Not sure where this fits, but thought to bring it up so somone else might avoid what happened to me a few days ago. In short I was adjusting the idle on my "57 Ford in our garage. Car in park & hand brake on. Many times I've had the car running similarly, without a problem. Standing by the fender I heard a click & the car went into reverse & began to idle out of the garage! I turned & ran towards the open window of the drivers door, but there was limited room to get by the garage door track & jamb. It caught me on my right leg area & dragged me outside where I fell & the car idled across the opening & hit the corner of the neighbours garage & also slightly damaged the rear bumper of their car. My wife & a neighbour came immediately & got me to my feet & then he offered to move the car back into the garage. I was well shaken up & we got back into the house, where removing clothing revealed a fairly severe road rash/abrasion, bleeding & much bruising on my right side. Due to swelling it was decided after a short time to take me to hospital emergency. They took X rays, examined me & applied dressings & gave pain killers.. I'm currenly resting at home with limited mobility & having my good wife change the dressings every day. A follow up Doctor's appointment is tommorrow. And apparently I also have bruised ribs on my right side. It will be some time before I'm healed & all this is settled, as I don't know at this point if I will need to make some kind of insurance claim for the damages, depending on cost estimates. It could have been worse, or obviously better..  All this for the want of a wheel chock!.. 


Paul

This same thing happened to a friend in our car club.   He was pinned down by his car with the hot exhaust pipe on his leg for 20 minutes. He received third degree burns and nearly lost his leg. Family members finally pulled him out.  He had to go through numerous painful skin grafts,   My wife had a 1971 Galaxie pop out of gear and nearly run her over.   The car crashed into a house.  It could have killed someone.  Be careful!! 

A Friend had a similar Accident with 55 Ford Customline..Standard Transmission and left it in Neutral by mistake without applying Parking Brake. Rolled down the Driveway and He got squeezed out by a Tree next to Driveway.. Good Idea to Chalk Wheels with at least a 2x4 or 4x4 Block of Wood. Hope You recover soon. Glad it didn't turn out even more Serious. I guess every Once in awhile We all get a reminder that Safety should be a first Consideration when working on our  Vehicles.

  

Our yearly inspection for cars here in TX require the handbrake to be set, and the vehicle put in gear and accelerated to a stall or engine dies.  If it doesn't hold, then it fails the inspection.  My '55 Thunderbird passes that test every year so far.  Will check it next start-up.  Thanks for the reminder, take care and get well soon.  Joe-JDC

JDC

Joe: Interesting parking brake rules there in Texas. Do they check forward & backwards? I've noticed that on some older cars, G.M.'s in particular, the park brake often does not hold well in reverse. Obviously, I need to check & adjust my Fords parking brake as needed..but it won't be happening this week..


Paul

Reverse for back up lights if installed, and forwards to see if it will stall.  Since my T-bird is standard with OD, they usually have me release the clutch to see if it will stall the engine.  Last time I had my Mustang LX 5.0 inspected at the state inspection station, the guy asked me to get out and let him drive the car around the lot to check the brakes for anti-skid and steering.  He stalled the engine three times, and just got out and said it was good.  He couldn't drive a standard transmission.  LOL  Joe-JDC

JDC

Paul:
Sorry to hear about your accident. I'm wishing a quick recovery for you.
Last summer I was helping  a friend with his '57, and I had started the engine with my remote starter switch.  It dropped into reverse and started to back out.  Luckily the weather was warm and the overhead door was open.  Like your situation, he would not have had room between the car and the door jamb, so I jerked the coil wire out to avoid any injury or damage.  It was a fresh restoration, I would have been sick if it had been damaged.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

I made a "chock" out of some plywood and 2x4 which allows the weight of the vehicle to stop the chock from having any chance of moving.  It's effectively like this, https://www.summitracing.com/parts/gpc-hps121215/overview/ and can either be driven onto or slid under the tire.  I've had a couple chocks that just slid along the floor.  That's no good.



Lawrenceville, GA

Sorry you were injured, though it's "good" insofar it hopefully provides a needed wake up call to the rest of us as things get busier in the Spring season.

Take the time to assess a given situation, be safe out there, keep a fire extinguisher and 1st aid kit handy and let someone know you're in the garage. I usually have a few chunks of stovewood in the bed of the truck at minimum for chock blocks.

It's important to make chocking the wheels at every stop a habit. At least around hills. It makes one think about what can happen if something gies wrong. Thank you for the very real reminder and get soon well!

Thanks for being thoughtful enough to share this with everyone and best wishes to you and yours.  These cars have a lot of wear on linkages and the detent that should hold the park position.  I keep several chunks of rough sawn 5X5 pine in the garage for the purpose. Will be using them more often now. Thanks again for sharing....


64F100 57FAIRLANE500