NationStates Jolt Archive

Ok, I'm sure this thread has been done at some point in time before, but such is life.

A few days ago, I went out to the theater with my girlfriend. In the parking garage, I lowered the window of the car to insert the ticket into one of those machines that lets you out. Unfortunately, the window reached its fully open point, and then refused to budge, making a sound like something being ground against a rock whenever I pressed the button to raise it. I had to get home that night, as I had to drive a few hundred miles the next morning, so, I drove out of the garage, into the cold New York City night. Being of a somewhat chivalrous inclination, I surrendered my coat to my girlfriend. Even more unfortunately for us, it soon began to snow. Hard. By the time I had returned my girlfriend to her apartment, and driven home, there was a good amount of snow coating every surface of the car. At this point, the car cannot be driven for reasons unknown, and the window is still open. At the moment, I don't have the money to fix the damn thing, because it's off warranty, and the people who run the dealership are thieves.

Now that I've got my rant out of the way, what are your best automobile-related catastrophe stories?

Now that I've got my rant out of the way, what are your best automobile-related catastrophe stories?I was in the middle of the freeway, and my old Honda quit on me. It wasn't too bad, because I managed to roll off the freeway. No, the bad part was when my father came out to get me (I was around eighty miles from home.) he got there, and got the car to start on the first try. Didn't even pop the hood.
My reaction was this > :eek:!

"How'd you do that?" - Me.
"You left it in drive." - Dad.
"...*face-palm*" - Me.

It was pretty hilarious after I got over the embarrassment. :D

Probably the time I was doing 120km/hr, came round a corner and found myself fast approaching a bus that had stopped in the middle of the road. Slid right under it, ripping the bonnet and roof struts round the windscreen out. Came to stop with the bus less than an inch away from my face. Found the radiator cap about 10 metres in front of the bus. Walked away with a tiny scratch on my thumb.
lucky? hell yeah!

Now that I've got my rant out of the way, what are your best automobile-related catastrophe stories? Hmm... Nothing I can think of that would do after ZPH's post.


I was in the middle of the freeway, and my old Honda quit on me. [...]
"How'd you do that?" - Me.
"You left it in drive." - Dad.
How come you drive an automatic? You have a bike, for the sake of whatever is holy, a proper mechanical machine, you're not some office lady! How can you have an automatic in your car?

Hmm... Nothing I can think of that would do after ZPH's post.



How come you drive an automatic? You have a bike, for the sake of whatever is holy, a proper mechanical machine, you're not some office lady! How can you have an automatic in your car?

Manuals FTW.

Better gas mileage and much more fun

Now that I've got my rant out of the way, what are your best automobile-related catastrophe stories?

not mine, but one I witnessed.

There's an intersection that is near a beach and is below the high tide mark. so when the tide comes in, the intersection gets flooded. one day, I'm waiting at the intersection during High tide for the light to turn green.

the light turns yellow as this compact import car guns his engine in an attempt to beat the light.

I did mention that it was high tide and the intersection gets flooded... right? Good.

so this lightweight import car speeds towards the obviously flooded intersection and hits the water at full speed.

and comes to a complete stop when the water says "oh no you don't."

and to make matters worse, as the car stops, his airbags deploy. so imagine a car, stalled in a large puddle of water, with not an obvious sign of damage, and deployed airbags.

I really wanna see how he reported that to his insurance.

so this lightweight import car speeds towards the obviously flooded intersection and hits the water at full speed.
Was it a Celica/Eclipse-like vehicle or something exotic? JW.


and comes to a complete stop when the water says "oh no you don't."
and to make matters worse, as the car stops, his airbags deploy. so imagine a car, stalled in a large puddle of water, with not an obvious sign of damage, and deployed airbags.
I really wanna see how he reported that to his insurance.
Probably as a car's defect, false activation of airbags. Improperly tuned sensors.


BTW, I absolutely hate this trend with airbags on some cars that deploy whenever you have a fender bender. Like a crash at 10mph is going to do anything to you. More exactly, like they even will have any effect in such a microcrash.
It's ridiculous, airbags are there to keep your neck from being broken under extreme deceleration, when there is a risk of that happening - not to happily punch you in the face whenever you make a small mistake. And definitely not to turn half an hour's work of fixing the bumper into a three-day loss of transportation while the service garage replaces the airbags.

