This is a type of story that is rare for me to tell.. I usually have pretty terible luck, nothing major but all the small stuff usually hits me at once. Anyhow, tonight was different.

I warmed the Fiero up and took it about an hour north to get art supplies. Had lunch, and head for home. After the last gas station for a while is in my rearview, i realized that I needed gas pretty soon. Not urgent. Ok, urgent.

So 14 miles down the road I go, painfully aware of the needle. Then I get behind a guy who is going 15 under the speed limit. And at lights he brakes all the way through them and makes me almost miss 2. So finally, up ahead is speedway. I think we are ok.

*sputter*

C'mon, Mr. Truck, get moving I need to get up this hill and into that parking lot.

And did. I was pulling up to the far pump, and the car died at the near pump.. I coasted right up to the pump and filled her up.

Like I said, a little piece of good luck that it did not die on that long stretch without gas stations. *whew*

Ever *just* lucked out?

I made a similar "dead stick landing" in a company truck, an F150, about 30 years ago. (This was one of the first times I had driven it. When it said "empty" it meant it.)

The one other time that comes to mind was driving my old Sonoma home from work. I hate buying gas downtown, because it is usually about $.30 per gallon more.
Thought I could make it out of the city with plenty to spare.
Fuel pump sucked wind just past the I-20 / I-285 interchange. Damn.
I coasted over into the gore area between I-20 and the entrance ramp from 285. Once the gas in the tank settled down, I was able to get it restarted. It was downhill almost all the way to the next exit, so I was able to coast to the bottom of the exit. Made the light at the bottom of the ramp, and whipped into the first station on the right, about 100 yards from the exit.
This was very fortunate, as this was a very bad neighborhood to be broke down in.
It's Fulton Industrial Blvd., for those who know the area. Home of the $2 BJ, or so I'm told. <shudder>

i gambled and lost once..... lets just say it wasnt a fart.

Lucked out? Many times in various ways. One time I went to the local thrift store and they had a couple of speaker boxes. I figured they were junk speakers but looked anyways. I noted they didn't have a emblem on the dust cap, the surrounds wern't ripped and the dust cap and cone didn't have any damage so I looked closer. I was trying to figure out the brand when I noticed the word Boston in the cast aluminum basket around the woofers edge. I thought, wait these are Boston Acoustic subs? Why yes, yes they are and they want $30.00 for the box with the 2 of them? So I snatched them up, brought them home and hooked them up. Neither was blown. I picked up 2 subs that sold for $150 or so each new back in the late 90's. Cast aluminum baskets with double stacked magnets and a 98 db sensitivity. I wanted some of those to play with back in the day and now I have them.

Moving here to Utah was "lucking out". We moved out of state to somewhere we really knew nothing about with no work lined up. I was working 3 days after arriving and we got our own place 2 weeks after getting here. I became self employed and have been doing way better here then we ever did in California. The first year was a struggle and the second a struggle but not as bad. We moved into a place where neighbors actually wanted to know each other. I mean in Cali I knew my neighbors name, some of them, but not much else about them. Here we have people stop by every now and then to drop a dinner off or we will get a knock on the door a few nights before thanksgiving to find a complete thanksgiving dinner in a box on our porch waiting for us. Things like that were a shock to us as the people we came from just didn't do those kinds of things. The first Christmas we were here we kept getting knocks on the door and finding little things sitting on our porch, candy, gift cards and the like. 2 nights before Christmas we got a knock on the door and opened it to a bunch of our neighbors singing Christmas carols and presents, a bunch of them, sitting on our porch in bags for the kids and a few for my wife and I. The second year somehow we got entered in a Christmas drawing which we didn't enter ourselves and was asked by the company to send a list of 5 things for each family member. We needed the help and people were willing to help us. Now we are in a better sitation, although it does still get a little tough sometimes, but we get to help others the way we were helped. This is one reason why I will defend LDS church members as the ones we have around here are some really good people and I'm very happy to call them freinds and help them however I can. I'd say moving here was lucky.

