Spoolfool contest for a set of bumper fillers. Time to have some fun.

[derick's gn]

Here is the story of how I got my GN.

2 weeks before Halloween 2008 I was on my way back to my shop from visiting a customer.
I had a mint 1996 Oldsmobile I bought from an old lady.

All I still remember is the Brinks truck hit a deer dead center grill.
Then I woke up to my hand encased in the windshield and 2 old ladies standing in front of the car,
saying oh my god it's in the car I bailed not knowing what happened.

I looked in the back seat and there was an 8-point buck dead on the seat.
Now this happened about 300 feet from a police station it took them 10 minutes to get there.
I was covered in blood not knowing if it was mine or the deer.

There were some houses right there and one had a hose on the side of the house, so I used that
to wash all the blood off of me.
I was not cut the rearview mirror hit my face, so I had a Halloween face for a couple weeks.

So, I called my wife telling her I was ok just come and get me.
Before she gets there an ambulance pulls up behind my car and cops and fire trucks from 2 towns show up.

All the Cops and Firemen were on the side of the car as I was getting my belongings out taking pics of the deer and all.
I asked what they were doing they said ("WE NEVER SEEN ANYONE LIVE THRU SOMETHING LIKE THIS").

So, since this is in Pa they have the center lane and right before my wife gets there a redneck hearse pulls up AKA an S10 pickup.
As my wife pulls up their walking a body bag up to the hearse and she can't see me because I was on the back bumper of the ambo.

She starts freaking out naturally.
The Ambo driver asked if he could have the deer I said yes since I was going 45 and the Brinks truck was doing 45.
That deer had to be Jello inside he wanted the rack.

So, the deer didn't touch the hood-the roof or the a pillar.
Just blew the dash down and the passenger seat down.

And the back seat was soaked in its blood, and it looked like a cat exploded in the car from all the deer hair.
So, my wife says to me on the way home why don't you go buy a corvette or something.
Well I have had Corvettes and since there is 3 of us, we raised our grandson he was 5 at the time so I looked for something else.

Well this GN was something else it was local to me went and looked at it and bought it.

So, I get the car back put a windshield in it took sheet metal screws to screw the dash back to the firewall and
power washed the seat.

Now comes the funny part.
Put the car for sale in the paper this guy looks at it.
Brings his wife when he came to buy it.

She starts counting the money $1200 stops at $600 hands me the money and says I can't count that high you will have to finish.

This is all a true story as hard as it is to believe.

 

[SPOOLFOOL2]

Here is the story of how I got my GN.

2 weeks before Halloween 2008 I was on my way back to my shop from visiting a customer.
I had a mint 1996 Oldsmobile I bought from an old lady.

All I still remember is the Brinks truck hit a deer dead center grill.
Then I woke up to my hand encased in the windshield and 2 old ladies standing in front of the car,
saying oh my god it's in the car I bailed not knowing what happened.

I looked in the back seat and there was an 8-point buck dead on the seat.
Now this happened about 300 feet from a police station it took them 10 minutes to get there.
I was covered in blood not knowing if it was mine or the deer.

There were some houses right there and one had a hose on the side of the house, so I used that
to wash all the blood off of me.
I was not cut the rearview mirror hit my face, so I had a Halloween face for a couple weeks.

So, I called my wife telling her I was ok just come and get me.
Before she gets there an ambulance pulls up behind my car and cops and fire trucks from 2 towns show up.

All the Cops and Firemen were on the side of the car as I was getting my belongings out taking pics of the deer and all.
I asked what they were doing they said ("WE NEVER SEEN ANYONE LIVE THRU SOMETHING LIKE THIS").

So, since this is in Pa they have the center lane and right before my wife gets there a redneck hearse pulls up AKA an S10 pickup.
As my wife pulls up their walking a body bag up to the hearse and she can't see me because I was on the back bumper of the ambo.

She starts freaking out naturally.
The Ambo driver asked if he could have the deer I said yes since I was going 45 and the Brinks truck was doing 45.
That deer had to be Jello inside he wanted the rack.

