Some of you guys might remember a buddy of mine who got all smashed up in his model A phaeton about 2 and a bit years back. These are the pic's below, well poor guy was badly injured plus his wife grandson and brother inlaw who were mostly save from deadly injury by seat belts. He spent many weeks in hospital and months after recovery as you would expect a head-on accident to deliver. This guy, has resurrected his trusty phaeton and rebuilt it back to as good if not better condition with many new and replacement parts and much help from good friends (most items including the engine were so badly damaged they were unable to be repaired to his satisfaction). Any way the bad news now is he T boned a vehicle which wrongly pulled out in front of him and he is mostly bad to square one. I got to say I feel for him and again he survived death with his seat belts and the hand of the Lord. He spent a night in hospital and his wife also received some minor injuries as would be expected. I hope he will be well enough (as he is around 70 years old now) and motivated enough to want to do it all again. I have suggested that he find a luckier model A, get some juice brakes or take a refresher course in stunt driving. Seriously, I wish him all the best and hope he can get thru it and start over. Second lot of pic's are of the current accident damage.
Here are the pic's of the current accident damage. I think he might need to change his nick name to LUCKY!!!
Upgraded brakes may not be correct but...................... Glad he's okay and that damn car is pocessed.
I just finished a build of a 30 hot rod Model A. I've commented that I will probably not drive it much because I'm afraid of damage from 'the other guy'. This is EXACTLY what I'm talking about. I hope your friend is OK and he'll rebuild once again. People are crazy. Drinking, texting, drugs, general lack of driving skill - be careful out there guys!! Again, I hope your friend is OK!!
A lot of years back I recall my 1st hot rod on the road and it just seemed to me like it was a magnet to distracted other drivers and they would kinder last minute see and take action to avoid me. That was very unnerving.
Glad to hear he's ok. Time to sell off the salvageble parts to us hot rodders and he can start with another Model A, maybe this time without the voodoo curse.
Man, that is so sad to see. This kind of makes me a little ticked about these idjeets that don't pay any mind to what they are doing...last summer my wife was out taking a walk when some guy drove up on the sidewalk and clobbered her before coming to rest on some fellows porch ...when the neighbours got out they saw him still clutching a beer bottle in one hand and a cellphone in the other.... My wife suffered a broken ankle and a broken wrist from that nutbar...
That's too bad. I'm glad they have recovered. I thought I had a jinxed '40 Olds T-boned with no belts on and then rear ended. Sold it soon after.
Good that they are okay but you need to get your buddy interested in a heavier vehicle. It is fixable but that car is just bad luck to him. Hope he decides to get rid of it,three strikes you're out and he already has two.
Sorry to hear about the accidents. Hope he recovers well and has many safe years enjoying his love of cars.
ouch! i say fix it & sell it,that thing is gonna kill him,or is it the cellphone talking-mouth breathing while eating or texting & putting on makeup retards??? he's real lucky to by cruising around after each accident, but i would definitely put some better brake on it!
Upgraded brakes may not be correct but either is almost killing yourself twice. Good luck the third time. It's the charm!
Sounds like both accidents were not his fault and upgraded brakes would not have helped. Didn't sound like he had time to get out of the way. This is exactly why I'm looking for something that can have usefull seat belts for everyone in the car. People just can't drive anymore.
Wow, that really sucks. I was thinking about it and regardless of how much the other driver is an idiot, having mechanical brakes in a world of modern cars is a bad match. I know people say things like "well they stopped well enough back in the day" , and "as long as you plan for long stopping distances..", but back in the day, cars had hp, acceleration that matched the level of brakes. Cars now can be sitting still and with the acceleration of even a basic sedan, a person can be out in the intersection before you even know it. There's no way to avoid that kind of situation in a model a, even with the best reflexes in the world.
When I drive the old car I try to remember to have the lights on during the day. It seems to help others see me.
Man, some bad luck. Glad he survived both. I'd suggest he get into big old pickups instead. They certainly don't drive any better and probably aren't any safer either. But from experience, while people seem to enjoy looking at them, they also tend to clear a path when they see me coming. Might have something to do with size and lack of a shiny paint job. But maybe they understand taking chances with it might not end up too well for them either. They tend to keep a distance parking next to it as well. Worst thing that seems to happen to me is people cutting in front of me on the highway and closing my stopping gap.
ouch, glad he was ok. I discovered years ago that when you drive an old vehicle and especially one that attracts attention you have to step up your defensive driving skills to a much higher level.
I know a few guys here have been successful with properly adjusted mechanicals but once I did juice on my '29, confidence went up in a big way. 1 or 2 seconds or 10 to 20 feet mean the world in situations like you friend went through. Good luck to him, glad he is around.
His first accident was a head-on with a F250, the F250 was on the wrong side of the road and the second now was with a full size Chevy pickup so he is sure hitting solid objects. The second accident also not his fault and at least on both occassions for what it is worth the other drivers were (man enough) honest enough to say so.
You know he has driven that for years, including major runs all over the States, at least 1 run from Boston to south OR all without seat belts. As soon as he installs seat belts (which I am a big fan off and so is he, since he since they have saved him twice now) the crashes started happening. That seems weird to me...
If he wants to keep the car, I would get it blessed by a riest or a monk or SOMETHIN'!!! to get rid of he curse
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