Reminds me of the day I decided to drive the Buick to work.

I came out to the car that evening, got in, and something didn't seem right. The dome light wasn't on.

I figured the button in the door was stuck or something, so I went ahead and put the key in and turned. Nothing. No ding, no lights on the dash, no click, nada.
Pull out the headlight knob, nothing.

So I figure, the lights weren't on, the door wasn't open, the battery shouldn't have drained. Even if it had, usually you get SOMETHING. So I popped the hood.

It's dark, so I'm fumbling around trying to find the battery cable. Wiggled the wires, and the lights flickered on. Well that's WIERD. At least there's power, now why wasn't it working?

My eyes adjusted to the light, and finally I figured it out. One of the wires had completely severed from rust/corrosion, and was now resting on the remainder of the wire on the battery terminal (side screw-in type).

So I set the wire on the terminal, just barely connecting the frayed wire together. Got in, turned the key, car fired right up.
Driving home, I was so glad it happened while *I* was driving, not my finacee, as she would have called me to pick her up.
When I hit my brakes, my headlights would dim, but otherwise, no major problems. Once the car was started, it ran off the alternator, the wire quickly fell off where I had it connected.

I hadn't really thought much about it, but I guess a short against the body of the car would have been a problem, fortunately that didn't happen.

I could have cut the wire and snugged it down on the clamp, but decided to just replace both wires, that way I'd know they're new.