So, the deer didn't touch the hood-the roof or the a pillar.
Just blew the dash down and the passenger seat down.

And the back seat was soaked in its blood, and it looked like a cat exploded in the car from all the deer hair.
So, my wife says to me on the way home why don't you go buy a corvette or something.
Well I have had Corvettes and since there is 3 of us, we raised our grandson he was 5 at the time so I looked for something else.

Well this GN was something else it was local to me went and looked at it and bought it.

So, I get the car back put a windshield in it took sheet metal screws to screw the dash back to the firewall and
power washed the seat.

Now comes the funny part.
Put the car for sale in the paper this guy looks at it.
Brings his wife when he came to buy it.

She starts counting the money $1200 stops at $600 hands me the money and says I can't count that high you will have to finish.

This is all a true story as hard as it is to believe.

Yikes! You dodged a bullet (buck) on that one. Crazy story.

 

[TurboTGuy]

This one is from 2013, but I remember it like yesterday.

Thread 'TurboTGuy vs GTR'

Oct 6, 2013

So, this is a little bit long, but to make it work, it has to be.

I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I did. I'm still on cloud Nine!


The local Phoenix track, formerly known as Firebird International Raceway has undergone a management change and has been closed since late March.

Charlie Allen had been the operator of the raceway for the last 30 years but after finding out the Gila Indian Tribe, who own the land the drag strip is on, had no intention of renewing his lease, he took all of the equipment he owned, including the timing equiment and went well, wherever he...

• TurboTGuy
• Replies: 68
• Forum: Kill / Fish Stories

• 

 

[tysongross]

Time to give away a set a bumper fillers.
All in the name of having fun. Or, at least, who has the most entertaining story about breaking something or carnage on their Turbo Buick.
Post up your story here. Include a picture(s) and, or video if possible. Were not necessarily looking for the most carnage. Just the most entertaining reason why you wish you would have stayed in bed that day. Most entertaining story will receive a full set of Spoolfool Bumper fillers. See link posted below for rear bumper filler options. (there's a new style). Post up as many offerings to the gods of speed that you'd like. I'll try to choose a winner Sometime between Christmas and New Year. Bumper fillers will include free shipping to the lower 48. If someone from from Australia wins them, they can pay for shipping. This should be fun.

Please keep it in good taste.

Note: If there's something else of equal value, or you want credit towards another product on my site, just let me know.
www.spoolfoolproductions.com

Mike Barnard
Spoolfool Productions

Good to see someone try to breath some life back into this forum.

 

[jpwalt1987]

Here's my story.......

I was prepping my T Top car for Bowling Green 2024 and it was an all out thrash. I had recently installed an ECU-GN and was dialing that in with only having been to the racetrack once at the beginning of the year. There had also been several other changes on the car such as a new Baseline Suspensions rear control arm kit and HR parts Sway Bar, new fuel pumps and -8 line feeding the new 125lb injectors. I was able to get one test session at my local track with these new parts. It ran a best of 10.46@127 on 38lbs of boost at Evadale Raceway. It would not make any more power regardless of the tune and the turbo was out of breath at that high of boost. Fast foward to about a week and half before BG 24 and my buddy Reggie Simien, offers to loan me a killer set of ported iron heads and intake to go run a number. There was no way I could decline his offer!! So with heads and intake in hand I set out to get everything installed. Hurdle after hurdle was thrown at me on this job. The old head studs I had didn't have the allen heads broached in them for removal. I wound up having to use a pipe wrench to get them out ultimately destroying them in the process. I overnighted a set of studs. $$$

I was able to install everything, reusing the same 8.025 pushrods I had on the stock heads. You could hear the lack of preload in the valvetrain. I then overnighted a set of 8.050 pushrods. $$$ I also had an issue that I thought was the intake sucking air because the idle was way too high. I couldn't find any vacuum leaks externally so I figured it was sucking air through the lifter valley. Pull intake, replace metal valley pan gasket with thicker gaskets from TA that I had on hand. Still high idle.... turns out the IAC had failed. Swapped one from my other car. All was good. So at this point everything is installed and running fine. I go to check a bit of AFR/VE/BOOST data while brake boosting in the car port. All is good until a puff of smoke comes from the car like there is a large amount of oil on the exhaust. I could see where it had sprayed out like it came from the trans front seal but there was no active leak to be found. I thought to myself "I better pull the trans and inspect the front seal and bushing". I got everything pulled down and took the pump apart to find it looked just as good as when I had built it two years ago. I never found where the tans fluid leaked from.....

