Well, as always, regardless of how much you prepare and how many tools you pack, you always get thrown a curve ball. On Sunday, Coming home through the pass in gaviota where the tunnel is on the 101, I bottomed out over a couple reflectors at 70mph, broke them into pieces, and one of the pieces put a hole in my riviera's gas tank. I pulled over a half mile up the road, got out, and plugged the hole with my finger. And there I sat, holding 20 gallons of gas into the the tank for over an hour. After 20 min, my parents showed up. My girlfriend went with my dad into town, while my mom stayed with me as I laid there. Great stuff, never a dull moment. Kinda a bummer though, as outta maybe 20 hot rods and customs to pass by, only one stopped to offer a hand. So I would like to give a big thanks to Leo and Leo from the Hoods c.c. In their 61 caddy for stopping and give us some help and support. Eventually we got the tank drained, patched with epoxy, and refilled, and I was on my way under my own power. With all the stories from the weekend, I feel I pretty lucky, as a lot of tragic things happened for a lot of people over the weekend. I just thought I would share my own 3 hours of hell with all of you. That being said, I still had a blast and thought that, even though attendance was down, the show was still a success. And I'm still going to drive at my 2 inch ride height!
And you'll be picking up manhole covers with your crossmember...!!! LOL... Sorry to hear of your misfortune...but isn't "I'm still going to drive at my 2 inch ride height!" being a bit obstinate when you know a road reflector can cause damage and keep you sitting on the side of the road for 3 hours...??? Seems to me I'd bag the car, raise it to 4 inches and go down the highway without worrying aobut anything other than road gators or the occassional wild animal. R-
I saw you guys! Sorry i couldnt stop, i was towing a trailer with a green model a on it. Id just come from gilroy and didnt get home till 9 at night and had no tools. Glad you made it home.
Considering that I've put upwards to 9000 miles on the car, this being the only freak instance, I'm sure I'll be fine. I'll make a 14ga protection plate for the tank after I fix it. It is bagged, rides fantastic at that height, there were some divots in the road in that spot though, just chose the wrong spot to change lanes.
ROTFLMAO - Next time it will probably spark as well, and then we can have a new thread about a burned up car and another HAMB members passing.
I wish there were more people like these Leo's. The guys on posts 5 and 6 probably drove by and didn't want to help.... On my way home up north I only saw one oldie on the side of the road and of course my buddy and I stopped but no one was around. Could not have happened in a worse spot, rain was looming a half hour up the road and the closest gas station was like six miles away.
I hope we were not some of the ones you saw pass by. I stop for fellow old car people on the side of the road when I see them.
seems like everyone broke down this year. Not a good year for us car people. Thats a long time to have a finger in a hole, that had to suck smelling the fumes for that long
Glad you made it home safe. We just got home at 6:00 tonite Tuesday no issues but loooong trip......... had a great time!!
Ian this is Junior from bodydrop seems something is always happening to you wit the rivi glad to see you got it back on the road
I saw you pulled over and it was obvious you needed help so I figured I have no choice but to stop. Glad to see you made it home safe and sound.
a reflector punchin a gas tank? that is weird. glad all is fine. I hate when people dont stop, hell i even stop for new cars when i see a hood popped or anything lookin like trouble.
The T-shirt was a good idea, but in your case you could save some money and just get it permanently tattooed on your forehead.
my grand dad was a carpenter so when his brand new 1963 Dodge Dart put a railroad spike that was laying in the road through the front of his gas tank he whittled a wooden plug drove it in with a hammer. after a few minutes the plug swelled sealing the tank and i think my little brother finally had it patched years later.
How about something constructive here? Is there any way to safely re-locate the tank higher? A substantial skid plate would be a good idea. Looks like a great engineering opportunity, hope you get it sorted out soon. I'd pitch in and give you a hand if I was local. Bob
Good thing it wasn"t worse,good idea on the plate to protect the tank. If a hotrodder won"t stop to help out another broke down,hes one of two things., Urban fake or a goldchainer that don"t give a shit.Leocad is a true hotrodder.Hat off to him and screw the assholes that passed you by. Like the old saying,what goes around comes around.
I'm sure plenty cops have looked at it and said "why bother". A skid plate is a great idea if you insist on driving that low. Put one on your steering too. Catching a tie rod could be deadly at freeway speeds..... just sayin'
And deadly for the cars he hits when that tie rods breaks off, or when the car goes sliding out of control on a flat tire cuz it's now sitting on the frame.
For a traditional hot rod and custom board, I sure get a lot of shit for the car being low. First and foremost, the tank is plenty clear of the road and has no chance of actually making contact with the road. It actually sits higher than the bottom of the rear quarters, which never see contact to the road. The only reason the tank was punctured was because a piece of debris hit it with enough force. Regardless of how this debris came to be, it could happen to anyone with a tank that is mounted anywhere under the car. As for the tie rods and drag link, when the car's frame is on the ground, the drag link is a good 2-3" above the ground and it is behind the front crossmember, so sorry Hotroddon, you wont be lucky enough to attend my funeral yet. I dont get hassled by cops cause I don't regularly drive like an asshole and the car doesn't bottom out and throws sparks frequently. I appreciate the concern, as rash and smartassed the delivery was, but its hard to assess a particular situation without seeing it i suppose. The main point of my story was to thank the leo's for stopping, and share my little story, not start a shitstorm about how safe or unsafe my car is, which not many people are familiar with to begin with.
Regardless of all the B.S. about how low it is. That is what this hobby is all about. Car guys helping Car guys... Good looking out for those that helped and glad things worked out for you...
Here's a useful fact: Don't ask me how I know, but a punctured tank can be fixed with surf wax and duct tape. It is a temporary fix, but is good for a few days when performed properly. And surf wax is common on that part of the coast.
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