My heater fan died while I was in Banff snowboarding earlier this year. Cold drive home at the end of that week.

Pfff. Power windows. My windows don't even roll down, they slide backwards.

My Dad gave up when it got to the third driving lesson he was trying to give me and I still couldn't remember which pedal was which :$ Thats a me fail rather than a car fail, though.

Pfff. Power windows. My windows don't even roll down, they slide backwards.
VW bus, right?

My cars throttle cable shreded while I was on the highway. Suddenly, my car was revving full power, and I had to break as hard as I could to keep from crashing.

My cars throttle cable shreded while I was on the highway. Suddenly, my car was revving full power, and I had to break as hard as I could to keep from crashing.
Huh... But why didn't you declutch it right away - was it that you haven't noticed the throttle breakage until it went too fast, or something else?

Ok, I'm sure this thread has been done at some point in time before, but such is life.

A few days ago, I went out to the theater with my girlfriend. In the parking garage, I lowered the window of the car to insert the ticket into one of those machines that lets you out. Unfortunately, the window reached its fully open point, and then refused to budge, making a sound like something being ground against a rock whenever I pressed the button to raise it. I had to get home that night, as I had to drive a few hundred miles the next morning, so, I drove out of the garage, into the cold New York City night. Being of a somewhat chivalrous inclination, I surrendered my coat to my girlfriend. Even more unfortunately for us, it soon began to snow. Hard. By the time I had returned my girlfriend to her apartment, and driven home, there was a good amount of snow coating every surface of the car. At this point, the car cannot be driven for reasons unknown, and the window is still open. At the moment, I don't have the money to fix the damn thing, because it's off warranty, and the people who run the dealership are thieves.

Now that I've got my rant out of the way, what are your best automobile-related catastrophe stories?

You drive in NYC? :confused:

It didn't happen to me, but I was there.

I was in Iraq, escorting civilian semi trucks to a base near Nasariyah. I was the first truck in, so I stopped to count the trucks to make sure we had the same number we left with (it's a huge convoy and you can't see the whole thing all the time) and I noticed that when the semi trucks stopped the HMMWVs didn't come in. I went back to my truck and asked my guys what happened and they told me one of the wheels on one of the HMMWVs had fallen off. The only thing I can think of is that the driver hadn't checked the lugs in a long time. They waited for three hours for a truck to come out that could lift up the part that was on the ground (armored trucks are heavy) so they could put the tire on and by that time I'd had chow and was soundly asleep.

i had a door open on me as i was going round a roundabout once. that was pretty scary. my ABS and ESP don't work properly, even after the model has been recalled by Peugeot three times since i got it (about 18 months), and being told, in no uncertain terms, it was fixed. my cd player died today, and my passenger window is fucked up from people being too rough with the door. bah.

nothing major at all, but the ABS thing scares me sometimes

You drive in NYC? :confused:

I go to school far away from NYC, I drive into NYC to see friends/girlfriend/family. When I'm in NYC for extended periods of time, though, I don't drive at all, the subway is awesome.

I was driving a Buick Skyhawk several years ago. It had already had its transmission rebuilt, and a new head gasket put in, when it developed a weird problem: It would drive fine for a while, and then die. But it didn't "just die." It would run roughly, with an odd beat that wasn't the regular "missing" that would come from being mistimed. Then it would conk out entirely.

After changing out a couple of sensors (mechanics had said it was probably "a sensor" but didn't know which one) and having no improvement, I gave up on having any further attempts made. It would have cost less to buy another (very used) car than it would have to switch all the sensors out!

So, after realizing that it would resume running fine if I just pulled off for 20 or so minutes, I kept driving the thing around town - leaving time for the more-and-more inevitable delay. Needless to say, the problem got worse and worse and worse, but one night at about 4AM, I decided to go to the store anyway. In that car.

It made it to the store okay, but on the way back, it decided it didn't want to come home. It stopped repeatedly, but finally it begins to go and keeps going...

Until I'm almost home. Maybe 4 residential streets away, but still on a "main" road. Then it stops. And here's where the "fun" really begins!

