What Car Did You Crash as a Teen?

[thstone]

The one thing almost all of us have in common besides our Boxsters is CRASHING A CAR AS A TEEN!

This subject came up in another thread and I thought it might be entertaining to hear some stories from back in the day (if you're older) or maybe fairly recently (if you're younger). Tell us the car year, make, and model along with the circumstances.

Also, hoping no one was seriously injured. This is meant to document a rite of passage into adulthood not be a gorefest.

[Frodo]

In the late 1970's I had a '74 metallic blue VW Super Beetle---loved that car, so nimble and fun to run through the gears. Was driving home in the wee hours of the night, buzzing along at 70 mph or better when the rain hit, coming down in buckets. Hadn't had the car very long, and don't believe I had ever driven in a driving rain like I was experiencing that night.

Unwisely, I didn't slow my pace...it was late and I was tired, and had 20 miles or more to home. Came upon a stretch of beautiful, new smooth black asphalt, straight as an arrow...and inundated with a lot of rain water. Predictably (in hindsight), the car hydroplaned and started into a spin. Didn't panic, made the proper steering correction to straighten her out...and she just kept going. (The lightness of the car, the short wheelbase and the engine in back all conspired against me.) Made 2 or 3 complete rotations during which, initially, I was still careening down the middle of the empty road. My luck didn't hold, however, and next thing I knew I heard wet weeds and other roadside foliage slapping against the side of the car. Half a second later I smacked into an unforgiving cedar tree (I even remember what kind of tree!) at the driver-sde A-pillar, smacking my head off the side window in the process.

I was fine, but my beloved Beetle was a goner. Hitch-hiked home in the rain (actually got a ride at 2:00 a.m.---what a different time that was!) and drove back in the morning, with my not-so-happy father, to view the carnage. It was not a fun day.

BTW, I was no longer a teenager at this point (more like early 20's)...but I still sort of drove like one!

[bmcuscgr94]

I'm 16-17 driving an early 70's Ford F100 pickup coming back from basketball practice going up a hill 5 miles from home in the late evening. There's a steer on the edge of the road who decides to panic and bolts towards me. I've got nowwhere to turn due to steep drop off on one side and steep bank on the other. Brake hard but its too late. Steer and I hit head on, kill's steer, takes out front of pickup-radiator, most of the suspension, bumpers, one fender. We're ok.
Witness in car behind me is the daughter of the family that own's the steer and her grandfather is my insurance agent. She goes ahead home and calls my dad and gets her dad and tells them both that the crazy steer charged and she was suprised I didn't swerve off the road trying to avoid it. Her dad gets a couple of their ranch hands and they haul the steer off and save the good parts for a bbq.

[AndyA6]

18 years old, driving a 1303 "S", loong road trip, visit a girlfriend, moving on to get home. In the middle of winter, roads covered in ice and snow, I did not pay attention -or just too tired- and rear ended a Mercedes. It was a very small dent in the bug and nothing to see at the Mercedes' bumper. The driver of the Benz got out, looked and told me to move on. Only thren I realized that he just rear ended another car.....! Lucky me!

So, not really a wreck but at least some story

A year later a lady drove into my beloved bug, rebuilt rear.

[jwade]

I was 16 and was handed a brand new red '90 Mustang GT Convertible..

Had barely rolled over 5000 miles late that fall on my way to school during a heavy rain.

Was making a left hand turn in an area I drove every day, and two pregnant miltary women (did that to stay out of the Gulf war I might add) were crusing the opposite direction at nearly double the posted limit of 35mph and no lights on.

I broke traction in the turn due to very slippery conditions plus having a 5 speed tranny.

The Izuzu Imark the women were driving nailed me on my passenger side, then it spun me in a 720 and I ended up crashing into a late 60's T-bird...

I remember that wreck like it was yesterday...Just a damn tragedy....I loved that car!

