A couple of months ago I sold my friend a 53 Ford making this his first old car.He has learned alot of stuff working on this car so far.In the last month we lowered it ,shaved the door handles,nosed it and decked it.I stood over him and helped guide him while he did most of the work himself.This friend of mine is a local police officer and he decided to drive the car to work last night.Well I get a phone call at about midnight and it was him telling me that he had been in a wreck.He was about a block from the police station and going over a very tall overp*** doing about 30mph (in a 30mph zone) when a drunk ***** in a ford focus rearended him doing aprox. 65-70 mph.She never even saw him and didn't know what had happened after the wreck.The impact knocked the 53 sideways and in to the guardrail also destroying the front end sheetmetal.Luckily his was all right ,pretty banged up but alright.To make matters worse the ***** didn't have a lick of insurance!! Before pic After pic
Damn, that is sickening! I can't believe the woman survived that impact, it looks like the frame and springs are all bent up under the Ford. That takes a helluva hit to do that, 'specially with a Focus! I have a cop friend who was rear ended by a drunk woman while he was driving the DARES car; she got out and was mad at the cop!!!
This would be a perfectly good reason for "use of excessive force" on the part of your police officer friend. Glad to hear that he is alright....hope he has insurance, and i hope she gets put away for a long *******ed time, before she kills somebody....Man! That **** just pisses me off! If I am ever in the unfortunate cir***stance of being hit by a drunk, I don't give a **** if I'm pinned in the car...I will find a way to get out and they will have their *** handed to them...Must of been pretty tough for you buddy not to just unload on her...he's the better man because of it...sorry about the rant...Sometimes this **** just irritates my stomach lining
There's a lawsuit and a half. I ***ume he's okay? No headrest plus no belts (unless you added some) could be trouble. The one time I really messed up a car, I didn't even feel it until the next day, then I could just about move my neck. Sounds like he got two impacts out of this, was it me I'd be a little worried about whiplash. That can be rebuilt, though. Worst damage is the folded in rear frame rails... but even that's fixable. He could either use it as an excuse to go wilder on the car - maybe change the rear quarters - or just find another shell that doesn't run and part this out for it. I could see working in some other fenders to the back of it, although I'd want another '53 for the section behind the door. I guess the main thing would be to see how far the frame is out of whack and if it can be pulled back on a machine. My only thought is Barris built the Golden Sahara mostly because the Lincoln he started with, got wrecked... why not follow the example? Wonder how the Focus came out...
This is a perfect example of why everyone should carry the optional "uninsured/ underinsured" insurance your company offers. Mine costs an extra 3 bucks a month. It takes some of the stress out of something like this where the other guy has no insurance.
In my younger days I was a wrecker driver. I worked the night shift mostly. A lot of the times when a drunk hit another car, the drunk was not even injured. Too drunk to react .. And a high percentage of the time, they had been in wrecks before or were driving under suspension and without insurance. There was 1 guy who had been in about 10 wrecks in less than a 3 year period. He was a lawyer and kept out of jail by getting the trials postponed and stuff. He died...without going to jail, but he killed two innocent people ( and himself ) during the Christmas holidays with a real bad wreck...that he caused.. I had my 40 Ford coupe hit almost that bad...from the rear. But he was sober and had insurance. Hope you policeman friend sues.....and WINS..... .
The lady in the focus wasn't hurt at all.Luckily he has uninsured motorist but it is still going to be a fight with the insurance company Im sure.The car it not fixable.The rear frame is folded over and the front frame horns and sheetmetal are buckled and pulled over about 6-7 inches and it buckled the roof all the way across.It pulled the window frame down from around the rear window far enough to put your hand completely inside the car from the outside.He also broke the steering wheel since he had such a tight grip on it because he say her coming in the rear view mirror.He has a cut right at his hairline and has bruises all over but he is not hurt serious.
