Every Spring here in the Middle West, us farmers burn our ditches, fencelines and waterways (ersosion-control grassy areas in-between fields) to clear out the dead material from Winter and hopefully kill off a few weeds in the process. Every now and then, things get a little out of hand – we nearly burned our 100 year-old wooden hay barn down one year for example. This year’s excitement was provided by a good friend who didn’t notice the fire had run down the lane where he parked his truck. He was actually able to crank and move it a little before things got too hot in the cab for him to stick around.
He said the whole town heard it when the fuel tank in the bed (for refueling his tractor) exploded…
Thankfully I’ve never actually totaled a vehicle, although I’ve definitely had some ID10T moments. One in particular involved roll-starting my ’64 Beetle in reverse, when I tripped with one leg hung up in the door and got dragged 50 feet across a gravel driveway where the car stopped against a tree just before plunging down an embankment. My guess is that you all might have some stories to confess tell, too.
If I were to comment on my lack of experience with this, my trip home from work would be doomed!
Opps!!
I’ve only totaled one vehicle. It was my first car, as well. Really nice Maxima. Now, before this I’d never really driven a front-wheel-drive car, and I never really got used to it. I never figured out how to turn the TCS off, and if I had I think that might’ve saved the car. I was driving down the the local fairgrounds to go fishing, keeping the speed limit, and it started raining. Now, the road I was on was intersected by a dirt road used by the fairground groundskeeper for the tractors and the like, and a lot of that dirt had spread out onto the road and become mud in the rain. I came around the corner, the front right wheel lost traction, I countersteered (and then realized that was stupid because my Maxima wasn’t rear-wheel drive), the car jerked back left, the back left wheel caught the shoulder, and it spun me around and I ended up hitting a chainlink fence in reverse at forty miles and hour. I was pissed, my grandparents who ended up coming to get me were pissed, and later everyone was pissed because the insurance company wouldn’t let me salvage the car. It was cosmetically totaled, but the insurance company still came by and took it away. I miss that car… Pictures for posterity:
Where’s the mud?
The mud’s on the front tire on the other side. This was after I’d pushed the car out from under the fence, which is directly to the left in the picture.
They shouldn’t have totaled that car. Assuming there is no damage underneath, it looked liked it needed a bumper cover and reinforcement bar. Looking at Rockauto, that would be less than $150 in parts, probably $350-650 in paint.
I had a similar-looking-amount of damage on a 2011 Camry after hitting a deer ONE WEEK after I bought it. Also totalled.
That sure does suck.
What is “the Middle West”?
A synonym for the “Midwest” region of the United States.
As defined by the Library of Congress:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/rrhtml/regions3.html
That map you used is actually taken from Wikipedia under “The Midwest as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau” 🙂
The one on the Library of Congress site is a gif image. It doesn’t look so good here.
Thanks for that ! Till now I always thought that this was pretty accurate…
I’m sure many Texans would have no objection to that. Actually they’d probably just want the whole country to be Texas.
I am pretty sure Texas does not want to go anywhere near New York City or Los Angeles.
Oh, please NOT. Lol
It’s a play on words… Everyone knows what “the Middle East” is!
Never one have I heard anyone (italics) say “Middle West”. Maybe that’s because I’m from the Midwest.
Never heard it referred to the “Middle West” either, lifelong Midwesterner here (Ohio).
I’m not from around here.
Fitzgerald referred to it as the Middle West. And he was from there. I believe it to be an older term that has since been shortened…like window pane, window-pane, windowpane.
I ran across “the Middle West” phrase just this afternoon, in a book published in 1962, so perhaps it was indeed the vernacular back in the day.
Aka, “flyover country”. The stereotypical west coast/east coast attitude that there’s nothing worthwhile there.
The is something worthwhile there?
Some of us think so… Wouldn’t move back to a large city for anything!
Size of the city nothing to do with it. Chicago is well within flyover country. I now call a mountain township of 3000, without one traffic signal, home. I think my west coast “attitude” has more to do with geography. East of the Rockies and west of the Alleghenies and Appalachians, it just seems flat and a bit boring. Ive driven to Texas and worked in Ohio and Oklahoma, so Its not like I have never visited. My mother described Oklahoma City as the flattest place she has ever seen. Sure to have offended many by these statements.
I drove it for 5 days, paid for $500, and hit a light pole right in the middle of a parking lot as I was hesitating about if I should avoid it from the left or to the right ( and see? Right in the middle with great precision )
I had the full coverage that Geico never believed and it took them a month to investigate and during that time period the car was towed away to an impound lot with $900 storable fee. After 4 hours on the phone, they wrote $1100 to me and agreed to pay for the storage.
I was pretty happy though because I was finally free from the only 4-bangers smaller car I have, and since then I never look at any models not full size with less than 6 cylinders for regular use ( but I will consider a Trabant/Wartburg if coming to a collector car though )
Full coverage on a $500 car? Enlighten me.
The only car I ever “totalled” was a 15 year old 54 Plymouth. I had removed the “carpeting” to fix some rust holes and while returning from a dump run I got distracted trying to slide the master cylinder’s access panel shut. Being a hot/summer day, the slightly open panel in the floor was funneling very hot air up my legs. While maneuvering the panel shut, I rolled off the road and hit a tree.
At least that Plymouth gave it’s engine and a rear leaf spring assembly to my mother’s 49 Plymouth that my sister had nearly destroyed a year earlier.
