Scantlings

Driving home from work today I had a little wop-see.
Finished work at Picton at around 6pm and it's usually a two hour drive home to Nelson after a week at work, I was driving rather briskly as I usually drive, actually came around a couple of corners faster than I would usually call safe and decided to just slow the fuck down a bit (I'm 41 for fucks sake, I've got kids and stuff, time to grow up) literally 10 to 15 seconds later I had crashed the car!
Came into a corner doing about 80 Kph, saw a little tripod road-workers type sign with the crossed up skid-marks, thought not much of it because I'd just slowed down (because I was being an idiot) saw some crap on the road, too late to slow down more and the car just slid out, at first I just drove into the slide not thinking anything bad was about to happen and I could control it, then, well no, No controlling this one, Right hand corner (we drive on the left here) back slid out (RWD car) crossed the centre line, climbed the curb (really, a fucken curb in the middle of know where?) and into the bank. Oh, didn't expect that?
I remember just before I hit the bank thinking "I never crash, is this really happening?" next thing I'm thinking "back of the car is out on a blind corner, best stay in the car and move" arms still crossed from trying to correct the slide I had to lift my elbow to see the rpm thingy to see if the engine was still running, it was, into R and it moved, that's good, managed to get the car safely off the road.
I was very lucky, car or truck coming the other way and I'd be toast, car was very driveable, damage to the bumper and if I turn hard right the guard rubs on the wheel, I think the wheel alignment might be out a bit, hard to tell but this car usually handles very well and, and I think It's a little off.

Talk about fucken lucky! 80Kph crash and I could drive the car home!







And for reference to the thread title:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbBx4Ql6Umo[/youtube]
Yes. this is a Toyota you are looking at. (my car)

Bugger. actually, I think I'm dam lucky. could have been a lot worse. can't tell from looking at it what was on the road, doesn't have a distinctive smell like a stock truck or mussel transporter, I guessing autumn leaves and a blocked drain or something, don't know. I have kept the some of the matter from the inside of a wheel arch and reported the accident to Mr & Mrs plod in-case there has to be follow-up.

Jeroen

One of my all time favorite ads, having live a while in Aukland I didn't really get the "one word" thing until we spend a long holiday in the S. Island. Brings back great memories!

My sympathies. Can't help thinking about how much better and safer cars are now than when I was a kid - in those days a crash at that speed would probably have seriously injured or killed you (no seatbelts then) and instead you just got shaken up and drove home.

+1 to how much safer cars are now, and how much better they handle, not that that helped you in this case. Glad you are alright.

If it makes you feel better . . . . .

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT17vWFkl_w[/youtube]

Why was Dennis Conner doing Toyota ads?



Glad you were not too banged up, Floater. ANd hey, we all do dumb stuff behind the wheel, just trying to get home in a hurry to see our loved ones!! (or watch a game on ESPN)

I thought it interesting that the French subtitle for "bugger" was "merde".

Bloody hell, you're a lucky bugger!

Well the car's going to cost 2-3K to fix (insurance), the radiator that is about a foot behind the bumper has been pushed back, the car is at the garage getting a safety check and wheel alignment done, It's not a vary common type of car so parts could take a couple of weeks. Oh well.
Yea I am dam lucky, modern cars sure do look after you when things go pear shaped.

And now the piss taking has started:



Jeroen.

Edit, just found out, too bent to use. Bugger.

floating dutchman wrote:Well the car's going to cost 2-3K to fix (insurance), the radiator that is about a foot behind the bumper has been pushed back, the car is at the garage getting a safety check and wheel alignment done, It's not a vary common type of car so parts could take a couple of weeks. Oh well.
Yea I am dam lucky, modern cars sure do look after you when things go pear shaped.

And now the piss taking has started:

skidding.jpg

Jeroen.

Edit, just found out, too bent to use. Bugger.

Merde!

Tabernac!

One of the things that makes modern cars safe makes them weak- they crumple absorbing energy that otherwise you would have received. A few years ago my daughter's Saab was hit in the rear while parked on the street- $10,000 dollars damage and the front wheels didn't even move. Had she been inside she would have been fine but the car was close to totaled.