I think part of her sentence should be dis***embling that car so all the good pieces can be salvalged. "Here you go drunk*****, a nice set of Craftsman sockets and wrenches. Over here is an engine hoist, and here are two jackstands and a floor jack. Here's a factory shop manual to figure out how most of it comes apart. Oh, and by the way, for every piece of trim or any other part you damage because you don't want to take it off the right way--we're adding a month to your jail sentence. You're under house arrest until the car is parted out to the owner's satisfaction, and then you're going to jail for X years." -Brad
Damn you ought to be a Judge. Unfortionally most of them drive new forgein **** and could care less about the time and labor a man puts into to building an old rod. Insurance companies are the same way, they just want your money and have no plans on doing you right when you suffer a loss. I lost a 66 F-100, ground up resto, balanced and blueprinted 390 with trip duce's, all complete execpt paint job. A Semi ran a red light and took everything from the firewall foward. Insurance offered $600, because of the age. I presented them with $5600 in receipts less than 3 months old. They offered $1500 and said if I didn't like it I could take them to court and maybe after 3-5 years I could get some back for the receipts.
The most important thing you can do when insuring your car is have appraised value coverage (in Canada it's called an SEF19). In the case of a wreck, with out this rider on your coverage, you get depreciated value..... next to nada. With the appraised value coverage, you get what it's worth. The cost of the rider policy is minimal............ and no I don't sell insurance either .
Hope all works out well for you. Update on my drunk *****... She got off on one DWI in Albuquerque because of a 6 month rule. If they don't convict within 6 months they get off period, so any drunk with a lawyer that can stall is going to get off. She also got off on my case with witnesses and everything. I don't know why because I was not in the courtroom and the DA will not call me back. My lawyer metioned that we will be doing a mediation in about a month. I will have no mercy on this ***** or her insurance company. Details on my situation are in a previous post. They did the same to me only offering me $1,000 for my truck that I paid $3900 for and worked on for the previous 3 months. If they don't feel like they are getting off cheap, I could have been driving a new car, then off to court we go. Good Luck
Glad your friend is ok. Can you fix the car? At least your friend is a cop, and it shouldn't be much trouble for him to get the book thrown at her. Of all the people to crash into, a cop is right up there next to judge or lawyer.
Man that ****S! I'm glad your friend is ok. Judging by the damage he's lucky. The focus has got to be one big ball of ****. Drunk driving pisses me off. He could have easily gotten killed because of her lack or responsibilty... Just think if he was pushed into on coming trafic rather than a gaurdrail.... What a dumb***!
I don't know about Texas but here in Wisconsin and the surrounding states, Uninsured/Underinsured only covers Bodily Injury. There is no coverage for damage to property. BB
Do you need another one? Bring a trailer to FL... I have a '52 4 door with a ***le he can have for $100 (What I was asking for the dash... it's all I wanted from it). the front crossmember is already for a SBF, it's a roller. I ***ume most of the running gear and interior is salvageable from the wreck, he could be up and running in a few weeks.
man this ****s! that was looking like a very nice driver. its a chance we all take when we hit the streets in our vintage tin, Iam glad your buddie was not hurt any worse, and I hope he finds another cool old ride.
Who do you guys have for an insurance company? Just so I don't have the same problems if anything should happen to me...
I hate these kind of things. She probley is mad at the cop she hit. My dad had a 66 toronado he was very proud of and a drunk hit him, no insurance. My dads company said it was an old car and only worth $500. he had that in tires. I hate seeing old iron smashed up. Mick
Good reason to have antique specific coverage on these cars. I read in the paper here a little story from the AP that some clown got off with a DWI where he'd hit and killed two pedestrians. Seems there wasn't any witnesses, just parts of his car found at the scene, so the only real evidence was his car. Except that the city sold it for s**** a couple months after they siezed it, and it was stripped and crushed - no more evidence. So I suppose it could be worse.
Don't buy new!! Bring your trailer to CA. I know where theres a running 55 Ford 2dr for $500 and a complete 53 Ford Vicky (no motor/trans) for $200 here locally. I think they're still available. Guider
The Jalopy Journal
