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Old 11-22-2009, 04:26 AM   #11 (permalink)
24.27 lbs per gallon Co2
 
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*cue the 21 gun salute*

SCarlett, may you rest in pieces.

She met her end tonight as I was leaving Minneapolis on my way home. I approached the MN 36 and Snelling Avenue cloverleaf to find myself getting frisky with a doe whitetail.

Now to put this into context, there is a shopping mall on both sides of the highway, in addition to D. O. T. office buildings and several apartment buildings. It is just barely beyond the city limits of Minneapolis, and skyscraper laden downtown is 2 minutes away. You're much more likely to hit a Starbucks double mocha latte than a deer in this part of town, and yet, thats just what I did.

I was traveling westbound on MN36 in the slow lane at 50 mph when the deer trotted onto the road. I stomped on the clutch and brake which locked the wheels, initiating a slide. I've spent so much time trying not to hit drunkards downtown that my reaction to a thing in the road was to avoid hitting it (just hit the deer, people). So I steered left, and with locked wheels had no grip. I almost pulled out of the maneuver but I got too far over in the fast lane and caught gravel, and that was all she wrote folks.

I made the mistake of trying to steer back onto the roadway, causing SCarlett to tilt on the drivers side. She rolled over and skidded to a stop on the roof, in the median.

As soon as the world stopped spinning, I shut the engine off. I checked my limbs to make sure everything was attached and checked that I had no pain in my neck or back. Then I looked around to make sure there were no fluids leaking from the car. Finding none left me to figure out how the hell to get out of my seat. I grasped the wheel and unclicked the seat-belt, sort of flopping down onto my left side. The door, being buried in the dirt, was jammed shut. I resorted to shimmying out the broken driver's window with the help of two gentleman who risked their lives crossing two lanes of freeway traffic. They had me sit in the median while an off duty paramedic and her friends rushed up to examine me. The Troopers arrived in minutes followed by an ambulance and fire truck, both of which were thankfully not needed.

After the paramedics patched up a laceration on my shin and a couple on my noggin', I was left to watch the wrecker load up SCarlett. I have no idea how they got her upright, but they did. The car was hauled to my dad's workshop and I'll try to borrow a trailer from work to haul it home. In the meantime, I'll have to dust off Angila Taurus, who has been doing a fine job of adding iron to the soil in my yard for the past several months.

Look for SCarlett to be reincarnated in Fantastic Plastic Part II: The EV Saga

Check your oil, wear your seat-belts, and have a fine night,
~Jimbo

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Hehehe... If one of your facial lacerations leaves a small scar, you'll have a SCarlett.

Last edited by Oval_Overload; 11-22-2009 at 04:29 AM.. Reason: grammar
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Old 11-22-2009, 04:30 AM   #12 (permalink)
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Wow. ****ty.

Glad you're OK, though. That could have been alot worse, for sure.
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Old 11-22-2009, 04:37 AM   #13 (permalink)
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Oval_Overload -

Glad you're safe!!!!!!!! At least SCarlett did her duty and saved you. I hope that deer's family appreciates what you did for her/him.

CarloSW2
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Old 11-22-2009, 05:19 AM   #14 (permalink)
24.27 lbs per gallon Co2
 
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If I ever end up buying another petrol powered car, it WILL be a Saturn S-Series, I have no doubt about it.

I forgot to thank all you guys. If not for Ecomodder, I would have been traveling over 65 MPH at the time of the wreck. Slowing down has many advantages. On the upside, I flipped my car at 40 MPG

P.S. I have some mildly bloody photos, but I'm not sure if those are allowed on EM. Carlos? Christ? what shall I do?
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Hehehe... If one of your facial lacerations leaves a small scar, you'll have a SCarlett.
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Old 11-22-2009, 01:56 PM   #15 (permalink)
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Oval_Overload -

Quote:
Originally Posted by Oval_Overload View Post
If I ever end up buying another petrol powered car, it WILL be a Saturn S-Series, I have no doubt about it.

I forgot to thank all you guys. If not for Ecomodder, I would have been traveling over 65 MPH at the time of the wreck. Slowing down has many advantages. On the upside, I flipped my car at 40 MPG

P.S. I have some mildly bloody photos, but I'm not sure if those are allowed on EM. Carlos? Christ? what shall I do?
I think you're fine We try to be a family-friendly forum, so you should filter it through your "will it make kids upset" meter.

CarloSW2
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Old 11-22-2009, 04:45 PM   #16 (permalink)
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Ouch! Glad to hear you're okay! sucks about the car, though.
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Old 11-22-2009, 09:03 PM   #17 (permalink)
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SCarlett is parts? That's terrible news. She had so much potential.

I'm sorry to hear you'll be confined to a Taurus. I really am. Hope you get another S soon.
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Old 11-23-2009, 04:02 AM   #18 (permalink)
24.27 lbs per gallon Co2
 
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It was incredibly sad to see her smashed to bits when I went back to pick her up at the workshop. After much finagling, my boss Carl and I got the spare tire on the wheel that ruptured in the crash and reconnected the battery. She cranked right over. I'm tellin' ya, Saturns never really die. She's probably rebuildable, but getting her road legal would be more trouble than its worth. Bent A pillars are difficult to fix.

Most of the time when we haul a car at work, its some tiny thing like a ZAP Xebra, so everyone thought the trailer was a lot larger than it really is. Rather than risking ruining Carl's trailer, I elected to leave the car and return another day with a proper dolly.

It really is a bummer I have to drive the Bull, but that is my one option.
However, there is a slim chance I might get my paws on a funky little concept car called the Current. Carl bought one, but the manufacturer tanked and now he doesn't know what to do with it.
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Hehehe... If one of your facial lacerations leaves a small scar, you'll have a SCarlett.
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Old 11-23-2009, 01:44 PM   #19 (permalink)
24.27 lbs per gallon Co2
 
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Join Date: Aug 2008
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I just had a nice chat with the insurance man. He said the tubular space frame and flexible body panels make Saturns substantially stronger than most compact cars.

The State Troopers thought my hubcaps were hilarious
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Hehehe... If one of your facial lacerations leaves a small scar, you'll have a SCarlett.
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Old 11-23-2009, 03:04 PM   #20 (permalink)
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Oval_Overload -

Quote:
Originally Posted by Oval_Overload View Post
I just had a nice chat with the insurance man. He said the tubular space frame and flexible body panels make Saturns substantially stronger than most compact cars.

The State Troopers thought my hubcaps were hilarious
Hmmm, you gave me a (useless?) thought. If I cared more about safety over weight and MPG, I could probably "foam fill" the back of the plastic panels to increase the amount of "cushioning" in a crash. But maybe it wouldn't make a difference because the energy still has to go *somewhere*, right?!?!?!?

I keep thinking that the space frame in your SC was a "1989" design, but the space frame may have been updated for the 2nd-gen 1996 model.

CarloSW2

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