Can a car fix itself? TELL YOUR STORY!

I had a 2.3 pinto that I dropped the wingnut from the air cleaner in the carb. It must have made it's way into one of the cylinders. 20 seconds after it fell in, the motor acted like it wanted to jump out of the car. Then came the violent knock. It was a bad knock too. I thought I was screwed. First instinct was to shut it down. I said "what the hell the damage is done so let's see how long it will run till it dies". It never did shut down and the knock slowly got quieter and quieter until it was completly gone. Drove that car for another year and a half before I sold it.
It also ran out of antifreeze on the freeway and I had a 30 mile commute. I just kept going until it got so hot it shut down. I would let it cool and continue on. I did that about 10 times to make it home. Fixed the blown hose and was good as new:) I could not kill that car:)