Thread: Bad Ending

Tweet

I went to a car show in Dade City Florida on Saturday evening with friends and family. My wife's father has a half dozen or so rods and customs so I drove one of his cars. My father in law also went and drove his 31 Ford loboy roadster which is in the first picture below (he is seated behind it in the sunglasses). Unfortunately while on the way home an accident occurred when another car nearly clipped the front end causing a loss of control. The car slid on the wet roadway and then hit two trees in the median.

These accident threads always make me cringe, but glad to see no one was seriously hurt.

Ouch Bob, that hurts to look at. Thank God no one was badly hurt. People drive like idiots, and it is a wonder more accidents don't happen than do. Car looks pretty bad, is it savable?

Don

glad everyone came out of that ok, it's a shame the car got tore up that bad though. May I ask what happened to the person who caused this????...joe

Bob, so glad to hear that your nephew and his friend weren't seriously injured, especially since they were thrown from the car, the good Lord was looking after them. Unfortunately, the father in law's roadster didn't do as well.

On a different note, it was a pleasure to meet you and I really enjoyed the time we spent talking at Dade City.

Mike

Wow what a shame, one moment it's a real showstopper next minute it twisted metal.

I hope he can get the insurance company to make it right. As the others have said, thank God no one was seriously hurt.

Richard

Don - Car is currently in Tampa but we are bringing it back home. At that time we will start the disassembley to check out the frame, etc. The motor/trans seems to be okay, but will have to check the Jag rear. Front suspension is toast, as is the body. My attitude is that if you got good major parts (engine, trans, rear, etc) then if you can't rebuild this one, do a new one. Frames aren't that expensive and bodies can be had for about $5k. A lot of work, but my father in law is retired and there is no rush to get it back to the road.

However, the final decision will be up to him and my brother in law. My brother in law, chief mechanic & fabricator, would vote for a rebuild.

Joe - Don't know yet if someone got a plate number of the car that forced them off of the road. But there were witnesses.

Mike - It was great meeting and talking with you too. I enjoyed our discussion. Looking foward to meeting again.

The pictures don't really do it justice. When I saw it shortly after the accident, my first thought was that they were not only very lucky but that they had certainly cheated death this time. They were checked out at the hospital with only bruises, no broken bones or internal injuries. I've been told that they were doing about 35 at the time. Any faster and the outcome could have been very different.

Check www.wantaddigest.com , there is a glass '29 roadster body for sale in NY, I can't remember where, but pretty sure it's albany area, and it's like $2,950 but I don't know what brand.. with a good engine and trans, and I would assume gauges and wiring is still salvagable, wouldn't cost too much to build a new 1.

Look, don't take this wrong ( if ya get mad, you're takin it wrong )

Think BUMPERS next build.

They may not look 'cool', but they have a purpose.

Glad the kids weren't hurt. Very glad.

God bless.

Firebird, I agree bumpers are very handy. But in this case, they would not have helped much. Damage from hitting the trees would have likely been as severe as it was. Bumpers for these cars are not real strong and would have likely folded at impact. For minor bumping they would reduce damage for sure, but not slamming a tree at 35 mph.

My 34 Plymouth has a bumper on the rear, but none on the front. Sometimes I would like to add one, but the front sits low and a bumper would probably only be about 6 inches off of the ground. Might make a nice snow plow though.

Originally Posted by mopar34

My 34 Plymouth has a bumper on the rear, but none on the front. Sometimes I would like to add one, but the front sits low and a bumper would probably only be about 6 inches off of the ground. Might make a nice snow plow though.

6 inches? Sounds like you would need to lower that

Sorry to see the bad news, but happy that everyone escaped serious injury. Just goes to show how important good insurance is. Hope the adjuster treats him right.

Pat