Awesome story skipperman, by far the best one in this whole thread. A lot of these stories about pranks are juvenile at best and while they seem funny a lot of them can or have lead to injury and or property damage that can get out of hand and in the end is not funny at all. As well the stories of employees of service garages messing with customer cars are nothing at all to be proud of and say more about their character ( or lack of it ) than anything they could ever say about a "bad" customer. We have all enjoyed the odd innocent joke or prank but a lot of what has been posted here does not fall into that category. Your story is a breath of fresh air, sorry for the loss of your sweetheart. Larry.
We use to make FREON bombs when freon 12 was dirt cheap,, We would get a antifreeze jug purge it with freon,,,quick as you can put cap back on then put it out in the sun near the doors ,You never knew when it would actually blow as the jug expanded but when it did it was a loud bang and scared anybody within range..
Haven't read the whole thread so my prank may have already been told. This was from mid - to late 1950s. Anyhow, I'd make up a wire with an alligator clip on each end. Open the victim's hood and clip one end to the horn relay and the other end to the brake light switch. So every time he stepped on the brake the horn would blow. We were not doing this to car guys so victim had no idea what was going on. Many reported the horn blowing unexplainably at random times. They never realized it only happened when they were on the brake. One victim tried to get even with perpetrator. He made up the wire, opened the hood, clipped to horn relay, but couldn't find brake light switch. (It was under dash on swing pedals). So he clipped it to the generator because he didn't see anything else he could clip it onto. He didn't have a clear idea of what this might do. Victim leaves work, starts car - nothing. Drives across lot, onto local street. half block to highway - nothing yet. Finally gets up to about 30 mph and generator starts to produce some electricity. The horn started to make a strange sound like a growl. Speeding up increased the growl. Victim never realized sound was from horn. Thought something was seriously wrong with car. Slowed until growl stopped and drove the 30 miles to home at about 25mph on major highway. Opened hood an home and discovered prank. Another victim came upon stopped traffic before needing to use the brakes. As he braked to slow, horn blows. Everybody who is already stopped turns around to see who the moron is who is blowing the horn at stopped traffic.
a friend of mine had been trying with no luck to get ahold of another guy. he would call and leave messages with no return call. so we are at a antique motorcycle meet and my friend notices the guys knuckle head there. he pops the timer cover and puts his business card between the points with call me on it. the guy shows up and is kicking the bike over and over. it won't start. the guy is embarrassed because it won't start there is a crowd around the bike and he is out of breath. he pops the timing cover and sees the card. this guy was so pissed. when he sees my friend the fists start flying. luckily no one got too hurt by the time they were dragged apart.
I found you could remove the windshield washer hose from the nozzle and pass it through the firewall, then tape it up under the steering column. First time the driver "washed" their windshield they got a crotch full of solution. Really got their attention in the winter.
Here we go, a buddy of mine hooked up a windshield washer on his 36 coupe and ran the hose and nozzel pointing out of the grill. We he wired a remote control to the pump like a modern key flob. He would display his car at car shows and when someone walked in front of the grill he would squirt them. We all had a blast with this
Worked on the IH Scout line in Ft. Wayne, Indiana in the 70's, the wiper switch knob would turn to the right for the wipers to operate, push it in and the w/s washers ran. We'd take out a bolt in the firewall and run a hose off the wiper fluid pump through the firewall and tape it to the steering column, lastly we'd tape the wiper knob down. When the guy who was to start the truck for the first time on the assembly line got in and turned on the switch, look out, water all over. A union (UAW) shop was a hoot to work in.
A guy in the next town over from us did this to keep his horse away from his car, he now owns one of the country's largest business's exporting to most of the world electric fencing for livestock. Revolutionised grazing for NZ farmers, and made a few dollars along the way. Gallagher Electronics.
Mom & Dad took the train to the big city and left my big brother in charge, he became the instant big shot driving the Buick while I did the chores. He made my life miserable for a week until Mom & Dad came home, just before they arrived I took a pair of my sisters' panties and stuffed them under the front seat where Dad kept his pistol. This was back in the 1950's, it couldn't have been more dramatic if I had stuck a snake under there. It was many years before my brother forgave me and my sister still get a good bellylaugh out of it.
Back in the day the local parts store was like a mine field. Oily rags hanging out of back pockets were set on fire. The cigar box on the counter was loaded with Styrofoam peanuts and a rubber band powered flapper. The light switch in the crapper was on the back wall, but there was a large string hanging from the ceiling attached to a air horn the catch the unwary.
Blue One ..... Thanks man and I AGREE with what YOU said .... Clem ...... Yes ..... at the end she asked me " is there anything you want to confess to me ??? The time is NOW " ... so ... I told her about that day ( 47 YEARS ago ) in front of the " briar patch " ( Local burger hang out ) ..... she cried and gave me that SAME kiss ...... I hafta' go dry my eyes now .....
Back in the 60's some of the stuff we did. Lift one rear wheel off the ground by a 1/4 inch and tie a short rope around the drive shaft. Change the coil wire with vacuum hose. Strip the middle of a piece of stranded wire cut off all but 1 strand put it on duct tape with black powder, fold tight, connect 1 end of the wire to ground the other to a switched power source, (ing. lights etc)
Heard this on the radio yesterday as part of "call in with your prank gone wrong" segment. Guy did the plug the exhaust pipe with a potato to his brothers car. Only he didn't use a big enough / tight fitting enough potato. Brother fired up the car, revved it to clear the stutter cause by potato. Back pressure launched the potato, breaking the front window of their house.
When we would get a new guy at the shop the first time he pulled an engine some one would dump a cup of motor oil in the head pipe. When he put the motor back in and fired it up in two or three minutes it would start smoking like crazy. An old college stunt at a stop light go across the crosswalk flipping a coin drop it in front of a car drop to get the coin and crawl around the passenger side to the back and walk off. When the light turns green the driver won't know what to do.
in high school one farm kid got a brand new chevy truck. he was so proud of it that he would spend every lunch period cruising around the school area to show it off. he'd have his arm out the window with the stereo cranked trying to look as cool as possible. one of his buddies picked up a huge roadkill possum on the way to school, tied it to a rope and tied the rope to his back bumper and hid the possum under the truck where he wouldn't see it. we all laughed our asses off hanging out in front of the school at lunch that day as he unknowingly cruised all lunch period with that dead possum dragging behind his truck.
My Dad's favorite story was when his cousin in high school started driving an old Crosley. Nearly every time he came out of the school it had been picked up and moved. The funniest one was once they set it between two trees. Reportedly, there was only about 2" between trees and bumpers front and back.
Thanks for your reply, and for sharing your story. I'm sorry for your loss. 47 years is something very special indeed.
The Jalopy Journal
