Remember that BMW I wrote about bringing home last week? (The one that I still haven’t taken photos of?) Well, I almost wrecked it last night, and I wasn’t even in it.
One of the problems with the car (that the seller somehow failed to mention in his ad and in all the conversations we had) is that the emergency brake doesn’t work; pull the handle, nothing happens. Well, over the weekend I pulled the car up into the driveway to do some work on it — cleaned it up a bit (badly needed) and checked over the intake tract & fixed a few things there (starts & runs like a champ now) — but because our driveway has a slightly steep slope to it, I of course put a couple of blocks behind the rear wheels. So far, so good.
When I went to back it out of the driveway, I first got in & made sure it was in gear — put it into second — then went to the left wheel & pulled the block, then went to the right side and did the same. And the car began to move. And it continued to move. On its own. Right on down the driveway.
In complete and utter futility I tried pushing to keep it from going, but had the presence of mind not to get behind it, and to let go when I realized I wasn’t going to be able to do anything but get myself hurt. So I stood there watching as it rolled down the driveway and across the street. I think my heart about stopped or at least skipped a few beats right about then. But somehow the car went straight as an arrow, bumped up the curb on the other side of the street, missed a tree (a small one) by about a foot, and came to rest in the grass in Jamie’s side yard. Actually, I think it was rolling forward a bit and would’ve gone back down the curb, but I jumped in & hit the brakes, then started it up, backed up a little and drove it out Mel’s driveway.
I don’t recall if it was still in gear or not when I got in, so I don’t know if it slipped out of gear or what. I checked it over and didn’t see any obvious damage. I checked it out again this morning in the daylight (thankfully it happened in the dark!) and it looked like the fuel tank bottom was dented in a little with some grass trapped between it and the strap, but nothing serious. Could’ve been so very serious had there been a car parked across from the driveway, or if it had turned just a little, or if a car had been passing by at the time. Even as it was, the muffler could easily have snagged on the curb… I’m just so very, very thankful it ended as well as it did!