I’ve totaled one car, so by default it’s the most embarrasing time. I ran a red light I didn’t see, as I entered Ohio on US 40. That was in 2009. I told that car’s story in my COAL series: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-2003-toyota-matrix-the-red-pill/
Ohio eh? Given their reputation for aggressive traffic enforcement I’m surprised it was only a $200 fine rather than $2000 bail.
Tiny town. Local police. Mailed my check in. After two weeks, it hadn’t cleared yet, so I called to make sure they received it. The mayor himself answered the phone, checked through some papers, and confirmed that it was there.
*GETS THE POPCORN*
Ignored the oil light in my 20 year old Granada. It was on for a couple days.
You should be embarrassed over that, but that’s not “totalled”.
Totalling or writing-off a vehicle is when it’s damaged by some kind of accident so badly that the insurance company declares it a total loss (i.e. not cost-effective to repair) and buys the vehicle from you instead of having it repaired.
Insurance companies offer MBI actually. There are stipulations, but if your engine blows and you have this, you are covered. 🙂
What’s MBI?
google sez: “Mechanical Breakdown Insurance”
Never heard of that kind of insurance before, but it sounds like a warranty.
Most embarrassing total? Driver’s Ed Corolla.
Coming up to a T intersection, and the instructor kinda fell asleep. Looked left–no cars, looked right– no cars, and then looked left gain, and proceded to pull out. What I didn’t see was a 1995-1997 GMC Jimmy who failed to stop at all. Yep. Totaled the driver’s ed 2003 Corolla base model. Needless to say, I failed.
Totaled my sister’s car. Not at fault, but still, oops.
My truck was almost declared a write-off once, which is the closest I’ve come to that (knock on wood).
I recently posted here about renting a Yukon for 3 weeks because my pickup was in the shop for bodywork due to damage from an ice storm. An ice-covered tree branch landed across the roof and hood causing some dents, mostly small dents like you’d see from hail damage except for one slightly larger one on the hood, and a cracked windshield on the passenger side only. I informed the insurance company that I would be filing a claim under my comprehensive coverage, but would hold-off until the spring. They said that was fine.
Spring comes and I take the truck into the bodyshop. They set me up with the rental and send me on my way. After not hearing anything from the bodyshop or insurance for almost a week, I call to discover that the insurance company plans to write-off my truck! I tell them there’s no way they’re declaring it a write-off over minor cosmetic damage, and if they do I’m keeping it and putting it back on the road anyhow. They first jerk me around, saying it could have “hidden structural damage” and saying it will need a “structural inspection” before they’ll insure it again. I think part of the problem is that their paperwork says a whole tree fell on the truck, not just a branch, and they’re assuming the truck is a rusty hulk due to its age. Finally I get an actual appraiser on the phone who reviews the case, actually looks at the pictures and gets the decision overturned so they’ll fix it.
By the time the bodyshop got the okay to proceed with repairs, it was out of their regular rotation and they had to try to work it in around their other jobs in progress, so it took a lot longer than it would have otherwise.
The two cars I’ve totaled weren’t really embarrassing (engine fire in one, someone pulled out in front of me in the other) but I did have one particularly embarrassing, if minor, accident.
On a rainy Saturday, summer before my senior year of high school, my aunt, uncle, and cousins were driving from Richmond to visit my family, and our mutual grandparents, in Greensboro, NC. They hit a spell of heavy rain on US 29, hydroplaned, and ran off the road, into mud, and spun into the guardrail. No one was hurt, and their Cherokee wasn’t even totaled in the end, but it wasn’t drivable. So I was dispatched to go pick them up and bring them the rest of the way to Greensboro. Took Mom’s car (the ’86 Parisienne) because it had more room and I was picking up 5 people. When I talked to my uncle before leaving to pick them up, he tells me “watch out when you pull off on the roadside, the mud is slick and the responding state trooper fishtailed a little.”
So I drive north, see on the other side of the road where they are waiting with the cop and the tow truck, turn around at the next break in the median, and pull off to pick them up. Took it nice and slow, remembering what my uncle said about the mud. Evidently not slow enough, because as soon as both rear tires are off the pavement, it gets away from me and I end up smacking the guardrail myself with the right rear corner of the car. I get out, already *extremely* embarrassed, and the state trooper looks at me, looks at them, and says to them “And *this* is your ride??”
In the end there was very little damage to the Pontiac (rear bumper shifted a couple inches, one of the plastic filler panels cracked), and the only thing bruised was my ego. Carried everyone back to Greensboro with no drama. My cousins still bring it up at family gatherings to this day though!
Ran a bus into the back of a coach while checking out a hot looking soldier.I got a DCM for that(Don’t Come Monday)!
I’ve totaled two, and of the two, the second is much more embarrassing.
The first was back in 1975, when I failed to see a Stop sign that was partially blocked by a parked truck in Dubuque, Iowa. My ’63 Beetle nailed a ’69 Ford Country Sedan and totaled it; I was ejected but not hurt badly. I assumed my Beetle was totaled too, but it just needed some new (old) fenders and a hood, although they never fit properly.
In 2008 we took a family vacation to Hawaii. On the island of Kauai, we rented an old ’95 Camry V6 from a little local rent-a-wreck outfit. On the way back to the airport, Stephanie says “look at how beautiful that beach is?!”(aren’t they all?) I turned my head to look and just then a big F350 ahead of me stopped unusually abruptly (he never did explain why) and I nailed him on his rear bumper. The Camry was totaled; the F350 bumper slightly scratched. A not so hot end to a great vacation. At least the F350 driver let us hop in and gave us a ride to the airport so we wouldn’t miss our flight.
