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Took my 64 Chevelle with 1700 miles to Crusin the Coast. Was a little nervous about the trip as I hadn’t driven it any more than 100 miles at any one trip. Did a two day trip down with rain most of the first day, second day was a little quicker with interstate driving at speeds 80 most of the way. Average mpg was 20, needles to say I was very happy with that. Absolutely no mechanical problems. On to the bad, Tuesday night after leaving the Flame Throwing event we were heading back to our motel i entered a left turn lane and proceeded to motel entrance and failed to see a concrete median. I hit it at about 30 mph which sent the car airborne breaking all four tire beads and breaking all four wheels and dropping the fuel tank, full of gas, onto I 90 dragging it. The front tank straps couldn’t handle the impact. Luckily a roll back drives by and asked if we needed help, well of course. No one was hurt or involved. Car has a slight wave in drivers side quarter, hard to see. The body flexed enough to chip the paint on top of the doors where they came in contact with the quarters, but flexed back. All door gaps are still good, hard to believe. I have beat myself up over this pretty bad since happening, low light conditions, street lights not working, improper headlight adjustments. No one else to blame, 100% my fault, it all can be fixed. We love Crusin The Coast, planning on next year.
Bummer! But glad nobody got hurt, and all else CAN be fixed. Nice ride, BTW!
Hey, we've all been there, one way or another.
Gitterfixed, and keep cruisin'......
Ditto - no one hurt; the rest is just $. I’ve gotten to where I only drive at night if I have to. I now know why all those old folks have their high beams on all the time…
Ditto - no one hurt; the rest is just $. I’ve gotten to where I only drive at night if I have to. I now know why all those old folks have their high beams on all the time…
i agree I am one of those old folks driving around with high beams on, in the older days seemed like everyone would flash their lights at me saying turn off your high beams butthead, but nowadays seems like no one flashes their lights at me, I just have regular halogen headlights in my old GTO, seems these new cars with their bright white lights and other vehicles which I am pretty sure have illegal headlight bulbs seem to have airplane lights on their cars as the oncoming lights are blinding.
I have been to cruising the coast 3 different times, always a great burnout fest in front of the casinos, when I was reading the op’s post I thought how lucky he was his car didn’t burst into flames after dropping a full fuel tank on the ground, glad he made it out ok!
About 6 months ago I did pretty much the same thing on foot in front of the house. I walked out about 10pm to roll the trash cans to the curb. Out the end of the driveway, left turn into the street and walk about 15-20’ to put the cans against the curb. Made a u-turn to head back towards the driveway. Admittedly very dark that night. Was sure I saw the driveway break in the curb - so made a right turn. Wasn’t there yet - hit the curb. Didn’t fall, but pretty violently twisted my torso avoiding the fall. Tore cartilage between ribs on my left side. I’ve had it happen twice before - boxing body shots when I was younger. Hurts like a mother for a good 6 weeks.
Took the powder coat off of the cross member, scratched the powder coat on both lower spring perches, flattened the exhaust a little on the pass side for about a foot, trans pan scratched. I have paint that matches the powder coat and trans pan. Ironically I got several nice comments on this car while sitting in a parking lot with four flats, but this was built to be a driver, so minor repairs will be done along with tires and wheels and alignment, we’ll see if thats it.
What a tough accident! Thank you for sharing - really good reminder for us all to be careful driving, especially at night. It could have been much worse, but still that's a big financial hit having to replace the wheels. The car looks exceptional otherwise!
Originally Posted by lizeec
i agree I am one of those old folks driving around with high beams on, in the older days seemed like everyone would flash their lights at me saying turn off your high beams butthead, but nowadays seems like no one flashes their lights at me, I just have regular halogen headlights in my old GTO, seems these new cars with their bright white lights and other vehicles which I am pretty sure have illegal headlight bulbs seem to have airplane lights on their cars as the oncoming lights are blinding.
I recently installed a set of Dapper LED7 projector headlights and can't recommend them enough. They put out really bright light in front and to the sides of the car, but they have a sharp cutoff so they don't blind other drivers - that's a key feature that's missing on a lot of the cheap "upgrade" lights you see on eBay - they are brighter, but have no control over where the light goes. With the Dapper lights, visibility is lightyears better and I feel much safer driving at night! They are not cheap, but given the risk of night driving I think they were worth the investment. And they are made in the US! I configured mine with an OE glass lens and chrome reflector so they look more original. Dapper also sells the OE7 which uses a smaller projector and may not have as good of output, but looks more original.
I do like those! On closer inspection with the car sitting pretty high on jack stands i was looking at my low beam lights, they seemed to be pointing up more than they should. Didnt notice that until i got down to eye level and looked across the front. Just another excuse at this point for not checking everything twice.
10-15-2021, 08:22 AM
Crusin the Coast didn’t go as planned 