Yesterday was another "lucked out" happening. I went out to the car and noticed the tire was low. The compressor in my garage was burried under stuff because we were rearranging the house over the weekend so I decided to fill it when I got to work. The roads were slick from the snow we had the 2 days prior. I got to work and went to put the air in the tire. As I filled the tire I here a load PFFFFFSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSTTTT, as the tire blew. Lucky it happened while the car was sitting stationary rather then when I was driving on slick roads since it was a front tire. Also lucky it happened where it did because when I put the spare on I found it didn't have much air in it either. Popped the spare on and stopped and got a new tire OTW home from work.

I like this thread

Once as a teenager I was riding my dirt bike in the woods - I didn't see the rattle snake until it struck my left leg
Luckily earlier I had opted to wear my motocross boots instead of just combat boots

quote Originally posted by Pappy: I like this thread Once as a teenager I was riding my dirt bike in the woods - I didn't see the rattle snake until it struck my left leg Luckily earlier I had opted to wear my motocross boots instead of just combat boots

OMGosh that reminds me of a few of those type things. I was in North Carolina visiting my Grandma. I was out playing with one of the local kids and they lived up in the mountains so it was tree's and dirt roads. I had my Tamiya Hornet RC car out playing and I noticed behind the kid I was playing with was a copperhead coiled and ready to strike. I turned my RC car and rand it right at this other kid between him and the snake that was less the 2 feet away. He jumped forward away from the snake as the RC car came towards him and the snake struck just as he did, hitting the rear wheel of my RC car. I say the snakes body twist and flip around as it got twisted from the tire and it darted off into the brush.

Also, several camping trrips in Colorado my Mom would come back with a story about how she just went to go ,well you know what you do behind a bush. As she walked out she suddenly realized there was a rattlesnake right in front of her she was about to step on. She dropped her coffee on it and ran back to camp. Things like that always seemed to happen to her, LOL.

[This message has been edited by Khw (edited 11-13-2012).]

Sorry for the double post - No idea how that happened

[This message has been edited by Pappy (edited 11-14-2012).]

My brother in-law told a Korean War story about being on a Navy flight crew of a sub hunter. They were preparing to take-off when told that another crew with a high priority mission had mechanical problems with their plane and were going to use theirs instead. He said he watched as the other crew took off. A wing fell off and the plane crashed killing all on board.

I don't have any kids. Just from that, at this point, I'm in much better straits than most of the people in the circle I traveled with the past few years. I'm content with that... but I'm also bored easily.

That point aside, I know the feeling of relief from the small victories.

I was working on the Fiero yesterday and didn't finish. Came in the house and forgot to go back out.
My wife said I left my blower out in the yard so I walked out and found my car door open and my keys still in the ignition.
IF she hadn't said something I would probably be one Vette light this morning.

I am blessed in too many ways to count.

quote Originally posted by tbone42: ...I was pulling up to the far pump, and the car died at the near pump.. I coasted right up to the pump and filled her up.

Had the exact same thing when I first bought the GT in 1990. I kept hearing this odd buzzing whenever I braked or did a sharp turn. It didn't dawn on me what it was right away since the car was still new to me. Minutes later, I looked down and realized the needle on the fuel gauge was dead on the Empty line. I headed for the nearest gas station down the road. As I turned in the engine stalled - and I managed to coast right up to the pump.

At least I now knew my gauge was accurate. The needle hits the line - it's EMPTY.

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My World of Wheels Winners (Click on links below)

3.4L Supercharged 87 GT and Super Duty 4 Indy #163

"Lucked out" again tonight. Blew my rear passenger break line or hose when i was stopped... limped it home VERY carefully. The reason I say I lucked out is because it happened while I was stopped.. if I did not know the condition of my brakes or had it blow while trying to make a sudden stop... shudder to think about it, happened with my first fiero and I rear ended someone. I put on the hazards, went slow and got it home.