EOuch… had the same thing happening to me; at my student job, just leaving to deliver a package, I approach the roundabout I always pass. Getting on it, I see the cars from the first junction stop for me, I look right to check for bikes/mopeds, look back forward again to see the cars in front of me had stopped for no discernable reason. *CRASH* No-one was hurt though and neither cars were totalled, and the insurance took care of everything. Don’t think I’ve ever looked redder though, except maybe when asking a girl out for the first time.
Your Beetle crash sounds a lot scarier though. I wouldn’t want to imagine crashing in such a structurally weak car.
Wow, a 13 year old rental car, holey moley on a stick!
Glad you all were not hurt too badly.
That’s kinda bad when an old VW Bug can total a big 60’s Ford sedan… and the Bug has no engine in the front.
What was the Ford made out of… Paper? 😉
It wasn’t a head-on; that would have ended differently. I hit the Ford perpendicularly, and right on its front wheel, which I guess messed p the suspension/frame in that critical spot enough tot total it. It was a six year old car then already.
The details are in one of my Auto-Bio chapters coming here soon…..
Vintage Beetles actually do fairly well in head-on collisions up to about 50mph. That’s about when the non-collapsible steering wheel impales the driver. Somewhere out on the interwebs are photos of crash testing VW did back in the 50s or 60s…
First thing I did when I bought my ’64 was buy a set of 3-point seat belts.
I had the misfortune of t-boning a ’49 Plymouth sedan in the rear door and quarter panel with my almost-new 67 VW Bug. The Bug had to be towed, the Plymmy drove home, and my lower lip was lacerated when it got caught between my teeth and the steering wheel. The Bug looked nice after it came back from the body shop, but it leaked water in through the floorboards somewhere every time I drove it in the rain. I ended up trading it for an old 220S sedan…no more Bugs for me and mine.
You can install a collapsible column from a ’68 or newer standard beetle. It has a section of pipe with holes in it that folds flat if the steering box is shoved back. It also folds if the driver hits the steering wheel. It only folds up about 6 inches or so, but could make a difference in a hard hit. If you don’t care about original looks, the ’73 and later steering wheel is flatter and has a safer plastic horn pad.
Early 1960s VW had threaded holes for mounting diagonal belt only. Door pillar to center tunnel, no lap belt. I found GDM VW in junkyard & installed the belts in my 1962 VW & felt somewhat safer. Adding lap belt required drilling hole.
Wasn’t even a crash, just neglectful, youthful ignorance.
The water pump had been leaking in my ’97 Continental for months. I added coolant… never. One day when I was late for a law school exam, it started overheating on the way to class.
Hotter, hotter… I’m getting nervous… hotter still, and then the needle drops all the way to cool. “Great”, I stupidly thought, “It cooled all the way down in 1 second.”, not what I should have realized , that it finally ran completely out of coolant. It died at the off ramp and wouldn’t restart.
Had it towed my mechanic, who diagnosed the blown head gasket, and probably cracked heads. No way was I about deal with head gaskets; so I did the smart thing (sarcasm intended), and bought a Subaru with the 2.5l and 130k miles…
I’m mixing two metaphors here but: Out of the frying pan and into slowly warming water like a frog, huh? I’ve had two high mileage Subaru’s and yep, a warped head/bad head gasket killed my ’89 XT Turbo. That thing sat behind the mechanic’s place for a couple of years after I handed him my title to settle the bill.
The Subaru made it all of 3 weeks before needing head gaskets. The good thing about these 2.5’s is the head gasket issue has more to do with the material used to make the factory gaskets on the US built car, not so much an engine design issue. Replaced mine and they’ve been good for 8 years/70k miles now… knock on wood.
As for confessions on my part in the demise of my 67 firebird(on my 18th birthday…) or my 89 trofeo… i dont know if i want to go there, but both were tragically stupid. yes, regrets i have a few. i miss that toronado, as i never see them on the road. i suspect the loss of power steering or brake ability during a stall out contributed as well. Slamming on the ABS brakes would cause a stall that rendered accessories like steering inoperable, Scary. Electronic bugaboos i was told, which persisted. The graphic dance of the RPM TACH readout i remember a captivating a well as distracting as I found mileage readouts instantly updated distracting on such tripmoniters. I didnt even have the color CRT to think?!
Twice in my younger days… When I was 17 I bought a ’73 Pinto for $100.00, on the day before the temp tag expired I was playing with the radio and didn’t see a nice big F100 4X4 stopped in front of me. Oops. Fast forward 9 years, I was heading home one night from a friend’s in my ’79 Fairmont wagon, stopped at a stop sign, promptly fell asleep, coasted into the intersection just as a brand new Sunbird cruised by. Oops yet again.
Wow, $100 for a Pinto?
Me thinks, you paid $95 too much for that thing. J/K 🙂
I end-over end rolled the first car I owned within 24 hours of buying it, and I didnt quite “total” it, but had it been insured it certainly would have been a write off. I was 18, young and stupid, and had bought this Datsun 1200 wagon, it was only an 8 year old car at the time…. but it had been used to cart fertiliser to and from a farm, including up and down a beach, leading to, shall we say some rust issues. I got it cheap for $500 as a result.
