Dodged a bullet....er spark plug

Didn’t dodge. Tractor trailer lost a wheel and came right through the engine bay, partially into the windshield and fire wall of my mustang.

 

I was following a POS junker onto the freeway one night when their exhaust/tilpipe fell off. I saw the sparks before I ran it over, unavoidable. I was in a near new Mazda CX7. The tailpipe flipped up and F'ed up the side of my car. Insurance covered it. In my experience, the newer/nicer the vehicle, the more likely this kind of shit is to happen.

 

Some years ago I saw an old truck towing a crappy homemade trailer that had some crappy gates. The truck was loaded with a bunch of car scrap parts and right in front of me a round rolling thing fell out and was rolling down a busy road...it looked like a torque converter. I literally saw a small car get it under and literally jump up...scary!

 

I was on my motorcycle about to pass a trailer full of hay when one flew off directly in front of me! Was on the highway doing at least 70. Still not sure how I missed it but would have for sure gone down if I hit it.

 

Scariest was just a year ago. Following a car pretty close in Miami when he suddenly changed lanes and I spot big ole piece of aluminum I beam in my lane. There was road construction and it looked like a piece that they drive into the ground to bolt the guard rail to. At 70 MPH, I didn't even have time to check my mirrors. Figured the inside shoulder was the better choice than the travel lane next to me and swerved around it. Spent the next 10 minutes imagining running over that thing and the damage/injury we could have sustained.

 

I doubt it was a spark plug. The ceramic on those make short work of glass. Maybe just the metal of the plug contacted the glass, but again, I doubt it. Good thing. Would be hilarious if your scoop had caught it.

 

I had a logging truck toss a softball sized rock from between the dually tires. It was bouncing towards me like a super ball. Timing was just right, it hit the ground right in front of my bumper, whacked the bottom of my car a bunch then shot out sideways off my rear tire. Pretty scary!

Years ago I was wheeling with friends. Guy ahead of me had Interco Boggers... this time it was only a fastball sized rock. Went straight up and landed right in the center of my hood.

 

I literally said, “is that a spark plug!?” I sort of agree with you though. The fact that I got a scratch (buffed out) and no damage to the windshield has me wondering what it really was

 

Got this nice piece of metal on the way to work.

 

I once drove through a mist of oil and coolant on the way to a Volvo show, after the hacked-together turbo car in front of me vented its engine block...

 

might be able to get that up with a clay bar

 

Nah, it required bodywork and paint. It dented the steel and those scratches were down to bare metal. I had it fixed about a year ago. It was about $750 out of pocket.

 

ugh!!!! Ouch!!

 

Not to play one up but I had a life flash before my eyes experience a few weeks ago. Traveling on a 55mph road behind a box van in the afternoon. He swerved to the right quickly, I did the same and then I see an older black suburban heading right for me....front end already wrecked and no front drivers side wheel. I get as far over to the right as I possibly could, within a few inches of the guard rail and I see the truck maybe 10” away from the side of my truck, I go unscathed except for shrapnel hitting my truck everywhere, he misses the guy behind me and then hits the woman behind him head on.

Turned out, he hit an SUV that was in front of the box van first. His driver’s side front suspension blew apart and then planted itself into the box van.

The guy behind me said he doesn’t know how the suburban didn’t hit me, I do remember hitting the gas to get as tight behind the box van as possible but talk about some scary stuff.

The Suburban driver was in bad shape and had to be air lifted, the woman he hit last head on had to be rushed to the hospital as well.

Scary stuff. I ended up with no damage except for a few small scratches in the paint in an area smaller than a dime on the drivers side door. Was a very easy fix after I washed it.

I won’t lie, that accident bugged me for a few days, I kept seeing it play out in my brain and still question how I didn’t take him head on but thank my lucky stars that I didn’t. I suppose the driver of the suburban still had some control and was able to maintain some space between us.

 

Had an 8” screwdriver empale the hood of my X5 after it fell of a Gardner’s truck that was in front of me. Followed him until he exited the freeway and pulled into a gas station. Told him what happened and he denied it could have come from his truck....so I asked him to open his toolbox and behold other matching handle screwdrivers. Luckily he had insurance. So it turned out OK.

 

Oh dayum!!

 

The owner of this Tacoma really did dodge a bullet. No report of injuries.

https://www.kptv.com/news/pickup-hi...cle_1e4d9d0c-748a-11ea-b7ab-ff402b83ad84.html

 

Lets see. I ran over a dead moose that was just struck by another vehicle in thick fog. That was in my Rav4 so maybe that doesn't count? That was a Duke boys moment for sure. No damage other than ripping the exhaust off and some blood and guts on the underside.

I had a baseball size rock fly up from the highway and hit the roof of my Tacoma about a year ago. I could see it coming at me like a knuckle ball but had nowhere to go. Vehicles all around me. Dented the roof and scratched the paint down to the metal. That was a $2000 repair.

Just last week a guy pulled out of a firewood lot in front of me with a full load of 8 foot logs in the F150. I think he got a little pedal happy and the entire load ended up on the road. Luckily, I was already slowing down and had enough distance between us to avoid the logs. Could have been bad. A dash cam would have been nice to capture that one.

 

When my cousin and i went to pick n pulls trying to fix our cars as teenagers we would break the ceramic off the spark plugs and toss it at windows... you dont even have to throw hard and it barely makes a sound

 

easy fix:





Years ago, financially struggling, I finally talked the wife into allowing me to buy a new set of tires. I showed her where the old ones were so bald you could see the belt starting to poke through. Literally the morning after I replaced them, the car in front of me lost its wheel. The whole thing went sideways and skidded to a sudden stop from 60-ish mph. (It was a rare day in houston when the highway was travelling at highway speeds). I slammed on the brakes and counted my blessings that I avoided the collision. I could barely see the other cars passenger, less than four feet away over the top of the hood of my Dodge. But I could tell she was bawling. I came within milliseconds of killing her and we both knew it. It would have gone way different if I had waited just another month to get tires, so that our budget could absorb it better. Two lessons I took away that day: a) always prioritize keeping your equipment maintained, no matter your financials, and b) stop fucking tailgating. Whenever I find myself getting impatient, the memory of seeing that traumatized girl staring at my grille emblem reminds me that I'm not quite in the hurry that I think I am.