Fess Up, first wrecks

JohnyHachi6 wrote: Fun times. It was pretty neat examining a totally torched car though. The ECU was particularly awesome. It was mounted vertically on the firewall and the steel case was still intact, but all the solder had melted, seeped out of the case and re-solidified on the floor of the trunk in a big puddle.

I put out a car fire about a month or so ago (I forget what it was, maybe a Cadillac). The aluminum front bumper, which normally hides behind the plastic cover, had melted into a puddle on the ground by the time we got there

Lots of bad stuff in car fire smoke.

Woody wrote: Lots of bad stuff in car fire smoke.

No kidding. I still have some of the hand tools that were in that car when it burned down (screwdrivers and such) and they still smell like cancer 4 years later.

Driving home in an 89 Volvo 740 Turbo. 3 a.m. When suddenly a wild 944 appears in my rearview mirror. He tried to race me. I admit, I gave it some gas and we did a nice little drag race. But that wasn't enough for him. He continued to hound me, even blocking me from trying to change lanes so I could make my right turn to go home. Coming around a bend, I punched it to get around him ( should have stomped the brakes and let him go, but I was young and dumb ) and he followed. Next thing I know I hear him getting sideways, his car whips back ( he probably hit the brakes ) and he p.i.t. maneuvers me. I fight to regain control but I lost it. Hit 2 trees pin ball style, first on drivers door, then on the rear pass side door, went through someones fence, jumped over the corner of the homeowners pool ( there was an incline from street level to his back yard ) and finally coming to a dead stop thanks to a mighty oak in his back yard.

The Volvo saved my life. It was twisted. I had to kick the door open. I got out yelling for the 944. "WHere are you??? You &%$#@!!!!" But he was long gone. I walked away with scratches and a sore body.

So when did the 2nd gen Intrepid come out, '99-00?

I was 16 and on the way to school in my '87 Escort GT, behind a new Intrepid waiting at an on ramp to Rt. 16 in Newington, NH. Thought he went... no such luck. His car was brandy new, still had 20 day plates, when I drove up the back of him at 5-10mph. I apologized profusely, he told me it should buff out(yeah right, you could read the reverse of my AUTOXR vanity plate in his bumper plastic), and we parted without police or exchange of information. The gorgeous blonde I was driving to school was most unimpressed as I threw the twisted front plate in the windshield on re-entry. They've since changed that intersection from a stop sign to a real merge lane.

Then Pearl Harbor Day, Dec 7 2000, I was skipping class in my senior year. A buddy went with me, we terrorized THE STATE in my new-to-me cream puff, one owner '91 Civic RT-4WD. Mudding, rally practice on gravel back roads(I thought I was Colin McRae, and had just taught myself Scandinavian flick), covered 300+ miles all over the place. Wound up WAY off the beaten path on Dame Rd in Durham, NH, my favorite gravel back road, very challenging, narrow, winding "course" with light residential traffic. Last run of the day before we went back to school to get his car, I entered a decreasing radius off camber ~220 degree left on pea gravel at oh... 50 or so. Hard downshift to second, big flick, HUGE slip angle... and I panicked and lifted. Snap oversteer to the right halfway through the bend, exited the road broadside, air over a dirt berm, landed solidly on granite boulders, stopping just short of two very large trees and the frozen swamp.

No cell phone. It was 15 degrees out and windy. No jacket or gloves. $4 to my name. Skipping school... dead meat. Walked a mile to the UNH nature conservatory building, which was unlocked. Met a very friendly hippie girl inside who made us hot chocolate and let me use the phone to call my mum, who was livid. Another hour for the wrecker and my mom to arrive. Insurance adjuster found that while the body and suspension were untouched, I'd mangled the subframe a bit, and smashed the timing cover and crank pulley... It ran long enough to bend the valves and who knows what else.

So much for my baby and my rally days. I have kids now and after MANY tickets and a few hair raising incidents, I've finally grown up a little and slowed down.

Smashed my Mom's Accord one week after graduating from Driver's Ed, ironically enough. Rear ended another car because I was frantically searching for my Coolio TAPE instead of paying attention.

1979, I'm 17yrs old. Put my 71 Chevelle right up the back of some poor college student's Superbeetle that had stalled at a railroad crossing. He had no flashers, didn't realize he was stopped in enough time. I got it hauled down to about 10-15mph (from 50), but still hit him. Taught me to look at the cars instead of the lights.