So now we are at BG with an untested setup that should make good power. I know I don't have many passes to dial it in because of the weather so I set the boost controller back where it was prior to the head swap and turn on the auto tune in the ECU-GN. I leave on 10lbs of boost and let it eat!! I knew it was on a rip!! I got to the top end of the track and saw a bit of smoke coming from under the car as I pulled off to the return road. I jump out and pop the hood. Holy Crap I'M ON FIRE!!! I get the fire put out and call my son to come pick me up in the truck. We tow the car back to the pits to discover the trans cooler rubber lines had a holed burned in it from touching the header. This must have happened when I pulled the trans the week before.... A trip to O'reillys for new hose, fluid, and some heat shielding and we are back in business!!! The car ran a 10.35@132 on 30lbs of boost!!! Personal best and the car picked up 5 mph on 8psi less boost than before. I'm stoked!! That 6266 WORKTurbocharger.com is putting out!! I review the log and make some changes. I see the knock sensor had pulled all the timing out of the tune but the level of knock input would have destroyed the engine. The datalog and the plugs told me it was false knock so I turned the knock inputs off in the ecu.

Second pass....
Same 10psi launch, car feels strong, 106.7mph to the 1/8th, car starts breaking up in high gear, I lift before the 1/4, car feels like a dead cylinder but only after I let off. I get back to the trailer and I'm thinking I pushed a head gasket. Definitely a dead cylinder but there is no noise or any other indication of a headgasket issue. My son and I discuss the plan of action before rushing in. We put it on the trailer and started the tear down. When I got the passenger side valve cover off the damage was obvious. The #4 cylinder had pushed both pushrods through the stock rocker arms in a way I had never seen!! HMMM....... That's a fairly easy fix provided we could find parts.

A call for help was put out on Facebook for two rocker arms, some rocker buttons, and some pushrods. It was determined that the knock we saw on the first pass was most likely valvetrain noise from not having enough lifter preload and having some pretty serious spring pressure and an aggressive ramp rate cam. After driving around to different hotels checking out the parts people offered we came up empty handed. Someone had mentioned that Brian Tooley Racing was only 1.5hrs away. Since rain was forecasted for the next day my son and I left bright and early to get parts. They had the pushrods we needed and we were able to assist an elderly couple that had locked their keys in their car at the Cracker Barrel. It always feels good to help someone out!!

When we got back to the track we gathered all the parts and made repairs as quickly as possible. We increased the pushrod length from 8.050 to 8.075. With everything back together the engine sounded great. A few hits on the return road revealed that we had hit the rev limiter on the second pass and that the governor spring had been thrown when doing the burn out. After adjusting the rev limiter and consulting with David Husek, we got the go ahead to send it the next day.

Turbo Pro Bracket 1st round Eliminations...
I got paired with another car that ran 10.30s. I foot braked it trying to leave a bit harder than before. I cut an .060 light to my opponents .332 but the tires broke loose about 60ft out. I pedaled and recovered but lost by running a 10.71@131 mph. On the return road the coolant temp was climbing rapidly. I had indeed pushed a headgasket on the previous pass and it was pressurizing the cooling system. Put it on the trailer and enjoy the rest of the day.

