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Post up stories of near death experiences with you and your automobiles..
Some 12 years ago. My father-in-law was at some property they owned back then just outside the city limits. He was cutting the grass. He called His wife and was pissed off as usual. He called Her because as He was loading the riding lawn mower back unto the rear of His pick up when one of the 2x6 He was using broke and almost got squashed by the tractor as they both fell.. He wanted Her in some not so well choice of words to hurry up and load another 2x6 unto the Lincoln town car and drive it to Him..
I had just arrived from work as both my wife and mother were dragging the 2x6 from the back yard... I asked them, what's going on? They told me the story about their dad needing it ASAP.. They asked me if I wanted to go.. I said, Hell yeah.. I agreed and helped them load the long *** board into the car. We didn't even have time to take out several nails that were sticking out of it and were obviously very dangerous.. The board was loaded and it rested from the dashboard to the back of the rear seat.. Don't ask me how the hell We got it in there, the fact is that we loaded it in there.
I climbed into the right rear passenger seat holding the board with my left arm and did not put on my seat belt.. My Mother-in-law drove and my wife drove shot gun in the front.. 20 minutes later we are arriving at the outskirts of Houston, Tx.. We turned into this County Rd that was paved only for the first 200 yards after that is is loose gravel. She was doing 45 mph, 25 more mph than the speed limit.. Dust blowing in the back as we drove fast for a dirt road.. They are both chirping away like all women like to do when they drive.. A minute later, my wife blurts out in a sort of frightened scream.. " MOM, YOU'RE DRIVING TOO CLOSE TO THE EDGE"..
Her mom slightly over corrects and the inevitable happens.. I Immediately feel the rear end slide just a little and with ever 30 feet of travel she over corrects the opposite way even more than before.. and with every over correction we slide even more. I will not lie to you all, We fish tailed some 5 times in 100 yards and always staying in the road. All this time I'm calmly coaching her to take the foot of the gas and get control of the car.. and finally, I realized we were going to crash..
Up ahead I see an irrigation ditch and a bridge and I say, Oh ****!! I scream at my wife grab a hold on something.... And BAMMmm.. We missed the edge of the bridge and hit the slightly slopped embankment of the irrigation ditch. The embankment sends us all flying with a slight rotation of the car. I can see the horizon flip and SPLASH... into the overflowing canal. I was not wearing my seat belt and when we landed square in the middle of the canal, I realize I'm sitting on the roof of the car. The 2x6 has broker the windshield and water is gushing in fast.. The car is sinking and my wife and mother-in-law are upside down, they are panicking as the water is gushing in real fast.. as I see their heads are now under water.. I reached for my door and opened it.. The car is sinking fast as I am trying to open the front passenger's door where my wife is at. I had to submerge my head and reach for the handle. I open the door and feel an arm, which I pull and it's my wife. She is screaming hysterically ... I submerge my head once again and reached in I feel another arm, it's my mother-in-law which I also pull out of there.. My mother-in-law can't believe what just happened and is in fact, in shock.. We are now standing outside the car which is still sinking.. My wife is screaming as I tell them, calm down.. you are OK, We are all Ok! Reassuring both of them,we are alive.. My wife sustained a 5 inch laceration on Her left calf, that did not need any stitches.. I sustained, wood burn and small splinters on my left shoulder.. My mother-in-law sustained a small puncture wound on Her right leg, dew to the blinker arm.
We climbed out of the canal and flagged a passing truck about 3/10th of a mile from the bridge. The man did not stop for us even as He saw us drenched in water. As the man in the truck got to the bridge, He finally stopped and called 911.. We walked back to the car. The only thing you could see of my mother-in-law's 94 Lincoln town car was 1/3 of the gas tank and the rear bumper, the rest was submerged in 8 feet of water. The ambulance came and a deputy sheriff. The car remained there for a good hour until the tow truck arrived and flipped my mother-in-law's car over and dragged it out of there. They told us the car was worthless/ totaled.. I could not take that for an answer and asked them to take it home to our house.
We were so lucky the electric locks doors were not on, as everything shorted once we hit the water. We are so glad, the windshield was broken with the long 2x6 and the water gushed in quick and we did not have to wait for the pressure to equalize inside the car.. We are most lucky because, We missed a 10 inch metal post that was 2 feet from where We hit the embankment.. Missed that by inches! I would have flown out through the windshield for sure, as I was not wearing my seat belt.. Thank You God for looking out for us.. It wasn't our time for sure!
So We took the car home, took all the interior out of it and washed it with soap and water and let it sun dry.. I took off the spark plugs and air filters and cleaned the distributor cap and emptied and rinsed my gas tank and gas filter.. I cranked it till most of the water came out of the engine.. I cleaned the spark plugs and replaced the gas and air filters.. I then sprayed W-D 40 into the throttle body and crank that thing.. and sprayed some more WD-40 and continued to crank and wouldn't you know it.. It started up.. Some 10 gallons of water came gushing out of the tailpipes and stuttered like crazy for about 2 minutes and white smoke was billowing out of the like there was no tomorrow.. I continued to run it, while spraying the throttle body intake with WD-40.. After about several minutes of this the white smoke stopped and the car remained running on it's own.. The air bags ride fuses had to be replaced as it was low on the floor..
I replaced the carpet and seats and sprayed it down with air freshener.. Replaced the car stereo..I drove it for about 2 months and in those months, I had to replace the air bags fuses every 4th day or so.. So, I traded it in for a newer Lincoln Town car... problem solved. Never heard anything from the dealership I took it too for the trade in!!
God, a little elbow grease and WD-40 do, do miracles!
