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I remember it well and happy to hear your doing better. I'll never forget those pics. I had just bought my vette and when the thread was posted, I felt this is probably one of the most important safety threads I'll read here.
Thanks for reminding us.
Glenn
New on the forum, so I haven`t seen this thread before. Thanks a lot for the advice! I haven`t thought about this....
I chose to ignore the warnings about the pictures, and clicked on the link...
I`ve never closed a browser-window so fast in my life! From the 1/10th of a second I looked at the picture, I`m amased that you can even walk. After seeing that, I probably won`t try to push-start any kind of car on my own. EVER!
I was thinking of this today and decided to search out this old thread and bring it to the top as a reminder. It can happen before you know it, be safe!
I've been searching but can't find the "gross pics" post.
I know, Gawd, the disappointment! Because a whole lot of us, have a built-in morbidity to see the aftermath! I don't know why, but I'm glad to have read the thread about it, as I have a stick too! I sure don't want to suffer like the OP and I thank him for bringing it up, even years ago.
I had something happen with my other Corvette about six months ago, a '95 C4, that we were pushing back into the shop and I was alongside, pushing and steering at the same time, when my heel caught the bottom edge of the open door and I fell down and ended up on the ground with the door scraping over me!
Wow, this happened to me back in 1988. Back then I drove an 81 with a 4-speed. I guess the battery died so I pushed it down a slight incline and as I went to jump in the car my right foot got run over by the tire. Lucky for me I had my Air Force uniform on, and my flight boots saved the day. I was able to jump in the car press the clutch, drop it into gear, start it then immediately stopped it, set the parking brake and proceeded to inspect my numb foot. I was in shock at how close I came to busting my foot and almost wrecking my car. My flight boot was destroyed, the sole and heel separated from the shoe, but it saved my foot!
Time for another reminder for those that have seen this thread already and a heads up for those that haven't. It happened to me several years ago, but I got lucky and the tire just got the edge of my shoe and I was able to yank it out.
Time for another reminder for those that have seen this thread already and a heads up for those that haven't. It happened to me several years ago, but I got lucky and the tire just got the edge of my shoe and I was able to yank it out.
Here's another Bump for those who will be relaxing New Year's Day.
I remember the original post on this. I remember it well because a couple days before VegasJen posted about the accident, I had tried to push my Vette a couple feet forward in my garage and ran the tire up against my foot. I wasn't going fast enough to run over it, but it pinched it enough to get my attention.
many of you who've been here a while remember this. some of you may have missed it, and some of you may still be too new to the forum to have heard it. this is a warning i hope you learn from me rather than 'the hard way'.
absolutely, under no circumstances, push your car by yourself. probably more so than any other production car ever made the c3 (and presumably the c2 as well) can be very dangerous. the problem is the proximity of the rear tire to the door, and where your body is when you're in the pushing position. if you really want the details just read the story below
backstory:
a couple years ago i rebuilt the engine in my '81. i took it out for a test drive but failed to make a critical adjustment. only about a mile from my house, the car stalled in the middle of the road. being a stick i thought, "no problem, i'll just push it, jump in and pop the clutch". so i got it rolling at a pretty good jogging speed and jumped. that's when things went horribly wrong. the rear tire clipped my left foot just as i jumped and took it under the wheel. the rest of me came down in the car with my right leg stuck between the seat and door sill. from that point on, i was pretty much along for a most unpleasant ride. ultimately, the car rolled about 100ft before coming to a stop at which point it rolled back off my foot.
i was only wearing a pair of old "garage shoes" no doubt most of you reading this have as well. the damage was pretty extensive.
pressure of the tire forced my ankle in direct contact with the asphalt, resulting in the "knuckle" part of the tibia being ground off. it also tore a playing card size hole in my skin and ripped out much of the tissue, including some tendon and ligaments in the area. as if all that weren't bad enough, the action attempted to pull my foot off at the ankle joint, separating the joint and allowing road rock and debris to get compacted up inside the joint.
the aftermath was a 10 day hospital stay, 3 months with 'external fixation' and 5 months using a "wound vac". it was about 5 months before i could even walk on that leg and i had to use a cane for a month or two afterward. the damage sustained is permanent and i'm now as good as i ever will be again. i have about 80% use of my left leg, which means no more running or jumping except in cases of extreme emergencies. i have constant discomfort, especially on long days in which i still make use of a cane. and my range of motion is strictly limited.
there are pics but the first time around they got removed because of the grossness. old timers can vouch for it. if you really, really want to see, there was a thread over in OT that didn't get shut down. just do a search for "gross pics" and go to page two.
you've been warned.
so, please understand, i'm not doing this to get sympathy or anything like that. i just don't want any of you to have to go through the same pain and trauma. please learn from this story. if you ever find yourself in the position of needing to move a vette, you need to have one person sitting in the car with a second or third person pushing. DO NOT do this by yourself!
I guess this was pretty obvious to me....I'm not a big guy weight-wise...just the thought of a pushing a 3600 pound car..just doesn't make sense....HOWEVER!
I'm the Pres of the Scirocco Club (1700 lbs to 2275 lbs class)
Neighbor decides to do JUST what you did...poop the clutch...down slight hill.
Car starts rolling...faster and faster, runs over his leg before he can not-so-spryly jump in....broken leg...car takes off down hill...stone wall.
Time to buy another Scirocco!
This was before the incredibly cheap small and convenient JUMP BOXES....I have one in my glove compartment.
we have a similar problem moving around the old F1 cars, we have to stress to all the people that want to pitch in and help to please back away and let us do it. Been clipped on the heel numerous times and I know where to stand and how it happens, some one new just trying to help could really get hurt.
We had a drivers nephew think he was helping when the car came in and stalled and he started to push it, caught his foot and ran him right down, luckily it was just a bad sprain to his ankle and a bunch of scrapes here and there...probably helped him out with the girls when he told them he was run over by an F1 car..
if they absolutely insist on helping we make them push from behind the rear wing..
01-15-2009, 12:25 PM
I saw your original post with the mention of the wound/Vac...."""...""..!?