[tonycarreon]

had just gotten my license 2 days prior...

my friends and i were going to band camp (keep the snark down!) and decided to visit a music store (sheet music, not CDs) on the way. came to an intersection and started making a left-hand turn. it was then i saw the motorcycle coming at me. he slammed into the front passenger quarter panel and pretty much made the car non-movable due to the metal pushing down on the tire. i had a green light and he had a green light so technically i was at fault, but i later learned he was drunk so that's why i didn't get cited.

piece of crap 1979 buick skylark but the parent's were not happy. my dad just brought a 2x4 with him and pushed the quarter panel away from the wheel. drove it that way for a few more years until the engine stopped working.

[blue2000s]

I've never crashed a car, but did have a couple of stupid moments. I spun my 1982 rx7 twice in the first couple of years that I had it in 1990.

First was when I hit a puddle of water from a broken sprinkler head while going around a left sweeping corner. The car did a 360 up onto the curb at the outside of the turn stopping about a foot from a tree. Bent a wheel. Amazing how tough the suspension on a 2400 pound car can be.

The second was from making a right turn at an intersection with some amount of excessive throttle application. The road had sand on it (Colorado uses sand on the snowy roads in the winter instead of salt, it's like ball bearings when the roads are dry) and the car did a 180 in the middle of the road. Scared the crap out of a lady in a Minivan going the other way. No damage that time.

I still have the car 20+ years later. It's still the most fun car I've ever driven.

[thstone]

My first car was a 1973 Toyota mini-pickup truck bought used in 1979. On my way to high school one morning right in front of the school, I look down for second, traffic stops and I rear end the car in front of me. Bumper, fender, hood, and radiator damage. I push it across the street to a repair shop and walk to school red-faced.

The truck gets fixed. I loan it to my girfriend, she hits a car. It gets fixed again. I loan it to my sister, she hits a car. It gets fixed again. I loan it to my brother...yes, he hits a car. It gets fixed again.

Then I give the truck to my dad when I go to college. He drives it for 15 years with no incidents whatsoever. Then, he gives the truck to my nephew and ....wait for it...yes, he hits another car. It gets fixed again. My nephew loans it to his sister (my neice) and she hits another car. It gets fixed again.

My sister and brother-in-law still own the truck its running just fine after almost 30 years, 6 crashes, and 240,000 miles.

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by thstone

My first car was a 1973 Toyota mini-pickup truck bought used in 1979. On my way to high school one morning right in front of the school, I look down for second, traffic stops and I rear end the car in front of me. Bumper, fender, hood, and radiator damage. I push it across the street to a repair shop and walk to school red-faced.

The truck gets fixed. I loan it to my girfriend, she hits a car. It gets fixed again. I loan it to my sister, she hits a car. It gets fixed again. I loan it to my brother...yes, he hits a car. It gets fixed again.

Then I give the truck to my dad when I go to college. He drives it for 15 years with no incidents whatsoever. Then, he gives the truck to my nephew and ....wait for it...yes, he hits another car. It gets fixed again. My nephew loans it to his sister (my neice) and she hits another car. It gets fixed again.

My sister and brother-in-law still own the truck its running just fine after almost 30 years, 6 crashes, and 240,000 miles.

I take it the brakes aren't it's strong suite?

[Jaxonalden]

The year was 1982;

There I was, 17 years old in a '69 Baja bug I built. 1835cc, coming home late from working as a doorman at the movie theater, late in December, Northern Wisconsin. Fresh 6" snowfall on the road and I'm the only one on the road.

To make my mark in the powder I started fish tailing all the way down the road (looked really cool ), throwing rooster tails. I cross a two lane bridge (separates the U.P. of Michigan from Wisconsin) 1 mile before my home. That's when the idea hits me, make a doughnut on the bridge!! I come to a stop right in the middle, pulling to the right side. Shift into second gear and pop the clutch, round I go making a snow fog in the process. On my third or fourth circle I lost track of where I was and BANG! I found the edge of the bridges elevated concrete sidewalk with the back tire. :ah:

The right rear tire was cocked at a 45 degree angle. I quickly got the hell out of there driving the 1 mile to the house...with my rear end tracking to the right like I had crab steering. That, in it self, made some cool tracks in the snow too. Car was down about a week until I changed the half shaft and bent suspension torsion arm. :dance:

Damn that was fun.

