Packard Forum Index » General

For those of you with lifts in your garage------@#$% happens.

Gravity sucks.....sometimes

Yup, gravity sucks. One cannot be too careful around lifts of any kinds whether they be bumper jacks, floor jacks, jack stands or 2/4 poster lifts.

Craig

About 50 years ago drove with mates to a drag meet at Surfers Paradise and back over a weekend, about 500 miles each way. Went in a '55 Ford Customline Sedan towing a trailer with a mates Holden 6 cyl powered dragster aboard. The mate who owned the Customline put it up on a hoist before we left and it slipped off landing on it's left side. Not much apparent damage, just scrapes and slightly dented panels on that side. On the return trip, having left straight after the drag meet, early the next morning I'm driving at about 75mph there's a bang and the left rear of the car descends to the road and no brakes! Finally pulled up by the side of the highway. What had happened was the left rear axle had broken, obviously it didn't take kindly to the hoist accident. We pool our money and one of the mates hitchhikes into the next big town, Coffs Harbour. There he meets with the owner of the Customline and the dragster at the airport. He was flying back to Sydney with his sponsor, the proprietor of Carburettor Service Company, in a light plane! Us poor smucks, aka the pit crew, having to bring the cars home! The mate collects more money from the owner and heads to a wrecking yard where he buys an axle, rear brake drum and backing plate unit complete with cylinder and brake shoes. These are placed in a sack and he hitchhikes back to the stranded Customline. Mind you it was one of the hottest days I've ever experienced, a blazing hot Aussie summer day on a highway through a eucalyptus forest with little shade. So while waiting for the spares to arrive I hitchhiked about 20 miles back the other way to a gas station and bought bottles of softdrink(water didn't come in bottles then) and all the sandwiches they had. Hitchhiked back where the food and liquids were consumed and waited and waited. About the middle of the afternoon, the spare parts arrive and seeing that 3 out of the 5 guys were mechanics I was able to sit back and observe the repairs being made. However, once the Customline was up and running again, because the other guys were complaining of fatigue being too tired, poor little darlings, I was again the driver and took up from where I'd left off earlier. Ahhhhhh.....those were the days.

Like the cowboy philosopher/comic Will Rogers once said: Things are always funny when they happen to someone else.

as always
Garrett Meadows

In the 70's I worked for a VW, Porsche, Audi dealer in town.
We were really busy in the shop and had lots of new cars that came in one evening. As usual they would put the new cars in the service bays until the PDI (Post dealer inspection) is completed. None of the service guys were there. We left the customer cars inside at night usually parked over the lift but not raised.

Well the sales guys didn't know anything. They raised the customer cars on the lifts and parked the new cars underneath. By morning a couple of the lifts with bad air seals had settled on top of the new cars. Of course the one Porsche on the lift not only crushed the car below it, but also fell of the lift! Wish I had a camera back then.

I would open the shop 1st thing. My phone call: "Hey Doug! you never going to believe what happened!" Oops

I rather liked the first photo with the blue whatever squashed against the roof of the garage. They just don't make cars like they used to when they crush like cans but at any rate that would have been my first oops had I even considered a lift.