I'm waiting for it to go again, when this drunk nutcase pulls up in his car! He asks if I need some "help"...I say no, it'll go again in about 1/2 hour. He seems to walk back to his car, but I see that he really hasn't. He just went across the street. And then he starts cussing loudly into the air!!! :eek:

This happened repeatedly. He'd go away, cuss and shout unintelligibly and insanely, then come back as if he'd done nothing strange, and ask me to open the door! He got more agitated with each refusal (especially after realizing I had locked it up!). I could tell he was getting very likely to try to kick the window in any time now~!
(Where is a cop when you want one!!?? Not there, that's for sure! And, no cell phone to call for one.)

FINALLY, the damned thing sputtered to life. Now the tough part--if I had stomped the pedal down immediately, like all my instincts were screaming to, the pile of junk would have conked right out. So I had to caalllmly let more gas in, until it had moved about 10-15 feet. And THEN let my instincts take over and STOMP that pedal down!

The 15MPH subdivision speed "suggestion" was buried as I tore down a few streets and screeched into the driveway at about 45MPH!

I never turned that car on again. I sold it as junk shortly after. The junkman wondered why I was getting rid of such a "nice looking" car! I told him to try to fix it if he wanted, but I didn't want any more to do with it!

About a month later, it was spotted in a nearby town. But then, never again. I guess the junk guy made an attempt at fixing it, only to find out I wasn't so crazy for selling it for $25 after all.

Ok, I'm sure this thread has been done at some point in time before, but such is life.

A few days ago, I went out to the theater with my girlfriend. In the parking garage, I lowered the window of the car to insert the ticket into one of those machines that lets you out. Unfortunately, the window reached its fully open point, and then refused to budge, making a sound like something being ground against a rock whenever I pressed the button to raise it. I had to get home that night, as I had to drive a few hundred miles the next morning, so, I drove out of the garage, into the cold New York City night. Being of a somewhat chivalrous inclination, I surrendered my coat to my girlfriend. Even more unfortunately for us, it soon began to snow. Hard. By the time I had returned my girlfriend to her apartment, and driven home, there was a good amount of snow coating every surface of the car. At this point, the car cannot be driven for reasons unknown, and the window is still open. At the moment, I don't have the money to fix the damn thing, because it's off warranty, and the people who run the dealership are thieves.

Now that I've got my rant out of the way, what are your best automobile-related catastrophe stories?

I've replaced a manual window regulator in my truck before. If you have acceptable mechanical ability and a replacement (check eBay), it shouldn't take you too long (maybe an hour at the most) to replace it.

Alright, get comfy and warm up your tl;dr fingers, kids. This is the last voyage of the 914.


So...once upon a time, long ago, I thought it would be a good idea to spend $900 on a rattly little 1973 canary yellow 1.7L 914-4 with a big ol' black "Porsche" sticker along the side. It was a death trap, the list of things that didn't work on it would take a page. I replaced the engine twice, the transmission three times, by the time I decided it was too much to keep it the outside door handles didn't work. In the end the money spent to not even get it to relatively good shape could have been spent on a cherry 1973 914 2.0, a fact underlined by my friend doing just that.

And I loved it.

On the rare day the little monster worked it was a blast. Like driving a street legal go kart.

I held on to that beast as long as I possibly could, but finally decided that I wanted to go back to school and the only way that was going to happen was if I could get a car that, at the very least, could be registered (I never was able to register it because there were liens on it-from companies that no longer existed.) So, I decided to sell the car and get something that wasn't going to get me arrested (I drove the Porsche a might bit fast).

The original plan, my dad drives it back to sell at his office. The day we decide to do that somehow I pull the key out while it's in the 'on' position and we can't get it back in. We manage to find a way to stop the car, but not start it again. He wipes his hands and drives away in a flurry of swear words.

Alright, I have to figure out a way to get it out of there or my landlord is going to tow it. I call in stupid to work and head down to the DMV for a moving pass to drive it from the Bay Area to Sacramento. "You'll have to pay the DMV fees..." If I could do that..."Unless you're moving it out of state." Why, that's exactly what I'm doing. It just so happens that it's not likely to make it all the way to Nevada." Alright, so we'll go to another DMV to sell that story.

The con on, now we have to figure out how to hotwire my car. Luckily, I lived in the shady part of town and a twelve year old kid gave us pointers. Pop, vroom! Away we go.

We have fifteen dollars, and empty tank, and 135 miles to cover. We don't smoke, and it was the middle of the day so the sunglasses made sense.

