posted 12-13-2002 05:58 AM                  

I must have had a really brilliant idea, better than even the POA-approved hot glue trick, because I turned to jump up and get something I needed for the fix (maybe it was a beer??!?!). Unfortunately, I had left the driver's side door wide open, and smashed my head into the bottom of the door, full force. After seeing stars for a minute or two, I realized that I no longer remembered my magical center cap fix, so I thought I would be smart and move on to see about the top hold-down straps and where everyone was having problems with their tops rubbing, etc.

It only took a couple of minutes of fumbling before I managed to scissors the folding top frame down onto my fingers, smashing two and blackening a nail or two, also. After soaking my hand in a bowl of ice water for a while, I sort of lost interest in the convertible top and its related problems...I was just hoping to live through the night.

SOOOOO...thought it would be a good idea to see where things were under the hood... Well, the gas struts held just long enough for me to get my head and body wedged in over the engine, then...Well, it wasn't a pretty picture trying to get out from under the collapsed hood, and now I had another skull crease to match the one from the underside of the door. Also found that the engine and radiator stay pretty hot, especially when you are laying down on them with the hood on your back...

Good times for me pretty much stop when the blood starts flowing, and I figured at that point that I had squeezed all of the fun there was to be had out of that evening, so I decided to put away the owner's manual in the pocket behind the passenger seat. So, I leaned in, bent over, and (yep, you guessed it!!!) pulled that seat release handle without a care in the world...

For about 1 millisecond. I saw it coming at me, but I never had time to react. I never realized that they used garage door springs to get those seat backs up and down, so the impact to my left eye, nose and cheek was really quite surprising. I also remember thinking that those headrests aren't really that softly padded. Prowler owners must really be in a hurry to get to whatever's back there, 'cause I've never seen a seat back move so fast and so hard in my life!!! Now I was down to one working hand and one good eye, and I figured there wasn't too much more I could accomplish that night unless I just laid down on the garage floor and ran over myself...

Prompt ice pack application spared me a black eye, but my wife did ask me to make sure that I had updated my life insurance when I added the Prowler to the auto policy...

I'm not sure about you guys, but my car's mascot looks a lot more like Bill the Cat than the elegant feline that slinks across our steering wheels...
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If this is true he deserves a prize.. If this is a story he still deserves a prize. I say we all vote on getting him a hat or something....Had to read this one a few times.Got to work this morning and read it again Way to funny fixumm

posted 12-13-2002 06:05 AM                  

If I were him I wouldnt go into any dark alleys

block-buster

posted 12-13-2002 07:38 AM                  

This is a rare pic of Dead End wearing his Prowler gear...

posted 12-13-2002 09:01 AM                  

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posted 12-13-2002 10:46 AM                  

I couldn't believe that every screw-up that these cars are capable of happened to me in one night, but my wife and son heard and saw it all...