The journey home...
We got about an hour from the Tennessee/Alabama border and a trailer tire blew out. We changed it in record time thanks to Dewalt impacts and a Daytona jack. 10 miles later the second trailer tire blows out on the same side!!! I have no other spare. We limp along on one tire on the right side with the second axle ratchet strapped to the trailer. Its a Sunday and none of the tire service companies are answering. We limp to Ardmore Alabama/Tennessee and park in a closed tire shops parking lot. The closest place for tires is Mavis Tire in Hunstville. We pulled all the trailer tires off and drive an hour there, eat lunch while tires are being mounted, then haul ass back to the car and trailer. A 13 hour drive turned in to a 19 hour adventure, cost an extra $1000 in tires, and caused a missed day of work. Was it worth it??? ABSOLUTLY 1000%

I hope you enjoyed reading this and look forward to seeing everyone in BG 2025!!!!

Jeremy Walters

 

[SPOOLFOOL2]

Here's my story.......

I was prepping my T Top car for Bowling Green 2024 and it was an all out thrash. I had recently installed an ECU-GN and was dialing that in with only having been to the racetrack once at the beginning of the year. There had also been several other changes on the car such as a new Baseline Suspensions rear control arm kit and HR parts Sway Bar, new fuel pumps and -8 line feeding the new 125lb injectors. I was able to get one test session at my local track with these new parts. It ran a best of 10.46@127 on 38lbs of boost at Evadale Raceway. It would not make any more power regardless of the tune and the turbo was out of breath at that high of boost. Fast foward to about a week and half before BG 24 and my buddy Reggie Simien, offers to loan me a killer set of ported iron heads and intake to go run a number. There was no way I could decline his offer!! So with heads and intake in hand I set out to get everything installed. Hurdle after hurdle was thrown at me on this job. The old head studs I had didn't have the allen heads broached in them for removal. I wound up having to use a pipe wrench to get them out ultimately destroying them in the process. I overnighted a set of studs. $$$

I was able to install everything, reusing the same 8.025 pushrods I had on the stock heads. You could hear the lack of preload in the valvetrain. I then overnighted a set of 8.050 pushrods. $$$ I also had an issue that I thought was the intake sucking air because the idle was way too high. I couldn't find any vacuum leaks externally so I figured it was sucking air through the lifter valley. Pull intake, replace metal valley pan gasket with thicker gaskets from TA that I had on hand. Still high idle.... turns out the IAC had failed. Swapped one from my other car. All was good. So at this point everything is installed and running fine. I go to check a bit of AFR/VE/BOOST data while brake boosting in the car port. All is good until a puff of smoke comes from the car like there is a large amount of oil on the exhaust. I could see where it had sprayed out like it came from the trans front seal but there was no active leak to be found. I thought to myself "I better pull the trans and inspect the front seal and bushing". I got everything pulled down and took the pump apart to find it looked just as good as when I had built it two years ago. I never found where the tans fluid leaked from.....

So now we are at BG with an untested setup that should make good power. I know I don't have many passes to dial it in because of the weather so I set the boost controller back where it was prior to the head swap and turn on the auto tune in the ECU-GN. I leave on 10lbs of boost and let it eat!! I knew it was on a rip!! I got to the top end of the track and saw a bit of smoke coming from under the car as I pulled off to the return road. I jump out and pop the hood. Holy Crap I'M ON FIRE!!! I get the fire put out and call my son to come pick me up in the truck. We tow the car back to the pits to discover the trans cooler rubber lines had a holed burned in it from touching the header. This must have happened when I pulled the trans the week before.... A trip to O'reillys for new hose, fluid, and some heat shielding and we are back in business!!! The car ran a 10.35@132 on 30lbs of boost!!! Personal best and the car picked up 5 mph on 8psi less boost than before. I'm stoked!! That 6266 WORKTurbocharger.com is putting out!! I review the log and make some changes. I see the knock sensor had pulled all the timing out of the tune but the level of knock input would have destroyed the engine. The datalog and the plugs told me it was false knock so I turned the knock inputs off in the ecu.

Second pass....
Same 10psi launch, car feels strong, 106.7mph to the 1/8th, car starts breaking up in high gear, I lift before the 1/4, car feels like a dead cylinder but only after I let off. I get back to the trailer and I'm thinking I pushed a head gasket. Definitely a dead cylinder but there is no noise or any other indication of a headgasket issue. My son and I discuss the plan of action before rushing in. We put it on the trailer and started the tear down. When I got the passenger side valve cover off the damage was obvious. The #4 cylinder had pushed both pushrods through the stock rocker arms in a way I had never seen!! HMMM....... That's a fairly easy fix provided we could find parts.

