Way back Machine

In light of the recent sale of my beloved ’96 VW Golf, I was looking for some photos to put up in memory of our good times together. Amazingly, I didn’t have very many.

But I did find these photos which I took when I was rear-ended a couple years ago. If you haven’t heard the story, a brief recap follows or just skip ahead to the images…
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I was driving down 123 towards the beltway and came to a stop at a red light. Note that i said “Stop at a red light”, not yellow, or green. A Red Light… I stopped. I sat there for a few seconds, twiddling my thumbs (actually probably changing radio stations) when all of a sudden I hear this load tire squeal. The kind you normally hear right before a crash. Well I looked up in my rear view mirror and all I see is this huge Dodge Ram grille. That grille is very recognizable thanks to great design and great marketing.

But anyway, I digress… I barely had time to think “Oh Sh*t” before the tire squeal (“the sound of inevitability”) gave way to a brief, yet emphatic “THUD” as my car was casually thrown across the intersection.

The young girl (maybe 18-20) got out and was very apologetic. A few things she said will forever stick in my mind…

• “Out of all the people I’ve hit, you are the nicest.”
• “My boyfriend is gonna kill me. This is his truck. He let me borrow it since mine is in the shop for repairs after my last accident.”

Well, onto the photos. Click on each one to view a larger size.

This is the rear of my VW. Doesn’t look like much damage, but the rear door was bent enough that the whole thing had to be replaced including hinges and the drivers side rear fender. My 6-disc CD Changer which was right by the door never worked again except to scratch discs. I think the total bill (paid by insurance) was about $3k.

Looks like the ‘ol V-Dub gave that Dodge a good punch in the nose.

This photo was just in case the cops or insurance needed to see the intersection that I had just been knocked across.

And a close-up of the damage to the ram. The license plate was on the floor somewhere. Thats right, Mr. Dodge Ram 4×4 V8 Heavy Duty Pick’emUp Truck tried to push around my example of Fine German Engineering and got pimp-slapped. There is justice in the World.