Idiot Award of the Year

[theorangeguy]

So this morning something happened to me and my Trans Am that I've never experienced with any other Fbody...I've owned 5 in my life time and today was a first. I've heard many stories of this happening to others, but never happened to me. So let me share my story of being a complete tard...

Yesterday it was the perfect day to go cruising around with the T-tops out. So I pulled the car out of the garage, took the tops out, put them in the back and off we went. Cruised for like 2 or 3 hours and then came back home right before dark. Got home, put the tops back in, tucked her in for the night and went to bed.

Fast forward to this morning.....................Get in my car, back out of the garage, put the windows down and off to work I go.

Drive down the street, no issues.

Drive down the highway at 55mph, no issues.

Get on the interstate, no issues.

Hit 80mph on the interstate and my driver side T-Top flew off, went about 20 feet in the air and came crashing down in the middle of the road and shattered in to a million pieces.


So me being the person I am looked for damage etc and I couldn't see where the 2 holes that the latch seats in was scratched, damaged etc.

I then came to the conclusion that I must have just not closed the latch all the way or not at all when I put the drivers side top back in last night...so $200 later I have a T-Top being shipped to me from HawksThirdGen.

And that ladies and gentlemen, is your bonehead story of the week...month...and possibly year.

Let the public shaming begin

[35th-ANV-SS]

You got off pretty cheap. As the recent UFC female fighter that had explosive diarrhea while in the ring tweeted....#shithappens

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[theorangeguy]

You got off pretty cheap. As the recent UFC female fighter that had explosive diarrhea while in the ring tweeted....#shithappens

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My thoughts exactly on the cheap side...I was ready for a $400-500 quote to replace a t-top since they aren't made anymore. $200 shipped really surprised me.

On top of that, I'm REALLY glad it didn't hit anybodys car because being sued would suck for obvious reasons...which very well could have happened if it bounced off a car before shattering on the ground.

On a positive note, somehow the t-top shield landed in my back seat so that's one less thing I have to replace

[35th-ANV-SS]

A good practice is to always lock them with the key. Pain in the ass, but you'll be able to tell if one isn't engaged. I usually just leave mine out 100% of the time since it's only driven on nice days. Unless it's going to be parked in the garage a while.

That's happened to quite a few people over the years. One person in particular got real lucky. His flew out and landed in the grass completely undamaged.

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[theorangeguy]

A good practice is to always lock them with the key. Pain in the ass, but you'll be able to tell if one isn't engaged. I usually just leave mine out 100% of the time since it's only driven on nice days. Unless it's going to be parked in the garage a while.

That's happened to quite a few people over the years. One person in particular got real lucky. His flew out and landed in the grass completely undamaged.

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I usually don't lock mine because the car is almost never stored outside and if I ever lock the keys in the car I can pull the window away from the trim and open the t-top...I've only had to do that one time in the 12 years I've owned these kind of cars but it came in handy when I had to get in to the car.

But now I might go back to locking them for obvious reasons.

[35th-ANV-SS]

I've had neither of those things happen in 15.5 years of ownership :P. I did lock myself out of my house a few times though. Last time I was half naked and barefoot. Luckily my brother lives a block over and has a key lol

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[theorangeguy]

I've had neither of those things happen in 15.5 years of ownership :P. I did lock myself out of my house a few times though. Last time I was half naked and barefoot. Luckily my brother lives a block over and has a key lol

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But you have had a procharger eat itself alive lol I've never had that happen before........thank god.

[35th-ANV-SS]

Procharger is fine...it was a pulley that came loose.

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[35th-ANV-SS]

And yes, having one installed has been TERRIBLE lol

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[theorangeguy]

Procharger is fine...it was a pulley that came loose.

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Well that's good news.

If you ever want to sell that car btw...I'm just sayin I know a guy who might be interested.

[35th-ANV-SS]

Kinda...I keep finding more shit that got damaged from that .25 cent bolt that didn't have locktite....

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[024mula]

Last time I was half naked and barefoot.
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This is a very interesting reading your discision about you cars t-tops, but isn't anybodie interested on how and why 35th-ANV-SS got half naked and barefoot??

[35th-ANV-SS]

I was cleaning house in a pair of shorts. I slid the patio glass door open to let my dog out. I was on the phone and decided to go out on the back deck while my dog was doing her business. When I went to shut the glass sliding door, the piece of wood I use to lock it (keep it from sliding) fell into place. I had forgot that the piece of wood was behind the door at an angle when I opened the door to go outside. Needless to say, it works very well for keeping the door from opening as I wasn't able to get back in.

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[0rion]

I never do any of that stuff. Unless you count the time that I had a brush fire burning in the fire pit and was dragging a limb back on the mower. When I get off the mower to put the limb on there I kicked it into gear with my foot and it jumped the bricks into the fire and got stuck in the fire. I run around front of it to yank it out and used the deck lever and engaged the blades throwing fire all over the back yard. When it was all over my wife was screaming like a banshee and Zach (who was about 2-3 at the time) was bawling. It was a hectic 15 seconds.
Then there was also the time that I jumped in my truck to go load some wood in it. Instead of just driving through the yard I got up on the side of the road and pulled down into the ditch. I went in at an angle and almost rolled the truck over so when it started going I turned directly down into the ditch and high pointed the truck between the front wheels and the trailer hitch so my back tires were completely off the ground. I finally swallowed my pride enough to go ask the neighbor to bring his tractor over to help me pull the truck forward so the back wheels would be on the ground and he said.....and I quote " Isn't that a 4 wheel drive?" Derp er derrr. Put it in 4x4 and drove right out.

[024mula]

O.K. I'll buy that story, how back to the t-tops.

[024mula]

[QUOTE=024mula;1145557855]O.K. I'll buy that story

[pajeff02]

Glad I have never done anything really stupid... yet this week.

[GTP231]

I let my wife talk me into dragging home a boat that had been sitting at a farm for at least a year

[Y2KArcticSS]

Had this happen to me 1.5 times in the old SS... both times I had put the tops back on and just failed to latch the driver side for whatever stupid reason. The first time it flew up about 20 feet in the air like you said, but I was lucky in that mine landed in the grass and slid instead of bouncing/shattering in the pavement. Had a few scratches but nothing major. Second time I was on my way to work, and I heard that sucking air noise and immediately reached up and grabbed the handle as it was about half lifted for takeoff. Had I not caught it I can assure you it would have broke the second time. My excuse is I was 22-23 and wildly unobservant...yeah, that's a good excuse

[TLS_Addict]

I had a similar situation with my Z28 years ago. It DIDN'T break. I was lucky it flew into a corn field.