The energy has to go somewhere. I still remember my first vivid lesson in crumple zones. I was in a shop where a FIAT 128 was in (Yes - a FIAT in 1978). It had received a heavy offset frontal hit that had crushed the right front corner of the car back to the firewall/door pillar. Destroyed the suspension on that side and moved the engine but the windshield wasn't even broken and the right side door worked like new - not even a creak or groan. I was amazed and that was what they were doing almost 40 years ago - and on a notoriously crappy car.

SloopJonB wrote:The energy has to go somewhere. I still remember my first vivid lesson in crumple zones. I was in a shop where a FIAT 128 was in (Yes - a FIAT in 1978). It had received a heavy offset frontal hit that had crushed the right front corner of the car back to the firewall/door pillar. Destroyed the suspension on that side and moved the engine but the windshield wasn't even broken and the right side door worked like new - not even a creak or groan. I was amazed and that was what they were doing almost 40 years ago - and on a notoriously crappy car.

Yeah, rust will do that.

Tucky wrote:One of the things that makes modern cars safe makes them weak- they crumple absorbing energy that otherwise you would have received. A few years ago my daughter's Saab was hit in the rear while parked on the street- $10,000 dollars damage and the front wheels didn't even move. Had she been inside she would have been fine but the car was close to totaled.

This does make them expensive to fix--but, in the big picture, MUCH cheaper than fixing an injured driver/passenger!

Nothing helps in a head-on with a tractor-trailer. A fellow Petroleum Engineer I've known since college sadly found that out last week. A rare rainy day, he was driving a Merc GL 450, big truck crossed the centerline and hit on the driver's side hard enough that Ed's seat belt broke. Went to his rosary last Sunday. Thankfully, Karen was hurt but not badly. Probably had closing speed close to 150 mph, speed limit on all of the 2-lanes here is 75.

Rob, that's not good when it's someone you know, I'd like to think that if a truck was coming the other way with me, either I'd have over corrected too much and gone down the bank on the other side and totally messed up the car or that the speeds would have been survivable. (150Kph not 150 Mph).
I'm just not thinking about it, I'm here and I generally consider myself to be a lucky person, I think about the dumb stuff I've done in my life and somehow I have a lovely wife, two great kids, own my own home and have a good paying job I enjoy.
Now that my car has been deemed unsuitable to drive because without dismantling the car nobody knows what is holding the radiator in place etc. I need to find another way to and from work (a 140 Km trip each way). Bus timetable really sucks for me.
The bent sub frame is likely not to be held in stock in NZ so will have to be imported from Japan. Time wise, the writing is on the wall, this is going to take weeks at least to get sorted, My insurance does not cover loss of use.
So I've been looking at buying a hack to use in the mean time, sub 1K buys you problems, sub 2K is more that I wanted to spend on temporary transport.
Then I remembered that I'd bought the 2.5 litre car instead of the 3 litre version because I was concerned about fuel consumption, within a month of owning this car I regretted that decision, the 3 litre car would have been fine, going from a 97 2.2 four pot to an 05 2.5 6cyc, I'd underestimated the technology.
So if I'm going to spend a K or two on an intermediate car, And I've just sold the boat (that day was not as happy as I would have liked, but it was sitting rotting and not being used so it had to be sold) so I have the cash the just go buy a 3 litre Mark X, then just sell my one once it's all fixed up!
This is subject to the war office giving funding approval, and that's not looking good right now, she wants a well needed kitchen.
Trying to make lemonade out of lemons.

Jeroen

Wish I could help mate, there are a few spare cars here at the moment.

Why not ask around, someone will have a spare ute...

Yea Olaf, thought of that, nobody I know has a reliable car I can just use for a month.
So, Now I'm drinking lemonade, three litres of it. Car yard wanted rid of old stock, seems that the lower speck 3 litre versions are not that desirable. Hopefully I won't lose too much once I sell the old car once it's fixed up.
Life goes on.

Jeroen.

Ah, looks like just a flesh wound. You're going to have to try harder next time!