DUMBEST MOMENT IN A TVR

[SIR MP]

Following on from coolest moment in a TVR, there had to be dumbest.
I was stuck on the M6 through Birmingham, when I noticed the sun had started to shine. Not wishing to miss out on those precious rays I decided it would be a good idea to remove the lid on my Chimaera without getting out of the car. Having released the rear hood stays from inside I was about to remove the roof panel when the traffic moved off. As I pulled away the rear section folded back and the roof panel came crashing down on my head and landed in my lap. Unable to see where I was going I pulled onto the hard shoulder hoping that I did'nt hit anything and praying that nobody was watching. When I realised I had got away with it,I was laughing so much I hardly felt Mr Bump arrive on my head. Anyone top that?

[Crimson King 500]

Nope!

[simpo one]

Where did you plan to stow the panel without getting out of the car??

[2 sheds]

Your obviouslly the only person to have done anything like this ? made me laugh.

[cleg]

ROFL .. that must have been a gem to have seen

[MikeyT]

Have thought hard but I can't beat that !!

Except locking myself out of the Chim with the engine running at Chatsworth.

And the rain pi55ing down ...

Thanks to pbrettle and his umbrella I managed to get in. Phew! Luckily everyone was driving off and only interested in staying dry so not TOO embarassing.

[PetrolTed]

Was sitting in traffic on the A40 yesterday evening. Matey in a Z3 is crawling up the inside lane and takes a keen interest in my car and its stickering etc. He then looks forward and slams on his anchors about 3 inches away from hitting the car in front

[Hut49]

Mark - that's priceless!

My dumbest moment was within 10 minutes of collecting my chim from its previous owner. I arrived on a BP forecourt, parked confidently in front of the super unleaded pump and jumped out of the car to fill 'er up. Within a few moments at the back of the car looking for the filler cap I realized that it was pretty well hidden. (Of course I'd seen the filler cap before but over the previous few hours of approaching excitement and then driving it (my first TVR) away, all rational, logical thought had long since been lost).

Looking around to see if anyone was watching my incompetence, I thought I could just about get away with a quick grope around the rear number plate, in case it was modelled after one of those American jobbies with the filler cap behind the plate.

No sooner had my fingers touched the unyielding number plate than the guy in the next lane chirped up, "It's in the boot!".

I attempted a feeble "Mmm, I know." But neither of us was convinced. I also realized that this wasn't the time to start trying to find the way in to the boot because I could see there wasn't anything even resembling a button anywhere in sight. A moment's hesitation on my part and my smug "pump-mate" went for the throat. "It's under the dashboard".

Turned out that his friend had a chim. I explained that I'd just collected this one and we had a laugh. Nice guy, after all!

I read the manual from cover to cover that afternoon!

Hutch

[roadsweeper]

Hutch - join the club mate! Same thing happened to me when I first picked up the Chimaera, only it was on a packed Tesco garage forecourt and people were queueing behind me! I didn't have a knowledgable passer-by to help me out either. When I eventually remembered it was in the boot and found the swtich it didn't work. A while longer scratching the head and a phone call to the garage (embrrassment!) later I realised I hadn't turned the key round far enough in the ignition to allow the remote boot release to work.

Good to know I'm not alone.

[MikeyT]

roadsweeper – haven't you got that bloody Tuscan yet?

[SIR MP]

Simpo,

The plan was very obviously flawed.
The other occasion that caused some embarrassment was parking the Cerbera on a slope outside the local cinema. As I left the car to meet my son, it started to roll backwards,luckily I spotted it moving and managed to reach in and yank the handbrake.
Lesson one - Never assume that the TVR handbrake will actually work properly.

[CleG]

lol Hutch .. I bet your not the only one that has done that .. I knew mine was in the boot but I still turned everything on, lights, fans, hazards etc looking for the boot release button

[budd]

I surpose driving up the road with the bonnet not properly closed in a Griff is pretty dumb,I was overtaking a BMW X5 when it came up on it's gas struts completely blocking the screen,god knows what the X5 driver most have thought me trying to get the window down,escape the seat belt (which helpfully locked solid)and look around the popped up bonnet.I know I nearly soiled the leather,it was like been blinded doing 50mph,lucky the road as quiet or it could've been very nasty.

[davidd]

One dark night last winter, in the pissing rain, in roadworks on the M6 I hit something in the road, nothing very big, just big enough to take the lip spoiler off. So I pull over to the hard shoulderget out of the car, crawl about on the ground (it's pidding down remember) with lorries thundering past my ear. I finally manage to pull te spoiler off, open the boot, chuck it in. Phew. then I tried to open the door, nope I'd left the central locking on and it had locked, car running, in the dark, pissing with rain, lorries rushing past my ear.
I had to laugh really.
Anyway I'm quite good at getting into the Griff so it was not a big issue, it just meant that as well as beig soaked with a cut hand from the spoiler I also scraped a load of skin off my arm getting back into the car.
I got home, my wife thought I'd been in a fight

D.

[fish]

Car on idle in pit lane warming engine up, everyone dashes to cars for our session. Me standing there like a prat having locked the keys in with the engine running.

[robkola]

Lock the keys in the car? I did this at my first driving test! (Note the word "first"!)

[rev-erend]

Picture the scene - 5 TVR in a petrol station in Northern France, car drives by slowly taking a look,
followed by a moped also looking big time then bang
moped crashes into the car !!

5 TVR's drive off...

[p7ulg]

Many years ago when I collected a new 350i from Harrogate.I was given a run through of all the controls etc ,but being excited at the prospect of driving it didn't pay as much attention as I should.It was a sunny July day so I elected to take the car away with the hood stowed in the boot.I visited my Grandparents who were staying down there before I drove home.When the time to go home came around I decided to put the hood on for the motorway, big problem the boot was flush with no visible means of openning.I looked for a button in vain, my grandfather suggested looking in the hand book ( with age comes wisdom), yes that was in the boot also.After an embarassing phone call I discovered the button situated in the door jam not suprisngly I had been looking for it with the drivers door closed.

>> Edited by p7ulg on Friday 11th October 09:43

>> Edited by p7ulg on Friday 11th October 09:45

[Hut49]

quote:
I discovered the button situated in the door jam not suprisngly I had been looking for it with the drivers door closed.

Devious minded bunch of design engineers at TVR or what? More idiosyncracies per square inch than a microsoft programmer!

Hutch

>> Edited by Hut49 on Friday 11th October 11:38

[flasher]

The day after picking up the Tamora I pulled into a BP garage on the A43 near Silverstone. Packed with people (who had probably just left Silverstone) all staring at the first Tamora they had ever laid eyes on, I felt really cool....

Until I pressed the badge on the back of the car to open the boot and nothing happened After ten minutes of this and with a mighty red face, I was forced to leave the forecourt with my tail between my legs and continue my journey home (luckily only 10 mins away) on fumes...

Later realised that my passenger had mistakenly pressed the door lock button which also locks the boot!! A quick arming and de-arming of the alarm sorted it... but my ego was dented forever..