The Richards wrote:
>
> At 04:48 PM 12/10/97 -0600, you wrote:
> >For those of us who weren't here then, is there some appropriate way to
> recognize Dan Hughes day?
> >
>
> So that Dan would know that we could empathize with him, we confessed to
> bonehead things we did with/to cars. All though I think the 11th is actually
> Dan Hughes day (auto responder answered all his e-mails with something along
> the line of "I will be out of the office until Dec. 11th. Of course it
> answered this to EVERY piece of mail, including itself when posted by the
> list. It was an exponential cyber-storm).
> So in honor of Dan Hughes day...my bonehead move of the year.
That's a good one, Michael. BTW, I got the pictures of your Interceptor today,
thanks a million! They're getting scanned tomorrow...Now to my bonheaded move,
I'm
sure that anyone on the list this summer will remember this one...
I was removing the rear end of my wrecked '77 'B to swap into my '74 so
I
could have wire wheels. Anyway, I went on a spree that day and pulled the rear
bumper and gas tank so I'd have more room to work under the car. Keep in mind,
this
car sits next to the garage that currently houses the '74, and is not visible
from
the road. The car had been stripped of almost everything. The engine, front
fenders, front crossmember, tranny, seats, interior goodies, etc. were all
gone, and
the result was a rusty shell that could be carried and moved by four men.
Anyway,
the car was sitting on it's bent frame up front and the rear wheels in back, so
I
crawled under the car to start the removal process. The car is sitting in a
dirt
patch, so I didn't bother to jack it up, or support it, since it would probably
bounce around when I was working anyway. So, I get under there, and the bolts
are
coming off like they've been on since last week. I got to the last bolt that
holds
the rear end to the leaf springs, and I start to hear a squeaking noise. I
don't
think anything of this, and I keep on tweaking until...Boom! The rear
passenger's
side of the car drops onto my hip. At first, I laughed hysterically, since I
knew I
wasn't hurt, and I knew what the list would say. Then I thought about why the
car
dropped like it did, and after coming to the conclusion that I hadn't broken
anything
(on me or the car), I decided that I should probably find a way out from under
the
car. It was about 10am, and I deduced that nobody would find me until 5 or so,
but I
still wasn't hurting! The bottom of the trunk was resting on my hip, as I was
turned
sideways to work on the bolts when the car fell. OK, after that thought, I saw
some
spiders who were beginning to venture out from under a tarp, and I needed out
of
there NOW! (You see, I'm not afraid of being crushed by an LBC...But spiders -
EEK!)
So, I began to wiggle a little bit, and I turned my hip and pushed up on the
floor
of the trunk. Magically, the car rose up off the ground! I simply shimmied
out from
under the thing, and went to get a floor jack to finish the job. I know, I
should be
careful, and I know, I could have been killed, but in retrospect, Damn, that
was
dumb! God was with me, and I only work on my MG under jackstands whenever
necessary...The rest of the time I try to shimmy under it to get the job done.
That
was my "Dan Hughes." The only proof that it happened was a bruise about the
size of
a 50 cent piece on my hip that didn't go away for a month...
Michael S. Lishego - Loyal MGB owner, part-time dumbass
St. Andrews Presbyterian College
Elementary Education Major,
English Minor, Class of 1999
R.A. of Winston-Salem Hall
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