Mine has been mostly little stuff. First one when I was 16, driving dad's 69 510 wagon from school with my sister beside me. Heavy rain, merging into a line to get out of the parking lot, clutch in, foot on brake and looking over my left shoulder to merge in and the crunch. Seems I didn't have enough pressure on the brake pedal and I coasted into the car in front on me. Left glass on his metal bumper. Bought a new headlight on the way home and put it in. Apparently not completely correctly cause a few weeks later dad noticed the lens not straight and asked me about it. Then he taught me the correct way to put a glass headlight in.
Second one was similar, age 19 in the army at Ft Ord, leaving the airfield in my 63 Rambler turning right to go to Marina to get gas as the gage was on fumes. A 72 Charger with the rear jacked up in front accelerated out in front of me, I looked over my left shoulder to check for traffic and then crunch. Seems when he hit the gas and started to accelerate it then bogged down and died leaving it right in my way. Again headlight but this time also pushed the fender back a bit. Slid fender forward and put a new headlight in and drove the car for a few more months before selling it and buying my 1st Pinto.
Similar to that about 2 years ago, some lady in an SUV in front of me accelerates to turn right on a green light, I look to the left checking for traffic (been T-boned from the left by someone running a light once) and she stops to do the same. Put my Miata under her bumper on that one. Costing me and my insurance a new hood, front bumper and headlight on my Miata and a new muffler for her. By the way, it was her 3rd time rear ended at the same corner in 2 months.

Maybe I should just stop looking left.

Wrecked my wife's car once. Raining, left turn, straight for about 50 yards then right turn then immediate left into the subdivision I lived in. Corner very slick in the rain. I was going about 15 mph after the 1st left and braked for the right and the car went straight. Straight into another car. Was the 4th or 5th accident on that corner that day.
As for the T-bone I mentioned earlier. I was driving my 15 year old K5 Blazer to the U-Sell-It lot on the Army base I was at after I retired to look for a cheap mini truck to drive while swapping the engine in the Blazer. Looked at the speed limit sign, down at the speedometer then up at the green light and proceeded through the intersection when a 4-door S10 Blazer hit me at my left front wheel. Hit so hard that I spun and the back of my Blazer hit the back of his. Fortunately there was someone behind me that confirmed I had a green light. The other guy said he had the green also. His insurance totaled my Blazer. And he wasn't happy taking the blame, which meant he also got a ticket. Found out later that it was possible for both of us to have the green light as there were flaws in the traffic lights on that army base. I was cleared because of the witness confirming my statement and no witness for him. Ft Campbell for those that might wonder which base.

That's all the accidents I have had in over 37 years of driving. Knock on wood.

Fall 1977... driving to school(about 30 miles away) in my 1964 Vovlo1800S, I was on a divided highway, 2 lanes each direction. The center median had turn ins to allow you to turn across traffic. I was in the right hand lane traveling about 45 when I came up to a slow moving beverage soda/beer truck(30 mph). I signaled, pulled to the left...........

@ one of these breaks in the median, a driver was not stopped in the area, but stopped in the left hand lane...

I had pulled out on the truck, and the guy was "just there"... no where to go, couldn't pull back behind the truck either.

I didn't have tow ins(AAA, or similar), and I had to move it or pay the "ridiculous cost" of $100. I stood on both front fenders and tore the radiator free of the fan... got in and drove it a mile or so back to where I was working.

I wrecked the only new car my mother ever owned on the first day I got my license ON THE WAY HOME FROM THE DMV.

There. I said it. 34 years later it's finally out there.

Confession is good for the soul.

I was 18, it was late January. Turning left into parking lot at a spot known for eating cars, did not see gray car on a gray day coming around the fast corner just ahead of my intended destination. He locked up his brakes on the wet pavement and hit me pretty hard. Cop declared it no fault, probably because the guy who hit me was from out of state and his car was barely touched, I fixed it waiting for the cop to show up. Mine did not do so well, shattered the fender liner, bent the strut so bad the tire was jammed against the frame and the car wouldn't move, tie rod so messed up it had to be cut out, spindle twisted at the steering arm ,and cracked a race in the wheel bearing. Amazingly enough, the control arm, wheel, CV shaft and trans(I figured an impact like that would have broke the POS Izuzu 5 speed in half) stayed straight. Rebuilt using as many junkyard parts as possible(strut, spindle, hub). Replaced the rotten K frame with a junkyard one while I was in there. I did all this work in my driveway, mostly at night, in the snow.

I found the missing lens and popped it back in, tough car.

The repaired result, complete with the fender I sort of beat out on a pile of phone books in my basement. It turns out you can polish a $500 E36 M3fire, with Mothers California Gold carnauba cleaner wax.