funny story/warning 4 project car buyers

[ThomO]

Hello my name Thom and I am a Porscheholic

So my thing is I like to buy total beaters cars that should be parted out or crushed. I like the challenge or I am just a masochist. I guess that is for a mental health professional to figure out.


So back to the point. I am between shops at the moment and working from my house. I got a deal I could not refuse so I bought another car. The car showed up from SC last Wednesday, but due to illness I have not been able to do anything with the car.

So tonight I decided that I would clean out the inside of the car. So I got to the usual disintegrating pedal board on the drivers side and I noticed something move. So I am thinking spider. I lift up a piece of carpet and something Brown zips past, and I am like was that a cockroach? I am originally from Michigan so not really experienced with them. So I continue to clean I lift another piece of carpet and the little bastard just boldly stays there and I am like yup that is a cockroach.

My next dilemma is do I tell the boss lady? Let me clarify she is Sicilian.

Luckily since I am between shops my three car garage is full (my 69t on jackstands, the boss ladies car, shop tools and kids bikes lawn mower etc). So the new car is out in the driveway luckily.

This not my first rodeo I am used to and expect expired mice, mouse houses, spiders, coins, drug paraphernalia, etc.

So the moral of the story is if you buy a new project do not bring it into your shop or garage without a through inspection especially if you have a attached garage.

I do not know if I would have ever been allowed out of the doghouse if our house had been infected.

So hopefully I have taken care of the issue with a two pronged chemical weapons attack. I used boric acid throughout the car and a roach motel in the frunk and one in the passenger compartment.

Please learn from my experience, this could have been a nightmare.

[mreid]

Yours is funny, mine was scary!

In 1995, I bought a 1954 Studebaker champion roller from a guy in AZ to build a street rod. He agreed to tow it to me in PA in exchange for a Chevy 350 I had. I also bought a front frame stub from Fatman Fabricators in NC. My plan was to cut the front frame off the car and weld on the stub which would lower the car and allow MII suspension and brakes. I stripped the front sheet metal, measured, and cut the frame leaving it in place on the garage floor.

The next day as I opened the garage door, I caught a movement around the front brake drum and noticed a very ugly web between the drum and the floor. I immediately thought -black widow. I bought some spider spray made to kill black widows and sprayed it into the brake drum. The next day there was the little bastage dead belly up. Freaked out, I sprayed the entire car, used all the spray and closed up the garage door for a few days. When I came back, there were six more dead ones! Damn infestation.

[wayner]

My aunt passed away and we picked up her 2002 car with27,000 Kms on it

My wife drove it for the 2 hr drive and claimed there was a funny smell

At home I went looking for mouse nests and took the entire dash apart finding nothing.
I began cleaning the carpets with our heavy duty canister vac in the garage.

I lifted the carpet and vacuumed up some evidence of past rodent activity.

Next I disassembled the centre console while I kept vacuuming, and there I was startled to find 5 sleeping furry youngsters. They started to wake. I needed a second hand free to get the console peice I was holding free.

I dropped the vacuum nozzle on the floor in front of the seat and suddenly heard a scream!

I looked down and momma mouse was being sucked out from under the seat where she was hiding!

Suddenly sqeeeee! And she was gone!!

Stunned at what I had just done, I paused long enough to notice the youngsters on the move. Without thinking I grabbed the vacuum! I heard five tiny screams one after the other eieeee! Foop Foop Foop... Then thud thud thud inside the canister!

I rushed over and opened the canister to see what had happened! The sudden stop was too much for my five fury little stow aways. Sigh...

Little mice are so cute...not so much black widows and cockroaches..

[ThomO]

Mreid you defiantly trump me. I told my wife your story and she said my experience is gross and yours was very nearly deadly.

[GH85Carrera]

A friend of mine is into restoring old American cars and trucks. He buys a lot of barn finds and stuff from a field. His standing procedure is to drag it into his enclosed trailer. He had made a hose that goes from the exhaust of his Suburban tow vehicle to his enclosed trailer. Whatever vehicle is in there gets a good gassing before he get it home.

He has found a lot of dead mice, rats and few rattlesnakes after his carbon monoxide treatment. He prefers to find dead ones!

[NYNick]

My favorite part of Wayner's story was ...

Foop Foop Foop!

Funny!

[88911coupe]

Didn't someone (a Pelican IIRC) find a snake in a situation like this?

[wayner]

My favorite part of Wayner's story was ...



Foop Foop Foop!



Funny!

Actually, if I was to be more accurate it would be more like

Foop-SQEeee.e..e....e

Foop-SQEeee.e..e....e

Foop-SQEeee.e..e....e

Thunk thunk thunk...

[wayner]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

A friend of mine is into restoring old American cars and trucks. He buys a lot of barn finds and stuff from a field. His standing procedure is to drag it into his enclosed trailer. He had made a hose that goes from the exhaust of his Suburban tow vehicle to his enclosed trailer. Whatever vehicle is in there gets a good gassing before he get it home.

He has found a lot of dead mice, rats and few rattlesnakes after his carbon monoxide treatment. He prefers to find dead ones!

Now THAT idea is brilliant! Aside from the humour in this thread, I think that post addresses the words of caution that ThomO wanted to make us aware of.

[douglas bray]

I own a daycare....You don't want to know what goes into my shop vac.

[theclaw]

Somewhat related but I store the car in the corner of the garage for the winter while the daily drivers move in for the season. In the past I was concerned with mice and critters finding a home in the cozy confines of the Porsche. A few years ago we adopted a cat from some friends who were moving. She had never been outside, a house cat all her life. Things changed when she moved in with us and now she loves it outside.

I don't worry about mice anymore. This summer alone the tally is 12 mice, 10 chipmunks and a bird.

[Travis Neff]

While fitting an inner long kit to my new to me 914. I popped the heater duct loose and what did I find?

[clutch-monkey]

i live in australia. have found many horrors

[ThomO]

Boy I feel like one the cool kids. It is like some elite club, we should all get custom blazers or something.

[porsche930dude]

one time when coming home from our camp site we had 5 or 10 old bird houses in the back of the suburban and my mom had a moment in the back seat she thought there was a mouse on her shoulder but didnt get a good look or anything. Sure as **** when we got home and opened up those bird houses there was a dozen or more mice and babies galore in them. lol

[gshiwota]

Wayner - Your story reminds me of a friend of mine who had a rat infested detached garage. He owned a large shop vac but was too cheap to hire an exterminator. Foop...foop...foop..x 100.. he had to empty his shop vac twice during the process but he did get rid of his mouse problem.

Great stories guys... I may be next in line as I'm bringing a car back from Hawaii that's had been sitting in a rain forest field for 18-months. I plan on using Raid Fumigators the first night its here.

[Spenny_b]

Jeez, being in the UK, the things I'd never think to do when acquiring a car....the most dangerous thing we're likely to find in our cars is an earthworm.....or maybe a mosquito.....

(Black Widows?!?! FFS!!!)

[clutch-monkey]

Originally Posted by Spenny_b

Jeez, being in the UK, the things I'd never think to do when acquiring a car....the most dangerous thing we're likely to find in our cars is an earthworm.....or maybe a mosquito.....

(Black Widows?!?! FFS!!!)

black widow? try a nest of funnel web spiders..

[Spenny_b]

Originally Posted by clutch-monkey

black widow? try a nest of funnel web spiders..

Yeurghhhhahhhhahhhhoooo no no no no....

Funnel Web Spider - YouTube