While wishing Moz a happy Birthday I found that he celebrates surviving a bad accident on that day. I figured that we were already off subject with "Happy Birthday" in Hoosiers thread so I wanted to start a new on to find out what was this bad accident. Moz? Also to find out if anyone else has had an accident in the past that should have killed them but didn't.

I was driving late one night up an old mountain road 20+ years ago with a buddy that was bragging about how well his car handled, I told him that I knew this road like the back of my hand and would like to drive his car to see just how good it was. The long story short is that both the car and I where not as good as we thought and I missed a turn, went over a cliff and down about 60 feet flipping end over end on the way down. When the car stopped we looked at each other and got out with no more than a few scratches and bruises, the car was destroyed with a trail of parts all the way to the wreck. we both walked back to town, I guess The Good Lord wasn't ready to take me home yet.

Now what happened to you?

   God Bless.   Tim                           http://yblockguy.com/

350ci Y-Block FED "Elwood", 301ci Y-Block Unibody LSR "Jake", 312ci Y-Block '58 F-100, 338ci Y-Block powered Model A Tudor

tim@yblockguy.com  Visalia, California    Just west of the Sequoias

Well, I don't count those two flip overs and crashes ( the flight ain't bad, but the landing on the roof is ) with rallycars cause you are then well protected by the rollcage and 6 point seatbelts, but otherwise I've had several. Couple of cars have gone bad by others fault and one by my own stupid driving on icy road (yes, I fixed it) and with less luck and each of those could have killed me . But, nearest to death was when I lost control of my 1976 Ford Escort Mk II street car, which was prepared like a Group II rally car back in the late seventies. And of course without safety issues. On icy main road at the speed of 62 mph my rear tyres lost the grip and the tail slipped to the right. I was little late with the correction and the car went over the left lane before I managed to turn it back. Luckily there was a bus stop just in the right place and with that little margin I managed to keep the car from going to the deep ditch on the left side of the road. But that was not the end of the story. Speed was still over 45 mph when I crossed the left lane and went back to the right lane rear wheels still spinning and I saw over my left shoulder that the other car (which was coming towards me) passed me from the left side with a slightest possible margin. Huh... that was a real close call . I still had my hands full of action to get and keep the car on the right lane. I did it. And I didn't stop but continued the driving as I did before. But I lost the feel of the steering wheel for a prief moment. I could not feel the steering wheel in my hands and it sure felt strange. Why did that happen? Ok, my winter tyres were worn out and my throttle lingage was like an on / off switch. And the engine was very willing to take the revs. So, when I lightly pressed the gas pedal on an very icy road, I lost the grip and cause the road had some icy tracks on it, the car went sideways. And it happened quickly.
Well, I'm still here to tell the story, so I'm not dead meat. Hmmm...I have that hole in my head

I'm not a bad driver... I just try too hard

 Seppo from Järvenpää, Finland
www.hollowheads.net (just click the hole in the head to proceed)

cool idea tim

ok here it is, my best friend (now my bro inlaw) lived on a farm about 15km north west of geelong at a place called gheringhap  my brother & i decided to ride our bikes to the farm dad usually took us but was at work that day about 5km from the farm we had to cross a busy highway the crossing point is just past a slight bend with a junction just before the bend, my brother was in front  i checked to see if anything was coming & started to  cross the road i had just gone over the white line when i saw  a vw beetle the woman driving (a friend of my mothers) was doing about 70mph as she came round the bend she crossed over the line & didnt see me she hit me at full speed no brakes i hit the windscreen then stayed on the car against the screen she then headed off the road saw she was going to hit a tree & slammed on the brakes which catapulted me into the tree & dropped me face first into a large pool of water. unfortunatly i didnt walk away.

moz. geelong victoria australia.

graduate 1980, bus, truck, car, hot rod, boat, submarine, hovercraft, hydrafoil, firetruck, mobile home, jet, helicopter, cruise ship, motorcycle, bicycle, santa's sleigh, clock, alloy bullbar, alloy fuel tank, lens, dr who's tardis, matter - anti matter warp drive buffer & y-block lover

Wow!  I had to ask. I can see why you consider it a new start.  Glad you can be here with us today.

   God Bless.   Tim                           http://yblockguy.com/

350ci Y-Block FED "Elwood", 301ci Y-Block Unibody LSR "Jake", 312ci Y-Block '58 F-100, 338ci Y-Block powered Model A Tudor

tim@yblockguy.com  Visalia, California    Just west of the Sequoias

New Years Day 1966. On leave from the "war" ran a 1962 Galaxie 500 XL convertible off a mountain in western NC. Hit patch of ice and lost it . Turned over 4 times before it stopped.Cut my pinkie finger. "Seat belts save lives!" Only wreck I ever had.

55Birdman  Hickory NC

Quite a few flipped cars.



A railroad crossing pole jumped in front of me. Those things are like squirrels.

I guess I'm pretty lucky. Hit it square in the middle. I have no idea how fast I was going at impact but I was not wearing the seat belt. It was a 35mph road. I didn't notice the turn. I hit the brakes at the last second so I must have been doing at least 20mph. I just held on and did not get injured. Because of that, I believe the people who say you can't hold on need to re-check their math - or take the slightly more adventurous path and try it.

Then the tow truck almost got hit by a train while getting positioned to load my vehicle.


Lawrenceville, GA

Not my accident  - just watched with my mouth open.....

After attending a street race on a section of "closed" - unopened interstate highway (circa 1970) my buddy and I were following another guy in a Studebaker Hawk and we took the same "cloverleaf" style tight downhill exit - at speed. Kevin's tie rod broke (Studebaker trademark?) and the car took a sudden violent left turn over the edge and - flipped out of sight in my headlights.

Slid to a stop and went hauling ass over to see what we figured would be a very messed up Kevin and car..... almost stepped on him in the dark. Apparently on the first revolution the door flung open and he flopped right out on the ground and was left behind as it went flipping on down the embankment. The remains of the Hawk hardly needed any extra crushing at the scrap yard - but Kevin escaped with a back strain.

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

In 1960 I had a little fender-bender with my 57 C****.The following weekend was my 18th birthday and with my car in the body shop,I borrowed Dad's almost brand new Impala to go out Saturday night and celebrate.At 4:00 am Sunday morning I turned down Main street in our little town,floored that 348,fell asleep 3 blocks later and squarely hit a parked 49 Dodge 4 door.The rear bumper of the Dodge was against it's dashboard,the Impala had the front bumper almost to the dash board,the speedometer was stuck at 105 and I was a mess.It's a good thing I was nearly killed or my Dad would have killed me.

Even after over 6 million miles ,except on dirt ovals,I've not scratched any thing since.

 

Paul,

Boonville,MO

Might be a reason why they call me "pegleg"!

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

Headed back to college in a '58 VW 3 other kids.  The driver was flunking out and being very unhappy about it was in the process of killing a six pack as he drove in the rain. After about an hour and a half and 3 or 4 beers, at the bottom of a long grade with a gentle right bend he started jerking the wheel since the car wasn't turning.  After about 3 yanks and it went half way around and the driver's side dropped off the shoulder going backwards almost as fast as it had been going forward. Then the muffler and air vents caught in the dirt and weeds and we flipped end for end backwards. We ended upside down with the car in the middle of the road facing in the direction we wanted to go.  We were all jammed in pretty tightly by luggage and coats etc so the injuries were minimal although the driver spent the night in the hospital. The driver never got any closer to the school than he was that night but the rest of us went on the next day.

The weirdest part of the whole story is that we didn't try to get him to stop drinking.

Doug T

The Highlands, Louisville, Ky.