Calgary Stampede chuckwagon races, which is a big deal. Later in life he owned some race horses that ran the Western Canada "B" circuit. He once entered a horse worth a good $10K in a $1500 claimer race. He didn't expect it to win. My grandma was PISSED.

 

[Topfun99]

In the early 90s a buddy of mine told me about an early 80s Mustang sitting in the corner of a shop they were trying to get rid of. He told me it was a 351 swap that ran rough and they wanted to sell it cheap.

I went to look at it, and the whole car was a little rough but it had potential. We got it started and my buddy wasn't kidding. The thing would shake your teeth out at idle! I was pretty sure I knew what was wrong with it and I gave them the 200 bucks or whatever it was they wanted for it.

Took it back to my shop and pulled the trans out. Sure enough they had put the 351 in with the 302 clutch and flywheel. The offset weight was the wrong weight and if I remember correctly it was in the wrong position. New 351 flywheel and she ran like buttah!! Ended up putting a small cam, aluminum intake, Holley, headers on it and that little junker ran its ass off!

Where's the "hard luck" part of the story?

 

[Topfun99]

1970, my first car, a Dune Buggy with a VW 1200, bought it a few weeks before I turned 16 and had to wait to drive it. For those not familiar with the engine design, it's an air cooled, horizontally opposed 4 cylinder and the valve covers are retained with a big clip, a design so simple even a cave man should be able to remove/replace the cover(s).The engine was exposed so I decided to paint the valve covers, a simple enough task even for me with no automotive mechanical experience.

After spray painting them I put them back on. Somehow I managed to not get one cover seated correctly and it leaked. The drain back design was such that if the engine wasn't running there would be no oil in the head to leak, but while running it would leak though to this day I don't know how fast. Bottom line was I drove it around for some time (a week?) and I noticed this dim little red light that seemed to be going on/off on the instrument panel. Not knowing shit about cars I kept driving even when it seemed to be losing power. Eventually it quit and it was obvious to even my dumb ass something was wrong.

Dragged the car home and of course the engine was toast. My father didn't know shit about anything mechanical so I didn't bother him but I found a nice guy around the corner (Mike) that raced dune buggies that told me "I will not do it but will point and tell you what to do". I pulled that engine by myself, got it over to his house and rebuilt it with his "guidance".

Mike and I became good friends and that was my first mechanical lesson.

 

[434 Olds]

An auto repair shop where i use to live back in the 80`s had a guy doing a timing chain job on a early Mustang. He had a starter button laying on the radiator support. He`s leaning over the radiator putting on the new chain and gears. His fat gut pushed the starter button and the tip of his thumb got pulled into the upper gear and chain. He had to bump the engine all of the way around to get his crushed thumb out.

 

[434 Olds]

1970, my first car, a Dune Buggy with a VW 1200, bought it a few weeks before I turned 16 and had to wait to drive it. For those not familiar with the engine design, it's an air cooled, horizontally opposed 4 cylinder and the valve covers are retained with a big clip, a design so simple even a cave man should be able to remove/replace the cover(s).The engine was exposed so I decided to paint the valve covers, a simple enough task even for me with no automotive mechanical experience.

After spray painting them I put them back on. Somehow I managed to not get one cover seated correctly and it leaked. The drain back design was such that if the engine wasn't running there would be no oil in the head to leak, but while running it would leak though to this day I don't know how fast. Bottom line was I drove it around for some time (a week?) and I noticed this dim little red light that seemed to be going on/off on the instrument panel. Not knowing shit about cars I kept driving even when it seemed to be losing power. Eventually it quit and it was obvious to even my dumb ass something was wrong.

Dragged the car home and of course the engine was toast. My father didn't know shit about anything mechanical so I didn't bother him but I found a nice guy around the corner (Mike) that raced dune buggies that told me "I will not do it but will point and tell you what to do". I pulled that engine by myself, got it over to his house and rebuilt it with his "guidance".

Mike and I became good friends and that was my first mechanical lesson.

View attachment 711320

Right out of high School i worked as a mechanic at the local gas station. One of the other mechanics had a friend who was around 17 years old and he had a 66 VW bug. He worked there part time pumping gas. This kid came across that he knew a lot about cars and he was going to show me how to adjust the valves on his VW. He`s got the car on the lift and one valve cover off. He has a bag over his head with 2 holes in it so he can see and he`s trying to adjust the valves with the engine running. The boss yelled at him to shut the car off. What a fucking mess. He was covered with oil. I was laughing my head off at this kid.

