Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Mog]

I did hear of a mechanic that put a near new Jag. up on the hoist, but failed to put the hand brake on. There was nothing to stop it rolling off and crashing nose first in to the concrete floor. He was out of work next day.

When I was in Coober Pedy, digging for opal, we were trying to start this Ford V8 ute that had run out of petrol. I was under the bonnet pouring petrol in the carby. from a 1 gallon tin. The driver , sat in the car decided to try and start it. So I was left holding the tin with flames coming out the top, very interesting, what to do next ? I took a few steps and threw the tin away. I was shaken but did not get burnt at all. I think what saved me was the fact that it was a very hot day, the tin would have been full of fumes and no air to cause an explosion.

I have some more stories but they will have to wait for another day, got to go !

[pigtin]

Perhaps it was apocryphal? But there was a story going around a few years ago where a chap borrowed his mates Inspection Pit to service his car, as he drove over the pit he experienced that ‘sinking feeling’ that only those who drive three wheeler Reliants over pits experience.
To add to his woes… where the front had fallen into the pit the doors were jammed closed and he missed his lunch, and dinner.

[Mog]

My father had a new garage built on the side of the house. It was brick, and joined onto the side of the house. It was a flat wooden roof with tar felt ? on the out side. Inside, by law he had to put up fireproof sheeting, asbestos ? This had not been done.
As my father drove the works Morris van, it was not allow inside. The Morgan three wheeler was in side being rebuilt. I had rebuilt the engine, OHV vee twin JAP, and the rest of the car without spending much money, as I did not have any. My mate gave me a hand to put the engine on the front and hook it up. The problem was that the exhaust system did not fit. So we decided to try and start it. I turned the petrol on , gravity feed, then flooded the Amal carby, set the controls, went to the back to crank up the two speeder. Bang ! it fired alright, a good flash of flame from the exhaust stub. In the next half second the carby was covered in flames ! I dived my hand under the bonnet and switched the petrol off. I them put my face down near the the carby and started to blow the flames out, my mate did not think that was a good idea, but joined in. We did put the flames out by blowing on them. We were shaken but not burnt. In less than another half min. the clear pvc hoses feeding the carby would have melted. We learned a few lessons that I can remember to this day. It was a good job that it did not keep running. My Morgan and my father's new garage could have been ashes.

More stories to follow ......

[marknotgeorge]

[Mog]

I did not see this happen, but I did know the young guy. I have been out to the family wheat farm a number of times. It is in the Mallee area of Victoria Aust. His pride and joy was a Holden ute. it was parked next to the self propelled combined harvester worth mega dollars . He decided to clean the engine with petrol, when it was all covered in petrol, he dropped a spanner on the battery. The whole engine bay was then covered in flames. He managed to put the flames out , saving the ute. and the harvester, but badly burning his arms.
When I was in Andamooka, digging for opal, there was an old shaft, about 15 feet deep that I used to throw my rubbish into. I had been cleaning some parts from my Land rover with petrol so I threw the remains into the hole. I thought this would be a good time to burn up my rubbish. So I lit some newspaper and threw it into the hole. Nothing happened , so I went to have a look , it went woosh ! it went off like a roman candle and filled my eyes with dirt. Apart from the shock, there was was no damage.
So the moral of these stories, is do NOT use petrol for cleaning.
In the last few weeks, my niece's husband has broken his neck while surfing. He is very lucky to be alive. It was a freak accident . It took 24 hrs. to get to hospital in Singapore. He is 36 yrs. old and has a 1 yr. old baby girl. They have not been able to move him back to Sydney as yet.
More fire stories to follow....

[zandycap]

I have a horror of being trapped under a car. So i always chock/block/axle stand and shove some old wheels under a couple of corners or somewhere to take the strain if all the rest give way. Nothing wrong with belt AND braces when it comes to personal safety.

[Rick]

Hi zandycap, welcome to the forum!

Rick
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[buzzy bee]

Hi

Welcome allong! Your first post I see, what cars are you interested in?

I too have a fear of cars falling on me, as a mini nearly did once, not very big I know, but still heavy enough, and very low! Luckily it cagut the bumper on the trolley jack, can't remember why it fell, but it surely did!. Thank god for metal bumpers! I also moved very quickly!

Cheers

Dave

[zandycap]

Thanks for the welcome, i will put a small bio in the introductions section. At the moment i have a 1969 Rover 2000 P6 under restoration.

[Geoffp]

Not dangerous but I remember helping a friend change a wheel on an Austin A35 some years ago. I held the spare wheel while he jacked the car up, or to be more precise he raised the jacking point about six inches while all four wheels stayed firmly on the ground
I also found out about hydraulic lock the hard way when trying to start a side-valve Prefect by rolling down a hill and letting the clutch in

Geoff

[SloResto]

I had an accident in my first car, a 1963 Holden in Sydney Aust. which stoved in the front section pretty badly but the car was still drivable.. having just started work after high school I couldn't afford to get it fixed.

Some weeks later I took it to the local garage to get the brakes checked. When I returne dto pick the car up the proprietor, a kindly old man jack galvin was most upset with the young apprentice who pranged the car before the brakes had been rebled right into a wall.

End result was that the previous accident damage was fixed up for no cost on the garage's insurance policy.

A very lucky break!