make sure your frunk is fully latched!

Did the safety catch fail or is there not one?

Lane, there was a safety latch but it failed.

I guess you could give it a passing grade based on several bounces before it failed, but like a parachute, it only has to fail once...

Same thing happened to one of the Speedsters in Beaufort when I lived there.  His remained attached to the hinges, but it slammed the windshield so hard that the glass broke and it severely damaged the cowl just behind the frunk opening.   Same type of road - I-95 near Savannah, GA.  The safety latch just chewed a chunk out of the metal surround and then let go after the latch arm bent.

Bummer! I feel for you, Will; sorry to hea this. Otoh, I've seen stuff fly off a car at speed before and it's always   Sorry again, Will; got a little carried away...

Aw, man! I'm so sorry, Will! As lousy as that is-- I'm really glad no one was hurt.

You can buy a new hood. 

I'm just glad it flew up and over not touching the rest of the car and I'm blessed that no one was behind me.

I ride my Vespa on that road often, a flying hood could've taken  out a motorcyclist in a heartbeat!

Bummer, glad no one was hurt!

I had that happen to my Baja Bug the second day after I had repainted the car. I was sick to my stomach. Especially after a pickup drove over my hood behind me....Sorry to hear this Will !   I think Kirk can get you fixed up pretty fast. Either with your existing hood or a new one. What about using a thin cable to limit the hood travel to just above the travel for the frunk hood holder-upper ?.............Bruce

AWW Will, that stinks, but it could have been worse. Sorry buddy.

I just spoke to Kirk who told me each trunk is custom fitted to each body.

I could purchase a new trunk for $500 but it might not sit/fit correctly on my car.

He thought it would be easier to fix mine and re-paint it.

It's amazing how little damage the hood sustained considering what happened, they build them well!

The "thin cable" (or any cable) wouldn't hold up if the hood were allowed to blow up that far Bruce, the cable would break or something else would fail at anything over 10 mph I'm afraid.

I'll post a picture of the hood after it warms up here, it's frosty outside now.

 

Yikes Will, just yikes!

Glad you're OK and that you had the courage to report this here. There's no freakin' way that I Some of us may not have.

 

Mitch, by now you must know I have no filter, that's what I've been told and judging by history, it's true.

Besides getting some sympathy, I really wanted to remind us all of how quickly an innocuous oversight can turn horribly wrong!

On the upside, I found a fiberglass guru in SLO who's going to look at it Saturday, he knows his stuff and I'm looking forward to seeing/hearing what he thinks about repairing the hinge-mounts, the rest I can do (think Jeff Spicoli, High Times at Ridgemont High).

 

Will Hesch posted:

... I really wanted to remind us all of how quickly an innocuous oversight can turn horribly wrong!...

 

I guess that's why aviation still relies on checklists.

Maybe not a bad idea in our fragile, little plastic go-karts.

 

Sacto Mitch posted:

 

Will Hesch posted:

... I really wanted to remind us all of how quickly an innocuous oversight can turn horribly wrong!...

 

I guess that's why aviation still relies on checklists.

Maybe not a bad idea in our fragile, little plastic go-karts.

 

Mitch, that's the first thing Kathy told me when I reported the incident: "I'm going to make you a checklist and put it on the dash."

To which I replied: "Good idea dear, just one more thing to ignore."

Will Hesch posted:

 

...Mitch, that's the first thing Kathy told me when I reported the incident ...

 

On second thought, Will, I guess telling our wives about our little lapses takes a lot more courage than reporting them here.

...she'd have seen the black Gorilla Tape sooner or later, why prolong the misery?...

I drove from Gilroy to Auburn with my frunk not securely closed. Most of the drive was on the freeway. 140 miles. I guess the JPS safety latch works. I have to say that I've noticed the frunk partially opened a number of times over the last 13 years. Thanks, Will. I'll put that on my preflight checklist. Can't stay lucky forever.

Dang Will. Glad you're all right and not too much damage.

Just be careful I don't want to see White Cloud become a Dark Cloud.

Glad you weren't hurt, Will, and that the damage is repairable.  All of us make mistakes continually, of varying size and importance.  It's how we address those mistakes that defines us.  You cowboyed up!  Good on ya.

Under the heading of, "it could always be worse"...

When I was a cub pipefitter, I had a 10 year old service van that burned oil. One day, I pulled into the shop, popped the hood, checked the oil, and gently dropped it back down to go inside to get a quart.

I got stopped along the way, and as is my nature... forgot about the oil. Once I was assigned my task for the day, I jumped in the truck and headed out on the highway. As I got up to about 60 mph, the hood flew up. The impact shattered the windshield (which ended up blowing out and into the truck), but the hood hinges held. I discovered (empirically) that the hood on a 1975 Ford E250 is almost exactly the same length as the windshield is high. 

My forward vision was entirely obscured, I had snow coming in around the cracks, a windshield in my lap, and I was still going 60 mph (blind and in traffic)-- an 8000 lb toolbox, rolling towards... something. Somehow, I got to the side of the road without killing anybody, dropped and latched the hood, and drove back to the shop with snow and glass beads hitting me in the face. 

