We all make mistakes. Some are worse than others, and some we didn’t even realize were mistakes at the time. I’ve done a lot of stupid shit with cars over the 20 years that I’ve been a legally licensed driver. Thankfully none of my dumb things have resulted in anyone’s injury, though I suppose I’ve injured a few cars and bikes. Like the time I ran too many highway miles at high speed in my Nissan Figaro and snapped the rocker shaft clean in half (above). It was something I could fix myself, but it was still a $1,200 mistake I didn’t really need to make.
Maybe you’ve installed a part incorrectly and had it cause more damage. Or maybe you waited too long for a timing belt and it lunched your engine. Did you forget to tighten your lug nuts? Did you wrap your Tesla in chrome? Did you accidentally pump gasoline into your diesel pickup? Let’s hear it, this is a safe space to air out all of your car baggage.
No matter what silly things you’ve done to your car, it will probably forgive you. If you spend the time and money to set it right, you can pretend that it never happened in the first place. That’s the great thing about cars, you can wrong them a hundred different ways and they will always be there for you when you’re ready to atone for your sins. If you fuck up a friendship or relationship with another human, they might not be willing to forgive you.
So let’s hear it. Sound off in the comments below with all of your worst and most egregious trespasses against your car. I have a few that are worse than my example, so maybe if you get real deep into it in the comments I’ll drop a few more of my biggest automotive sins.