A warning and maybe a prayer would help

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1930

1930

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Ill try to make this brief but its kinda hard.

I recently did paint and some ( somebody hacked it before I git it and owner didnt want to pay me to redo all of it ) bodywork on a 47 Dodge. Sat in my shop for maybe 3 months ( filler work )

Guy has moved the truck around for 15 years getting screwed over every where he went. Gave 50 grand over the years to guys that never came thru.

Guy ( #@#@# ) that did the mechanical work and owner dropped it off at my shop.

I got in it the next day, went to move it and the throttle was wide open and it was in reverse regardless of me thinking it was all the way forward in park.

I was pissed cause #@#@ that drove it off his trailer into my shop gave me no warnings about anything especially that there was no neutral safety switch and it would start in gear.

I didnt say anything cause Im the kind of guy that lets the explicit s fly and I didnt want to get into a fight with anyone. I warned the owner though and just pushed it around my shop for 3 months.

Fast forward the owner himself has to pick it up cause #@#@ backed out of the deal of putting it together and I wasnt about to go down that road ( no money in projects )

I warned tom again DONT TRY TO START TRUCK until someone knows what they are doing. Tom is not mechanically inclined. 80 plus years old and spent his life in the grocery business.

I did help the owner get it to his house ( turned out to be a mobile home with a carport ) Customer paid me VERY well in cash.

Left, a month goes by and the other day his wife texts me and asks did I hear about Toms accident......no.........She told me every detail, she is 60 plus and Im sure she is not a liar.

Tom asked his wife if she would like to hear it run, Toms wife said yes, Tom reached in ( no steering wheel yet ) ( just like I did ) and cranked it, disgusting little LT1 started immediately wide open throttle and knocked Tom down to the ground ( door sprung back ) truck ran over Tom, when it ran him over the wheels got turned a little, went down into the neighbors yard, hit a pole on the pass side, came back up, ran over Tom again and went back into the carport where it shut off ( I dont know, thats what she told me )

Toms in the hospital, has several broken ribs, broken shoulder and i dont remember what else. Now he back in ICU cause they think he has pneumonia.

I should have warned his wife, we all know woman are less forgetful than we are, Tom just in his excitement forgot I guess.

This all happened while Toms family ( gathered there for a party in celebration of the truck being painted ) watched.

I dont know Toms last name, didnt bother to get it, didnt care about it, just wanted to get paid and give him his moneys worth.

If anyone here is religious and thinks it would help than pray for Tom. If your not religious than I hope you remember this story.

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i nice sign saying "DONT TRY TO START TRUCK until someone knows what they are doing." taped to the dash over the ign switch could have prevented the accident...
 
Dude, that accident is 100% your fault. It would have taken you five minutes to figure why the throttle was hung wide, or 30 seconds to unhook the linkage and close the throttle manually.
Beyond the scope of what we get paid to do as mechanics, we have a responsibility to the unknowing and incapable general public to take whatever reasonable steps we can to keep them safe.
You screwed the pooch with this one. ******* sad
 
Praying for Tom, but you will get sued and you will lose. I would never give a vehicle back to someone knowing a problem like this existed!!
 
In my line of work I run into hazards left by "the other guy" all the time. Bonding, grounding, suction entrapment, explosion, asphyxiation, ect. If it's something small I just fix it and move on. If it's something more involved I make the customer aware and provide an estimate. If they don't want to fix it I make them sign off that they were made aware and refused to fix it.
 
My fault ? The truck has no wiring harness, no bed, no fenders, no dash/gauges, no seat, no interior, no hood, no nothing and it was in line to go back to mechanic to be put together. I did the paint and bodywork only. Whatever

I just came back from visiting Tom, he is doing better and is looking forward to getting out soon. I talked with him about getting the truck fixed and he is eager to drive it. His wife will contact me later on this evening so that I can get started on it.

No-one blames me, I didnt screw anything, Im not getting sued and yeah a sign or disabling something would have been a bright idea but hindsight.
 