Oh, which brings me to another point I forgot...for reasons we didn't understand, the headlights wouldn't pop up. So we have to get it to Sac before the sun went down.

Ten dollars in the tank, five in our belly at a gas station down the street. Re-firing the little bastard we pull out and I notice the reserve light is still on. That's not right. Turns out we never lifted the pump arm and the gas never pumped, and since the guy before us also put in $10, our dumb asses didn't notice. After some frantic negotiations with the attendant we assure him that yes we paid, and yes it was $10, and no we didn't pump.

Alright, the worst is behind us, we're on our way.

Hhahahahahahaha...fools!

My roommate is driving because my license is suspended and the car might get pulled over. It's getting cold so we have the windows rolled up, so we can't hear what the guy next to us is saying on connecting freeway to I-5, but we can tell he's pointing down. We're leaking something? That doesn't make sense, this car is air coo-BING! Reserve light comes back on. We're leaking gas.

My roommate floors it. It's burn the gas or leak the gas, we're going to get as much of it as we can. Banking on to I-5 there is a lone gas station on an exit that doesn't seem to serve any other purpose. We hit that off-ramp at about 95 mph when the engine sputters out.

Literally sliding into the parking lot we step out of the car and slam the doors in frustration. Two steps away we remember that the door handles don't work and we just locked ourselves out of the car. In the rear trunk is a clothes hanger which we use to pop the latches on the targa top to get back in and decide that we're just going to leave it unlatched just in case. Then we divide up work. My job is to get on the phone and see if we can find some way to get us some money for gas and my roommate pulls the jack out of the puddle of water in the front trunk to find the leak so we can keep any gas we get.

I'm on the phone finding out that it's not really possible to get money from anyone on a payphone in the middle of nowhere and that gas stations in the middle of nowhere do not take credit cards over the phone. Frustrated I look over to see how my roommate is doing in time to see him shimmy as fast as he can on his back out form underneath the car as the rusted jack gives way and dumps the car back on the ground.

Fantastic.

So we push one side of the car up on a curb and find out that there is a split in a fuel line. For reasons neither of us understand, there is a razor on the dashboard, so my roommate uses the back of it as a screwdriver to loosen the clamp, then cuts the broken part free and reattaches it. Now we can keep the gas we don't have money for.

The patron saint of travelers happened to be watching this particular part of our tragedy and smiled upon us with a handful of bucks.

Just in time for the sun to go down. Pop open the hood, I start hand cranking the headlights while my roommate pokes around trying to find a way to get the headlights to come on. The right one starts spinning in my hand, up they come. What'd you do? "I don't know, get in."

We're underway again, just enough gas to get us into town and that's about it. We're going to make it. That was nuts. We got through it, we're in the-

CLUNKCLUNKCLUNKWWWOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSHHHHHHH! What the hell? Looking up, the targa top has flown off. My roommate turns to me. "Do we turn around and pick it up?" Can we? "Not really."

Silence.

More silence.

Five minutes of maniacal laughter.

We pulled into the office complex at 10pm, fourteen hours after we started on a trip that normally takes under two. I took a brief victory lap around the complex as my last ride in my beloved 914, tuck the wires and walk away. At least it didn't get towed.

Something my dad let happen two weeks later.

And that, my friends, is the last voyage of my 914.

I've replaced a manual window regulator in my truck before. If you have acceptable mechanical ability and a replacement (check eBay), it shouldn't take you too long (maybe an hour at the most) to replace it.

Mine is an electrical window regulator, and I think there's a grain of road salt stuck inside the window somewhere, as the problem started soon after being stuck behind a salt spreader, and the window makes a horrible grinding sound whenever I try to move it. Will the same basic process of fixing it work for an electrical? Also, the rest of the car has become somewhat fucked up because it snowed an inch and a half inside on the drive back, so there are enough things that need to be fixed that I'll probably end up taking it to a mechanic.

Mine is an electrical window regulator, and I think there's a grain of road salt stuck inside the window somewhere, as the problem started soon after being stuck behind a salt spreader, and the window makes a horrible grinding sound whenever I try to move it. Will the same basic process of fixing it work for an electrical? Also, the rest of the car has become somewhat fucked up because it snowed an inch and a half inside on the drive back, so there are enough things that need to be fixed that I'll probably end up taking it to a mechanic.

