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Couple of weeks ago my girlfriend decided it would be nice to start the car for me but forgot one thing….. I never park on with the handbrake applied. I always leave it in gear especially now the car doesn’t drive that much anymore. My current employer supplied me with another car for all work related stuff, I only use the Mazda for private rides and occasionally also for work as it needs to drive so every now and then to stay in shape. So as the car was parked backward the gear was still applied in reverse and as soon as she started the car jumped backward and due to it’s height parked itself on the curb and the rear tires just outside the pond behind the parking lot.
She got lucky the curb was high enough otherwise my car would be swimming together with the ducks and Sunny behind the wheel. Doubt it will sink much as the water is about 20 – 30 cm deep, however to get it out would be a different matter as it will suck itself tight in the mud.
However it did came with one cost which was the passenger side window. When this happened she left the door open and it hit a tree when the car came to a rather abrupt standstill and as the window runs free on an open two seater that didn’t survive the impact. The door itself was not affected thankfully.
After getting it off the curb with a tow, I’ve driven it towards my parents so it was parked somewhere dry until the replacement window would arrive. The bottom was okay maybe a few bits of coating but that is it. The exhaust pipe is running inside a tunnel together with the drive shaft and the beam that bolds the differential to the gearbox, in that way it is girlfriend proof.
When reparing the window we’ve found out the car is getting old as the wires moving the window up and down broke after moving the window up and down a couple of times and they needed to be replaced as well.
Guess this was a nice lesson that in reality not everybody applies a handbrake compared to what you learn with your driving lessons. I simply down want to let the brake pads rust onto the discs when it’s standing there for a while. She now knows and I guess this was a valuable lesson for when she gets her driving license….. In the meantime I do keep my car keys with me at all times……