A call for help was put out on Facebook for two rocker arms, some rocker buttons, and some pushrods. It was determined that the knock we saw on the first pass was most likely valvetrain noise from not having enough lifter preload and having some pretty serious spring pressure and an aggressive ramp rate cam. After driving around to different hotels checking out the parts people offered we came up empty handed. Someone had mentioned that Brian Tooley Racing was only 1.5hrs away. Since rain was forecasted for the next day my son and I left bright and early to get parts. They had the pushrods we needed and we were able to assist an elderly couple that had locked their keys in their car at the Cracker Barrel. It always feels good to help someone out!!

When we got back to the track we gathered all the parts and made repairs as quickly as possible. We increased the pushrod length from 8.050 to 8.075. With everything back together the engine sounded great. A few hits on the return road revealed that we had hit the rev limiter on the second pass and that the governor spring had been thrown when doing the burn out. After adjusting the rev limiter and consulting with David Husek, we got the go ahead to send it the next day.

Turbo Pro Bracket 1st round Eliminations...
I got paired with another car that ran 10.30s. I foot braked it trying to leave a bit harder than before. I cut an .060 light to my opponents .332 but the tires broke loose about 60ft out. I pedaled and recovered but lost by running a 10.71@131 mph. On the return road the coolant temp was climbing rapidly. I had indeed pushed a headgasket on the previous pass and it was pressurizing the cooling system. Put it on the trailer and enjoy the rest of the day.

The journey home...
We got about an hour from the Tennessee/Alabama border and a trailer tire blew out. We changed it in record time thanks to Dewalt impacts and a Daytona jack. 10 miles later the second trailer tire blows out on the same side!!! I have no other spare. We limp along on one tire on the right side with the second axle ratchet strapped to the trailer. Its a Sunday and none of the tire service companies are answering. We limp to Ardmore Alabama/Tennessee and park in a closed tire shops parking lot. The closest place for tires is Mavis Tire in Hunstville. We pulled all the trailer tires off and drive an hour there, eat lunch while tires are being mounted, then haul ass back to the car and trailer. A 13 hour drive turned in to a 19 hour adventure, cost an extra $1000 in tires, and caused a missed day of work. Was it worth it??? ABSOLUTLY 1000%

I hope you enjoyed reading this and look forward to seeing everyone in BG 2025!!!!

Jeremy Walters

And THAT"S racing as they say. Outstanding story of the spirit of racing. I guess we wouldn't appreciate the wins if we also didn't have the struggles. We don't do it because it's easy. We do it for lots of reasons. Many of which, most people would not understand.

Big thanks for taking the time to post up this great story.

See you in May.

Mike Barnard
Spoolfool Productions

 

[slojim]

I only recently registered here to get some help with an exhaust question. This is great timing...