[schnellman]

I think it's funny that this thread asks which car did you crash as a teen, and not did you crash a car as a teen. I guess I'm in good company.

At 17 I had a '58 Ford with a 390 police interceptor. Three on the tree which I quickly converted to a three speed stick with the help of a JC Whitney adapter kit. Also put on an exhaust cut out with a cable connector located on the floor next to my seat. One night on the way home from a school dance I over estimated my ability to stop on a wet road and put the car into the ditch along with a couple of wooden guard rails. You might know the next car to come along was my girl friend's father (with my girl friend in his car). He stopped to offer assistance. My best friend for life who was riding with me quickly stepped up and said he was driving. One problem averted. The car only suffered a bent bumper and a broken tail light which it got when we pulled it out of the ditch. I can't believe that despite the lack of seat belts no one was hurt.

[Dale_K]

I crashed several times as a teen.

First crash was a 64 VW bus with 6 guys in it. Ran into the back of a GTO when he changed his mind about running a yellow light. He got a tire iron out of the trunk but became very friendly after all 6 guys came out of the bus.

Second time was an autocross at the University of Maryland in a 67 Opel. I totally cleared all the cones but the course was setup by amateurs and I was going so fast through the last cones I couldn't stop without hitting a parked 57 Mercury.

Then in 1968 in the same Opel I was coming home from a date at about 3am. The newspaper delivery guy was servicing his route from the oncoming direction. Instead of gong back and forth down the road, he would cross into the oncoming lane to get the paperbox on the left side of the road. He did this on a blind downhill curve and I was kind of surprised when I crested the hill and saw a pair of headlights in my lane. So I went into the shoulder. But so did he and we hit head on about 3 feet off the road, right next to the homeowner's mailbox. Actually this was the only wreck that wasn't my fault. He got a ticket for driving on the wrong side of the road.

[The Radium King]

toyota corolla gts. 83 or 84-ish. went around a corner too fast, rear end kicked out into the other lane and nicked a light pole on the far shoulder. flipped me upside down and i slid 100 yards on my roof. got knocked unconscious, came-too upside down, hanging from my seat belts. turned the car off (it was still running) undid the belt and fell to the roof. passed out again, only to wake up to a big black pair of shoes telling a crowd of onlookers that there was nothing more to be done for me; i was a goner. proved him wrong by crawing out with nothing more than a knock on the head. toyota engineers are geniouses; cops are idiots.

[Trinidad at Pelican Parts]

Crashed my first car a Datsun 240Z twice in one year, I was 15 at the time. Got T-Boned (Passenger Side) once by a car who ran a red light. Second accident totalled the car, a cement truck decided it would be a good idea to change lanes suddenly without any warning. The tires of the truck went over the front end of the car.

[Frodo]

Originally Posted by trinidadatPelican

Crashed my first car a Datsun 240Z twice in one year, I was 15 at the time. Got T-Boned (Passenger Side) once by a car who ran a red light. Second accident totalled the car, a cement truck decided it would be a good idea to change lanes suddenly without any warning. The tires of the truck went over the front end of the car.

Do you paint targets on your cars when you get them??

Amazing that the T-boning didn't total it...it took a cement truck. Somehow, Datsun (Nissan) should incorporate that into a TV ad...speaks volumes on their cars' durability and crash-test safety.

[Trinidad at Pelican Parts]

Originally Posted by Frodo

Do you paint targets on your cars when you get them??

Amazing that the T-boning didn't total it...it took a cement truck. Somehow, Datsun (Nissan) should incorporate that into a TV ad...speaks volumes on their cars' durability and crash-test safety.

LOL, no. I just had terrible luck with that car. But if I did it paint a target on it would make more sense to me.