[Argess]

Not really "horror" stories, but:

1/ My garage got broken into a few weeks after getting the car painted. A window had been smashed and the glass flew all over the car damaging the paint. Very upsetting after 2 years of hard work building the car. The individual was caught, admitted to the break-in, but charges were dropped,, along with many others as they had enough with over 27 break-ins in the previous few months.

2/ While removing the enigne with a hoist, I tried out my new load leveller. The extra distance between the engine and the tip of the hoist boom caused a problem when I tried to pull the hoist back. A flourescent light fixture on the ceiling got in the way, and I couldn't drop the engine as it wouldn't clear the Cobra nose. There I was with 700 lbs of engine hanging over the fibreglass with only hydraulics holding it up there.

3/ Coming home via a secondary road, I went to pass a very slow car. Forgetting what I was driving (for a moment), I downshifted into 2nd and gave it some gas. Almost lost the rear end, and I was even with the car I was passing (me in the other lane) at the time. Wasn't bad, but being unexpected, it was nerve rattling.

4/ Doing an illegal high speed run on a major highway (I took advantage of no traffic early that morning), I was approaching a hill with a slight dip at the base. For some reason, the rear suspension "stuck" as the car sank down after the dip. Un-nerving. Never happened again, and to this day I have no idea what actually happened.

5/ After a major power take-off, engine was pouring smoke out of one side. Piston broke due to detoantion. The horror story lasted a few days as I did tests, and then dismantled the engine to find out what was wrong.

6/ Not long after the re-build, a giant "bang" from inside the engine during hard acceleration. And repeats. Turned out to be crossfire. All fixed now, and no engine damage, but it took a while to get my confidence in the engine back.

7/ A nightmare where I go to the garage to find my car with no engine....someone stole the engine!