The Navy screwed up my pay for more than a year - but as a single guy underway, I had nothing to spend it on - until I got back and got it all paid at once. A few weeks later I asked a guy selling an 87GN in the paper if I could take it for a test drive. He said he’d drive - and afterwards, when I handed him cash, he handed me keys, title, and a manilla folder of newsprint articles of wrecked GN’s, and told me to be careful.
Life was different then, and within my circle, we often had to exchange cars or leave one somewhere - storage, the base, apartment, bar parking lot - whatever. And plenty of times someone returned my keys saying they’d never volunteer to drive that car again since they didn’t like pointing the wrong way in an intersection. But I drove it hard, and it was growing a legendary status.
We were in our home port Norfolk for Christmas - and a sailor in my division offered he’d cover Christmas duty for anyone with cash. I realized an opportunity to go home for a few days - my previous couple Christmases were spent underway (the ship’s engineer appreciated our improvised attempt to decorate in the engine room, but insisted we take it down before he stood a proficiency watch), or in port (with one or 2 other lonely souls mixing red and green colored mad-dog). Norfolk to Cleveland is about 550 miles, so I grabbed some mountain dew, gassed up the GN, and headed north. I drove overnight. The sun was coming up and saved me from the fatigue I was fighting. In my parent’s neighborhood, I hit ice and slid into a curb - denting a wheel. Dangit. I surprised the family, enjoyed a couple of days home, watched the wheel get a little rusty spot in the salted slush, and packed up to go back.
A huge snowstorm was in the forecast - and folks smarter than me told me to wait it out. But my command was not forgiving for missing a shift, and I was overconfident as befits male youth. Ohio was rough. By PA, I could barely see the end of my hood. But a bus passed me, going nearly 50 - clearly, the driver could see, and I could see his lights - so I settled in close behind and made good progress. Eventually, I turned south into MD and then VA. By VA, the snow was calm, but the roads were slick. I could not count the cars on the side of the road, most in a ditch waiting for a tow in a day or 2. Mistakenly, I felt grateful to be a more careful driver. I was about to be reminded otherwise.
I was headed up a straight road with a small incline when I noted a perceptible change off-center. No slip, no sudden loss of control, just a very, very slow twist counter-clockwise. I let off the gas but nothing changed. I did not brake. I had plenty of time to look around - left, right, out the (alleged) back window. Eventually, probably 10 seconds later that felt like 5 minutes, still turning slowly, I was facing backwards with the car traveling quickly in the right direction. I relaxed - there was nothing I could do. The car went past 180, and was nearing 245, when it clipped the edge, and spun quickly the other direction, banging along the way. Eventually it stopped - I got out and fell right down on the slick ice. Damnit. I got up and surveyed the damage. Damnit again. The front left was smashed up, the headlight and grill were hanging, the car looked bent, and all 4 corners took abuse.
I’d passed a town a few minutes earlier - I walked back to find help - remembering change from my ashtray for a phone call. At a payphone, I called the police. They laughed and asked what I wanted them to do - and wisely told me that they knew better than to get on the road in an ice storm and risk ending up in a ditch. Since I was safe, and they were overwhelmed with calls, they could do nothing for me.
I walked back - and only fell a few more times. I decided the car was driveable and limped back. An hour further south the weather was good - just like the wheel in my parent’s neighborhood, I was so close to my goal when I wrecked. The sun was rising as I returned home. I stopped at a DIY car wash and cleared the clay and mud out, parked at my apartment, and borrowed my room-mate’s car to go to work.

My car was in the shop for months as a result of my race home in bad weather. Going underway doesn’t help keep things moving. Insurance intended to total it but agreed to the repair when I explained it was not a standard Regal. They did not agree to fix the wheel! The car spent a day on a frame-stretcher. OEM parts eventually arrived and the body shop re-assembled my car. It looked great - until a year later. After discharge I moved to Louisiana - then the paint failed and my bumper fillers started to crack. The warranty was only good at the shop location - at that time no way I could afford that.
My car has outlived payphones - and I still own it. I replaced the fuel pump and fuel tank a few months ago. But I’ve never addressed the bumper fillers that now are almost entirely gone. A SpoolFool set would do wonders for my old friend.

 

[SPOOLFOOL2]

I only recently registered here to get some help with an exhaust question. This is great timing...

