[AJG]

I sometimes take the car to work and park outside nose first with the under spoiler valance thingy over a pavement edge(I know what's coming next so I'm cringing already). Heard it scrape a bit in the past and made a mental note to cease and desist in future. Nope, did it again but this time I was so far forward that as I reversed away later that day I ripped the whole underside protector off. Well actually it was still hanging on by four screws at the front edge. It had folded out on itself and looked like a tongue sticking out! Amazingly the lower splitter edge although cracked slightly didn't suffer as badly as might be expected. Hence this is why I'm hopefully the sole member of the Plank Club. No further membership required! Wouldn't wish it on anyone. In my defence my blood sugars have been all over the place lately and I wasn't paying attention properly, the defence rests m'lud.





Andy

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[Rap]

Sounds like you might be as obsessive compulsive as me in properly parking! Certainly a downside to this compulsion eh? Lol

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[968Syncro]

Andy, it is nice to have something in common. I am a member of the club. Didn't rip the "batwing" out, but since I have a metal lower grille it bent and stayed bent so the lower slot is just a tiny bit compressed. So I have to remove the front bumper cover (ah-gin!), remove the grille (ah-gin!), straighten it out (ah-gin!), and put it all back together (ah-gin!). <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/blink.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />

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[lbpesq]

I spent the better part of last Saturday replacing the lower grill and batwing. The grill was cracked into several different pieces, the batwing was torn up a bit. The curious thing is that I have no idea how this happened! I might have hit a parking block but, for the life of me, I don't remember doing so. If I did, it must have been very slight, yet there was quite a bit of damage done. Also, there were numerous screws just plain missing from the batwing, so I suspect someone before me failed to install it properly. I ordered the new parts from Sunset. They messed up and sent me (and charged for)two grills. $82 each. I was going to return the second, but now I'm thinking, given the rarity of these cars and the hassle I need to go through to find a box and take it to UPS to save $82, I may just keep it as a spare. I know I'd be kicking myself if I needed to replace it again a few years down the road and the grill had become difficult to find.



Bill

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[flash]

i've done the same kind of thing myself - i now tend to back into spots, rather than pull into them - if i pull into them, i now stop a good 2 feet from the front - the car is short - it doesn't hurt anything to leave a big gap up front

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[ds968]

I still do that from time to time.. last time I did not even hear/feel anything as I went over it ( blame it on loud music..) but was very lucky to have backed up slowly when I left and noticed the resistance right away so fortunatley I stopped before tearing the damn thing again ( did it once, and was enough ! )

So got the jack out, placed it under the plastic tray and lifted it just enough to clear that damn concrete nuissance <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/mad.gif" class="smilie" alt="" /> they call a parking guard <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/dry.gif" class="smilie" alt="" /> , so with the car in neutral I pulled it slowly backwards until it cleared the thing. Good thing that batwing is pretty flexible <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/smile.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />

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[DaveN]

Time to bring back "curb feelers" for you guys <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/biggrin.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />

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[968Z]

Been there, done that. I was out of town on business several years ago, and I pulled too far forward in a parking space. Apparently I cleared the concrete parking block on the way in. I had picked up a rather large friend (ex-football player), and in my haste to back out, I caught the back edge and tore the batwing and front bumper almost completely off. Even cracked both fog/driving lights. After duct taping everthing back together as best I could, I drove 6 hours to get back home. Thank goodness for $100 deductible comprehensive insurance. 2500 bucks by the time all was put right.

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[DayDreamer]

Ditto.. ripped the batwing off on the drivers side in the rain after reversing out of a parking. Duct Tape does not stick on wet Porsche underparts! But it does make a good rope. Nothing like crawling around under a Porsche in the dark, in the soaking rain, in work clothes, in a parking bay right outside the main entrance of a shopping mall filled with people. Tied up the hanging pieces and drove home hating myself.



PS : I still need to replace/fix.

