A short depressing story....

[Todge]

In preparation for the amazing Targa Baja event coming up in November, I spent quite a bit of time and effort fixing up my '75. Friday afternoon, after 4 months in the garage, it was complete. New paint, new interior, new bearings, brakes, oil, windows, windshield, the list goes on. Saturday morning, the local PCA chapter was having a group drive up to Lake Arrowhead for the Porsche timeline in conjunction with Oktoberfest. On our way out to the meet up spot, a semi truck starts to jack knife. I accelerate and try to go around to the left, however, this guy T-bones another semi truck which then sideswipes us, putting us into, and then onto the center median wall. We rode that for about 150 yards, nearly rolling over, and then came crashing down, blowing out the windshield, exploding 3 of the 4 freshly redone Fuchs, and dropping the motor from the chassis. We slid for about a 1/4 mile, before finally coming to a stop. Both me and my passenger took some glass to the face, and needed to see a doctor for the obligatory back and neck pain. I've actually been laid up on the couch for a few days on pain meds. I think it'll be totaled, but who knows.


The one AND only pic I got of it after completion.






This box truck was behind us, so had I hit the brakes, we would've faced certain death.


I did manage to grab the important things......

[stomachmonkey]

That sucks. But you are alive so......

[2porscheguy]

OUCH!!! But glad you're both well!

[nzporsche944s2]

Glad you are ok. I'm not going to be the smarta$$ that says that will buff right out but it does look repairable.

I've seen much worse than that be repaired here including a 996 GT3 that spun during a track day and the hit the barrier multiple times nose, tail, nose, tail. The repair cost NZ$37k on a car that was valued at the time at NZ$99k. So approximately one third of market value to get back on the road. So don't lose hope yet - these things are possible and if done correctly are back to factory standard. The main thing is that you still have your health.

It looks like the fender has moved inwards causing the bonnet to pop up and there has been enough chassis movement to shatter the front windscreen and of course the front suspsension. But from the photos I wouldn't think that is the end of that chassis yet...

All the best and I hope things work out for you whether its a rebuild or a payout

[jwhcars]

Cars can be replaced you can not.
Get it to your body shop it looks repairable. It also looks like the muffler got pulled off and not the engine falling out.

[DanielDudley]

Cars can be replaced. People cannot. I'm thinking you dodged a bullet there.

[KFC911]

^^^^^ I'm thinkin' .44 mag in the middle of all those huge trucks. That sucks Todge, but hopefully you're gonna be fine....and she was lookin' GOOD in that first pic too!

[Tobra]

Dude, you are plenty lucky. What made you try to go around instead of jumping the brakes? Guardian angel whispering in your ear maybe...

[pete3799]

Short depressing story is an understatement.
Glad you were not hurt much. Hope the car survives also.

[A930Rocket]

Wow! Glad to see all are well!

[crustychief]

You are vertical, that is all that matters. Sorry about your car.

[slow&rusty]

So sorry to hear and my heart goes out to you. Wow that would have been a scary minute!
I hope insurance is fair and treat you right.

[Seahawk]

Nothing depressing about your Mr. Toads wild ride. You and the car did great.

[Jerome74911S]

That was one scary story, but you are on two feet with all of your other parts still connected, so that's a good thing. Mostly, I feel sorry for the loss of all of that loving work you did on your (once) beautiful car. Makes me want to stay even farther from heavy traffic on great big roads.

[Todge]

Thanks everyone....This thread is proof why I still feel guilty about wrecking the car. This board is the best of all the car boards I'm on, and I'm just sick that I let one of these go the crusher under my watch (Yes, I know its the lowest of the low mid year, and it's not my fault, but still).

I'm going tomorrow to check it out and see what's salvageable. I'm hoping the engine brace is what compromised, and the case is still good. I've also heard from a few reliable sources, that the car might still be saved, but we'll see tomorrow. I should be thankful that I'm still alive and I am, but I am wondering about how Karma works...LOL, can you suffer through bad Karma before the good, or is it always good and then bad??? If anyone needs me, i'll be searching the For Sale forum.
Todge.

[sand_man]

I am soooo sorry this happened!!!! I'm glad your okay. And despite the car looking like a stunner (wow, some paint job), at least you'll live to do it again! My car is a daily driver. And I know, just as soon as I put it in the paint shop to fix all of the little annoying scratches and chips, some random idiot will negate all of my $$$$ work! So I've come to embrace the patina...for now!

[KevinTodd]

Holy crap!

At least you're still on two feet.