I win (or lose; depending how you look at it.) In the fall of 1959, I ran across a '36 Ford Deluxe 2 Door slantback sedan with 39,000 actual miles. (It had belonged to an elderly aunt of one of my neighbors.) It was in fantastic shape. I had it one week when some clown in a '55 Oldsmobile pulled out onto a 4 lane hiway, got 100 yards up the road and it stalled. He tried to get it started, and when it wouldn't go, he turned the lights off and tried again. It was after dark. I was driving down the road, and all of a sudden, there he was. I hit him square in the back and crunched the front of the car pretty good. Of course, I was a kid in a "hot rod", and I hit him in the back, so it was case closed, my fault 100%. My dad was a real help. He was 100% against me, and did everything he could to see that I was punished. $100 fine, lost my license, and he sold the car out from under me for 3 times what I paid for it. (That's how nice it was.) I never forgave him for that. Cordoba tan with all of the documentation in the glove compartment. It also had an original radio that worked. I am going into a corner to cry now.
Not really HAMB friendly but it was the nicest one I totalled. Some texting asshole forgot to stop and drove under me. Walked and got a scratch on my finger... that was all.
Had 6k on my brand new at the time 02 silverado duramax. A ranger pulled out in front of me, T-boned him going about 50mph. Thought he was going to die but he made it through. Both trucks were toast.
Back in 57 I feel asleep(passed out) & stuck the 51 coupe de ville about 10 feet up the old oak tree. Hit with such force the top of the rear fenders buckled were they met the body. The windshield shaved the paint off the hood. Before that it was a 50 chevy vert. Fell asleep again & took out 14 guardrails & utility pole. Way way back took a couple girls & my bud for a hotrod ride in the 40 std coupe. Did a power slide on a gravel curve & the rear wheel caught a large boulder & we flipped at least three times. The roof was smashed down even with the cowl. Pretty much walked away from all 3 with only bruises & scratches. There were a lot of others that just got wrecked but not a total.
Mine was a 1966 Chevy II SS , 327/350HP , 4 speed , Marina Blue . I was going 30 MPH in a driving rainstorm , went around a curve and hydroplaned , did a 180 spin , and rolled over several times down a steep embankment into a dry creek bed . The car landed on a large rock ( crushing the driver's door ) causing a large gash in the upper left side of my back which required multiple stitches to close up . BTW - This accident took place 40 miles from the nearest hospital in a remote stretch of highway and I was taken to the hospital in a private car by a concerned couple who just happened to drive upon the scene ! Yes , I had my seat belt on or maybe I wouldn't be here today ? This happened in 1967 so the car was essentially new at the time !
Off topic car but here goes. 98 Mazda in Philly, purchased on Ebay. Pick up the car and fill the tank and hit 95 south. budget rental truck pulls over on me and spins car sideways, sliding down 95 doing 55. All I can see out of drivers window is bumper and grille in my face. Car totaled less this 15 minute after I paid for it. LESSON LEARNED just because you can rent a truck doesn't mean you can drive a truck
Buddy and I built a 68 mustang gt- went thru several 390's, finally built a 428 from a wrecked police car. Drove the car for 6 months- some kid made him an offer he could not refuse. Kid bought car on Fri at 3 pm, totalled it fri night at 11. I saw the car on the back of the wrecker- the front pass side fender was into the rear tire. Accident report said he was doing about 120 when he hit the telephone pole. My brother rolled a 64 vw 6 times coming home from college- most people did it sideways but he did it end over end- the roof had a dent in it from the steering wheel- he was thrown into the back seat, saved his life. He had bumped a lady in front of him, panicked and cut wheel to right, dropped front end into drainage ditch which flipped him. Lady stopped to make sure he was ok- she was a nurse- when state police was writing up the accident he had no sooner written there was no damage to her car when some rubbernecker ran right into the back of her car and totalled it!