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Pascamp said:
In my line of work I run into hazards left by "the other guy" all the time. Bonding, grounding, suction entrapment, explosion, asphyxiation, ect. If it's something small I just fix it and move on. If it's something more involved I make the customer aware and provide an estimate. If they don't want to fix it I make them sign off that they were made aware and refused to fix it.
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I agree with what most of what has been said here.... but the original poster did say, The owner of the vehicle and his mechanic dropped the vehicle off at " 1930s shop, so with that being said, did the mechanic do all of the driveline work, including motor/trans combo?? If he did, I would assume that the mechanic could be sued first, for not seeing thru that any safety features be done and finished correctly, and that is the mechanic's responsibility, PERIOD!! As far as the OP, when he found out about starting in gear, throttle stuck wide open, he should of, IMO, disabled any control etc, that would let it start!! I
still think that most of the blame, should bear down on the mechanic! Anyway's, will pray for Tom's full and speedy recovery, and will hope he get's the beautiful chance to drive his dream truck, fixed safely and properly.
 
This is a lesson for everyone, we live in a “sue happy” environment now days. I retired from the AF after 31 years 7 months and 3 days worth of learning how to not let things like this happen. Every job task involved documentation and a sign off. Meaning this, if I was working any piece of equipment whether for maintenance or inspection, it had to be written and sign off by another individual after checking my work that I accomplished. Sometimes I open my shop doors during the summer months to subsidize what I need to pay for the heat during the winter months (my time), for the shop. Last year I took on a project, 41 pickup flathead his dads had not ran for over 30 years. To make a long, long story short EVERYTHING I did to the truck was written down to the last detail, as if I was doing an oral report for the school classroom. I made two copies of this report, we both signed, we each got a copy, and I took the time to clearly explain EVERYTHING that was done. He's happy that now the truck runs and drives and he has a copy of what I did and I have, piece of mind......Your fault, not in my mind, I pray for you both, if his insurance company calls, tell them to call your insurance company.
 
I honestly have not and will not read any more posts after my last one above until I get home this evening but i just want to say, some of the chilldish, impulsive, assanine posts above were uncalled for, you were kicking a man in the balls when he was already down.

I didnt start this thread to feel less guilty, I started it because in an indirect way I was hoping that it would make people pray for the guy, yes I believe in God, no Im not a very religious guy but id prefer to think that Im going to heaven when I die rather than assume Im going in the ground to be ate up by worms AKA cancel Christmas shows over.

However me being the dumbass that I am I read the terrible posts you knumbnuts posted and I started to feel worse, I drove back over to the hospital to talk with Tom again, a whole crew of family was there this time.

I asked him with tears in my eyes why Tom did you do it, i told you not too, he looked me in the eyes and said cause Im a dumbass. I did the exact opposite of what you told me to do cause I thought it would be OK.

Thankfully I feel better, come to find out that there are still people on the planet that take accountability for themselves, hes a grown man almost 30 years my senior, he new what he was doing and he rolled the dice thinking everything was gonna be OK.

Thankfully not every person on the planet isnt sue happy either, he manned up, took it in the nuts and is moving on, maybe some of you people should also try not passing the buck, be accountable for your own actions and stop trying to blame everyone and everything around you cause your life isnt going the way you planned.

Im picking up the truck tomm morning 8 A.M and Im gonna bring it back to my shop, wash all the blood off it and fix it!
 
I think that truck needs to be fixed free of charge. Imo. Sometimes it's not about the money but it's about people and this is one of those times.

Elderly people do enough by sticking around and gracing us with their presence.

I am sure sending prayers for a quick recovery. I hope Mr. Tom can heal and get excited about old vehicles again. Sounds like an good ol car guy who got dealt a hand of cards he doesn't deserve.
 
1930 said:
I honestly have not and will not read any more posts after my last one above until I get home this evening but i just want to say, some of the chilldish, impulsive, assanine posts above were uncalled for, you were kicking a man in the balls when he was already down.

I didnt start this thread to feel less guilty, I started it because in an indirect way I was hoping that it would make people pray for the guy, yes I believe in God, no Im not a very religious guy but id prefer to think that Im going to heaven when I die rather than assume Im going in the ground to be ate up by worms AKA cancel Christmas shows over.

However me being the dumbass that I am I read the terrible posts you knumbnuts posted and I started to feel worse, I drove back over to the hospital to talk with Tom again, a whole crew of family was there this time.

I asked him with tears in my eyes why Tom did you do it, i told you not too, he looked me in the eyes and said cause Im a dumbass. I did the exact opposite of what you told me to do cause I thought it would be OK.

Thankfully I feel better, come to find out that there are still people on the planet that take accountability for themselves, hes a grown man almost 30 years my senior, he new what he was doing and he rolled the dice thinking everything was gonna be OK.

