Whew! Now THAT's Dumb!

[72targa]

Didn't properly check my oil level before an autocross...high revs and a long sweeper...spun bearing...engine rebuild...ouch.

[scooter]

So, I guess I should confess to one of mine.

After high school I worked part time for a year in a small expensive San Francisco downtown parking lot as the attendant which you leave your keys and I park your car.

We had to really pack them in and it was normal for us to climb out the windows because you had only 3 inches between cars.

Their were two of us for the after work and dinner rush.

One fellow came in with a pretty new Porsche 911E I think. My co-worker and I were more into muscle cars at the time and we both knew the little Porsche car is expensive but did not know why.

He said he needed to move it and would be right back. After he returned he mentioned I should take it out to our freeway onramp which was 2 blocks away and take the next exit and return about a block away.

Okay I drove it and came back and said boy it pulls strong and really brakes and handles good but..........it is a DOG off the line.

He said really what are you doing so I show him and he tells me it is better if you start off in First gear and not Second.

We all know the earlier up to 72 cars have first out of the way. They probably changed it because of us former parking lot attendants using 2nd gear.

I remember it was a dark blue color and if it belonged to anyone on this list, I guess I'm sorry about that but you did make a Porsche owner out of me.

Happy New Year Cheers to Everybody,
Scooter

[VIper Green E]

At 22 I drove by the BMW dealer, fresh out of college on top of the world. They had a 86 Carrera the could not move. The dealer loaned it to me for the weekend. The first thing I did was drive to Portland where Tom and Barrett were living. Tom said sport seats!!! Barrett showed me how to drive it. I could not sign the papers fast enough. 18 911's and 14 years later I can finally admit I have a problem.

That is my wifes .02 cents on my Porsche habit. She thinks it's gotton a little out of control.

[thorsten73]

Didn't keep the decklid I pulled out of the scrapmetal container at a gas station when I was 8 years old...
Must have been 1981 or so...
It was signal orange, and all rusted out on the back, after several German winters...
When I carried it home, my older brother said - ''this is the first part of a car you'll never be able to afford...''

[daepp]

This happened to a buddy of mine win Westwood - near UCLA.

He parked cars in an underground parking garage around 1980 while attending university - probably 19 or 20 years old. It was a large garage (6-story) and there was a little bit of room to open up a car. He was always an air-cooled nut. So in drives a a red/black late 70's 930. Having never driven a P-car before, he opens it up underground and is so amazaed he brings it back for another attendant to try. This one tells him, "Yeah, it's fast, but you should try it with the parking brake released!" And we all know how well the parking brake works. He remains today amazed by the power of that turbo!

[Chuck Miller]

How bout this one...

1990, about 2 weeks after I get the car back from a bare metal complete...
I'm playing with something in the trunk, maybe checking the front shock mounting... so I drive the car with the hood closed but not latched... drive around the block on my bumpy street... the safety latch failed ... the hood came up over center and punched the newly painted cowl ....

... Out of sight out mind, I put black tape over the dints and cut it so it looked like a part of the fender welt molding only to the novices.. the old timers would look at the artistically cut black tape and say... So'ya over-centered your hood and punched your cowl ....

... the tape was on and the car un-repaired for YEARS ...

… nice

[MarkP]

The only time my Dad ever let me drive his 78 SC was in 1978, from our house to the airport for me to take off to boot camp and 4 years in the Coast Guard. I was so excited to drive the car it seemed like a good trade off - Bootcamp and 4 years in the military for a 15 minute drive

[Gburner]

Years ago my high school pal had a Duster. He lived at home and his dad was a fanatic about keeping the concrete driveway spotless. So my friend was very careful one weekend when he changed the oil iin his car on the driveway while his dad watched. All went well; the pan of used oil was safely removed from the perfect pavement. Dad was happy... So my friend put 5 quarts of new oil in his car, as the 5th quart emptied into the crankcase he then realized he had forgot to put the drain plug back in. He had poured 5 quarts of oil on the now not so perfect pavement.

[BOYER73S]

OK my recently completed mega buck 73S Targa restoration with million dollar Galsurit 2 pack paint job has one problem.

I hadn't yet re-fitted the windscreen wipers so I switched them on and off a few times to check the parking was in the same spot each time, which it was, so I then proceeded to fit the wiper arms and blades.

I happily left the job there thinking I had completed the task perfectly.

A few days later I tried the wipers as I was driving along to my dismay the proceeded to operate 90 degrees past where they should park and put a lovely scratch in the new windscreen surround and then the panel in front of the screen.

Turns out I had put the wiper motor back on the arms at the wrong point and my dumb arse brain didn't realise the parking point was 90 degrees too far.

I have to remove the screen, paint the whole front panel again and refit a new windscreen surround. Great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[hdavis]

A couple of months ago I was checking my oil temp sensor and unscrewed it to put it in bolining water. When my wife brought the water over I got a phone call and the water went cold.

As I was waiting for new water, I decided to fire it up to hear the engine, so with the engine lid open I went in the car and started it......with the temp sensor out It took me about 1 minute to realize what I had done.

The oil that was spitted out of the engine was caught by the fan and litteraly the s**t hit the fan. It lost over 3 quarts of oil, and 2 months later I'm still finding oil spots to clean in the garage, more than 10 feet away from the car. The wife was thrilled .