[Old'sCool]

So, I was looking through old pictures of installs past, and came to my "Hall of Shame," and saw many silly things, like LCD screens in the visors, TVs in the TRUNK, and speaker boxes made for tiny subs, which came in with huge subs crammed in them. (A guy even came in with a Kicker 15 IN NO ENCLOSURE, complaining about zero bass...)

But the all-time dumbest install I personally was asked to do, was installing a Nissan head unit in a Toyota Tercel.

I admonished the lady that the Nissan radio was not compatible with her Tercel, and I could, "Only guarantee it comes on and makes sound." I tried to sell her a $99 CD player, but she INSISTED on dropping $45 for the labor, and $19 for a Toyota wiring harness, Plus a spliced Nissan plug, to have the job done.

Needless to say, it sounded like garbage, and she moaned and complained until the boss showed her the document I made her sign, stating "I understand this isn't the installer's problem if the end result sounds bad."

For a measly $99, we were offering a Sony Xplod CD player AND labor. So with the Toyo adapter, she'd have still only had to spend about $60 more than she wasted on a steaming pile of doo-doo.

What's your most ridiculous install???

 

[Mic10is]

A very long time ago during my short stint in Car Audio retail...I worked for Tweeter which is where I learned to hate retail.

Sales guys got spiffs on Monster Cables and accessories so they tried to sell people everything and anything to earn extra money.

Went up front to pick up keys and order request....simple HU job...
..until I realized the sales guy also sold him a Monster 1F cap.

It was a deck install and he sold a cap with it....

Talked to install manager and we went to talk to sales manager and basically WTF do u want us to do w a 1F cap....
He said install it bc they aren't losing the sale.

So the cap literally got screwed to a board that was secured to backseat...connected to nothing....

 

[Old'sCool]

A very long time ago during my short stint in Car Audio retail...I worked for Tweeter which is where I learned to hate retail.

Sales guys got spiffs on Monster Cables and accessories so they tried to sell people everything and anything to earn extra money.

Went up front to pick up keys and order request....simple HU job...
..until I realized the sales guy also sold him a Monster 1F cap.

It was a deck install and he sold a cap with it....

Talked to install manager and we went to talk to sales manager and basically WTF do u want us to do w a 1F cap....
He said install it bc they aren't losing the sale.

So the cap literally got screwed to a board that was secured to backseat...connected to nothing....

LMAO. Wow!

 

[Jroo]

A very long time ago during my short stint in Car Audio retail...I worked for Tweeter which is where I learned to hate retail.

Sales guys got spiffs on Monster Cables and accessories so they tried to sell people everything and anything to earn extra money.

Went up front to pick up keys and order request....simple HU job...
..until I realized the sales guy also sold him a Monster 1F cap.

It was a deck install and he sold a cap with it....

Talked to install manager and we went to talk to sales manager and basically WTF do u want us to do w a 1F cap....
He said install it bc they aren't losing the sale.

So the cap literally got screwed to a board that was secured to backseat...connected to nothing....

That sucked for the customer. I could imagine someone like my mom back in the day getting a head unit put in and me or my brother weeks later seeing a cap bolted in the trunk attached to nothing. That is really a crappy thing to do. Reminds me of the circuit silly salesmen we worked with. Some were up and up and career sales. Others were pure filth. Would lie, cheat, steal for a sale.

 

[Old'sCool]

Yep. Our local shops were mostly great. There was a spot on 401 that was notorious for robbing noobs, though. They sold a buddy two Kickers, mounted them "Isobaric," and left the inner sub unhooked. We discovered later they'd sold him a blown sub, which somehow wasn't scraping, and tried to pass it as new.

THEN they refused to refund him, claiming HE had blown it???

Creeps.

 

[Quinn Nissen]

While working in Arkansas we used to get those customers that came straight out of "Deliverance" and I remember 2 brothers that used to come in the shop and eyeball equipment on a weekly basis. One Saturday morning they dropped the hammer and bought a head unit 2 6x9 amp and 2 12" subs. They said they would install this themselves. About a week later they came back and were complaining there was no bass from subs so I as the installed went to see the problem and there sitting behind the seat of their 88 box Chevy was the subs mounted in the cardboard boxes they came in. I asked them why they did this and they replied that the salesman told them the the enclosure they need would be roughly the same size as the box. I explained to them that the boxes needed to be made from wood and that should solve all their problems. Weeks went by and they returned still not happy so looking at what they have done they installed the subs into 2 waterbed drawers and once again I explained to them that they would have to build enclosures and after that they got it. Took a few weeks but they had a good sounding system and they visited the shop often to get advise on more equipment and installs.