A brand new off topic F150 with 1500 miles on it. Kid was tuning his radio and blew a red light. Couldn't see him coming because of all the traffic that did stop............slide
i had a 70 gto gold on gold delivering pizzas in 1978 ran a stop sign got Tboned buy a caprice classic,,, pulled the drivetrain and interior sent the rest to the junkyard,,
A 1968 Buick Skylark 2dr hard top. The first time I wrecked it was when I was in high school. I came around a corner after a rain, gassed it and didn't know how to correct a spin. I hit a VW Bug head on. It took the front of my car and totaled the bug. After taking an ass chewing from my dad he helped me fix it. A few months later I was driving down a side street and was broad sided on the driver side by a Toyota station wagon. He hit me so hard it spun me around and hit the back drivers quarter panel hard enough to buckle the package tray and roof. That was the end of that car. Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
The nicest for me was some late 80's Buick four door. The problem is I was on a motorcycle. It only cost me a leg, but that was 21 years ago now.
1965 GTO bought new in Joplin MO. drove straight to Bakersfield for the March meet---fell asleep on the way back about 50 miles east of Holbrook ---two others in the car no broken bones or stiches lotsa frame damage to the car--- 3.90 posi ,4 speed smoke blue on blue---died a virgin
I ran a 70 Plymouth Sport Fury into a pole at 60 mph in 1976. It was raining and I was going around a curve. I turned the wheel but the car went straight. It was all in slow motion from that point. I thought I was going to get the Fury back on the road when I saw this little black and white pole. They used them back then to mark the location of culverts back then so not wanting to hit a culvert I turned the wheel the other way. I missed the culvert but then I saw a pole right in front of me. I was cranking the wheel the other way when I hit the pole and it disappeared. I knew that I hit the pole but I just assumed that I sideswiped it. I had a hard time getting it into park and my buddy was down under the dash on the passenger side. He told me not to get out of the car, something about wires on top of it but I got out anyway. I looked at the front end and the headlights were facing each other, so much for sideswiping it, I knocked the pole clear over and it was behind my Sport Fury. We were unhurt, I had a scratch on my face and a bump on my head and Jeff didn't even get that. We walked the two remaining miles into town and stayed all night with a friend. I went and found the Chief of Police the next morning and told him I had wrecked my car. He told me that he knew and I had stopped trains for miles. I was glad the Plymouth was a big car with a huge long hood. Before I wrecked it I could stand between the grill and the radiator.
It was a beautiful bright sunny morning about 8:30. I took my truck to the post office to send off some bills and was returning home. The 4 lane undivided street makes a 45 degree turn to the left when your going north. On the east side of the turn there is a side street. I was traveling north on the inside lane. There was a string of cars heading south occupying both southbound lanes. My 4x4 truck sat pretty high. As I came around the curve at about 30 mph (the posted speed limit) I saw a car with a red fender crossing the double yellow line, then all I saw was the roof of her car. I don't think I even hit the brake pedal before we hit head on. The front bumper of her car hit the dead center of my bumper. The impact stopped my 4680 lbs truck, and pushed her car backwards about 10 feet. I was not wearing my seat belt. my head hit the header at the top of the windshield (if I would have had the seat belt on my head would have hit the center of the windshield) and my thumb that was wrapped around the steering wheel twisted back. I ended up with 11 stitches in my forehead and a sprained thumb. The gal driving the car had airbags and hit her knee on the dash when it went off. We both rode to the hospital in the same ambulance. I came out pretty good from her insurance and kept the truck. I bought a replacement 4x4 and used the rest of the money to build my 48. Now I get to look at its bent corpse everyday. The sheet metal is fixable, the frame is toast. it would be like starting all over to rebuild it. I'm not sure I want to do that, I no longer have a need for a truck like this one was. Pictures of before and after 10/21/11 @ 8:34 am. Gene
Thankfully, I've never been in a bad accident. My older sister used to date a guy, whose older brother had just traded in a car on a brand new 68 or 69, El Camino SS 396/4-speed. He was pulling out of the dealership, and got T-boned; totally his fault, and totaled a car he had only owned for minutes. He got the car back from the insurance company, and parted it out; his brother got the 396/4-speed, and put it in his 62 Impala SS. Years later I bought the 396 for my third 56 Chevrolet; a street car that also had a 4-speed AND 5.38:1 Positraction (gas was a lot cheaper then). After I sold that car, I wound up buying it back, and it became my first Bracket Car after a lot of time-effort-money-blood-sweat-tears. As they say, the rest is history. Butch/56sedandelivery.
