I was having problems with an older MB 240D, 1974, I believe. Anyway, the pull-start would not function everytime so I decided that I would just get under the hood and "arc" the starter to fire it up.

The moral to this story is this: Make sure the car is in "park", not "reverse", before you attempt this procedure. A 240D may be slow on the road but they are not too slow when you're chasing one on foot!
No joke! Stupid me!

LOL

Sorry I just had to hehehe...

I hope you're allright though. Were you standing beside the car or in front of it?

closest I got to that was ... I put the car in N on a hill without the emergency brakes engaged. It already scared me.. :p

I didn't know what to do for a split second and I just quickly dashed after it, jumped in the car and braked.

Other than that there were times that I started a manual car with the transmission in gear (some old cars are not like the new ones where you have to depress the clutch)

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2008 BMW 335i Coupe

I was helping a friend start an old Dodge 383 4 barrel on a street in NYC. It had a push button transmission and the ignition switch was bad. I was standing at the side of the car, he was standing in front between the car and the next car was parked about 3 or 4 feet in front. I shorted the starter and the engine fired up. My friend, wanting to make sure it kept running, reached forward, grabbed the throttle and opened that 4 barrel wide open. At this point it became obvious that the car was not in Park as the tires burned rubber and the car rammed forward. Lucky for my friend that the bumper extensions on both vehicles gave him enough room that his legs were not cut off. He couldn't walk for a while and I learned an important lesson.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Been there, done that!
Had one of my Audis up on a jack working on the exhaust. Got everything bolted up and wanted to see how it sounded. Reached in and started it up. Bad mistake. Front wheel drive. Stick shift. Back wheels up in the air. It took off, the rear axle beam bounced off the jack, the back end came down on the jack and reversed to floor curvature of the trunk floor. I was able to catch up to the car within about 3 or 4 feet and reach in and turn it off before it took off up the driveway and out into the street. Luckily I had the emergency brake on, so it slowed it way down once the back wheels finally got on the ground.
30 plus years of working on cars, and that's the stupidist thing I've ever done! No real damage done. I was able to pound the trunk floor back down to pretty much how it was. (It was pushed up a good 6 inches or so) Most damage was to my ego!

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past MB rides:
'68 220D
'68 220D(another one)
'67 230
'84 SD
Current rides:
'06 Lexus RX330
'93 Ford F-250
'96 Corvette
'99 Polaris 700 RMK sled
2011 Polaris Assault
'86 Yamaha TT350(good 'ol thumper)

I've made mistakes like that before, but I have always caught them before I or someone else got hurt. I have also made mistakes when I have had the car jacked up. One time with one of the Audi's, I was changing the tires, and it fell off the jack. It turned out I forgot to loosen a lug on that wheel and I cranked on it too hard. I was lucky I did no damage.