musings on a new MR2

My most vivid memory of the Opal GT was seeing a brand new one racing at high speed down the curvy and hilly road, Persimmon Tree Lane, near my one time home.  While standing along side the road, I first heard the little car coming with its 4 cylinder engine straining at high RPMs. Then I saw the Opal hit the highest hill on the road (which was unfortunately right after the longest flat section of the road). The front of the car launched itself at a 40 degree angle off of the hill's apex.  Then sailed more than 100' in the air with nary a wheel on the road. 

Somewhere while the car was still in the air, the teen aged driver panicked and both stood on the brakes and slightly turned the steering wheel away from dead center.

Then the Opal GT slammed down down front wheels first.

As the car hit, it did a deadly "Tuck and Roll" and flipped upside down while still going well over 70 MPH. The top of the Opal immediately crunched down to the seat tops and all of the windows blew out like something out of a Quentin Tarantino movie.

With a roar like a jet airplane taking off with it's afterburners on, the car crashed off of multiple trees alongside both sides of the road.

By the time the car stopped moving, radiator fluid, blood, and engine oil were all pouring out of automotive shell probably 4 times larger than what you see after a car goes through a auto recycler crusher.  Smoke also started to slowly lift from the car's tortured remains. Luckily, there was no fire.

The local rescue squad shut down the entire two lane road and spent more than 4 hours working with "The Jaws of Life" to extract the absolutely pancaked remains of the two male teenagers who had been riding in the new car.

The entire scene was surreal and I my memory of the accident today is a vivid as it was nearly 50 years ago.

Oh, that was a long time ago. think they were essentially a reskinned Opel kadet, or at least the drivetrain was same, which wasn't a bad little car. Both sold here by Buick. They were not that well received if I recall, at least around Detroit, way too small.  And the more you study it, it looks like they tried to shoehorn too much styling into such a small package.

@not-2-old-for-2-seater

Great read. So descriptive that I could visualize the event.   

That is something I think I would like to forget. Or at least just have a foggy memory of. 

Witnessing fatal car wrecks is like being in a war; the experience is burned into your soul.  Also trying to actively forget out those traumas, IMHO, only gives them more power and makes them worse.

Posted by: @not-2-old-for-2-seater

Witnessing fatal car wrecks is like being in a war; the experience is burned into your soul.  Also trying to actively forget out those traumas, IMHO, only gives them more power and makes them worse.

I cant agree more.  Being in one or two accidents in my case has changed me for the better.  

The first one shook me up pretty bad where I lost control of what I was doing as emergency personal arrived and the tow truck guy completely taken advantage of the situation however the officer was a saint.  

The second time around I wasn't the driver but in that fog I was able to take a toddler out of the back seat and rescue the other kid but the door was stuck so he had to come out of the blown out window because of the impact.  People in the  cars behind me were able to drag out the mom in the drivers seat as the ambulance arrived.  

I was in a daze as before but I got my stuff together because I have been there before and was able to handle the rest of the situation.  The guy that hit us is lied big time in his statement and it was sorted out thanks to witnesses and an investigator. I didn't know it at the time but when the police was taking statements in the hospital  in retrospect they were cleverly siding with the guy that hit us and the report was trying to lean in that direction. In edition  to this one of the paramedics was saying inappropriate things to the mother as she was screaming in pain. I didn't know what was going on because I had the kids to look after but after the fact the guy looked like a scumbag as he came up to me smiling for some weird reason. 

My advise to everyone is to write down a check list of all the stuff you need because you will not be thinking straight. Don't talk too much and take many pictures. You will be surprised how much stuff people mess up and try to take advantage in a  situation of crisis just because they can for their own sick pleasure   so be prepared to fight even though people seem helpful don't trust anyone, stay reserved so they know you mean business.  

There is something in the human condition that brings out psychopathic personalties where some behave like a pack of dogs.  

I imagine in war its the same way.