Some 12 years ago. My father-in-law was at some property they owned back then just outside the city limits. He was cutting the grass. He called His wife and was pissed off as usual. He called Her because as He was loading the riding lawn mower back unto the rear of His pick up when one of the 2x6 He was using broke and almost got squashed by the tractor as they both fell.. He wanted Her in some not so well choice of words to hurry up and load another 2x6 unto the Lincoln town car and drive it to Him..
I had just arrived from work as both my wife and mother were dragging the 2x6 from the back yard... I asked them, what's going on? They told me the story about their dad needing it ASAP.. They asked me if I wanted to go.. I said, Hell yeah.. I agreed and helped them load the long *** board into the car. We didn't even have time to take out several nails that were sticking out of it and were obviously very dangerous.. The board was loaded and it rested from the dashboard to the back of the rear seat.. Don't ask me how the hell We got it in there, the fact is that we loaded it in there.
I climbed into the right rear passenger seat holding the board with my left arm and did not put on my seat belt.. My Mother-in-law drove and my wife drove shot gun in the front.. 20 minutes later we are arriving at the outskirts of Houston, Tx.. We turned into this County Rd that was paved only for the first 200 yards after that is is loose gravel. She was doing 45 mph, 25 more mph than the speed limit.. Dust blowing in the back as we drove fast for a dirt road.. They are both chirping away like all women like to do when they drive.. A minute later, my wife blurts out in a sort of frightened scream.. " MOM, YOU'RE DRIVING TOO CLOSE TO THE EDGE"..
Her mom slightly over corrects and the inevitable happens.. I Immediately feel the rear end slide just a little and with ever 30 feet of travel she over corrects the opposite way even more than before.. and with every over correction we slide even more. I will not lie to you all, We fish tailed some 5 times in 100 yards and always staying in the road. All this time I'm calmly coaching her to take the foot of the gas and get control of the car.. and finally, I realized we were going to crash..
Up ahead I see an irrigation ditch and a bridge and I say, Oh ****!! I scream at my wife grab a hold on something.... And BAMMmm.. We missed the edge of the bridge and hit the slightly slopped embankment of the irrigation ditch. The embankment sends us all flying with a slight rotation of the car. I can see the horizon flip and SPLASH... into the overflowing canal. I was not wearing my seat belt and when we landed square in the middle of the canal, I realize I'm sitting on the roof of the car. The 2x6 has broker the windshield and water is gushing in fast.. The car is sinking and my wife and mother-in-law are upside down, they are panicking as the water is gushing in real fast.. as I see their heads are now under water.. I reached for my door and opened it.. The car is sinking fast as I am trying to open the front passenger's door where my wife is at. I had to submerge my head and reach for the handle. I open the door and feel an arm, which I pull and it's my wife. She is screaming hysterically ... I submerge my head once again and reached in I feel another arm, it's my mother-in-law which I also pull out of there.. My mother-in-law can't believe what just happened and is in fact, in shock.. We are now standing outside the car which is still sinking.. My wife is screaming as I tell them, calm down.. you are OK, We are all Ok! Reassuring both of them,we are alive.. My wife sustained a 5 inch laceration on Her left calf, that did not need any stitches.. I sustained, wood burn and small splinters on my left shoulder.. My mother-in-law sustained a small puncture wound on Her right leg, dew to the blinker arm.
We climbed out of the canal and flagged a passing truck about 3/10th of a mile from the bridge. The man did not stop for us even as He saw us drenched in water. As the man in the truck got to the bridge, He finally stopped and called 911.. We walked back to the car. The only thing you could see of my mother-in-law's 94 Lincoln town car was 1/3 of the gas tank and the rear bumper, the rest was submerged in 8 feet of water. The ambulance came and a deputy sheriff. The car remained there for a good hour until the tow truck arrived and flipped my mother-in-law's car over and dragged it out of there. They told us the car was worthless/ totaled.. I could not take that for an answer and asked them to take it home to our house.
We were so lucky the electric locks doors were not on, as everything shorted once we hit the water. We are so glad, the windshield was broken with the long 2x6 and the water gushed in quick and we did not have to wait for the pressure to equalize inside the car.. We are most lucky because, We missed a 10 inch metal post that was 2 feet from where We hit the embankment.. Missed that by inches! I would have flown out through the windshield for sure, as I was not wearing my seat belt.. Thank You God for looking out for us.. It wasn't our time for sure!
So We took the car home, took all the interior out of it and washed it with soap and water and let it sun dry.. I took off the spark plugs and air filters and cleaned the distributor cap and emptied and rinsed my gas tank and gas filter.. I cranked it till most of the water came out of the engine.. I cleaned the spark plugs and replaced the gas and air filters.. I then sprayed W-D 40 into the throttle body and crank that thing.. and sprayed some more WD-40 and continued to crank and wouldn't you know it.. It started up.. Some 10 gallons of water came gushing out of the tailpipes and stuttered like crazy for about 2 minutes and white smoke was billowing out of the like there was no tomorrow.. I continued to run it, while spraying the throttle body intake with WD-40.. After about several minutes of this the white smoke stopped and the car remained running on it's own.. The air bags ride fuses had to be replaced as it was low on the floor..
I replaced the carpet and seats and sprayed it down with air freshener.. Replaced the car stereo..I drove it for about 2 months and in those months, I had to replace the air bags fuses every 4th day or so.. So, I traded it in for a newer Lincoln Town car... problem solved. Never heard anything from the dealership I took it too for the trade in!!
God, a little elbow grease and WD-40 do, do miracles!
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