Your First Wreck

Sorry if this has been posted. Did a search but didn't find anything up top. Figured this would be a good thread for Matterick to read.

What was your first wreck? How old were you? Whatd you learn?


My first (and only) was on a dirt road with an old pickup truck. Was going to fast and lost traction around a curve. Over corrected and next thing I knew I was on my side. Had a farmer pull the truck back over with his tractor. Not much damage. I was 16 I beleive. Only replaced the side mirror and the tail light. I feel lucky my one act of stupidty was a cheap one. Had buddy's that totaled their vehicles with their first wreck.

What's that old saying... Widsom comes from experience, and experience comes from mistakes... You just don't know what you dont know untill BAM - you're in a tree - or worse.


On a side note. Just sold that truck today in preperation for the new Maverick. Mixed feelings with that one.

 

down a straight stretch on a country road here in the county. i was flying and came up on the big curve before another stretch so i pushed it. well the tail end slung around and went into the ditch, it pulled my car into the field and i paniced a bit. i hit the gas instead of the brake, jumped the ditch and got back in the road but was going too fast to control and ended up head first, wrapped around a tree on the opposite side of the road. i was barely over 16 with just a permit.....

that was my first wreck but not my last. it totaled the car but the lesson was worth more than the car was, trust me.

ive had a fender bender since then and last but not least, i flipped and totalled my '94 GT. i wasnt going "TOO" fast but the roads were wet and my tires were bald to say the least and i hit a curve just a tad bit too fact and ended up top down in a creek. this was a hard lesson that i learned, which costed me a $7K car that only had liability on it and was only half paid for.....

there's always that old saying.... "live and learn"

 

lucky you made it out ok of the truck! i still remember that feeling when i was driving home with my dad and there was snow on the ground, i was driving really carfull (i was in the mav) and i started to pull up to an intersection and then i touched the brakes and the car started to slide! man that was scary but i got my foot out of the brake and got it back under control.

last thing i need when i get my license is to get a ticket or in a wreck. insurance would be outragous!
with my good grade discount i'll be paying 85 per month

 

were you driving a mav?

 

My one and only.76 Chrysler Cordoba I was 17.car had a 360 with a crane thunder stick cam...10:1 compression...W-2 heads and so on...needless to say it was stupid fast and didnt stop worth a s... let alone handle well.I-90 east 2:00 am coming from erie PA.Flew past a PA trooper doing 120 according to the speedo.Still had some pedal and figured the state line wasnt too far off(watched too many car chase movies as a kid) Got on the car running from ole smokey who was trying to catch me.Got a bit loose...caught the dirt on the shoulder.Car left the road hit the concrete wall of an overpass.I was ejected out the RH T top(no seat belt laws then) got tossed A!s over tea kettle.I got up and walked to the road as the trooper was pulling up.He ran to me and said..."do you know how fast you were going!!!!" I said "with or without the car" next thing I know I wake up in a hospital with 2 broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder.Dad was peeved to say the least.lesson learned.

 

in the maverick...took a turn to fast and landed in a ditch...it was the mavericks fault LOL but it was fun after i realized their was no damage

 

When i was 14 i had gotten a 86 5.0 mustang as payment for doin construction work all summer,it was nice converted to carb GT40p heads & intake 5 speed 3:73's and i put a 4-point bar and harnesses in it and no hood!!,i took it out with a buddy to around guthrie in the middle of no where to play around,found a nice little stright away dumped off the cluth at 5k spun the tires through 2nd hit 3rd was hauling ass(Speedo didnt work)when i hit 4th something caught my eye and i looked over when i looked back i was aimed at a tree so i pulled hard to the right right into a wood fence then into a brick mail box...Ripped the front end dam near clean off totaled the car gave me a concusion and whiplash and got a hell of a whoopin from my dad.and lost the car.What i learned dont be stupid lol

 

My first (only) wreck was my dad's 99 F-250 (extended cab full bed, v-10) when i was 17. I was driving home with my girl friend sitting in the center set, no seat belts (young and bullit-proof)....going 70mph on a state road, i got off into the dirt shoulder, even though i KNEW not to stomp the breaks, i did just that, while slightly jerking the wheel to get back on the road (i had all 4 tires off the highway), the front caught, sent the pickup across the highway sideways, hit the opposite ditch, and flipped... only once though... and landed on the wheels. my girlfriend ended up in the back seat... i shut of the pickup, got out, and preceded to 'freak out'... totaled the pickup and the herbiside sprayer in the bed, but that spayer probably saved us from harm since the truck rolled mostly on it. not fun and put me on bad terms with the insurance agent.

 

when 16 i had a 1976 comet 302 auto. that my dad and myself worked on to get it ready for me to drive. i had to drive an omni until the comet was done. i had a job since 14 to pay for the comet. wile in school i worked one job for 4 hours a day 4 days a week + baseball and football after school. the summer after i turned 16, i finale got to drive the comet. (drove the omni from nov. to may). i wanted to do more improvements to the car so i got a second job for the summer. job #2 was from 6am to 5pm. job #1 was from 6pm to 10pm. it sounds like a lot of hours but #2 was only for 5 weeks. half way through week 5 i stayed out to late and did not get much sleep. then i was very tired on the way to work and met a truck on a blind curve being driven by someone that was drinking all night and driving to fast. i was going 45, they were going 65-70. my eyes closed for a split second and....

 

72' Nova......speeding through an "S" turn right after a rain, ended up backwards in a ditch. Lucky for me I had just passed a guy jogging down the street right before I got to the "S"...even luckier for me he was a city police officer. Told me to wait he was calling for a squad car. The next 30 minutes I was a nervous 16 year old. They eventually helped me push the car out of the ditch...............lesson learned!

 

my god.....metal cars DO save lives....now only if we could stop using fiberglass

 

These old cars kill in serious wrecks

Good unibody frames with cheap exteriors (aka today's cars) save lives.

 

I made this thread 3 hours after my first wreck back on 11/29/05. I still feel depressed going back and reading that. The pictures that were attached to that post can now be found in my gallery. The '72 mentioned multiple times in that thread is of course the car I drive now. At the time of that thread, it looked like this though. I ended up just paying the ticket and not going to court over it, my insurance rates have finally started dropping as of this year.

Please, just ALWAYS make sure you are paying attention while driving. Before that day, my thoughts were always "I'm a very good driver, there is no way I'll ever get in a wreck". I had already driven all over the eastern united states on my beginners permit, had probably already racked up close to 50k miles before I ever got my real regular license at 16, then drove probably another 25,000 miles between 16 and 18 years of age. So I had no reason to think otherwise. But believe me, it can happen to you very easily. All's it takes is that one split second you redirect your attention at the radio, or your cell phone, or girlfriend, or whatever, and BAM, your car is screwed in the blink of an eye and pray to god no one got hurt. Just be careful, because I can say from experience, wrecks are absolutely no fun, and you feel 10 times worse when it's your Maverick that's involved.

 

and i drive a metal death trap

 

btw thats the pic i was looking for....how fast were you guys going???