I gotta tell you this story.
On the 64 Falcon I once had , it was blowing a lot of fumes out the road draft tube and I knew it would never pass state inspection that way so playing it cool and lazy I added some "Motor Honey" and it worked to get it through inspection. Well then, it really started to puff out the tube and I decided to replace the rings etc. When I dropped the pan and looked up in the engine it looked like someone had hung curtains in there. What a mess.
After cleaning it up and doing what had to be done I assembled the engine and figured fire it up and see how it runs. Wouldn't start! That was a blow to my ego because having done everything I thought was right now blew up in my face.
When installing the distributor naturally I set the crank pulley on TDC and #1 cyl and all that and set the dist so the points just cracked open. Well the damn timing mark on the pulley was in the wrong place because the pulley slipped on the rubber insulator. It took a while to find it ,but that is one that's hard to forget. I bet you guys have some good stories too. Would like to hear them. Thanks for listening.

 

Had a feeling it was the condensor..

I went to the 'drive in' movies (remember those in my 69 T/A and had just fired it up to leave and was slowly making my way through the chain of cars leaving the movie lot though a narrow gated fence. The Bird died right as I was passing through the gate which happened to be a slight grade, and making it worse, a loose gravel road. Cranked it till it was almost dead with no luck other that a pop on ocassion. Wasn't too long before all the horns were 'honking' and temps were fly'n!! You 'think' anyone would get out and help give me a push outta the way? With my girl friend and I we got it moved so everyone could pass.. From that night on, I always carried a spare set of points/cond in the trunk. Even my old Cushman scooter had me walk'n from a condensor gone bad. That little part has been overlooked many times, by more than a few

 

Here's one for you...Stuffed a 426 HEMI into my 1966 CUDA. Ran like a scalded cat. Went to tune it up one day...New cap, rotor, plugs, points (dual), condensors and wires. Finished it all up and wouldn't start. Was pulling my hair out for about 2 hours checking everything from point gaps to timing. Never noticed it and finally realized that...Yep...the new rotor was setting on the inner fender. Put it in and it fired right up...

 

Thanks for the instructional humor. It's great to read some stories of automotive experiences that usually are stranger than fiction. Hope we get some more entries and I'll bet you guys have some beauties.