I've never totalled a car or a truck, ever. This, after over 40 years and 750+ vehicles. I've wrecked a couple that got repaired, and lost four in a tornado, but never totalled one myself Gotta go find some wood to knock on...
I got hit broadside by a Lincoln Continental in the mid 60's. I was driving my 1600 Super Porsche Speedster. They knocked me across the street into a telphone pole. I pulled the engine and trans, and cut it in half and sold it fir $1.00. I see them selling today for $200,000.00 Oh Well!!!!
I've done two. A 49 Ford Woody. Lost it in a turn on some wet leaves and hit a curb. Pushed the right A-frame back and bent the frame. I was center punched by a drunk driving a Cad into my 55 Nomad. Bent the rear axle housing, frame and moved the drivers quarter panel in 18 inches. Pulled the Flathead and 331ci sbc Sold the rest for parts or junk.
When I was in the sixth grade (I'm 44 now), my step-dad, mom, step-brother, and myself we on our way to visit my grandmother in the hospital when a white Ford truck pulled in front of us. We were in my step-dads '68 GTO. It was blue with a 400/3-speed/black interior. The car and truck both were both written off. We still made it to see grandma but we rode in an ambulance the rest of the way
A 3 year old 71 boss 351 mint. traded in on a family car. I bought , Totaled it 13 days later. I think if I remember my dads words correctly was boy your going to kill your self in that car...... Close .... It was a nice car 4 speed with factory 3:91 gears
1960 impala convertible with 348 and wonder bar radio. White with red and white interior. I wasn't driving. In fact I was over seas with the green machine. Wife tried to beat a train and almost made it. She made it but car was toast. Didn't tell me about it till I came home in 72.
I know most guys here dont give a shit about a 71 Boss, but I still have mine so I'm feeling this one for you....
Highway car.. Don't laugh a 59 american motors station wagon. I have owned 3.. You know the one that had the seats that let down into a bed. The best date car in the world. Some times my friends would use it and I would drive their Chevelles/442/road runners etc.. I paid less than 80 dollars for it in around 1963. These cars had a odd front end that had trunions insted of ball joints. Mine broke while going over rail road tracks. Not worth repairing so I remover the battery and tag and left the car in the middle of the road. this was in late 1965 I saw it about 3 years later in a junk yard.
In 1966, had a little mishap in my triple black Pontiac Tempest convertible. Car was a 4 speed that originally was equiped with the high performance 4 cyl. After I blew up the 4 banger we installed a 389 W/3 deuces, out of a wrecked Catalina. Anyway, way to much partying, and no sleep caused me to take a short nap and hit a concrete bridge abutment and go airborn for about 75 feet, where I sheared off a high voltage power pole, 15 feet above the ground. The car basically had no salvageable parts. It even broke the block on the engine. And Damn, it really hurt too!!!
My close friend in the late 70's, "PFC Fred Bottiger" from Texas wrapped a genuine 1969 Ford Boss 302 Mustang around a telephone pole during an evening of way too much drinking. I assisted in it's parting out... It was bad but today we would fix it!!
New Years morning 1971, returning home from partying all night. Fell asleep and snapped a telephone pole and crashed through a fence into the Bethlehem Steel Plant property in Lackawanna, N.Y. with my 66' Shelby GT350H. No injuries but totalled the car. Still have the drive train in another car. Boy was dad pissed.
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