[motto]

Barry's mention of the damage done by the 'yard ape' reminded me of an episode back in the 70s when the WW2 Studebaker 6x6s were being sold off. Most of them were nice trucks and many of them went to logging camps and saw mills where the first thing that was done was to discard the cargo bed.
I had arranged to buy one of these beds that was laying on a vacant block in a country town. I asked the owner not to move it as I had my own lifting gear consisting of two 'A' frames and two chain blocks for a double lift.
To my dismay before I got there he had slung it from his crane truck. The sickening part was that he had used a cable wrapped around the middle which had tightened when he lifted the bed pulling the sides in badly kinking them.

This wasn't quite as bad as another fellow who half dragged a similar cargo bed across a paddock whilst it was partly loaded with truck differential/axle assemblies. That time the sides were completely destroyed and the front panel bent out at right angles below the floor level.

I don't mean to change the direction of the thread but no doubt similar stories abound and are every bit as upsetting as bad buys and lost chances.

David