I don't see why not. But what type of car is it?

Alright, get comfy and warm up your tl;dr fingers, kids. This is the last voyage of the 914.
A sad but somewhat funny story.


I held on to that beast as long as I possibly could, but finally decided that I wanted to go back to school and the only way that was going to happen was if I could get a car that, at the very least, could be registered (I never was able to register it because there were liens on it-from companies that no longer existed.) So, I decided to sell the car and get something that wasn't going to get me arrested (I drove the Porsche a might bit fast).

So what are you going to get this time? Another 914, a 944, an old 911, or something else entirely?

VW bus, right?

1967 Red and white Volkswagen microbus complete with shovels, rakes, and other implements of de-struction.

I don't see why not. But what type of car is it?

2002 BMW 325xi Sedan

1967 Red and white Volkswagen microbus complete with shovels, rakes, and other implements of de-struction.

And a half a ton of garbage?

So what are you going to get this time? Another 914, a 944, an old 911, or something else entirely?

1967 Red and white Volkswagen microbus complete with shovels, rakes, and other implements of de-struction.

That happened 14 years ago, I bought the Bus with the money I was fronted on the supposed sale of the 914 (which I then ended up owing since the Porsche wasn't actually sold).

When I'm in the position to have another sports car or fun car it will either be a 1973 914 2.0, a modified 914-6, a real 914-6, a 356, 1973 911S, '89 944 turbo, or a Meyers Manx Dune Buggy, depending on availability, money on hand, and garage space. Other alternatives are a Triumph TR-3, TR-6, Sunbeam Tiger, Bugeye Sprite, MG-TC, or Alfa Romeo 2000GTV. There are a ton of others, but those are leading contenders, again depending on availability and cash on hand.

And a half a ton of garbage?

Most of the time, unfortunately.

Most of the time, unfortunately.

The solution to this, obviously, is to dump all the garbage off a cliff on Thanksgiving.

The solution to this, obviously, is to dump all the garbage off a cliff on Thanksgiving.

It really should be my Thanksgiving tradition.

It really should be my Thanksgiving tradition.

That, and hanging out on the group W bench with all the father-rapers.

2002 BMW 325xi Sedan

Looking through eBay, it looks like the window regulator for your car is pretty similar to the window regulator for my truck (with the exception being yours is electric, and mine is manual). It should be relatively simple, as long as you feel confident in your ability to replace it. My mechanical skills were learned from R/C car racing (so not really applicable except knowing which way to turn the wrench to loosen/tighten bolts and screws), and as a kid, holding a flashlight for my dad while he silently worked on the car without explaining what he was doing. It took me about 20 minutes to replace my window regulator, from the time I started with the inner door panel,until I put the final screw back into the inner door panel.

Looking through eBay, it looks like the window regulator for your car is pretty similar to the window regulator for my truck (with the exception being yours is electric, and mine is manual). It should be relatively simple, as long as you feel confident in your ability to replace it. My mechanical skills were learned from R/C car racing (so not really applicable except knowing which way to turn the wrench to loosen/tighten bolts and screws), and as a kid, holding a flashlight for my dad while he silently worked on the car without explaining what he was doing. It took me about 20 minutes to replace my window regulator, from the time I started with the inner door panel,until I put the final screw back into the inner door panel.

Alright, will try after my hellish week of exams is over.

Alright, will try after my hellish week of exams is over.

Check here: http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=356847

How come you drive an automatic? You have a bike, for the sake of whatever is holy, a proper mechanical machine, you're not some office lady! How can you have an automatic in your car?It was FREE. How can I turn down free? :)

I'd rather have a FREE automatic, than an expensive (relatively) manual.

Check here: http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=356847

Thanks greatly, will be trying this as soon as I have time.

I manage to get the van out of the driveway, and immediately skid on some ice, nearly hit someone, and run over a tree.

It snapped the tie rod, only I didn't realize that until much later. I drove it the mile distance to the highway and then decided the weather was too bad to continue. Lucky, too, because on the way back I skidded on MORE ice and because the tie rod was snapped, I couldn't get it to go far enough over and I ended up in a ditch and had to walk back home.

I live in an extremely rural area so that was lots of fun.

I have three windows whove done that...I took the panel off the door, and shoved wood underneath the window in order to hold it up...


