‘Sleepwalking’ classic Dodge truck nearly causes overnight disaster at Arizona shop [Video]
It was about 10:30 pm in Surprise, Arizona, a town in northwest Phoenix. Stage 3 Motorsports turned its lights off hours before, putting its visiting vehicles to bed. The sleepover included a classic Dodge truck. The shop had a security camera rolling, and thank goodness it did: When staff returned, they found a confusingly chaotic scene.
Classic Dodge pickup “sleepwalks” after hours, shoves Jeep Gladiator
What looks like a mid-70s Dodge W100 pickup starts randomly rolling over the shop floor.
The classic Dodge leisurely makes its way into center frame, knocking over an open toolbox…and shoving dangerously into a Jeep Gladiator hanging up on a lift.
The Gladiator rocks down and back up again, but dutifully stays put overhead.
Shorted starter or faulty handbrake?
Stage 3 Motorsports doesn’t explain what went wrong with the classic Dodge, but folks experienced with these trucks light up the comments section. Several wisely recall shorted starters that inadvertently “jump” the vehicles, which are in first gear. Since they’re in gear, the misbehavior rolls them forward without any driver controlling them.
“Old Dodge truck driver here, they are all haunted,” one posits matter-of-factly.
Another suggested a faulty handbrake, but the mechanics of the truck suggest the shorted starter. One commenter notes the truck seems to “shake” and then stop, indicating a stalled motor.
“So lucky…”
There’s likely damage to at least the two trucks, the toolbox, and possibly the lift (which should be inspected after this incident). The clip is a great reminder to those in the repair industry to always, always evaluate the shop floor for safety issues. As a former shop operations manager, I worked closely with foremen. They usually had rules disallowing some of the conditions presented in the security footage here. No strong judgment here…keep in mind that floor rules form because “mistakes were made,” and every tech has their nightmare stories!
Many tenured techs close up their boxes and put them back in their spot at the front of the bay rather than leave them open in the middle of the floor. Small detail, sure, and some techs don’t want to reset the next time they approach the job. It’s no different than resetting a restaurant’s prep kitchen at the end of a shift, though.
I’d often call putting the cars in the garage at the end of the day “playing Tetris.” It can take some real puzzling together. Still, some (not all) foremen prohibited cars from suspending overnight. Instead, techs might lower them closer to the floor to prevent terrible overhead accidents.
Finally, specific to these classic Dodge trucks, based on the comments, it seems the vehicle should have had wheel blocks or some other measure to prevent a randomly shorted starter from engaging. Lessons learned!