Figure out the culprit in the morning when I can see with the light.... stomach is just starting to un-knot now.

[This message has been edited by tbone42 (edited 01-14-2013).]

My best luck story is our Addams Family Pinball machine. These in a Home Use Only condition sell for upwards of $5500-$6k. Well it is my wife's favorite pinball of all time, so when I saw a Craigslist ad that mentioned there would be one in a yard sale, but no price and also said No Early Birds, I had to check it out. I showed up almost an hour before the yard sale was set to start and played stupid. They happily greeted me and let me start looking, but I was only interested in the pinball machine, So I asked about it right away. Learned it had been in this guys home since the day he bought it brand new... and it showed. I assumed as soon as I saw it, that I would not be able to afford it... But I had to ask... How Much?

He said, well.... I paid $3200 for it when it was new... And I have had it for 20 years. So, how about $2k? I nearly yanked his arm off with an enthusiastic Deal making handshake!!! Before I could even get it loaded onto a truck, a local Pinball Flipper, who buys up EVERYTHING on CL showed up... Early mind you... And was PISSED that I had gotten there early and bought it. Remember.. he was early too... I was just earlier.

So anyway, he offered me $3k for it.. Then another guy showed up and offered me $5k for it. I couldn't sell it though, as it is my wife's dream pin. So now she has her lifelong dream of owning an Addams Family Pinball fulfilled.. and I got the green light to spend spend spend on my Digital Pinball

As for Gas, I never get lucky there. I try to not get below a 1/4 tank, especially in my Charger. That HEMI will suck up that last 1/4 FAST!! And has snuck up on me and left me stranded twice.

I prefer to think of these things as some sort of divine intervention.

Myself?
Can't think of anything off the top of my head....

The Ford Econoline van I drove for an employer had the clutch pivot bushing bolt shear off just as I pulled into the assigned parking space at the end of a work day.

quote Originally posted by spark1: My brother in-law told a Korean War story about being on a Navy flight crew of a sub hunter. They were preparing to take-off when told that another crew with a high priority mission had mechanical problems with their plane and were going to use theirs instead. He said he watched as the other crew took off. A wing fell off and the plane crashed killing all on board.

I was scheduled to be an air crewman on one of the two AD5 Skyraiders that was going on a far east cruise. I needed to sign an extension because i was getting out too soon. I refused because my dad had just had a heart attack. One of those planes went down in Subic Bay with no survivors. 50/50 odds don't work for me. Another time we had just done a hot lap around the lake on one of those lakeside winding roads. As we pulled into town we heard a strange sound and as we were pulling into a service station to check it out the wheel fell completely off. A defective brak drum from a previous crash repair. That close to a high speed landing into the lake.

[This message has been edited by dratts (edited 01-15-2013).]

I bought my first fiero, an 85 GT, on line and drove 65 miles to get it. Drove it home and picked up my son (who was five or six at the time) and went ofr a spirited little drive. Without warning, the engine just died. Got it restarted and limped it to s friend's house about a mile from where the engine died. Called another friend and he brought his trailer and we took it to my mechanic's shop. As we were rolling it off the trailer, both rear brake lines failed. Turns out all the brake lines were rotted almost through. The car turned out to have a host of problems the previous owner knew about but never disclosed. Anyways, to say the least, if the car would not have stalled out, I can't imagine what would have happened to my son and I if the brakes blew out while we were driving some of the back roads we were on. Shop never did determine what caused the car to stall out and die. And it fired right up after the brakes were fixed, so someone was watching out for us I guess.

My daughter had the front AND rear brake lines go out on her at the same time in her Buick. A rubber hose on the front and a rusted line in the rear both went together. She was on a parking lot when it happened, not driving on the road. Yup, lucky. Sidenote, the emergency brake works pretty good to drive the car home to be fixed.
And I've drifted into a gas station from about 200 yards away. Fortunate downhill.

quote Originally posted by tbone42: ...it did not die on that long stretch without gas stations. *whew* Ever *just* lucked out?

