After reading stories on car-accidents.com for the past half hour, I've decided to share my story with you guys...
The date was December 22, 1999 and my girlfriend and I were driving around in my 2000 Silver Lightning. My license had been suspended for 9 months, but I cruised for a while, anyway. I was anxious because 3 days earlier I had picked my truck up from the local speed shop after installing the following: Superchips flip chip, electric fan, full Bassani exhaust, Level 10 shift kit, JL ram air kit, and a Nitrous Express 75 shot of nitrous. The truck flat out hauled ***, and I'd gone through my first bottle of nitrous the day before trying to learn the fastest way to drive it. I drove down to the speed shop that night and filled the bottle. I worked there at the time, and my manager encouraged me to let my g/f drive since I didn't have a license. I agreed, and we took off to go cruise some more. It was Friday night, so I was looking for a good race to test the nitrous system out. We pulled up to a light with a sweet looking '65 Mustang coupe. It was loud and had stickers plastered all over the back windows, so I rolled down my window to talk to the driver. He told me, "Sweet truck," and proceeded to ask me about my mods. When the light went green, my g/f floored it and left the Mustang in the dust (off nitrous). We came up to a second light with the Stang, and I continued talking to the guy. Neither me or my g/f were paying attention, and the light turned green. The Mustang took off, then hit the brakes. By now, we were driving at about 15 mph. I told my g/f to catch up to the Stang as we headed around a slight left bend. There was black ice all over the road. She got in it enough that the truck downshifted into 1st. We went sideways pointing directly into the oncoming lane of traffic. I remember hearing the Mustang hit the gas right before this, thinking we were racing. My g/f paniced and turned the wheel sharp to the right, still holding the gas. The truck slid 90 degrees in the other direction and we passed directly (about 1 foot) behind the trunk of the '65 Stang. I was now staring at a line of new Dodge 1 ton trucks. The truck caught traction and catapulted up and over a large curb into the front of two of the Dodges at the dealership. We were going about 35-40 mph. My g/f was wearing a seatbelt, I was not. I don't remember hitting the curb or the trucks, but I remember coming-to in a white cloud of smoke. It was thick enough that I couldn't see my g/f in the driver's seat. I reached over, found the ignition, and shut the truck off. I yelled and asked her if she was ok. She didn't reply, but I could here her crying. I turned my head and saw the airbag I'd hit. I went to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. By now I was getting short on breath because of the smoke (powder from the airbags deploying), so I kicked the door once really hard. I swung open enough for me to slip out. The horn was going off the entire time, so I was afraid of a possible explosion from a short. I looked back and saw the hood of my Lightning crunched like an accordian. I had enough room to reach both hands in and I managed to disconnect the battery cable from the battery that was now almost in the dash. I ran around to the other side of the truck where the door seemed untouched. It opened easily. My g/f was still sitting there crying her head off with the airbag in her lap. She was still staring forward. She looked at me and said, "Oh no... What have I done Adam?! What did I do?!" She seemed ok, so I had her get out of the truck. She got out and was limping a little, but seemed fine. There were people standing everywhere just staring at us in awe. The kid from the Stang was the first one there and called the paramedics. He had my g/f sit back in the truck because he feared she had broken something (even though she was wearing a seatbelt and I wasn't, and it was my side that took the impact.) When the police, fire department, and paramedics arrived, they put her on a board with a neck brace and the whole deal. They never paid any attention to me, even after I repeatedly told them I had been in the passenger seat and I was bleeding badly from my forehead. Only after an hour and half of being at the hospital did someone realize I had been in the accident as I passed out while filling out paperwork. A doctor didn't see me for another hour, at which time he put a neck brace on me. What a joke. Anyway... It turned out that neither of us had any serious injuries and we were released later that night. The airbag saved me from flying out of the windsheild, but gave me a bad rash on my forehead and caused me to fly back and hit the back of my head on the seatbelt mount. My g/f had a bruise on her head from the airbag and her knees were badly bruised. Six brand new Dodges were involved in the accident. The front two trucks that we hit head on slid back and hit two Intrepids, which in turn slid back and hit two Neons. My truck was backed onto the street and driven onto the wrecker. The front 4 Dodges couldn't even be lot driven and had to be towed the few hundred feet to the dealership's body shop. The truck ended up having a total of about $16000 of damage after they put a new frame under it. It was in the shop for over a year, during which time I bought a second 2000 Silver L. The wrecked L sold for $18000 after all the repairs were completed a few months ago. The nitrous system, electric fan, and full exhaust were salvaged from the wrecked truck and now reside on my current 2000 L. I just thought a few of you might be interested in this story. And, besides, it's been a while since I've told it. I just thank Ford for designing these trucks so well for head on collisions. I mean, damn thing was still running after we hit AND was driven onto the wrecker! Not to mention, it took down six Dodges. I also learned to NEVER drive this truck if there is any chance of ice or snow, especially after almost losing control of my current truck on the highway a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the accident available. It was quite a sight. Thanks for reading...

