Crash, bang. Part III

My dad was on his way to work this morning driving down I-85 south in his '95 Mustang. Roads were mostly clear, but just so happened there was an ice covered bridge. He crossed it in the left most lane doing about 75, car got squirrely on him, tagged the cement median, went spinning around and around across 6 lanes of traffic and some how didn't hit anyone else. Ended up in the ditch off the right hand shoulder of the interstate, very lucky it didn't roll over when it hit the ditch. We've owned this car since 2001 and it has well in excess of 300,000 miles on it, dropped the full coverage insurance on it a while back. Frame is bent in front of the strut towers, the strut on the left side was literally just ripped out of the top of the strut tower, broke the camber plate in half. Some how, the air bags actually didn't blow. Not sure what we're going to do with it right now.









I can't get the car to stay running for some reason. Had to reset the inertia switch in the trunk, but it still won't run. It just sputters, runs real rough for a few seconds and dies. Think maybe the fuel line is pinched somewhere or something. Going to mess with it more tomorrow.

 

No more sequels. Hope he is okay.

 

That sucks.... poor cars

 

that sucks Jamie. i know what it's like to total a SN95...

parts car maybe?

 

There's been a lot of the same happening over here this week, with a friend of a friend ending up dead in a creek. Just don't even think about 'black ice' down here until you're sliding across a bridge. Funny thing - I remember more moisture and the same temps many times before but not having these bridge icing problems. Must be perfect conditions this year for it. Maybe time for road departments to be allocated monies for winter road maintenance?

 

Tis the season. Slow down and live. Be careful out there everyone.

 

That's the very reason I stopped in Heflin AL Wed night! I had done heard about all the crashes on I 20 in GA, so I didn't chance it. I was in the same mess earlier in the day in north MS and north AL, it moved on east and I caught back up with it. Looks like you'll have plenty of parts for a Maverick now. Glad your Dad was OK.

 

Frame only moved about an inch, it's almost not even noticeable. Car will be fixed early next year, also have a fresh 5.0 with ported GT40 heads, Explorer intake and an F cam going in it.

 

I used to live in Lawrenceville

 

Yeah I've lived here almost 11 years.

 

Thought I'd give a update on the car. Been working on it quite a bit the past few days. Found that the rearend is bent and currently in the process of swapping it out. Hopefully will have the car drivable tomorrow so I can take it up to a local shop and get a quote on having the frame damage up front fixed.


Replacing the bent rear control arms with worn out bushings with some lightly used tubular arms...



Back end up on jack stands assessing the damage. Both wheels on the left side are destroyed, left axle shaft is bent, left caliper bracket is bent, rearend housing is bent, Lower rear control arms are slightly bent an the uppers have the bushings partially driven out of them. Don't currently know if the rotor and caliper are warped or bent.



Picked up a new rearend for 200 bucks off craigslist this evening. Came out of an '87 5.0 Thunderbird, has 3.73 gear, limited slip, all new bearings and seals. Just have to slap the disc brake stuff and 5 lug axles from the original rear over.






Got all the beat up crap pulled off the front end. Not too bad considering it slid into a cement median doing over 70 mph. The left strut tower is layed in just very slightly and the frame is pushed to the passenger side in front of the strut towers. A little time on a frame rack and it should be good to go. Will replace the strut tower brace as well.



Destroyed camber plate, torn open strut tower. Have since repaired this...



Where the frame buckled in front of the strut tower...



These are the wheels going back on it. I don't really like them as much as the ones that were on it, but for 200 bucks off craigslist it's hard to complain. Just need something to get the car back on the road for the time being.



Set the replacement fender on there just for the fun of it. It'll be multi-color for a while, but hopefully it'll be 100% back on the road in a few weeks.

 

Well, it fought me every step of the way, just tons of little nit picking things, but I finally got the new rearend and control arms and stuff in last night and drove it around the neighborhood.. it's getting there. Car drives fine, can take your hands off the wheel and it still goes straight on down the road. Going to drive it to my buddy's body shop tomorrow and get an estimate on tossing it on the frame rack and pulling the front end back straight.

 

those front tires look like they should have been re-placed a LONG time ago
no wonder it went in the ditch ,,

 

You are correct sir, and I admire your keen eye to detail ,, ,,,,

The car had 2 month old tires at the time of the wreck. The wheel and tire in that pic is part of a set of Torque Thrust II's I bought for 50 bucks. It holds air, it allowed the car to move around in the driveway.

 

so did you just put the axle shafts out of the old rear in to the fox rear?