I did pretty much that same thing. Though my car was a 70 Skylark, and you could only fill the tank 1/2 way or it would leak out a rust hole, I was on my was driving back from Pennsylvania after buying the car. In a town I did not know, it actually ran out of gas so I threw it in neutral while still going about 45 mph. There was an offramp that went downhill and I was thinking I can at least get off the freeway. Also I hope there is a gas station down there! I rolled down the ramp and about 100 more feet and rolled to a stop across the street from a gas station! (Couldnt cross the street because of traffic). But I walked into the station, they loaned me a small gas can and I put a gallon in the car, then drove over to the pump and filled it up.

Many times, knock wood. One time that's Fiero related was I was on my way home from work and taking my favorite road that has a little twisty part with a bridge crossing and a twisty part coming out (42.774818,-82.549406) that I usually took at a bit higher than the 25 mph caution sign suggested. It's about the only real twisty road for miles. I turned the corner to go on this road and my rear end felt like it was on ice. I managed to stop on the shoulder without doing a 180. What happened was the shop that I got the car some work done on didn't replace the washers on the rear struts and they dropped when I made my turn. If it didn't happen there, it would have happened on the bridge.

[This message has been edited by Gokart Mozart (edited 01-15-2013).]

Here’s my “Got lucky” story –

A couple years ago on a Fall day, I was out shuffling vehicles around in the driveway. I Get done with the vehicles & went on to my next project.
The next morning I go to grab my car keys but can’t find them. Right then, I realize that I had set them on the rear spoiler of my wife’s old Grand Am! She had already left for work. I call her & ask if she noticed my keys & not surprising she didn’t. Taking into account her driving style I thought I’d find them laying in the driveway or at the most at the end of the driveway….. I go & search and find nothing. That’s when I got a sinking feeling in my gut. I walked down to the corner at the end of our street. Nothing… I walked the short distance to the next intersection where she’d turn. Nothing… At this point I figured they were gone for good.
That afternoon I get a call from my wife asking me to guess what she had just found.
My key’s stayed on that spoiler for 16 miles, stop & go traffic & her driving! Plus, a public parking lot for 8 hours.

The only way I can think of how that happened was that we had a heavy dew that night then got cold enough to freeze. Securing the keys to the car.

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86 GT
87 coupe restoration project.

Son. Of. A ...

Ok, well I lost my rear break hose... not my caliper hose. This thing comes off the break line heading to the back wheels and has a u-shaped metal piece on one side that is a "T" for brake lines to go left and right. No wonder the fluid all came out so fast, the rubber line had corroded and exploded right off the hard brake line on my frame. Not just a leak, it was like bleeding my breaks every time I stepped on the pedal.

While looking under there, its looking like a couple of my hard brake lines aren't looking too great, either. I hate doing car repairs in the driveway in the winter. Shoot.

Lucked out and not so much again. I thought I had rounded off one of my brake fittings, but I was able to reuse it without replacing that line. The bad luck is another line was so corroded, I only moved it around a little bit and it broke. So I had to run 90" of brake line.. I only needed 80 but that's all I could get at the autoparts place. Just finished connecting it all up and waiting for the wife to get home so I can bleed the brakes.

"Hold it"

"Let up on it"

Just getting my practice in now... I am hoping they all threaded right, I ahad to use one coupler and one adapter... so that's two more connections that can fail. We'll see in a few minutes, hopefully I will "Luck Out" again.

Edit: Damn its cold out in that driveway.. like 20 degrees.

[This message has been edited by tbone42 (edited 01-16-2013).]

quote Originally posted by tbone42: Ever *just* lucked out?

