So i was at work as a drive through person, i was taking orders and handing out change, While i was handing out the change for the customer, i herd a static noise coming out of my head set within a fraction of a second a lighting bolt come hurling down and struck a light pole that was 9 feet away from me , scared the Cr@p out of me sound and it was extremely loud (crakle than BOOM), the customer was shaking, screaming and crying at the same time oh yeah the customer was a young girl around 17, After the lightning strike i was surprised that she did not drop any coin or currency on the ground... It was quite an interisting at work LOL....

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Current Garage
2008 Mercedes GL320 CDI 188k mi Repair/Work in progress
1994 S350 160k mi Garage Queen & prepping for repairs
2005 E320 CDI 203k mi Healthy & Daily Driver
1994 S350 357k mi Retried as parts car
1984 300TD 214k mi Blown OM617 Poss OM603 Swap??

Sold
1987 300SDL 200K+
1994 S320 181K mi
2008 E320 Bluetec 127k mi
1999 S420 130K mi
1980 240D 360k mi
15+ Others that has come, stay and gone

GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
1995 E320 SE 220k mi
1984 300SD 350k mi

The closest I've been is about 25 yards. The sound is deafening.........and you never forget it. Awesome power.

This spring I was talking to my uncle as he was driving back from FL. He said he was in a crazy thunderstorm with tons of lightning and it was raining so hard everyone was crawling at 30. About a minute later his phone cut out, he called me back and was like holy ****! A bolt struck not 5ft in front of his car and killed his phone!

On a side note his E350 didn't skip a beat! I asked him did it mess up the car, he said other than the XM radio cutting out for a bit nothing. They protect the electronics in the new Mercedes very well!

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Was driving in the right lane of a 35mph zone in a storm. Just as we passed a utility pole (set about two feet from the road, yikes!) lightning hit the pole. Poor wife about jumped out of her skin. '79 Scirocco never missed a beat, but it did blind the stereo for a few seconds (AGC probably went nuts).

Few years later, wife is upstairs in back bedroom, running sewing machine. Machine is up against an outside wall. Chimney for family room fireplace (FR one floor below) is on other side of wall where sewing machine is located. Sure enough, lighning hits chimney (top two foot of chimney disappear). Poor wife trys to jump out of skin again. She was probably 6-7 months pregnant at the time. I was at work, so had to have buddy come over and make sure house (and wife) were ok. Wiped out Kenwood stereo (amp, tuner, turntable)that was plugged into same outlet as sump pump in basement two floors directly below. Also, a couple of feet of the aluminum siding on the house by chimney disappeared.

What can I say? Wife just has this electro-magnetic personality.

Thats funny BobK,
I had an '81 scirocco, and lightning struck across the street from the house I was living in....the stereo in the car never worked again..


-John

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2009 Kia Sedona
2009 Honda Odyssey EX-L
12006 Jetta Pumpe Duse
(insert Mercedes here)

Husband, Father, sometimes friend =)

My-my-my Scirroco

Awesome power indeed.
With age and experience there are probably damn few things that can really frighten us.At least experience has taught me a healthy respect for electricity,climbing on roofs,firearms safety and driving cars with 2 wheel brakes.I must have had a blind spot though,since I did get married a second time

As Brian stated,when in close proximity to a lightning strike the sound is indescribable,especially when you are out in the open with no shelter and a nearby ash tree suddenly comes aglow while being torn asunder by gigantic,unseen hands.
When that happened I had a clearer understanding of how early man sought for explanations of this feeling of terror and powerlessness.

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You're a really stout fellow.I would have taken the poor girl in my arms and "comforted" her.

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Our satellite dish, all ten feet of it, seems to get smacked a minimum of once a year and requires a new LNB every time.

Theres a very good reason we put it over 100 feet from the house...

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1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."

Lightning struck my bedroom late one night when I was a teen...talk about a "wet dream"!

Sounded like a truck had crashed into the house!

Boombox in my room was toast. The outlet it was plugged into was blackened, and the plug was launched out of the outlet...prongs were melted as well as the cord insulation.

My bedroom reeked of burnt fiberglass and roofing material...

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

I live in lightning alley, the I-4 corridor in Florida. My earliest close encounter was way back when I was in High School in the late 60's before we had air conditioning (yes, imagine how miserable that was). A bolt of lightning struck a tree 20 feet outside, passed through the open door at the front of the classroom (knocking down my History teacher) and out the open window. He was unhurt. Man, was that scary.

I get lightning strikes on my 5 acre property about every year- last one killed a tree 40 feet from my house ran down it and exploded the water pipe near its roots. I frequently get close calls in the car.

Its dangerous around here....

Rick

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80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

There's a megawatt transmission line bisecting the farm who's galvanized, +70' pylons are routinely whacked by lightning. I've seen it happen on many occasions so, I avoid going outside during electrical storms or when there's any nearby convective activity. Plus, I know someone who has never been quite the same since he was struck; a clean kill by lightning strike would be tragic enough but I know surviving a relatively minor zap will hose you for sure.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

I had several discussions with people across the country yesterday (November 5). the day the new President Elect was announced it seemed that ominous weather was prevalent in many parts of the United States. as in Dark Clouds, rain and lightening. Might this be a sign of things to come?

Yes. But only if you’re a hard core conservative with your head up your ---.

(Note: This post meant to be as big a joke as I would hope yours was meant to be.)

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1980 300D - Veggie Burner !

Boats get nailed at the marina every year or so. On the last one it went through the mast and blew a hole at the waterline near the bow that I could put my pointer finger in. The windex, mast head light, VHF antenna and whatever else was on top of the mast was vaporized. We never found any traces of them!

All the electronics were knocked out on the boat and on 3 other boats that were nearby as well.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200