 

[Old'sCool]

While working in Arkansas we used to get those customers that came straight out of "Deliverance" and I remember 2 brothers that used to come in the shop and eyeball equipment on a weekly basis. One Saturday morning they dropped the hammer and bought a head unit 2 6x9 amp and 2 12" subs. They said they would install this themselves. About a week later they came back and were complaining there was no bass from subs so I as the installed went to see the problem and there sitting behind the seat of their 88 box Chevy was the subs mounted in the cardboard boxes they came in. I asked them why they did this and they replied that the salesman told them the the enclosure they need would be roughly the same size as the box. I explained to them that the boxes needed to be made from wood and that should solve all their problems. Weeks went by and they returned still not happy so looking at what they have done they installed the subs into 2 waterbed drawers and once again I explained to them that they would have to build enclosures and after that they got it. Took a few weeks but they had a good sounding system and they visited the shop often to get advise on more equipment and installs.

🤣 nice

 

[Anu2g]

While working in Arkansas we used to get those customers that came straight out of "Deliverance" and I remember 2 brothers that used to come in the shop and eyeball equipment on a weekly basis. One Saturday morning they dropped the hammer and bought a head unit 2 6x9 amp and 2 12" subs. They said they would install this themselves. About a week later they came back and were complaining there was no bass from subs so I as the installed went to see the problem and there sitting behind the seat of their 88 box Chevy was the subs mounted in the cardboard boxes they came in. I asked them why they did this and they replied that the salesman told them the the enclosure they need would be roughly the same size as the box. I explained to them that the boxes needed to be made from wood and that should solve all their problems. Weeks went by and they returned still not happy so looking at what they have done they installed the subs into 2 waterbed drawers and once again I explained to them that they would have to build enclosures and after that they got it. Took a few weeks but they had a good sounding system and they visited the shop often to get advise on more equipment and installs.

I like this story because, in the end, the guys actually progressed!

 

[DoubleCrown]

I know the dumbest person I installed something for. My brother reversed into a car when leaving my place after installing a reversing camera.

 

[Old'sCool]

I know the dumbest person I installed something for. My brother reversed into a car when leaving my place after installing a reversing camera.

Haha. That brings back a funny but painful memory.

Long ago, I installed a HU, sub, some fronts and an amp in my brother in law's car. He was sitting on a curb, smoking grass for 4 hours while I did it. (I wasn't paying attn, and it didn't really register he was BAKED.)

When it came time for him to listen, he hopped in his car with me, and was grinning ear to ear, jamming some Rage Against the Machine, etc. (Mind you, we're in a parking lot in his home town.)

He cranked the car, and started to drive around the lot. I saw a light post getting closer...closer...closer, and yelled, "Light post! Light post! Light post!"

With $#it eating grin still plastered in his mug, he proceeded to drive head-on into the light post, which had a 2' cement base.

Lucky for me, he was only going about 10mph.

Unfortunately for him, he smashed his MX-3 badly enough to cause $5k in damage. 😳

His only words? "Well, damn! That's good $#it!"

 

[paintrodsey]

A giant rusty awooga horn. No idea where the guy got this thing, but it weighed a ton and it was loud. After I installed it in the car, he drove away blasting this awooga horn and sounding like a clown car in the middle of traffic. I got a good laugh out of it.

 

[Anu2g]

A giant rusty awooga horn. No idea where the guy got this thing, but it weighed a ton and it was loud. After I installed it in the car, he drove away blasting this awooga horn and sounding like a clown car in the middle of traffic. I got a good laugh out of it.

Haha awesome! When I was in high school and worked in a car stereo shop...I saw in the storage room they had these Flam air horns; I installed those in my 4Runner that day (Toyotas always had very unbecoming horns). That was a fun mod, honestly.

 

[kattan_tha_man]

I was working at a Kicker audio shop about 15 or 20 years ago. A guy brought in a big body car. Something like a caprice or crown vic. He wanted to replace his back seat with 2 15" solo barics. Ok nothing abnormal.

Then he went to the trunk and threw a child seat down and said it had to fit between them.

 

[M_Mark28]

Its 2021 and im still installing fast & the furious led underglow kits on cars

 

[Old'sCool]

Its 2021 and im still installing fast & the furious led underglow kits on cars

We installed neon tubes. I never understood what ppl were thinking. Maybe on a show car it's okay (gag).

Speaking of DUMB: When we had neon kits, there was a HUGE, 5-foot wide sign in the window, provided by Street Glow which literally read, "We Sell Neon!"

At least once a week, some goober would walk in and ask, "Do yall sell neon?" (Nevermind the sign, as the counter in the middle of our shop also had a red, white and blue neon kit glowing AT ALL TIMES.) 🤣