No.

quote Originally posted by tbone42: This is a type of story that is rare for me to tell.. I usually have pretty terible luck, nothing major but all the small stuff usually hits me at once. Anyhow, tonight was different. I warmed the Fiero up and took it about an hour north to get art supplies. Had lunch, and head for home. After the last gas station for a while is in my rearview, i realized that I needed gas pretty soon. Not urgent. Ok, urgent. So 14 miles down the road I go, painfully aware of the needle. Then I get behind a guy who is going 15 under the speed limit. And at lights he brakes all the way through them and makes me almost miss 2. So finally, up ahead is speedway. I think we are ok. *sputter* C'mon, Mr. Truck, get moving I need to get up this hill and into that parking lot. And did. I was pulling up to the far pump, and the car died at the near pump.. I coasted right up to the pump and filled her up. Like I said, a little piece of good luck that it did not die on that long stretch without gas stations. *whew* Ever *just* lucked out?

Hah, that's awesome. That's one way to make a dollar go farther...

On the way home from work one afternoon, I had a spirited driving competition with an underpowered import. Speeds topped out just over twice the speed limit. Stupid, I know and it won't happen again...
The next day, going back to the shop, I took off from a red light and was making a left hand turn when the lower ball joint on the right front separated and the car began dragging the tire. If that had happened the afternoon before, it would have been really bad. After that, I slowed myself down a lot...no need in giving karma a reason to bite me.

quote Originally posted by User00013170: As old as these cars are, replacing all the break lines is a good idea. Cars know when its bad weather and wait to fall apart then.

and considering you had to replace one, I'm sure the others will follow.

I have one more! I used to have a '77 Can Am. I was coming off an exit ramp and heard something rattling in the front end. Got off the ramp and found the castle nut was gone from the tie rod and it was dragging the ground. I never even felt like I couldn't steer the car, just heard the noise. It was late at night in Baltimore city in an area I really didn't want to be in very long. After pondering for a minute I looked at the lugnuts. Could they be? Yes, same thread size threads. One lug nut on the tie rod, away I went.

I had one of my hard brake lines rust thru on the Mercedes sitting in the garage overnite. I went to back out of the garage and put my foot on the brake pedal to shift into gear and it went to the floor. I got back from a road trip in it the day before. I didnt know why until I saw the master cylinder empty. It didnt make a puddle under the rocker where it broke to notice because a piece of scrap carpet just happened to be laying there in the exact place to soak it up.

I am flying left seat in a Piper Apache. Those things have a main fuel tank, and an auxiliary tip tank in each wing.

The fuel caps are also kind of crappy, pretty much a rubber donut with a steel washer and eash side, and a bolt with flip lever going thru the center. When you lower the lever, it compress the rubber which expands and creates a seal.....thats the theory anyway.

So we are flying along on an IFR training flight, and I was smoking in the plane (we all did back then) so open the little vent window and pitch the butt out into the slipstream........JUST in time to notice a nice long streamer of VERY FLAMMABLE 100LL avgass coming off the tip of the wing from a leaking fuel cap.....after about 45 seconds we realized it wasnt going to light up and burn us out of the sky, but I think that one used up about 20 years of "lucking out".

quote Originally posted by User00013170: As old as these cars are, replacing all the break lines is a good idea. Cars know when its bad weather and wait to fall apart then.

Well ACTUALLY this is a 2004 f150 on this blown brake hose deal and not my fiero... but yes, it is not getting any younger, either. It's my winter driver, so it is rotting out at a pretty fair clip up underneath.. already lost a bunch of heat shields and other unimportant redundencies under there, but this is the first corrosion related mechanical issue it has had in 8 years of owning it and driving the snot out of it.

My Fiero has original brakelines.. heck, almost original everything except tires and hoses. It was a socal car that sat for years and years because the gas tank feeder hose came off. 61k miles as of yesterday. I feel I "lucked out" getting that car, as well.

Wow... yesterday could have been a low point in my life, but I lucked out.

Since it was Sunday, and very few people walking around downtown, I decided to take the rotten 140 year old windows (which were boarded, no glass) out of the upstairs at the shop. The first came out no problem, but the second one disintegrated and fell out of my hands, tumbling to the sidewalk below.