I learn slowly, but I check my hood pretty carefully now.

Stan, your story trumps (no political pun intended) mine by a long shot!

but it makes me feel a bit less...stupid!...

Will, we've all had our moments. It will pass.

Here are some photos of the trunk. Outside looks pretty good, inside not so much...

Was that a Freudian slip...F'n trunk = frunk? Works for me :-)

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I guess that leather hood straps aren't just for show.  I always thought that they were vital safety items on the rear bonnet of my spyder.  

Ouch!! Looks to me like a little reglassing, new hinge hardware, sanding and paint.  It ain't nothin', but as the man said, coulda been worse.

Will   Sorry to hear this....It doesn't look that bad but there may be hidden stress cracks that won't show up until after paint. My biggest concern would be getting the hinge mounting plated re-glassed to the exact location..... other than that some  "Fibral"  a skim coat, primer and paint.  IMHO and experience I would go for another hood.

I think the same thing happened to Dave Bash, as he was returning to Indiana from Carlisle in his brand new Suby powered JPS,a few years ago.

 

Maybe the message here is:  Have Kirk build you a new one.  Just sayin' . . .

Alan Merklin posted:

Will   Sorry to hear this....It doesn't look that bad but there may be hidden stress cracks that won't show up until after paint. My biggest concern would be getting the hinge mounting plated re-glassed to the exact location..... other than that some  "Fibral"  a skim coat, primer and paint.  IMHO and experience I would go for another hood.

It sounds like Alan is saying, "It'll buff out.".

Tom Blankinship posted:

Was that a Freudian slip...F'n trunk = frunk? Works for me :-)

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I started calling it a "Frunk" just after I joined the site.  I don't have any idea if I coined the phrase or if someone else did and it was just a matter of like minds thinking alike.

Anyway, Front + Trunk = Frunk

Your definition certainly works in this situation quite appropriately.

Fixed this one :~)

I have new black gel coat CMC hood in Baker FL Barn.  Unfortunately mailing one is like mailing a kayak - costly.  The hinges are at least still available - connected to rest of car.  New hoods come in  2 parts --- as you chronicled. An inner and an outer liner.  I don't think there is as much fitting as Kirk makes out.  I have 2 CMC hoods that fit identically.  

Will Hesch posted:

Stan, your story trumps (no political pun intended) mine by a long shot!

but it makes me feel a bit less...stupid!...

That was my intent. Everybody does stuff that they wish they hadn't. I've done some mighty stupid stuff (I totaled two work trucks in less than 12 months).

You'll be able to fix your car. I'm really, really glad nobody was hurt.

Since we are discussing things we could have done better... here is one of my less stellar performances, not about a Speedster:

About 1975 I was a strapping young police officer assigned to what was known as "dogwatch". That meant that I worked from 8:00 in the evening until 4:00 am. on patrol. The purpose was to have extra patrol during the highest crime periods.

Sometime after midnight one evening we got a call of a burglar alarm that had gone off in a large department store in town. We covered the call and discovered a window busted out and it appeared to be a point of entry.

One of the store staff arrived with keys quickly and a decision was made that we would go in through the employee entrance, take the stairs to the basement and office area to begin the sweep that would drive the burglars up and into the waiting arms of our fellow officers surrounding the building.

We went downstairs and while the staff person was looking for all the light switches we began in the employee area.

I had my S/W Model 59, 9mm automatic at the ready, one in the chamber and safety off when I went through a swinging door to my left and before me barely discernible in the almost total darkness, stood a guy with a gun pointed at me........

I didn't have to pay for the full length bathroom mirror, but I did have to tolerate the ribbing forever.

Good news, two rounds, center of mass dropped that reflection in shards!

Feel better, Will?

Bob, that's hilarious. I guess you showed that piece of glass who wears the badge!

As a much younger man I banged up my beetle on the way home to get ready for afternoon shift (I worked for my dad). Mum gave me a ride down to the office to take a truck to work. By now I was late, and in my rush to get to work on time I rear ended a car. 2 accidents in 1 day had my dad shaking his head. 

It's taken years (close to 40, to be exact), but after reading about what some of you guys have done (you have to admit, Bob, shooting your own reflection is priceless!) , I don't feel so bad. 

Yeah, we've all done stupid things; sometimes life is about getting back up and learning how to live them down... Al

"Mitch, by now you must know I have no filter, that's what I've been told and judging by history, it's true."

Many of us have no filter either  Sorry to hear about your car... I often wondered why guys like Bob put leather belts on  actually I have often feared the trunk coming loose even with both latches engaged on my car . 

Will Hesch posted:

Here are some photos of the trunk. Outside looks pretty good, inside not so much...

From these photos it looks like the fiberglass where the latch was mounted gave way. Did the latch separate from the hood, allowing the hood to take off? Or was it the latch itself loosing contact with the metal catch-ring in the car's body that caused the hood to get airborne?