These almost 34 year old Polaroids are of a Vega that attempted a left turn in front of a 1973 pre-production Pangra. The diver of the Pinto was me. The Pinto, after it's encounter with the Vega, had NO straight body panels, 5 flat tires, NO unbroken glass & a very injured driver (me).
The Pinto was to have been delivered to Huntington Ford the following Monday (I think that this accident occurred on a Sunday afternoon-maybe a Saturday afternoon-my memory fails me).
Very shortly after this unfortunate incident the Pangra Program (as a turnkey car) had it's plug pulled.
I remember you mentioning this story in the past but the Pic's add to the effect..WOW.
Sad thing is I look at those pic's and wish I had those Firestone Wide oval tires....
FrankBoss
:accident:
It really was an unfortunate event. I'm glad that nobody was killed. I was traveling at about 80 mph and remember seeing the car in the left turn lane and beginning to turn across my lane. Everything was in slow motion and I remember saying to myself "Oh shizod..this is going to hurt" and then everything went black.
I woke up to an officer moving my arm, my right ankle/foot was trapped between the trans tunnel @ the accelerator pedal & the left wheel house sheet metal/left tire wheel combo that had been shoved into the drivers compartment and my head had broken out the passenger window after taking out the steering wheel with my left eye socket and sterum.
I took out a traffic signal control box, a traffic signal pole that reached out over two lanes of road and stopped after slamming into the corner of a house and knocking onto his living room floor a guy who lived there and was watching TV at the time.
My girlfriend (whom I had dropped off about 15 minutes earlier) heard the collision from about 1/2 mile away.
The Pinto literally was destroyed and before I was released from the hospital it had been "disposed" of. To put it politely; the sh*t hit the fan.
It seems that when we are young and 'invincible' we don't really understand the consequences of our actions. I learned the hard way that driving fast on the street is a losing proposition.
I don't know if there are any photos in existence of the Pinto.
Quote from: FCANON on February 06, 2008, 10:36:49 PM
I remember you mentioning this story in the past but the Pic's add to the effect..WOW.
Sad thing is I look at those pic's and wish I had those Firestone Wide oval tires....
FrankBoss
Hey Frank,
Y would you wany those tires???
They are probally all rotted and cracked with age... ;D
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270208595886&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=017
Bill
Thats a story worth publishing...and it so true a blink of the eye and the future was changed...Its still good your around to share. Thanks for the Pics
FrankBoss
Wow SRT, glad to hear that you made it out of that. I hope some of our members learn from that (Thomas). Hate to have to re-restore another car (Thomas). Thats odd though, a how old was the Vega? 71?72? I thought they all rusted away after 4-5 months? That one sure did withstand a punch. Was that while you were working for Ak? Are you going to fab fords this year?
Quote from: Pintopower on February 12, 2008, 06:36:05 PM
Wow SRT, glad to hear that you made it out of that. I hope some of our members learn from that (Thomas). Hate to have to re-restore another car (Thomas). Thats odd though, a how old was the Vega? 71?72? I thought they all rusted away after 4-5 months? That one sure did withstand a punch. Was that while you were working for Ak? Are you going to fab fords this year?
The Vega was a '72 IIRC. It had just it's nose sticking into the lane I was in and when I hit it the Pinto just ran over the front end from the right front corner to the left windshield pillar area. The lady was bruised up but nothing broken. The good part is that her kid (who was in the car at the time) wasn't hurt at all.
I was still wowrking for Ak Millers at the time but things changed a bit after that.
I'm going to try to make it to the show this year if I can get the day off. If not I will be there before I need to play with the trains at work.
Quote from: srt on March 09, 2008, 11:24:59 AM
I'm going to try to make it to the show this year if I can get the day off. If not I will be there before I need to play with the trains at work.
Hey SRT,
What show are you refering to???