 

[badss540]

Actually I have several. The '67 Tri-power 'Vette I should've kept. The C/G Pinto I'm looking for, the '88 Caprice I built for my Dept. The new owner told me he'd let me know when he was ready to sell, the S/C RJ Race Cars S/C Lumina a city employee stole from the city, my '27 "T" S/C Altered my wife insisted I sell or my first Hemi Dart clone that even some Chrysler Reps saw and thought it was a genuine car. All these cars were great cars but had to go for a variety of reasons----- wish I could get at least one back. Which one? If only one, I'd have to say my '71 Pinto

 

[Topfun99]

Right out of high School i worked as a mechanic at the local gas station. One of the other mechanics had a friend who was around 17 years old and he had a 66 VW bug. He worked there part time pumping gas. This kid came across that he knew a lot about cars and he was going to show me how to adjust the valves on his VW. He`s got the car on the lift and one valve cover off. He has a bag over his head with 2 holes in it so he can see and he`s trying to adjust the valves with the engine running. The boss yelled at him to shut the car off. What a fucking mess. He was covered with oil. I was laughing my head off at this kid.

Now THAT is funny and I can only imagine how much oil was being slung around.

Back in the early 70s, a few years out of high school, I had a 428CJ Mustang with a set of adjustable shaft rockers on it, the rocker adjuster threads had enough resistance to stay in place without a lock nut so adjusting was easier. I had a valve cover with top section cut off I would use to adjust the hydraulic rockers with the engine idling. Worked well but it would spit a few drops outside the top opening that needed to be cleaned afterwards. Of course I learned the proper adjusting technique not long afterwards but that was actually an acceptable way to do it at the time.

 

[P10CREW]

This is a hard luck story posted by mad machines coworkers shortly after he stripped out another drain plug.

 

[hemicop]

View attachment 711379

Not bad at all. But nothing like my old car. My car was candy lime green, caged and tubbed and had no spolier or scoop until I added a tunnel ram to it. I'll know thew car when/if I ever see it as there were some things done that wouldn't have been changed.

 

[Kern Dog]

I was working on my Charger and trying to bump the engine to get right at TDC. I grabbed the alternator belt and tried to rotate it slightly when a friend tripped the starter relay at the same time. Stupid motherfucker did it without telling me. My right hand went through the crankshaft pulley with the belt wrapped around it. I was amazed I had no broken fingers.
I had a few cuts and cuss words though.

 

[Jebchevelle]

too many if it weren't for bad luck I would have non at all. My vega would be one that I let go of and should have kept. nice tube chassis square of course but light enough and was a great wheel stand car.

 

[JZ9C1LT1]

The tale of the 63 1/2 427 4 speed Galaxie. Growing up a neighbor 3 doors down had a 427 Galaxie. He bought the car in the early 70's and drive it for a bit but eventually handed to his son. Son brought the car to auto shop in high school while I was still in elementary (both schools were next to each other). Tried to fill the moulding holes in the body but failed miserably. So years later, 1983 to be exact I talk to my neighbor (father) about the car. It was sitting in the driveway rotting away. I was 20 then and offered $3K for the car. After a few days says no because I don't want to see the car redone and have regrets! Ended up selling the car for $2500 to some guy a couple counties away. Hated Fords after that!

Side note: the father and son used to do burnout contest in front of the house to see who laid the longest strip and the cops never showed up! I watched them from my upstairs windows. It was cool as shit. Also had a Holman Moody metal plate not a sticker in the engine compartment. Never asked him why it was there.

 

[Rusty Bronco]

My hard luck story is the ‘68 hugger orange rs Camaro I owned when I just turned 19. I babied the car, but threw a rod through the side of the block. My friends who owned a junkyard gave me a small block junkyard motor, and allowed me to use their tools to install it…. Next to the yard office entrance, with the blown engine on display next to the car. It was a bit embarrassing, but we had a lot of laughs over it.
I “sold” it to my room mate in Seattle a year or two later, and never saw a dime from that idiot. I never signed the title over, but never saw the car again either. I was good friends with his parents, and never sued or contacted the police over it.

 

[VinnyVette9340]

Once upon a time there was a Ford… The end!