Less than 24 hours later I was showing off to a friend, driving down a back country gravel road not far from home, doing 80 miles per hour (remember the young and stupid bit I mentioned earlier). Came up to this intersection where the road split, curving off to the right one side and going straight ahead the other. I decided to carry on straight ahead. Unfortunately most people took the curve to the right, resulting in a mess of gravel in my path going straight ahead
Soon as I hit that at that speed, I lost control, spun out, hit the bank on the left side and then a hedge on the right. Went over that end over end and landed upside down in this old lady’s bean patch. The windscreen popped and ended up propped up against the poles at the end of the row of beans. We were both belted in, and my passenger came out without a mark on him, I ended up with a deep cut on my left arm made by one of the tools I had in the car packed into a box in the back.
He was normally something of a timorous end easily upset soul, but in the moment he became totally controlled and rational. As soon s the Datsun had come to rest, and we were hanging upside down from the belts, his first comment was “turn off the ignition and get out of the car” which we did. I on the other hand was in total panic mode…
Meanwhile the old lady who had her entire family and friends around for Sunday afternoon tea with her best china on the back porch and had watched the whole thing unfold before their eyes. She came over and offered to apply first aid to the cut in my arm, which I hadnt even been aware of up to that point. My friend had calmly rung my brother to arrange the recovery of the car and us and he came over with some mates and once they finished laughing, they pulled the Datsun back over the hedge and turned it upright.
I actually drove it home, peering through the gap left by a somewhat squashed down roof, and needing to stop to refill a punctured radiator every few miles. One of my brother friends body jacked the roof back out, and made the Datsun roughly car shaped (and I mean roughly) in exchange for the radio cassette that was in it.
The windscreen was recovered along with the tools that had escaped, and crudely glued back in place, plus we picked up two Kleensaks of bog (body filler) that had come out of it…. like I said, rust issues. I later went back to the old lady with a big box of chocolates and a bottle of good quality spirits of some sort by way of apology. She was OK about it, she said it had been the most amusing entertainment for a Sunday afternoon tea!
I drove that car for a year and a half after that. … It leaked so badly that I had to wear a raincoat in it if I drove it in the rain. There was a rust hole in the passengers side floor that a friend used to put her handbag over, and I fixed all the structural rust …. with papier mache….
You should have traded it on a motorcycle. Might have been safer 🙂
This past November, when I nailed a deer at 60mph riding home from work on my 1995 Triumph Trident (117k miles) which I’d owned since new.
Glad you’re still with us, then. That’s not embarrassing, that’s a @*&#*$*-ing apocalypse.
Wrecked my mothers 1978 Opel Kadett just having my drivers license for a week, wanted to get a candy, and bij stretching to get it from the glove compartment I automaticly turned the steering wheel to the right….hit two parked cars….totalled one of them to.
Since the question asked about vehicles rather than just specifying cars, I’m reminded of my friend’s XR75. He bought it from a neighbor, who’d been letting it sit for years. My friend got it running in an afternoon, and we rode it around for a day or two. I suggested that I ride it over to show to another of our friends. When I got there, it stalled. It wouldn’t restart. My first friend decided it was time for more serious reconditioning. He tore the motorcycle down and repainted the frame and tank. While the engine was disassembled, I absentmindedly stepped on a pan full of carburetor parts and broadcast them all over his lawn. That was the end of the road for his Honda.
I had an XL-75, then an XR-80 for my trail riding fix. You could have found an intact carb on eBay for $20 or $30.
There weren’t any carburetors on eBay in 1987. The dealer price for a new carb for my PA50 was more than the moped cost new.
My girlfriend (now wife) had just bought a nice red 1992 Accord LX Coupe 5-speed, and I told her I would come pick it up to detail it for her. Well, it started to downpour unexpectedly. It was only a quick shower, but a menacing one. A kid in a white Toyota Tacoma wasn’t paying attention and didn’t see me stopping at the red light in front of him. He didn’t put on the brakes and nailed the back of that Accord to the tune of $7500 damage. Boy did I feel horrible showing her that car. It was totaled buy the insurance company, but we were able to buy it back and get it fixed. Needless to say, she drove that car for another 100k+ miles until we sold it to a friend who had it for only a month or so and guess what? He totaled it in a front end collision! It was a great car and it was missed by everyone that had a chance to own/drive it.
The 95 Taurus I got from my grandmother just before going to college would probably still be around if only I’d never let my brother drive it during that brief phase he went through in which he never stopped or looked when turning left at a four way with the sun in his eyes.
Two different ’66 Beetles, both embarrassing.
(1) I was accompanying a friend who had intermittently lost the power brakes in his cherry ’55 Olds. I drove in front to give him adequate warning of hazards. I did give him adequate warning of a rough railroad crossing, but he wasn’t watching. Rear end of Beetle crushed, Olds not even scratched.
(2) Slowly cruising downtown looking for a parking space. Listening to NPR feature on Knute Rockne. A big ’72 Mercury backed out and I didn’t see it. Front end of Beetle crushed, Merc not even scratched. The Merc was driven by a lady insurance agent who was displeased when I admitted my fault.
Did I finally learn? Yes. Next car was a Maverick, and I basically stopped driving regularly after that.