I feel like an IDIOT for not caution taping off the sidewalk, and even though I looked both ways before yanking it out of there, someone could have been walking underneath me when it fell and I could have hurt/killed them.

This is not an admission I am proud of... I said a prayer of thanks, went downstairs and hustled to clean up the sidewalk before anyone even som much as stepped on a nail. *whew* I learned my lesson, thankfully nobody was hurt when I did.

Pulled off the highway, into the drive in the front of the property, up to the front gate in the 84 4 speed I used to own, pressing the clutch pedal and it went to the floor. Turned key off quickly so I didn't run thru the gate, popped the decklid and found a broken clutch lever. I had just returned from near downtown Houston.

More times than I care to remember. Its the little things I get lucky with and the big things that kick my ass.

quote Originally posted by tbone42: Wow... yesterday could have been a low point in my life, but I lucked out. Since it was Sunday, and very few people walking around downtown, I decided to take the rotten 140 year old windows (which were boarded, no glass) out of the upstairs at the shop. The first came out no problem, but the second one disintegrated and fell out of my hands, tumbling to the sidewalk below. I feel like an IDIOT for not caution taping off the sidewalk, and even though I looked both ways before yanking it out of there, someone could have been walking underneath me when it fell and I could have hurt/killed them. This is not an admission I am proud of... I said a prayer of thanks, went downstairs and hustled to clean up the sidewalk before anyone even som much as stepped on a nail. *whew* I learned my lesson, thankfully nobody was hurt when I did.

Dude... I have done so many stupid things like that, it became almost normal for me. I've finally taught myself to slow down, and think things through VERY carefully before I do anything. I occasionally find myself rushing through things, and I always end up getting hurt.

One interesting even happened to my 13 year old son when we lived in Alabama. He managed to loose a pair of new Oakley sunglasses and could not remember where he put them. Six month later we were in Key West and he started to put something on the roof rack of the Expedition. While doing this he saw his missing sunglasses. They had been on the roof rack for more than six months and about 8000 miles. Needless to say he was very happy to see them again.

Nelson

I've had two "dead stick landings", and one near miss. First one was on a motorcycle with my girlfriend (now, wife). We rolled into the station right up to the pump. She never knew (until a couple of decades later) that we had run completely out of gas.

In the Formula, I've had one near miss and one completely "dead stick". The near miss came first, and happened as I was driving through Atlanta to the Atlanta Nascar race. I thought I had enough gas (gauge read 1/4 tank) to make to the track, but I decided last minute to take the exit & fill up, so I wouldn't have to fool with it amidst all the race traffic.

A few months later, and still before I learned of the inaccurate fuel gauge, I found my engine coughing & sputtering one day on the way to work. As I accelerated, it died. When I backed off, it re-fired. So, I accelerated as slowly as I could (I was going up a hill). As I topped the hill, I kept on slowly accelerating... until it died. Then I pushed in the clutch. However, at this point, I was going about 70, and there was a station about 1/2 mile away, mostly downhill. This fillup took slightly under 10.5 gallons.

Shortly after this, I created a spreadsheet for tracking MPG's. After putting in the "dead stick" fillup, it occurred to me to compare that fillup to the others to see how close I typically come to running out. I then discovered that the "near miss" fillup took just over 10.5 gallons. I never knew at the time how close I came to running out.

Another time, not fuel related, with the same motorcycle as above. Shortly after getting it back on the road after years in a basement, the electrics (and, of course, the engine) completely died... about 100 yrds from home... at the end of about a 20 mile ride.

Once, a few years ago, my father and I were going down a major road on our way to take a bike ride. As we were going under a bridge, there was a stoplight on the top of the hill and we were to turn left. My dad hit the brakes and the pedal hit the floor and we looked at each other. He ended up downshifting into first gear and using the emergency brake to slow us down to take the left turn safely. Thank God, there was no one in the oncoming lane. We had to coast around in circles in the parking lot until the car stopped. It's a rusty 1990 Olds Calais.