Ive also had several handles broken off my doors, The panel is still of my driver side door so I can pull the wire and open it from the inside...the passenger side door doesnt work at all...The outside handle broke, and I had been getting in first and just opening it from the inside, but, the inside handle finally broke, and i figured Id just take the panel off that one too....Unfortunately I ran into a new form of irony when I realized that in order to get the panel off, I needed to open the door, :rolleyes: lol...


And finally, my belt had been squealing for the longest time...I tightened it, didnt do anything, nothing seemed to make it stop, till my dad decided to spray WD40 on it, and it finally stopped after awhile, but it only lasted till the WD40 wore off...It broke on the way to a party and i had to leave it in Ocean Springs...sucked cause I had to miss work, and it really set me behind...I replaced all the belts and finally figured out what was wrong with it, The power steering pump was knocking the belt off the pulley...fuckin crazy...

Unfortunately in order to get a new one, Id have to pay a little over $230, which even if I had that kinda cash to spare, Its more than the car's worth...



In short, I need a new vehicle desperately...Damn lack of money....

cars ARE problems. i gave up on the damd things ten years ago, and as long as i'm stuck in a damd city there ain't no way i'm gonna pay for the "privelage".

now if i could live out in the boonies (which is where i grew up) where i'd have what i would consider a legitimate need for personal mechanical transportation, i MIGHT have a bit more enthusiasm for the concept.

Manuals FTW.

Better gas mileage and much more fun

Expect in Drag Racing :P And driving my SI through traffic during rush hour was a pain in the ass,( the 780 is not much better either, seeing as it hased a used 240 transmission with half of the syncros shot to hell ) its nice just leaving it in D4 in the Impala.

Anyway, back when I 1st started driving ( I should note, I've had alot of cars in the short 5 years that i've been driving ) I figured I should not buy a nice car, so I did. A 1993 Thunderbird Super coupe, which stayed in the garage for about a year ( piece of shit) .

Anyway, I ended up buying a 1993 Honda Accord EX, in black with a bunch of clear coat missing, for 200 dollars and a Big Mac. It had 282,000 miles on it, and the interior was kinda ok.

Death Story: After a year of beating the piss out of the thing, it had 320,000 miles on it, thats when the fun started, the transmission case developed a crack, the engine burned oil like an iraqi oil field after a bombing run, leaked oil like a wrecked oil tanker. And the power steering started leaking so bad I just started dumping water in it. At that point, the wheel bearing on the drivers side in the front was starting to go. Price to repair it=310 dollars.

So I said. Fuck this shit box. Oddly enough, my friend need a ride back to Akron, so of course We're doing 80 miles an hour in a beat to shit car with NO thermostat, so there was no heat :) Made it the 250 miles to Akron and back, and thats when the thing caught on fire, not sure how or why it did, but I grabbed the fire extinguisher ( I carry one in all my cars in the trunk )

" Dude, you think the radiator is, OH MY GOD "
" Shit fuck shit, fuck get the fucking extinguisher, we still have 20 miles to get home "

So I grab it, pop the hood and spray the shit out of it, seemed ok. So, we drive back, pull into the driveway A OK.

Then, I put it in reverse, then the wheel with the bad bearing falls off. Which put an end to the car, sold it for 400 scrap. Got 40,000+ miles out of it, Hell I never even changed the oil, just added used oil from the other cars.

Go honda!

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/NCCSean/IMG_2153.jpg Picture of the beast outside my freinds house about 5 years ago.

Until last week I'd been driving a beaten-up old Escort for a few years (we got it free, which is kind of hard to argue with). It had had a few issues over the years, and it had been years since it had seen a motorway, but it did the job for getting around the town and visits to nearby relatives, so we kept going with it.

It was due its MOT on Friday last week, and it was clear that it wasn't going to pass without spending more than the car itself was worth, so we decided to just buy another car. On the way to the dealer I hit a pothole (a new one, on a road I use 6 days a week) and the exhaust fell off, got jammed under my rear wheel and caused me to skid into a high kerb at about 30mph, jarring the axle and sending my front right wheel into somebody's garden. 138,000 miles on the clock and it failed me less than 4 miles from the garage on the last journey I was ever going to make in it :(

A catastrophe? Not really, but the timing of it really was precious.