My experience didn’t involve totaling, or even an accident, but it was still plenty stupid. I was sitting at a red light late one night at an intersection in front of a train station in my dad’s Saturn Astra, and the train had just pulled out of the station. I was waiting for the passengers to cross the road so that I could go on; meanwhile, my light is still shining red. The railroad crossing bar lifts up just as the passengers finish crossing the road, so I pull out and go forwards, even though my light was still red. As I’m in the middle of the intersection, I had to swerve to miss a truck that was going through at the time.
As to why I went into the intersection in the first place, I’m still kicking myself over that, because I have no clue even now. The only explanation that I can give was that it was late at night and I was tired and wanted to get home. Thankfully, there was no policeman there!
Back in the early 1990s I had a nice ’87 Plymouth Reliant. I was out on a first date with a girl I really liked and was paying entirely too much attention to my passenger and too little to the road ahead of me. When a car in front of me braked suddenly, I noticed it a few seconds too late. I barely had time to swerve to the left and jump the divider in the middle of the street to avoid hitting it.
Trying to be gallant to my date, I left the car where it sat, hailed a taxi and we went on to have a dinner at the restaurant as planned. From there, I called my mechanic to do me a favor and tow my car, while we spent the evening joking all about how we’ll be telling people this story years from now when they ask how we met.
In the morning, I went to my mechanic to face the consequences. Unfortunately, that divider was pretty high, and I tore a big hole in the oil pan, wreaked havoc with the suspension, bent the frame and did quite a bit of other assorted damage. Although at first glance the car looked absolutely fine, the view from below as it sat on the lift was pretty scary. Basically, it was bad enough to make the repairs exceed the cost of a 6 or 7 year old Reliant – which, I believe, constitutes “totaled”.
Oh, and the girl refused to see me again.
Driving my dad’s Mazda B2000 in snow-and-ice conditions, at age 16 or so, I downshifted gently on a steep downhill slope. My fear was that I’d lose the road if I hit the brakes enough to deal with building speed.
I did the downshift before taking off enough speed, and ditched the truck by striking an ice patch at just the wrong moment instead. I never had anybody tell me “don’t downshift in the snow,” but I’ll be wary of doing that again.
I don’t think the truck was totalled, but the Mazda dealer ended up with our old truck and insurance check, while Dad left with a new B2200.
I was going to post a holier-than-thou statement that in 43 years of driving I’ve never totaled a car. But though that’s technically true, I did wreck a car so badly I sold it for parts, as it wasn’t covered by insurance. I was Showroom Stock road racing my ’75 Alfetta sedan and spun it in the Esses at Sears Point (now Sonoma Raceway) and got T-boned by a gen-1 Civic of all things. The car was seriously bent but I actually drive it home. Very cautiously as the wind noise through all the cracks plus about a 1/2 turn of the steering wheel to make it go straight were not fun. At least I didn’t get pulled over! And it never occurred to me to take a picture. I don’t remember what happened to the Civic but no one was hurt.
The usual. Ran into a parked car while looking at my girls boobs while in H.S. It was an Audi 4000. She and her boobs were fine.
Not me but a family member was driving our ’81 Colt and while stopped at a stop sign a deer came running out of someone’s driveway and slammed into the side of the car. The passenger fender was bent into the door which was caved in from the impact. The windshield was also cracked. The insurance company wrote it off for $800, sold it back to us for $50 and then reinstated the insurance on it. A new windshield installed from the bone yard and the fender and door roughly bashed into shape put the car back in service for a few years. We junked it later due to it being really boring to drive and not a thing to do with the 500K km that were on it.
I think the deer was a little embarrassed.
I was tired, lost, hungry, and there was some mid-afternoon sunshine in Coastal California near ******* which were major contributors in my red light running incident. I totaled my family’s 1995 Voyager which had been in the family since new and I might have totaled the Murano, but I just clipped the rear corner. If I had swerved at the last moment I would not have flipped the Voyager going less than 10MPH, if the Murano’s driver had gone just a bit faster things would not have been so bad, and the other two lanes of traffic (sedans I think) saw me coming, but the Murano’s driver turned left anyway. If the radiator filler neck was on the other side it would not have been pushed into the battery and gotten broken. We actually bought the Voyager back from the insurance company, dropped insurance to the bare minimum (could not have uninsured vehicles on the property), and for several months I used it as a “mobile” storage unit since while it probably was not cheaper than an actual storage unit it sure was handy having my belongs stored right outside my dorm plus the security company was more trust worthy than some storage unit place.
I did about 18 miles of Irrigation Ditch debris removal around Boulder, Colorado about 6 years ago which sounds like what you all do minus the fire. I also removed invasive species with the assistance of a shovel, but again, no fire. Would have been interesting (amusing?) Mr. Stembridge if your friend had managed to engage the Cruise Control before bailing from the cab.
I was 16 years old and had my drivers license for a few months. Took my father’s 62 Mercury Comet sedan for a cruise to see a classmate with a friend in my passenger seat.
Grant and Mario were in a1964 Comet that his father had for sale at a small used car lot in the city.
One thing led to another and we were sliding around on the snow and ice covered parking lot of a Dominion grocery store. Back then stores were closed on Sunday so we had plenty of icy pavement to screw around on, spinning the rear wheels and counter steering every few seconds.
The fun came to an end when I rounded the rear of the store losing control at about 20 mph smacking Into a brick wall. I freaked out, my passenger was bug eyed and somewhat shocked at what had just happened. The front of the car was completely flattened and coolant poured from the radiator. My father was not impressed and told me the old Comet would not be repaired. Grant’s father offered to buy the car for $100 which my dad accepted and it was gone, just like that. Grant later told me his father straightened a few parts out, replaced some others and made a few dollars selling the sedan on his little car lot.
