Crash

Ryan and Mike, my two sons, 18 and 14 years old at the time took the car for a little ride a few days after it came back from the upholstery shop. Ryan had been begging me to drive it for months and I told him not until it has seats and seatbelts.

Two days after Thanksgiving on a warm California November day, Ryan got his wish and drove the car for the first (and last) time. He didn’t get very far. I waved good buy to the boys and said “Be Careful” knowing full well that my words didn’t mean a damn thing. I watched as they drove away, nice and easy, I went back into the house thinking they will remember this for a long time. I wasn’t wrong about that.

Not more than 1/2 mile from home up a rural road Ryan lost control under full throttle, (not exactly the way I planned to break it in). Apparently the accelerator stuck (uh ha), this is Ryan’s story and he is sticking to it. “Dad, the accelerator was stuck on full throttle, I don’t know how it happened”; Somehow, Ryan navigated the car through a grove of redwood trees.

The torque of the engine, the car spinning around like a top and a few big boulders twisted the chassis like a pretzel; amazingly the body sustained very little damage.

Oh, the boys? They also sustained minor damage and healed long before the car did. A broken hand, cut chin, and all the other cuts scrapes and bumps that go along with this kind of crash. They lived, although, there was a period (when I first found out what happened) when they wished they didn’t.

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