The Navy screwed up my pay for more than a year - but as a single guy underway, I had nothing to spend it on - until I got back and got it all paid at once. A few weeks later I asked a guy selling an 87GN in the paper if I could take it for a test drive. He said he’d drive - and afterwards, when I handed him cash, he handed me keys, title, and a manilla folder of newsprint articles of wrecked GN’s, and told me to be careful.
Life was different then, and within my circle, we often had to exchange cars or leave one somewhere - storage, the base, apartment, bar parking lot - whatever. And plenty of times someone returned my keys saying they’d never volunteer to drive that car again since they didn’t like pointing the wrong way in an intersection. But I drove it hard, and it was growing a legendary status.
We were in our home port Norfolk for Christmas - and a sailor in my division offered he’d cover Christmas duty for anyone with cash. I realized an opportunity to go home for a few days - my previous couple Christmases were spent underway (the ship’s engineer appreciated our improvised attempt to decorate in the engine room, but insisted we take it down before he stood a proficiency watch), or in port (with one or 2 other lonely souls mixing red and green colored mad-dog). Norfolk to Cleveland is about 550 miles, so I grabbed some mountain dew, gassed up the GN, and headed north. I drove overnight. The sun was coming up and saved me from the fatigue I was fighting. In my parent’s neighborhood, I hit ice and slid into a curb - denting a wheel. Dangit. I surprised the family, enjoyed a couple of days home, watched the wheel get a little rusty spot in the salted slush, and packed up to go back.
A huge snowstorm was in the forecast - and folks smarter than me told me to wait it out. But my command was not forgiving for missing a shift, and I was overconfident as befits male youth. Ohio was rough. By PA, I could barely see the end of my hood. But a bus passed me, going nearly 50 - clearly, the driver could see, and I could see his lights - so I settled in close behind and made good progress. Eventually, I turned south into MD and then VA. By VA, the snow was calm, but the roads were slick. I could not count the cars on the side of the road, most in a ditch waiting for a tow in a day or 2. Mistakenly, I felt grateful to be a more careful driver. I was about to be reminded otherwise.
I was headed up a straight road with a small incline when I noted a perceptible change off-center. No slip, no sudden loss of control, just a very, very slow twist counter-clockwise. I let off the gas but nothing changed. I did not brake. I had plenty of time to look around - left, right, out the (alleged) back window. Eventually, probably 10 seconds later that felt like 5 minutes, still turning slowly, I was facing backwards with the car traveling quickly in the right direction. I relaxed - there was nothing I could do. The car went past 180, and was nearing 245, when it clipped the edge, and spun quickly the other direction, banging along the way. Eventually it stopped - I got out and fell right down on the slick ice. Damnit. I got up and surveyed the damage. Damnit again. The front left was smashed up, the headlight and grill were hanging, the car looked bent, and all 4 corners took abuse.
I’d passed a town a few minutes earlier - I walked back to find help - remembering change from my ashtray for a phone call. At a payphone, I called the police. They laughed and asked what I wanted them to do - and wisely told me that they knew better than to get on the road in an ice storm and risk ending up in a ditch. Since I was safe, and they were overwhelmed with calls, they could do nothing for me.
I walked back - and only fell a few more times. I decided the car was driveable and limped back. An hour further south the weather was good - just like the wheel in my parent’s neighborhood, I was so close to my goal when I wrecked. The sun was rising as I returned home. I stopped at a DIY car wash and cleared the clay and mud out, parked at my apartment, and borrowed my room-mate’s car to go to work.

My car was in the shop for months as a result of my race home in bad weather. Going underway doesn’t help keep things moving. Insurance intended to total it but agreed to the repair when I explained it was not a standard Regal. They did not agree to fix the wheel! The car spent a day on a frame-stretcher. OEM parts eventually arrived and the body shop re-assembled my car. It looked great - until a year later. After discharge I moved to Louisiana - then the paint failed and my bumper fillers started to crack. The warranty was only good at the shop location - at that time no way I could afford that.
My car has outlived payphones - and I still own it. I replaced the fuel pump and fuel tank a few months ago. But I’ve never addressed the bumper fillers that now are almost entirely gone. A SpoolFool set would do wonders for my old friend.

Great story and makes me glad I live in Sothern California. Thank you for your service to this great nation. Would love for you to post a picture of your GN.

Mike Barnard

 

[slojim]

No need to thank me. Young men in the 90's did dangerous stupid things on their own. Might as well get paid for it. I think the families, especially wives and kids of service members, deserve the gratitude.
My car is ugly, but I'll post a picture this weekend. I assure you it won't be a rolling billboard for at least another year, and that's fine to factor that in. For now, here's the fp hanger after I cleaned it up and the gas tank freshly painted. I'm redoing the doors next.