Not written off perhaps, but certainly written off from my life.
After some fifteen minutes
’93 Dodge Caravan. 5 mph.
We’d had a bit of an ice storm but the Mrs. insisted on going to work. She calls shortly after leaving and tells me she’s stuck. I walk up the hill, and sure enough she’s completely sideways in the road just below the top of the hill.
Well, I’m thinking I can’t leave it there, so I got in and managed to get it out and pointed downhill. And immediately became a passenger as it made its way to the big drop-off on the left side of the road. Gas, brake, steering–absolutely no effect. I might as well have been strapped in the car seat in the back.
So me and the Caravan gently slide off that drop-off right where the utility company has conspired to put a pole. 5 mph, and it bashes in the top corner of the van just behind the door.
Totaled.
5 mph.
I’ve had two vehicles “totaled”, but not by me.
Both times I was rear-ended by an idiot.
First was my 1968 Ford F-100 Long Bed…I rebuilt that straight six in a buddy’s garage…everything was beautifully painted (on the engine…the body had been painted by the previous owner “Competition Orange”…with a paintbrush. The “manager” of the band I was in at the time rear-ended me at a 4-way stop in 1985. Insurance company “totalled” the truck. I got a check for $1,500 and they took the truck away forever.
The second was the absolutely pristine (even at the age of 17 years old) 1976 Bonneville 2-door coupe w/”opera roof”…white over deep burgundy. Drunk redneck from the dance-hall down the street from where I worked rear-ended me while I was stopped at a left-turn light on my way home from work at 2:30 a.m. Insurance company only wanted to give me $700 for the Bonneville, even tho’ it had been garaged all its life, and was still just cherry, inside and out. Adjuster took pity on me and allowed me to invoke the “extra $1,000 for mental anguish”, so they wrote me a check for $1,700, and the Bonnie sat in my dad’s back yard for about five years until he sold it out from under me for $600.
Sigh.
the most embarrassing one (but not the only one!) was totaling my 71 Chrysler 300 two weeks after getting it.
had been driving a 68 ford with a 302. the 300 had a 440 tnt v-8. came around a gravel corner that most of us in the area used to practice our power slides on. BIG difference powersliding a 302 ford and a 440 Chrysler. rolled the 300 into a 2 1/2 ton ball.
unbeknownst to my dad I had talked my mom into financing it as I was underage.
18 monthly payments to the bank did I mention I didn’t put full insurance on it as I had financed a stereo for the car and couldn’t afford the extra insurance payments and the stereo. priorities guys!
the old man was not pleased. parked the remains beside the garage and guaranteed if I valued my life I would be making every payment.
friends mom took pity and gave me her crapped out 72 pinto instead of trading it.
so there I was driving a pinto, making monthly payments on lawn art for a year and a half. and oh yes, the stereo was purchased to fit a Chrysler not a pinto. so it stayed in my room till it was paid for and I got my next car.
I feel your pain….
If my memory is correct, that car only weighed 2-1/4 tons at most. It was a sleeper with that engine because it looked much much heavier than it was. A Cadillac or Lincoln of the same size would’ve weighed around 3 tons.
My first car was a 69 newport 2door with hotrodded 440 putting out approx 400 horsepower. It won many rolling start drag races because its size inspired over-confidence in the opponent.
Not totalled, but high on the stupid scale… I drove my Pathfinder into a fire hydrant a few months ago.
I was selling at a hamfest, and had just finished loading up. There were a bunch of cars parked near the door to the building that were loading, so I figured I’d just drive across a small strip of grass to get out… not noticing that there was a fire hydrant on the grass.
The fire hydrant was fine. I still haven’t gotten the car fixed.
Hazards in grass can be sneaky. I was driving my wife’s Alero through a patch of grass while leaving an acquaintance’s residence, as there was a car blocking the driveway, and the car bottomed out over an obstacle and I felt something hit hard up front. Pulled the rest of the way out into the street, suspension and steering seemed fine, figured maybe it took the hit on the frame.
No, what I had hit was a half-buried railroad tie, and it holed the transmission pan. Lucky I stopped for gas about a mile down the road and noticed the smoke before it destroyed the box….
Hazards in plain sight can be worse. I worked for an engineering firm in college, and our third-floor window overlooked an intersection about ⅔ up a fairly steep hill. A semi pulling a flatbed trailer loaded with plate steel stopped at the light one afternoon, and when he started back up, his load slipped right off the back of the trailer.
We were watching things with great interest when a guy in a Datsun came flying up the hill, not paying attention, and ran right into the pile of steel, instantly dumping his oil sump contents all over the road.
Also watched a lady in a Toyota drive right into the back of a loaded dump truck one afternoon. Again, not paying attention.
Both these were pre-cell phone days, too.
