F-Body Europe

Monday, 13th .
My Beretta GTZ is history.
Thank God, i survived.

On Monday I wanted to drive to Erlangen University to inform myself about some study courses...
Snow was already falling when i left the house. The Bundesstraße still looked good, there wasn´t much snow, you still could see the asphalt.
But that $hit was frozen...
Speed limit there is 120, i drove about 100 - 110, like the rest did.

Then in a light right turn, the rear started to slip, left the track, the whole car started slowly to turn to the right. I tried to get it again under control, but no chance. First I hit the guard rail with the right side of the car, tried to slow down, but suddenly the guard rail ended, I slid completely of the road, hit a tree frontal, the car turned 90 degrees with the rear and stopped finally. I hit the steering wheel with my breast and couldn´t breathe anymore for about 10 seconds. In this moment I thought i was going to die, really...

But thank God I drove a Chevy and none of those cheap VW, Ford, Opel beaters in the same price range made of thin metal like the old Polos, Corsas, Golfs without any real passenger safety measures - i´m sure I would have died.
Even though the front of the car is completely destroyed cause I hit the tree with aprox. 80kmh, the passenger space remained completely, even my door opened without problems.
Chevrolet: Like a rock.
I left the car and called the police and they sent a ambulance car that brought me to the hospital.

What really makes me sad, when I now think about it:
NONE of the cars passing me stopped to help.
And there was lots of traffic, it was 7:45 on a monday.
If I would have been hurt really seriously and would have been unable to call the police, I could have died, because none of those a$$holes from Coburg cared...
Short time before the ambulance arrived finally a man (not from Coburg!)
stopped, helped and calmed me down.

Well, today i left the hospital, i have a broken breastbone (steering wheel) and a broken rib (seat belt), both will heal soon without plaster or operation, but the doctors said that I´m really lucky that nothing more serious happend...
Thanks, Chevrolet!

And the reason for the accident? Well. Don´t know at all.
Weather, ice, snow, speed.
The front tires were new winter tires,
but the rear tires were already a bit worn out.

But one thing is for sure:
I want again a GTZ!!
If anyone sees a cheap one for sale....

For all of you who know german:

The figures (10000EUR?!) and my injuries are completely exaggerated!
The guy that answered my emergency call is a good friend of mine, perhaps he wanted to help me with the insurance ...

Perhaps I´ll post pictures of the destroyed car later.
We´ll trying to rip out the engine (not sure if its OK or if its still of any use) and anything with any worth this week...

Chris
I am glad you are alright . I wish I could say the same for your Insurance rates.
Eyes are peeled for a repl,acement for ya.
Best regards and heal well.

Whoa!

I had my first GTZ experience on ice with approx 40 - 50 kmh and summer tires. Well, i handle that thing more carefully now.

Chris, best of luck to you!!! And hope the next one lasts longer.

I love that little beater, too!

Ram

Glad that you're OK. I guess I would have had a problem in my small & light R5, on the other hand there's roughly any snow or ice here ever.

Do you have full coverage (insurance!) for the GTZ?

Ben

Thanks a lot guys

Well, the car was still registered on the previous owner!
But the accident happend at 7:45, so the registration office was not even open at this time (I bought the car on saturday!). I already talked to the police and they said thats no problem, I don´t get in any trouble.
The car had no full coverage (not at the previous owner, but I wouldn´t spent so much money on insurance, too)
So I destroyed my car, I´ll have to buy a new one. Very simple
Perhaps I´ll have to pay for the tree and the guard rail (if its damaged), but noone said anything yet. Hopefully the ADAC will pay the towing costs.

Wow, that sucks. Glad you're okay.

Glad you are ok.....

Sorry to hear about the loss. I know that part sucks...but better a loss of the car than a loss of your life.

Do you need anything else??

Patrick

Glad you're OK!!!

Glad you are OK but hate to hear about your car. Don't know if you have owned front wheel drive cars before or not, but I personally don't like them, especially on slick roads. They go real well until they start to slide. Once that happens, the vast majority of drivers will instinctively let up on the gas. That is the worst thing to do on a front wheel driver. When you do that, the front tries to slow down, but the back end, which is already sliding, will tend to maintain speed. Result is that the back end comes on around. In a front wheel drive, the key is to give it a little gas to help pull the rear back into line. That is why I don't ever want a front wheel driver. Instincts are hard to overcome. Just food for thought.

Glad to read you are ok...
and I wish your injuries will heal well.

What I really dislike to read/hear is the part that NOBODY stopped right
after your accident happened.
I experienced the same several times, here just two extreme situations:

I flipped one car and it was laying upside down, I could not open the doors, all top was crushed down. There was several cars driving by, none stopped. Later on, got out the heck window, sitting besides the car and laughing, there was one older couple stopped, but since I could not stop laughing they said something like I was insane and left.
I walked about 5 miles to the next town to call home.
Meanwhile somebody took eveything out of my car and somebody turned me in at the police for leaving the place of accident. (Fahrerflucht)
Therefore I got a ticket.

A bad sample for spectators... I was driving behind a truck on a Schnellstraße, a stretch in between two Autobahnsections.
At that time this section was build new, and almost everybody passed anywhere when wanted with having the slower cars just pulling over a little to the left and to the right, creating a 'third lane' in the middle for
the faster drivers.
I was driving some car lenghts behind a truck from the netherlands and not in a hurry as I was passed by a young men, he also passed the truck while a car was in sight coming up on the other side. But, the truck was not only not moving over to make space, he was the opposite pulling up to the middle and speeding up a little... the young men, misjudging, ran into the other car, both cars immediately in flames...
the truckdriver jumped out and was filming the dead of the two young men
in the flames (one german, one US military leaving wife and baby behind)
with his video camera.
I know both drivers must have been dead right away, there was no way to get near the cars as much heat they created. But after years it still bothers me that I didn't throw the video camera of that guy into the flames.

Hello Chris,im glad you are alright.Im sorry about you car but atleast you are still here.So i hope you have some more luck in the future.



Michael

Glad to hear you are ok........ That's some scary $#!&...... I lost control of my car at 100+mph a few months ago. Someone pulled out in front of me. I was lucky in that myself, nor my car even suffered a scratch.

Once again, glad you're ok, and take it easy while healing up

John

glad you are OK. It was pretty slick then???

This is God's way of punishing you for not having a V8.

"Live every day as though it's your last and one day, you'll be right."

Sorry to hear about the loss of your car, all the best for your recovery.

"Thanks" again to all


Yep, there were about 20 other accidents in my region on this day

@Jerry: Yes, I instinctively let up of the gas (not sure if I even depressed the clutch), like I would do in the Firebird - wrong decision...
Never thought that FWD could be more sneaky than RWD.

Here are some pictures to keep in mind next time you drive in bad weather.
I learned it the hard way...









PS: That amazing wing is for sale! Rampage doesn´t want it.
Wouldn´t that be a nice mod for the winterhawk, Bruce?
Your Kadett will gain at least 10hp, I swear...

All I can say is....DAMN!!!!!!

Very glad you werent hurt more severely.


Patrick

No airbags??? The beamer (the second one wrecked) didn't look as bad, but both the wheel bag and the head and side bags came out on that one ...
Btw, nice looking seats ...
Either way, glad to know you came out without getting hurt any worse than you did ... (can you imagine yourself in the same wreck in a SMART?)

Airbags were available in 1991, but thats a 1990...
In a SMART? No, not the slightest chance.

I think SMARTs have a very hard internal structure, so there wouldn´t be that much deformation and just because of this, i´m sure, that I would have been killed by the negative acceleration...