 

Thats why i dont let anyone else drive my truck who hasnt had experirence with high performance vehicles or a blown/ turbocharged engine. If they dont respect the power they have or arent expecting the charger or blower kicking in gonna have major problems especially on a slick road. Also another reason why i dont take the truck out in any kind of bad weather or rain 1) no wait in the back and 2) if you goose it to much on a wet road that @$$ end is gonna kickout. Also not fun at all to drive the truck if you cant do some WOT Blasts.
Vin

 

Wow...intense tale..

also why I don't let anyone drive my cars...

As far as slick roads...this is the BEST car I have ever owned for the rain...and the snow....not so good...but I drove into work today in the snow and Ice....with the F1's....you just gotta be careful.

 

I just have to ask... Why was your license suspended in the first place?

Jeff

 

Uh

One question.... The 2000 Lightnings didnt hit the street till 2000. Mine was build number 246 and wasnt built till Feb 14th....
I dont think the line started til Mid January.

You sure it was December 99 and you were driving a Silver 2000 Lightning ?

Doug

After rereading the story .... In Feb 2000 the only filters available as I recall were Airraid, Downs Ford and Sals.... I dont think the ram air kits hit untill later in 2000. I know the electric fan kits were later in 2000.

 

and the plot thickens.....

 

?????????????????????

 

truck was in the shop for over a year?

going 35-40 mph with enough momentum to cause two trucks to push them into two others, then two others?

 

[edited out]

I don't mean to be harsh, but I can spot half a dozen places where the accident could've been avoided, or you could have avoided trouble. I fear driving in the same city as you, and not surprised at the suspended license.

 

Did you not notice the fact that HE WASN'T DRIVING!!! His being in the passenger seat negates and makes completely irrelevant the fact that his license was suspended.

Whatever the case may be or may have been, I'm glad both of you made it out relatively ok, and no additional harm was done. Insurance must of tore you a new arsehole, but that's all material.

JC

 

His truck, that he's modifying for speed, even though he can't drive it. That he urges his girlfriend to catch up to the Mustang, by letting her drive a vehicle that she may not be comfortable with. And when you just install a number of go-fast goodies, it takes weeks to get completely comfortable with it. Or by not even letting her get into a street race.

 

first off, racing on public streets with people around is dumb.
second, racing in the winter with ice on the ground (or the potential thereof) is dumb.

there are prolly more things i could expound on, but i'll let the others have a chance.

 

I can make that story a lot shorter....DRIVEING FAST !!!!! the end

 

Just kind of wondering about the JL ram air part. We couldn't even get a air cleaner out of Sal in the early part of '00 let alone a ram air. JL was the first to offer them but he didn't come on till 02/00. Am I missing something here or can someone raise the BS flag for me?

 

9 times out of 10 a person with a suspsended license should not be giving advice or encouraging anyone who is not experienced in HiPo vehicles to drive aggressively.