I have totaled 2 cars since I got my license in 1972. Both were from running stop signs. Once by me, once by the other driver. The one I ran was about 6 month’s after I started driving. I was working for a pizza parlor and our restaurant had run out of flour to make pizza dough for the crust. Boss sent me over to another location to pick up a 50 lb bag from another parlor he owned. I drove my ’66 Beetle and on the way back I didn’t see the sign because a pickup with a cab over camper was parked next to it blocking my view. At the last second I saw the street markings too close to stop so I floored it and got T boned (driver side) by a ’71 Mercury Capri. The Bug spun a 360 and jumped the curb onto a houses front lawn and stopped by the front door. The back seat of the VW was bent into a U shape and the flour bag exploded on impact. I still had my pizza apron on and looked like a ghost covered head to toe in white flour. I got out the passenger side and it opened just as the guy in the house opened his door, we were about 6 feet apart. I was unhurt except for bruises from the door panel and 3 point seat belt. The 3 people in the Capri went through the windshield and were in the hospital for a few days. My insurance company, after I told them I was driving my car on the clock for the pizza company went after their insurance. When my boss discovered this he promptly fired me.
Terrific stories ! .
Keep ’em coming .
-Nate
In May 1971, I was on my way to my high school graduation. I lost my concentration for a moment and went right through a red light, hit a car, and took my 1941 Chevy out of commission. Quite a learning experience! My 1962 Valiant (that replaced the Chevy) got totaled a few years later by someone who failed to yield the right of way, and I’ve been rear-ended a few times at low speed. But never anything like that first accident, and my fault to boot.
Head on collision with a pickup truck. My fault. I was reading the back cover of a VHS movie tape and not paying attention to where I was going. My car was OBLITERATED!
I did not wear a seat belt and did not go through the windshield. For some reason, my body was pressed like a pancake onto the ceiling of the car instead of being hurled through the windshield. I was young and extremely fit and wasn’t hurt. I remember upon hitting the ceiling, my head was bent sideways and my ear touching my shoulder and my feet hit the ceiling too. Never sought medical attention but felt pretty sore all over my entire body the next day…and for weeks after.
Decades later I had a serious neck injury and got X-rays and MRIs. They told me I had a non-serious neck fracture that was not dangerous, unlike the last time.
I said “what last time?!”
They told me I had a seriously broken neck in the past that had healed and that it was the kind of break that causes permanent paralysis from the neck down or even death. All I can figure out is that I broke my neck in that car accident and never realized it.
Oh, that Sir, takes the prize. Scary stuff.
Touch wood, I’ve not totalled a car but my oldest brother gratefully accepted a VE Valiant with a freshly rebuilt /6 for a country posting. He was then in his mid 20s and newly licensed – he’d never needed a car before. Less than a week later he ran off a rural road at speed and end over ended the Val. Ambulance service looked at the car and the belts and said he shouldn’t have walked away. They did have to get glass out of him but that was all. Next thing, he calls asking to borrow another car until a replacement could be found. So off he drove with a very presentable 318 VG VIP and while he had it he was repeatedly asked if he wanted to sell it! These people were nowhere to be found when I needed to some years later.
I’ve rarely sold cars and always hated the experience – that’s a topic for another thread, though.
…always had a certain kind of respect for the big slant six with 3 on the tree transmission in those Valiants and other chrysler products including pickups.
It wasn’t the same kind of respect I had for a hotrod or a motorcycle or a huge luxury car. It was the kind of respect one has for a thing that just works…and keeps on working. Like a frigidaire refrigerator, or a maytag washing machine, or a schwinn bicycle, or a curtis mathes television or a snapper lawn mower or a milwaukee electric hand drill
Funny thing about that accident…
it happened right next to a small gas station. The guy in the pickup was ok. I asked him if we could walk together into the gas station and call my dad to come get us both and leave the cops out of it if I would hand him my insurance card and admit fault . He agreed. My dad showed up and the three of us pushed the two wrecks off the road using my dad’s car. As he was giving my dad directions to his house, the cops showed up demanding answers. I told the cops briefly that it was my fault and we had it under control and cops weren’t needed or wanted. They didn’t like me much for that and wrote me a ticket and then slapped 48 hour warning stickers on both wrecked vehicles and left after lecturing me that failing to report an accident is itself a crime. The other guy did not want to talk to the cops at all and refused assistance from them. My dad drove him home. I had my car in the driveway in under 12 hours and the pickup was gone before mine was.
This was 3 to 4 decades ago. Times have changed a lot since then. Now days no one would ever consider admitting fault at the scene and no one would ever consider leaving the scene without a police report.
I’ve only totaled one vehicle but I’ve had 3 totaled by rednecks in jacked up pickups. The one I totaled was at Atlanta Dragway about 30 years ago. My right rear slick blew at the high end of a pass and I tagged both guard rails about 4 times each at 110 MPH.
I have totalled two cars, both from having someone pull out or make a left turn in front of me, so not really embarrassing.
Embarrassing was when on a cold day with snow-packed roads, 16 year old me decided it would be cool to drive down the street with the speedo registering 100 mph. Just jam the gas and watch that needle go, ha ha. At least it was funny until the car started going sideways. The funny was really gone when I hit a fire hydrant with the left rear wheel. Had the car not been Mom’s 2 year old Luxury LeMans sedan, it might have been totalled. As you might guess, this version contains more details than the one I told my mother all those years ago.
And from what I have seen, none of us can touch this poor guy who set his gas-laden pickup on fire. Owwwwww!
100mph on snow??
I assume you had never lost traction on snow while yourself behind the wheel then. My first lesson in poor traction came in a rain storm. Hydroplaning scared me so bad I turned into a paranoid grandma when my first ice storm came along.
Just 100 at the speedo, John. Wildly spinning wheels but not much speed.
ah
well that is slightly less dumb I guess. Teenagers eh?
My first car(69 chrysler newport 2door with hotrodded 400HP 440) could spin the rear wheels up to 100MPH on clean dry pavement so I never once considered trying it on snow.
