OMG - That video brought back so many memories of
doing categorically stupid things when I was their
age!
Just one example:
When I was in high school - around 1986 - I owned an
old 1967 Mercedes-Benz 250SL Pagoda. I absolutely
abused that poor, lovely car (and looking back, I SO
didn't deserve it). Anyway, late one rainy Friday
night, my buddy and I decided to cut across a
construction site in it (don't ask - I honestly don't
remember why that was an appealing idea at the time),
and about halfway across a 100 acre plot of cleared
mud and dirt, it got buried and stuck so deep it was
sitting on the chassis rails. The mud was so deep and
wet, all four wheels had developed a sort of "suction"
into the watery mud holes, and it wasn't moving
ANYWHERE. We couldn't dig it out, we couldn't rock it
out... nothing. We were trespassing, arguably
damaging private property, and there was NO WAY we
were going to get the car out. Truly up a creek.
After briefly considering just abandoning the car and
reporting it stolen (even I'm not THAT crazy...) we
decided instead to "borrow" a Bobcat from the
construction site to try to pull it out. We'd return
it when finished. Bad idea. We got one Bobcat stuck
on the way to the car and had to go back and get a
second one. The second Bobcat made it to the car, but
since it was only two wheel drive, all it would do is
rear up on it's back wheels until the engine
compartment (slung way out back) would hit the mud.
The Mercedes never even TWITCHED. We tried to return
the second Bobcat, but it got stuck and almost tipped
over - sitting in deep mud heeled way over to one
side...
Now the car was still stuck, it was about 2:00AM, and
we had Bobcats littered all over the site in various
states of ugliness.
We were totally screwed. My buddy walked back up to
where all the machinery was sitting, and he saw the
construction sign. It turned out the builder that was
building the property was owned by another one of our
friend's father. We called him at 3:00AM, dragged him
out of bed, and just fessed up to the whole thing.
About an hour later, the father showed up in a brand
new Range Rover. He asked me where the car was, and
when I pointed, he didn't say another word and just
started driving straight through the mud up to the car
to pull it out. My friend and I were running along
behind him. I was thinking "no WAY is that Land Rover
going to get my Benz out, and if HE gets stuck, he's
going to flat-out KILL me." But watching that Landy
work was one of the most impressive things I've ever
seen. It bulled right through the deep mud that stuck
the Bobcats and right up to the Benz. No tricks,
nothing. It just pulled the Benz out using pure brute
force. Absolutely awesome.
When it was out, the father drove up next to me and
said: "You're out. Go home. Oh, and come by my house
tomorrow at noon, okay?" And then he went home
without another word.
The next day, I showed up as requested and he calmly
explained what my punishment was. First I had to
clean his Range Rover from top to bottom. A 3+ hour
detail job which was no mean feat considering the mud
all over it. Then, since it was a weekend and drying
out considerably, I had to go back to the contruction
site and get the Bobcats back to where they were
originally. It took me and my friend almost four
hours, even in the much drier conditions. Then I had
to clean THEM. Finally, I had to spend all day Sunday
as his wife's "housemaid". I cleaned and dusted and
vacuumed and polished and swept and did laundry all
day long, from about 10:00AM to about 8:00PM. All in
all, a very fair trade, I think.
So when I saw that video of the bumper getting pulled
off, I thought: "Yep... that's precisely the kind of
stupid things kids do..."
Oh, and by the way - for all of you who live in
Northern Virginia - the constrution site was the
American University Loudon campus off Route 7 on the
way to Leesburg. It was just being built at the time.
The car was stuck on the BACK side of that huge hill
- the side looking at the river!
=====
Paul Misencik
1971 MGB Vintage Race Project
Huntersville, NC USA
www.sopwithracing.com
Repeal the Patriot Act!
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