Wrecked the Diamond T IN the garage.

^^^^^^^ Best solution yet is this brake switch. We can blame lokar all we want but when all is said and done you should ALWAYS start a vehicle sitting in the drivers seat with BOTH feet inside the vehicle.
I have to lecture my students on this all the time.

 

This where I am glad mopar put the switch in the transmission where it belongs AND you can start it in Park or Neutral.

 

I have been dreading opening this thread Brian I didnt want to see all your hard work being damaged....I finally got the courage to look today ,and am very glad that you are ok and the truck is repairable...it could have been much worse.

 

Thanks koolkemp, I'm looking at now as if I just bought a lightly damaged total for less than it's worth, and my insurance company is going to write a big check to fix it. And, it'll get done when it gets done. And even better, it didn't hit anything else in the croweded shop, plowing into the side of the '48 Pontiac convert would have been way, way worse. And, jscow, I wasn't intending to start it, which is no excuse, I forgot I'd left the key "On", so when I turned it, it started. Dumb, I know, but evidently, accidents happen.

Brian

 

Rough estimate from my auto restorer pal $4,300 + bumper and misc. We also noticed a ding in the door I'd overlooked where it did indeed hit the woodstove door handle. The radiator had a puddle of coolant under it this morning, must have tweaked grill shell enough to make the lower tank leak. That's where it looked like it was coming from anyway...

 

Oh man that sucks Brian, but, as others have said, at least you weren't hurt. Metal can be repaired or replaced.
In the late '70s I worked in a heavy truck shop. Just as I walked in front of a truck that a co-worker was working on he hit the start switch, the truck lurched forward and crushed the workbench up to the wall. Missed me by about a foot. I still shake my head when I think about it. Talk about skid marks in the skivvies!

 

Best of luck getting her fixed Brian and thanks so very much for the heads up. Ron Francis will be getting my call Monday morning....

 

With all the posts saying they had similar issues with genie and LoKar switches Brian can
expect to be served when some shyster files suit against them. I can hear the late night
TV ads now........If you were injured or suffered property damage with a malfunctioning
safety neutral switch from Gennie or Lokar call Duey, Cheatham and Howe at 1 800 Shifty

 

Serviced my Lawn Tractor last Sunday and found out the neutral safety switch on IT went bad over the winter bad by crashing it into the front of my Fairlane.
Fairlane is not as nice as the Diamond T and the damage is less severe, but I still get that feeling when I look at it.

 

I used to have an old lincoln and it always started in 1/4 turn. One day I wanted to sell it and this guy got in and he cranked and cranked and it wouldn't start. Turns out he was holding the brake pedal...??

I think just having a good neutral safety switch on the transmission is the best option. Having too many interlocks is a real pain. Have to have the key on to get out of park, have to be in park to start, have to be in park to remove the key, have to push the brake to get out of park, yada yada. I was thinking of taking the steering column apart on my newer vehicles to take a shot at removing all these interlocks.

Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE smartphone

 

I did not hook up the NSS on the Lokar shifter I put in my 66 F250,might be asking for trouble but the parking brake is always on when parked or working on it. I might see if I can use a factory NSS before I let anyone else drive it.

 

I ALWAYS am in the car when I start it too, and ALWAYS have it in park, ALWAYS have a nss that works, untill I didn't do any of those things I ALWAYS do. Look what happend to my truck, and then explain why you "might" use a nss?

Brian

 

Uggg!!! Well a least your safe. Is it an opportunity to improve?

 

Only starting in park is why I did not hook up the Lokar NSS,until I get under the truck and see if a factory switch will still bolt on I will do what I done when it still has a manual trans and no switches.

 

I was thinking about your situation on the road trip this morning and came up with wiring up a relay that will need a foot on the brake before the solenoid on the starter will work,my truck originally came with a manual trans and since the Lokar shifter kind of resembles the old 4 speed shifter I kept the clutch pedal in it so I can possibly attach a switch to the clutch pedal so it will only start when its pressed like modern manual trans vehicles even though it has a automatic now. I looked on my truck and with the Lokar shifter I cant add a factory NSS so I will have to use one of those two ideas if I decide to add a NSS so for now I will just have to try to remember to be smarter then the machine which is hard to do some days.

 

Glad no body was hurt. Sorry the truck was. To add to what others have said, a good working NSS is a must. I, personally, have column shift using a GM column. It is wired to ONLY start in park. Just my idea of safety net.

 

not to hack this thread, but, saw your car at grand run... very nice in person..way cool.......

 

What car is that, greasy john?

Brian

 

the green roadster thats in your avatar, or its twin...unless u sold it ..i don't keep up too well....anyway hi from beautiful tenn

 

Ohhh, yeah. Now I see where you're from. I sold it to some guy down south last fall. Thanks, it's a fun car. Like my buddy said, "That will always be YOUR car!" The home made nss, a starter button on the gear shift bracket that the lever pushed in when in park, on the home made shifter (from the original '36 clutch pedal) ALWAYS worked on that one...

Brian

 

glad ur safe

 

see i'm a little behind the times, yea that nss will always work on the shifter in the roadster.anyways,good luck with the Diamond T, glad your ok and like you we repair 'em

 

Brian,

Sorry about the diamond T, one of my dads friends built a dual cockpit roadster. They are big beasts everthing is scaled up.

I'd like to see your Lokar fix also. I've had a Lokar neutral saftey switch fall out of adjustment after using loctite, no damage (luckily) but freaked my wife out and she never drove the truck again.

Take care

 

How would a switch on a dummy clutch pedal help other than insuring you
are in the car?

 

Having gotten over the insult, the insurance appraisal over and the OK to start work, today I tackled the crumpled fender. I'm happy I haven't forgotten my basic body work skills, and can still swing a body hammer hard enough to stretch 18 ga. sheet metal back into shape. We'll see if I can still sling mud tomorrow.

I've got a few more pictures on my website; http://flynbrian48.wordpress.com/

 

It'll look as good as new in no time!
Your talents are on display again.
Glad you're OK!
Wishing the Diamond T a speedy recovery!
KK

 

Glad to see you jumping right back on it!!!

 

Continuing the jumping in, I got primer on the mangled sheet metal today. Holy Cow, is that stuff getting expensive! I spent almost $400 for a gallon of 2K primer, sandpaper, and some incidentals to fix this. Hopefully, Hagery will come through and reimburse me.

 

Every new build needs its 1st paint chip to break it in & make it roadworthy, so now you never worry about it again.

You're good to go! Drive the lugnutz off it.

SinglefingerSpeedShop.com

 

Thanks for the sentiment, but this was a pretty brutal "paint chip"! Maybe that's why I'm not fixing (for now) the chip in the left front fender and the hood... Warding off evil spirts?

Brian