While not my own, the story of burning up the pickup reminds me of a story I heard years ago.
I don’t remember exactly where this took place but the local fire dept which was mainly volunteer was having their annual picnic for the fire fighters and their families. They had all parked their vehicles in a grassy field in late summer, and they proceeded to go down near the river or someplace away from where they had parked. Apparently the catalytic converter on one of the cars started some of the long dry grass on fire. By the time they noticed the smoke the field was fully engulfed and if I remember correctly that included the fire truck which they were unable to get to. So they had to sit by and watch all their cars burn.
Similar story. The fire chiefs burnt up BMW was towed to the dealership I worked at in Southern California. They were having a fire department picnic and he parked it in the grass and the hot convertor caught it on fire. They were able to keep the damage down to just his car. Don’t imagine that did much for the Chief’s ego. This happened around 1996.
I recall an episode of “COPS” where a chase ended up in a field and the pursuing officer’s Crown Vic’s converters lit a grass fire, completely consuming said Vic. Happened in Montana IIRC.
My girl friend of the time received a beautiful powder blue 69 Chevelle for her high school graduation present in 1972. That evening we were out running from party to party, and of course she was driving her pride and joy. Well, somewhere after midnight we were racing along a country gravel road, going (ahem) a bit too fast, considering it was raining and she slid out of control, and went off the road and down a hillside, rolling the car twice befor it stopped, passenger door down, roof against a tree. Since no one wore seat belts in 1972, we were in a huddle with her on top of me. Realizing how much trouble she was in(I assume) she panicked and literally became hysterical. I tried to calm her and get her to roll down the driver’s window so we could climb out, but she was truly incoherent. I reflected for a moment, and did something I had never done before and have never done since – I slapped her in the face! Amazingly it worked. She stared at me in shock, but she was back in control, and we were able to roll down the window and climb out. We actually stayed together for another year before we parted ways
Haven’t, Wrecked. One. Yet.
Having a bit of a puritanical guilt complex, I’m embarrassed that I made a profit off being “totaled”. I had purchased an elderly relative’s ’93 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham for $2000. I drove it for 11 months and disliked everything about it except for the gas mileage. In the 11th month, a woman rear ended me. This loosened the steel cladding along the lower fenders, slightly scratched the fender filler, and pushed in the rear bumper. Her insurance company estimated the damage at at least $1800 and totaled the car for $2500. I got a check, had the damage fixed for $250 and, seeing my moment, sold the car for $1750. This is why car insurance is expensive.
I managed to do the same, quite inadvertently. Bought a ’91 Ford Crown Victoria for $1800 in 2001. Thought it to be a pretty good deal. Drove it for about six months, at which point an electrical short caused an engine fire, totaling the car. The insurance check? $2800, and that’s with a deduction for the vinyl roof being in poor condition. I guess that $1800 I paid actually *was* a pretty good deal! $1000 profit off six months of ownership.
Did that too 🙂 . Totalled my ’95 Grand Marquis back in ’08 when a ditz in n RX350 did a U turn in my path. Needed a car quickly so I jumped on a ’97 Escort with a bad p/s pump for $200.00, including a pump that I needed to install. Got mildly side-swiped by a Town Car a couple of months late and got a check for $1100.00 from the lady’s insurance co. and got to keep the car 🙂 . Sold it a couple of months later for $1100.00 after buying another Panther.
I’ve totaled one car, mostly because it was 15 years old when I was in a small fender bender….I bought it back from the insurance company and drove it for a few more years.
It didn’t happen to me, but the most embarassing story I’ve heard about totaling a car happened to a (young at that time) co-worker, and he wasn’t driving at the time…he had ordered his first new car, and parked his existing car (same brand) outside the dealer lot after hours, anxious to see if his new car had arrived…unfortunately, he forgot to put the parking brake on, or leave the car in gear…the car rolled backward, somehow doing a u turn in the middle of a busy 6 lane road, and came back and crashed into the front line of cars at the same dealership…when he came into work the next day, he was understandably crestfallen…somehow he was able to patch things up with the dealer (not sure how it was settled) but he did end up with his new car even after that, though I doubt they gave him much of a trade-in on what was left of his car.
A steep downhill curvy street with ice so slippery you could barely stand up much less walk on it helped me do my only total. I was going downhill and really there were no possible control inputs that would have prevented me from crossing centerline and smacking head-on a car which must have gotten that far up the hill by sheer momentum. It was a good lesson on realizing the importance of avoiding treacherous situations in the first place whenever possible.
Not mine, but my mother’s second husband had his ’66 Mustang T-boned by a Honda 750 motorcycle, and the car lost! The rider flew over the top and landed softly in some bushes, but the Mustang was hit right at the firewall. Being “just an old car” at the time, it wasnt worth fixing.
I say this with no pride whatsoever: I totaled not one but TWO cars while driving under the influence. The second time I did it while driving into a construction zone and ripping out the bottom of the car over 7 concrete anchors, right in front of two PA State Police officers.
After it happened I wanted to curl into a ball and die right there in the prison. Instead, I am now 4 1/2 years sober, and while still paying the price financially my life is a million times better than it was when I was on the sauce. Nevertheless, it will haunt me for the rest of my days, if only with the knowledge of what could have been. I need only close my eyes and I can relive it with perfect clarity.
Suffice it to say that it’s a rare accident indeed that could be more humiliating than that.