Well, one of the reasons why I bought the Mazda was to have a car in the family I could use to teach my two teenagers how to drive a stick. So far it's one down (he's quite good; good enough to be critical of how others shift and use the clutch), and one to go (she's only 14 at this point).

Yesterday my son borrowed my car and parked it at the top of a driveway at a friend's house. He turned the car around so that it was facing downhill and parked on the apron and "says" he set the parking brake. All appeared to be going well for the first fifteen minutes or so and then they saw my car rolling down the driveway, across the street, down the hill in the front yard across the street and onto a rock wall that delineated the beginning of a small stand of woods.

The rock wall wasn't kind to my car, it removed most of the lower grill area and lower bumper skin, completely trashed the A/C condenser and radiator, and literally tore off the oil filter. The car came to rest with the engine oil sump resting on a rather pointy chunk of granite boulder, and by the looks of things may have cracked that as well. It'll be up on a lift at about three this afternoon for a better look-see.

The good news is that no one was hurt and the car is quite fixable; hopefully she'll be back on the road in a week or so. I'll keep y'all posted.

 

Sorry to hear that Shipo... thankfully no one was injured.

For one to be critical of one's shifting... then surely one would have set the brake

Best of luck and I hope she is fixable...

 

Yeah, he currently has his tail sufficiently between his legs to show he's more than a bit ashamed. I'm thinking, "lesson learned."

 

pics?

 

Sorry to hear, Dale, but at least its only a car. (Relatively) easily fixed or replaced.
Now if it had been a '57 Chevy, or a '59 MGA!!!! THAT would hit too close to home and I would have to come up there personally to tan his butt!!!

j/k... of course.
Or am I?

Dale NEVER posts pictures. I don't even know if he has a camera/phone?

 

Actually, I finally upgraded from a no-ups and no-extras phone to a Blackberry. The next question is, "Have I had time yet to learn how to use it?" No.

 

I still have a no-ups/no-extras phone. I only use it/carry it when I have to anyway.
And though it seems to be accepted these days, who needs the extra bill every month?

 

Unfortunately I had to do the upgrade. Why? Because my main client cut off all access to personal web mail. So? Well, that address is where I get much of my work. The Blackberry does both the phone duties as well as giving me access to my E-Mail. Beyond that, I may start using the music player, the camera, and mabye-maybe to send a text or two (per year at most).

 

I'm wondering how "set" the parking brake was. I'm sure it's already come up in........ conversation, but I know a lot of people don't actually pull the handle all the way up. Instead they'll just go for a few clicks and leave it. Also was it in gear?

 

According to my son, he backed up the driveway, set the brake and left the car in neutral. Given the slope on the driveway, had he left it in neutral and forgotten the brake all together, the car would have rolled away from him the instant he took his foot off the brake pedal.