Thankfully not every person on the planet isnt sue happy either, he manned up, took it in the nuts and is moving on, maybe some of you people should also try not passing the buck, be accountable for your own actions and stop trying to blame everyone and everything around you cause your life isnt going the way you planned.

Im picking up the truck tomm morning 8 A.M and Im gonna bring it back to my shop, wash all the blood off it and fix it!
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You get in a car that has an obviously deadly and simple to remedy defect...have it lunge out of control on you, yourself, and you do nothing about it except tell the owner to beware?...and I'm the bad guy for calling you on it??
You are an incompetent idiot. You absolutely KNOW what you did was wrong and that YOUR lack of action was completely to blame here.
Own it.
 
whitepunkonnitro said:
You get in a car that has an obviously deadly and simple to remedy defect...have it lunge out of control on you, yourself, and you do nothing about it except tell the owner to beware?...and I'm the bad guy for calling you on it??
You are an incompetent idiot. You absolutely KNOW what you did was wrong and that YOUR lack of action was completely to blame here.
Own it.
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I told the customer that the vehicle had major issues 3 months ago when it lunged out of control on myself, I asked him to have Jack the mechanic fix the fucken thing so I could at least drive it around my shop versus push it around for however long it was too be in my shop, because he is having issues with Jack the mechanic not living up too his end of the bargain ( I guess ) no-one ever did come over to look at the problems, the truck was dropped off at my shop unsafe, ( I didnt do nor get paid to do diddly dick to the mechanics of the vehicle ) , I got into it and nearly went thru a wall myself and told the owner that, he didnt give too ***** enough to hire someone else at the time if need be to fix the issues, he planned on getting it fixed when he got the truck back Im assuming, fast forward to me delivering the truck, he came over to my shop, we both pushed it up on my trailer cause again the truck couldnt be driven but again he was warned of the issues, hes a grown man, he waited until I left his house and decided to throw caution to the wind, didnt bother to put the cushion in the truck so he could sit it in, press the fucken brake pedal, make sure the half assed floor shifter was in park instead of reverse and then try to start it up.

That was a month ago approx BTW, yes hes been in the hospital for nearly a month and I just found out about it 3 days ago.

Your an idiot for jumping to conclusions before knowing all the facts and your an idiot for assuming its got to be someone elses fault other than the dumbass that owned the vehicle for making his own problems.

I regret not looking at the mechanical issues that caused the problems, I will always regret that, if I had to do it all over again what would I have done differently? ................I would have figured out why the carb was stuck at WOT ( that prob. would have taken about 10 seconds ) Ok great I figured it out.......what the **** did that do, I already did tell him it was stuck 3 months ago, he decided not to worry about it cause again it was going back to the mechanic after I was done to it to have all the bullshit fixed.

The engine starting in gear, what could I have done? Installed a wiring harness that Ive never seen and the neutral safety switch?

Again Tom was warned about what might happen, again he decided to not do anything until I was done with the truck.

He put the key in the ignition knowing that he shouldnt be doing that.

I feel bad cause I didnt tell the wife when I dropped it off, I feel bad cause HE made the mistake of either forgetting or just saying **** it and Im gonna start my truck anyway.

He made this mess for himself, hes admitted to that and owned up to his mistakes to me and members of his family when I visited him the second time but that still dosent make it go away, I have compassion for the guy and so I feel badly that it happened to him but it is not my fault as your dumbass statement tried to convince the world of above!
 
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I started this thread in hopes that people reading it wouldnt forget it and learn from the mistakes made, my mistakes and Toms mistakes ( never mind the jack *** mechanic that soaked him for 10 grand to do the mechanical work )

Also Id like people thinking about Tom and praying for Toms speedy recovery, thats it.

I plan to get the truck in the A.M. My wish is that I can convince some people ( maybe family friends ) to help me to assemble as much of the truck as possible ( after I make the repairs ) so that Tom can have a nice surprise when/if he gets out of the hospital alive.

Am I gonna fix a truck that been in a wreck cause the owner didnt use his head like he should have all on my dime, no way. Am I gonna scour Hillsborough county for all the parts that are spread out over the past 15 years that belong on this truck that Ive never seen, no way!

Im gonna try and give Tom something to look forward to when he gets out of the hospital.
 
3 months could be like 3 decades ago for an 80 year old. You did say you got paid VERY well?
Hindsight is 20/20
Prayers for Tom.
 
