pmgoodwin

You know that sound of screeching tires, squealing brakes and crumpling metal.

Some yahoo in a new BMW 750 came into an off ramp hot and I was in a line of cars waiting to merge with traffic. You can imagine the rest and it wasn't pretty.

He hit me hard. Pushed the rear end in a bit. I suspect something somewhere is bent because the Convertible top binds and won't close. The roll over bars popped up and I had an airbag fault message on the dash. It didn't deploy and I hadn't hit the guy in front of me.

The next thing I know is the driver of the BMW, arrogant bastard, was standing beside my car screaming at me. I'm still dazed but as I recall he ran into me and he's screaming at me. I grab my phone and call 911.

The cops arrive and ask me to drive off the ramp and to a parking lot down the street. Car makes it about 200 yds and the dash lights up like the Vegas Strip and dies. I didn't know there were that many lights on the dash of a 997. If it means anything there weren't any fluids leaking.

The cops make it down to me about 15 minutes later. I'm a little concerned that the BMW owner has that much time with them. The cop comes over and says I am remarkably calm for someone who just got rear ended. He said he'd want to kill the guy. I said it crossed my mind but since I had turned down a dream job earlier in the day because I would have to move away from my daughter going to jail would have the same effect.

After that it was all pretty anti-climatic.

Some of you may recall a post of mine about some cracked cylinders last spring. I just had a new engine, and exhaust put in <10K miles ago. Put new tires all around last weekend. It figures...

Now I "have to" commute in my 87 Targa track car. you can never have too many Porsches.

Scott997

I'm sorry for what happened. Your car can be fixed and you are ok.

TerpsRED

your car may have saved your life! Metal and plastic are expendable as you already know. If it can be fixed and it still makes you feel uncomfortable, flip it for a new one, or turn it into a weekend racer. It is better to have a bad story to tell, than to be the story in the paper because you are not here anymore.

henrysko

Wow, what a major jerk!

Get yourself checked out - soft tissue damage may take several days to show up. Thankfully it wasn't worse.

Regards, Henry.

Edgy01

As terrible as this story is it is good to know that these are solidly built cars that protect the occupants. Good luck with the outcome. When there's nothing you can do, at least the car comes through for you.

sullivas

I would seek the counsel of a Orthopedist and personal injury attorney immediately. Sometimes neck injury symptoms from whiplash don't show up right away and the cervical spine has little protection against the impact of a rear-ender. You've nothing to lose. Good luck.

AC911

Glad you're ok...

Also good to hear the cops did the right thing... This reminds me, years ago, driving very late at night, I stopped to help a pedestrian who was lying on the side of the road - apparently hit by a car (on an highway exit ramp). Long story short, I called the cops and when they showed up few minutes later, the guy told the cops that I hit him. Cops didn't believe him and they let me go.

JMaples

Sounds similar to what happened to me years ago (not saying how many!) when I was a teenager. Guy turned left in front of me as I was approaching him. Hit me pretty much head on. A-hole then comes over to my car yelling at me - my fault, blah blah blah. Guy proceeds to lie to police about what happened - probably thinking this is just his word against a teenager. Little did he know that an off duty cop witnessed the whole incident and corroborated my version of events. I didn't turn out well for that guy.

signature65

Im sorry to hear that, its amazing that people will get so upset at you when they were clearly the jack *** in the situation.

Glad your ok and in the grand scheme thats really whats important. Cars can be fixed and brought back from utter destruction, we humans are not always so lucky!

Edgy01

One of these days I think someone will have to develop a relatively inexpensive video camera that can cover the front and rear of your car--like a cockpit voice recorder for aircraft. It would tape up to 30 minutes of data and then start over again. If you ever had an incident you would have the proof on the media! Could also be used in court to show your speed if you were legal at 65mph for example and a cop tried to claim you were doing 80.

spiderv6

Of course, they would also use it for the opposite purpose!!

Not that I ever speed

robbonds

Sorry Paul - glad you are ok - you really have destroyed that car :-)

RonCT

So glad to hear you are OK after what could have been a much more serious accident. Take care of yourself and best wishes on getting your car fixed by the best restoration-quality shop in your region and be sure to try to get "devaluation" factored in if possible. An updated engine is one thing, a car that's been in a significant accident might be another.

buckwheat987

Glad you are ok and good job keeping cool. But I agree you should have a complete check up.

equiraptor

Sorry to hear about the collision. I'm glad to hear you're ok, and I hope you stay that way - sometimes the pain doesn't show up for a day or two.

Did you notice how bad the 750 that hit you was damaged? It'd be interesting to see how that car endured, as a longer car (thus with more space to absorb forces from the impact).