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[rhudeboye]

This is slightly OT. But my wife has a habit of pulling in the garage till she taps something. I've hung the tennis ball and explained "stop as soon as it touches. Feel free to go forward another 2-6" too but that's it". The other day, I hear the garage door go up. I knew she had a trunk full of groceries so i slip on my flip flops and head to the garage. As I open the door, I notice the car is all the way in, the tennis ball is making its way up, up, up the drivers window then... crunch! She pushes a dent in the metal waste basket which also pushed against the dry wall and left a dented crease. She has crunched many other garage items that would be safely out of reach if one stops at the tennis ball. SIGH!



BTW - I always back into parking spots, leaving 2-3' between me and the car behind me.

Backing in is one of the marks of a good driver.

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[94SilverCab]

We should have a thread for wive's driving...mine obliterated the front spoiler on her S60 3 times in the first year...I threatened her with a replacement 1977 Ford Grenada if she couldn't learn to drive correctly. <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/wink.gif" class="smilie" alt="" /> No issues since then...



Jay

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[Ryan]

DaveN....I am right there with the curb feelers for the front. You would hear a sound before you grind over that parking stop. I see a market

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[lbpesq]

Duct tape saved the day for me when my front end decided to do its Patsy Cline imitation and "fall to pieces".



As for wives driving, when I was dating my yet to be wife, she had a Jeep Cherokee. One of the cooling system hoses went and, since it was the weekend and the regular Jeep mechanic was closed, we had a gas station replace the hose. I told her to keep an eye on the idiot light until we had a chance to bring it by our regular mechanic to check out to hoses and the work the gas station had done. I told her if the idiot light came on to immediately stop the car and call me. Well, she was shopping about 20 miles from home when the idiot light came on. Instead of stopping immediately though, she decided it was close enough that she would just drive it home and turn it off there. She made it about three blocks and essentially melted the engine. I had to foot the bill for a new engine, but I married her anyway! lol



Of course this isn't as bad as the guy I heard on "Car Talk" a couple of weeks ago whose wife hit both a Coke truck and a Pepsi truck on the same day!



Bill

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[flash]

yeah - lol - this one parked into a pole right in front of her in the SL550 a few weeks after she got it - ruined the front bumper cover and grille

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[Cloud9...68]

Back into parking spaces makes so much sense in hurts, and yet, I hate to do it for some reason. I hate backing up in a car any more than I have to, and backing up between two cars just gives me the willies. It feels like I'm driving down a blind alley backwards. Backing out of the space somehow is more comfortable, maybe because you're backing into more of a wide open area (the driving lane in the lot), as opposed to backing into a confined space. Maybe it's just me...

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[flash]

it makes even more sense when you stop for a second to think about how many times you've been backing out of a space, only to suddenly have to stop, or have somebody honk at you, or realize you didn't see that person walking.....................you get the idea

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[DaveN]

I live and breath backing in. The company I work for mandates it and personally I have had too many people appear from the bushes on the sidewalk!

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[rhudeboye]

[quote name='Cloud9...68' timestamp='1298587827' post='105565']

I hate backing up in a car any more than I have to, and backing up between two cars just gives me the willies.

[/quote]



Just give it some practice. The less you shy away from the opportunity the faster you'll improve. The 68 coupe has the best reverse view you could ask for. You can see everything as the hatch glass drops all the way down under the wing.

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[Cloud9...68]

I know, I know. The logic of backing into a parking space is irrefutable. And yes, if you're going to do it in any car, the 968 is a great choice. But I still hate to do it, and I so seldom drive the 968 on the street (and it will be quite some time before it's drivable again), so I end up driving the X5 or the minivan most of the time, which definitely don't lend themselves well to driving backwards into what seems like a dark tunnel. Maybe it's the closest thing I have to a phobia.

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[flash]

i get that - it's especially hard with larger vehicles - i've towed for years, so i know how to use the mirrors, but still it's tough



even though i know about all the benefits and everything, i still pull straight in most of the time in every car - i still do it in the 968 a lot too - i pay the price for being dumb though



maybe someday i will learn, but i fear i'm just not that bright

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