So if a gun dealer finds a bullet in a chamber does he remove it or just say, "its not my problem because it is the problem of buyer or end user" "i am not getting paid any extra, nothing in it for me so just leave it hot" ??

By knowingly leaving it stuck in WOT is leaving a bullet in the chamber.

Lots of cars pre 70 do not have neutral safety switches, my 68 dart never had one from the factory!! However if i start it in gear it will lunge and die out and if luck would have it damage minimal. So you were never expected to install a NSS.

Leaving the known WOT problem and just passing the buck is where the problem is and is your fault. You could have un hooked the linkage, even pulled a coil wire, whatever it took to prevent it from starting and forced someone to look it over before starting it.

Even if it didn't lunge and just started in WOT, is still not good. So ANY vehicle maitenance person, whether body man or mechanic, or even simple enthusiast should recognize that as a severe problem to just leave it like that which is basically leaving an accident in que to happen.
 
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Prayers for a complete recovery, and warning about safety duly noted, as requested. Nowhere do I read that you asked for anyone's suggestions or opinions.
 
It seems to me this is one of those questions that pops up from time to time, that has no good answer; kindof like
Does this dress make me look fat?, or
Have you stopped beating your wife yet?, or
When is the right time to tell a lie?
Some questions have no good answer
 
whitepunkonnitro said:
Dude, that accident is 100% your fault. It would have taken you five minutes to figure why the throttle was hung wide, or 30 seconds to unhook the linkage and close the throttle manually.
Beyond the scope of what we get paid to do as mechanics, we have a responsibility to the unknowing and incapable general public to take whatever reasonable steps we can to keep them safe.
You screwed the pooch with this one. ******* sad
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You're assuming, as a body man, that his mechanical skills are also top notch.

I'm not saying this in offense to the OP, but after doing collision work for decades, I've met body men who didn't have any idea what goes on on the mechanical side. These are guys who farm out basic mechanical on anything damaged in a collision, let alone anything more complex than replacing a radiator.

Tony, you're a helluva guy, but you need to stop assuming everyone has your skill set.
 
Hindsight is 20/20, and we can all play Monday morning quarterback...... The guy who dropped the truck off to the OP had to know it, otherwise he would have driven it off the trailer when he delivered it.... the old guy was aware of the issue and forgot...... could the OP have done more? Looking back at it after the incident, absolutely. Did he have a responsibility to do more? Not necessarily. The old guy and his mechanic already knew about it.

If you are driving down the road and see someone's gate open, do you stop and close it so their dog doesn't run away and get ran over? (Maybe not the best comparison, but you get the idea ) One person cant be responsible for the whole world. Accidents happen. They don't always have to happen, but they are not called on-purposes either.

We've all got those woulda/shoulda/coulda stories and experiences. Nobody needs to get beat up over it.

Praying it all works out for the old guy.
 
Grandpa always told me, “Personal problems should be personal”. I understand the need to tell others about your experience and to warn them that things like this can happen to anyone. I would have went to “A body that needs a hug forum.com” and work it out over there. You have over 360 hits by now, pretty much 90% has you pinned you for having fault issues for the ones that replied. If I was you I would have one of the “MODS” delete everything.

Pretty sure you will not get sued, you have a pretty good deplore with Tom and wife and family, and you did not get chased out of the hospital room. Hitting a pole with the wayward truck, utility pole, was their damage there, ticket issued? Someone drove him to the hospital, ambulance pick him up?

I would talk to my insurance agent tell the facts just to see IF you could be liable for anything that happened, it is what they are for. And they can prepare themselves and let you know if anything pops up. The insurance companies hate letting go of their money and will find ways to re-coupe their lost.

But more than likely, Tom told the right people that he indeed screwed up and all is well.
 
Maybe you should've put a sticker on the radiator cap warning him not to open it when the engine is hot. Gimme a break. There's a measure of personal accountability when you own an older vehicle. You're the body guy, not the mechanic. The owner should've remedied the situation before cranking it over. He didn't. Oh well. **** happens.

There's no freakin way you'd be held responsible in the courts. I can't even believe that was brought up. Well, actually I can...
 
In my trade we have a safety thing----------We lock it out! Sad and hard to read but the car should have been disabled------------
I am hoping for the best for you and the old guy and his family. Lesson for us all---------------------
 
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