In my whole life of driving manual transmission vehicles in SOFL (about 13 years), I have never put my car in gear when parked. Well a few months ago, I learned my lesson. Here’s the story:

My parking spot at work is an assigned one. The spot is in an area of the lot with a very slight slope (probably about 10-15 degrees). Normally I park in ***-first since I don’t have a good distance judging ability (plus my front bumper is about 2 inches off the ground). Directly in front of my spot is a curb. Well, that morning 8 a.m. when I got into work, I remember thinking to myself how tired I was. I know I must have engaged the emergency brake because my car would have rolled down the slope immediately after stepping out of the car had I not. Well around 2 p.m. I get a call from my coworkers telling me I need to come outside. When I got out, the front of my car was crashed up against the curb blocking the entrance/exit to the lot. The only room for cars to pass was behind the car. Some f*cking people that did try to pass ended up scratching my rear bumper while they were at it. My front Kuruma Z bumper was bent inwards, paint chipped, plastic mesh grill ripped, etc. I was like F*CK!!!! The only good news was that when I finally left work later that night, my Kuruma Z bumper popped itself back into shape. Great bumper BTW. Oh and my Volks were unharmed...

My guess is that I was so tired that morning that I did not pull the e-brake all the way up. When I got in the car to move it out of the way it was only “one click” up. That tells me that lack of tension in the cable and the thermal expansion from the 2 p.m. heat must have been the cause (and the obvious idiotic lack of putting my car in gear). The heat did also help bring back the Kuruma Z’s elastic memory. Some people at my job say it must be one of my employees that hates me, lol. Hey you never know…

Anyways, it’s been about 2 months and I still have not re-painted my bumper. If anyone has any good shops they would recommend, feel free to. I hate having a dirty car, let alone a f*cked bumper. Not a good way to rep SFLGclub.

Lesson learned: Use your e-brake my friends.

 

i always use my ebrake...could have been worst damage..

 

Sorry, I meant:

Lesson learned: Use place your car in gear when parking my friends.

 

my dad taught me when I was 16 and learning to drive stick, to always leave it in gear

sux that happened to you bro

hit up danny at madmods, they will take care of all painting issues

 

I always leave it in gear with the ebrake. I have someone here in PB that can do a great job on paint

 

i know a guy that does body work in tampa/daytona areas. Quoted me like $225 for a bumper in IP

 

I also know of a guy, but judging your in miramar, it will be way to far for ya.

GL man

 

Jose u mean greengoblin Danny?

 

Yeah, Danny works there I believe and can help you out on paint