Since it's a holiday weekend here, my wife and I decided to go for a drive. We'd barely got out of the driveway when I realised something was wrong - the pedals didn't seem to work properly, and the steering would "stick" in places. I decided we'd better turn around and head home (100 yards). Got home OK and I took the hood off and immediately discovered the problem - earlier in the day I'd been trying to tidy up some of the wiring, and I used a pair of fairly large channel-lock pliers to pull the cable ties tight (just because the ends were short and I couldn't grip them well with my fingers, and the channel locks were the closest "gripping things" at hand.)
Well, lunchtime came so I stopped to have some lunch. Needless to say, after lunch, I decided to stop working on the wiring, and put the bonnet back on. Off course, I forgot that I'd laid the channel locks down on a ledge above the pedal box, and they had subsequently fallen in among the pedals and steering column.
The moral of the story is obvious - always check for errant tools after working on any vehicle, vacuum cleaner, human being, etc., etc.
![Smile :-)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
I should have learned my lesson earlier in life, because about 50 years ago I was trying to sell my E-type Jag, and I let a gentleman take a test drive. He came back about 10 minutes later , white as a sheet. Apparently he'd been coming up on some traffic lights which had just turned orange, so backed off the accelerator and braked . However the engine didn't slow down, and the brakes wouldn't stop the car from travelling pretty fast. Pushed in the clutch, but he thought the engine was going to explode .Fortunately he had the presence of mind to turn off the ignition, and came to a stop. It turned out I'd been working on the carburetor linkages and had left a spanner in among them....
Needless to say, he didn't buy the car.....I should have kept it - I subsequently sold it for $1800.