Dave Larcom, Jr. of Becker has a calendar to thank for saving his life.
Last week, Larcom was at work at his Buffalo one-person auto repair shop (DL’s Radiator and Exhaust), when a friend jumped up in the waiting room and asked Larcom if he could have a free calendar.
Not just any calendar but a coveted Northern Radiator calendar.
Larcom’s friend, Gary Swanson, had been reading the sports page in the waiting area while Larcom was busy raising a Chevrolet Duramax diesel truck on a hoist.
Swanson said an impulse hit him to ask Dave for the calendar, not expecting the auto mechanic to drop everything and get it for him.
“I told him he didn’t have to go get the calendar right then and there, but he did,” said Swanson. “That’s just the kind fo guy Dave is. He’ll stop doing just about anything to help people out.”
Little did either Larcom or Swanson know, but it was at that precise moment the hoist holding the 8,700-lb. vehicle in the air, failed and the vehicle came crashing down to the floor.
Larcom should have been directly under the vehicle at that precise time it fell had it not been for the calendar request.
Larcom said the hoist is designed to raise up to 10,000-lbs. and he had never seen anything like this happen before.
“I’ve hoisted many, many vehicles up on that thing since I bought it brand new in 2006,” said Larcom. “As a matter of fact I had another truck up on it earlier in the day and was standing directly under it as I worked on it. It’s just amazing the timing of the whole thing.”
The hoist, Larcom later discovered, probably had a hairline crack in it and the accident could have happened at any time. Usually if a hoist fails, it’ll just fall over but this one came crashing straight down.
“The whole building just shook and I thought the roof was falling in,” said Larcom when he stood with his friend. “Gary saved my life by asking for that calendar.”
Larcom estimates the diesel truck suffered about $4,000 worth of damage and he’s yet to hear from the manufacturer of the hoist after he and Swanson sent photos of the cracked lifting gear to the hoist maker.
“We’ll have it repaired soon and in the meantime, I’ll use my backup I’ve had for many years that’s just a little more lightweight,” Larcom said. “Nothing’s gonna change as far as routine except I won’t be letting any customers go under there any time soon.”
Larcom, 56, is married to Jeannine and they have a daughter (Jenny) and a son (Paul).
