Canyon: 1, Fiero: 0

[Series8217]

Well, I had quite an interesting night yesterday. I was driving aloneon my way home from LA for Thanksgiving and decided to take 198 to 25 to Hollister to avoid the traffic on Pacheco Pass and (41?) to Paso.
It got dark by the time I got to 25 but I was still moving at a decent pace. Came upon another car that was driving pretty quick so I decided to just keep up with him so I'd be travelling fast in a group. Safer, right? Sure, if you're both driving reasonably.. well, somehow a few minutes later I missed a downhill right hand turn, braked too late, and flew off the road. Last thing I saw was going through a small tree/large bush. Then I was stopped in the darkness. There was no moonlight to see by and my lights were out (negative battery cable end snapped off preventing any shorts). After my eyes adjusted I turned to the passenger side of the car to try and find a flashlight or something (I had one in my backpack) but found the passenger window missing and glass chunks everywhere, no sign of my backpack. Turned further and noticed I could see my engine behind me (rear window was broken and decklid missing). At that point I realized I didn't just run off the road and at least rolled or crashed pretty hard into something. I heard someone calling out asking "did you just run off the road?" I yelled "yeah, I think so" and they said something was on fire. The catalytic converter had been pushed up into the trunk and lit the carpet and wooden trunk floor on fire. I actually managed to find my extinguisher and put it out twice and it didn't come back. The people who stopped to help me said my car was down about 150ft or 200 ft, but my glasses flew off in the crash so I couldn't see it even with the flashlights.
The damage report: small scratch on my forehead, little scrape on my elbow, and probably a concussion. Oh and the requisite seatbelt bruises of course.


The car is, obviously, a mess. Amazingly, the motor seems to be okay; all the mounts are intact and the strut tower only cracked the plastic timing belt inspection cover (once I cut it out I'll be able to tell if it broke a cam or not; it may have broken one of the thrust plates,otherwise I can't see any damage). The wheels look fine except a small gouge and scratches on the front left. One flat tire and another has gouges in it from hitting the frame. The right side are fine but have some straw between the bead and the rim. Brakes are fine. Tomorrow we're going to cut the back half of the car off to remove the motor for further inspection. Basically, all the parts worth anything seem to be just fine. Wheels, brakes, engine, transmission, seats should be reusable on my next car. If the motor is toast I will consider building something besides a Fiero, since that is the biggest investment. I'll be looking for another 88 Formula or 88 coupe to put my parts in. I have a lead on one in LA, but anyone here knows of one that is rust free and has never been in a collision (I don't care about anything else; motor and drivetrain and interior can be missing and/or torn to pieces, bushings shot, brakes done, etc, thats all getting replaced) and is located in California please let me know.
My next Fiero will probably see a lot more track time because I won't be driving fast up in the canyons after this. If I was just pointed a few degrees to one side of the other different than I was, I'd be dead.
If anyone wants to help tear down the car, we'll be doing it all day tomorrow at my house in Aromas, CA.

I'll have pics posted within the next few hours. My dad took a bunch with his good camera but he needs to put them in JPEG format so I can upload them.

After studying the pictures my dad and I came to the conclusion that I cleared the barbed wire fence (flew over it), and flew another 100 feet through the air backwards (impact with the tree probably got me to spin around), and hit the bare patch of dirt you see on the side of one of the hills in the pics (I'll point it out). I then bounced off that or slid down the rest of the way down the hill to the edge of the drop off into the next 20 or 30 foot canyon.

When the tow trucks arrived to pull the car out, they actually dropped my car down partway into that canyon before pulling it the rest of the way up. D'oh! It was attached to the winch and had to fall down the direction they were pulling it, before it made its way up. The pics you see with the car vertical is when its coming up the cliff that was right below the road. You can see how steep the terrain is there; thats why I was no longer on the ground once I exited the road. I honestly don't know how fast as I was going, but probably somewhere between 55 and 80. I really don't know. We're going to try to measure the distance and height of the hill I hit relative to the road when I go back to try recovering the few part and all my tools that the tow crew missed. Then I can get a rough estimate of my speed.

-Steven

[Shaun41178(2)]

Good to hear that you are ok.

And I guess this is a bad time to joke about it but I can't resist.

I am guessing you didnt' get the memo that Fieros own in teh twisties?

[Series8217]

Good to hear that you are ok.

Thanks

And I guess this is a bad time to joke about it but I can't resist.

I am guessing you didnt' get the memo that Fieros own in teh twisties?

Hee hee! I was actually going to name the thread "Fiero gets owned by teh twisties" originally, but I didn't want to make it sound like another stupid kill story thread.

[84fierotrevor]

gald your ok, guess its a good thing i never got the chance to bring my R1 down there and roll the canyons with you :scratch:

are you and sonic50 gonna start haning out more now?

[Series8217]

I got the pics uploaded:
www.pbase.com/series8217/88_fiero/wreck
Here's a teaser:

are you and sonic50 gonna start haning out more now?

not 'til I flip one over and burn it down with a passenger inside

[Fastback86]

Holy shit Steven you weren't kidding!

I'll be over tomarrow to help you save your engine, til dinner time or so. What time are you getting started?

[eHoward]

whoa!

that is one messed up fiero.

good to hear you made it out OK.

[befarrer]

Holy crap, you sure bent that rear end in!! Looks like most of the damage was on the passenger side.

[I_wear_pants]

I guess fieros really do crash well if it went through all of that, and you walked away. Atleast you are all right, I think we all need a reality check every now and then to keep us in line.

[The Dark Side of Will]

5 star crash test rating FTMFW! :thumbleft: It's nice to hear all the valuable parts (fleshy skin covered ones) are ok. Stay in Fieros. You've piled one up. You'll be a better man for it.

My first Fiero spun a rod bearing the night I bought it. I flipped it the night I got it back on the road. It taught me that things really aren't that bad. I was 19.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Did the cop write you up for anything?

Is the first picture taken from the point at which you left the pavement?

[Fast88Fiero]

Holy shit man! Glad you're ok. Makes me feel a little more safe in my Fiero.

[84fierotrevor]

Dude, you jumped the fiero farther then I can jump my dirt bike! :thumbleft: I might have to buy a beat to hell running fiero and try and jump it! that shit looks like fun!

[84fierotrevor]

oh yeah, next time you roll the canyons, HIT ME UP. I am definitly going with you! hell we can bring sonic 50 and have a fucking contest. who can launch a fiero the farthest of a mother fucking cliff

[befarrer]

lol, when I read the title, I thought you raced a GMC Canyon, and lost, :thumbleft:

Get a video next time you do something like that.

Glad you are ok. Thank god you were not in something like a Ford Explorer or a Skyline.

[eHoward]

low blow!

oh yeah, next time you roll the canyons, HIT ME UP. I am definitly going with you! hell we can bring sonic 50 and have a fucking contest. who can launch a fiero the farthest of a mother fucking cliff

[84fierotrevor]

low blow!

oh yeah, next time you roll the canyons, HIT ME UP. I am definitly going with you! hell we can bring sonic 50 and have a fucking contest. who can launch a fiero the farthest of a mother fucking cliff

dude, that wasn't a insult. that is honestly one of the most bad ass crashes I have seen. everyone posts bullshit threads how some "dumb person" came out and hit THEM and there fiero sucks, there life is wrecked. there mom is gonna take there nintendo away. this dude fucked up. didn't blame the wreck on someone else. launched his fiero farther then I have seen another fiero fly, and is still pretty positve about it.
"he already has a thread for another fiero in the for sale section" most fiero owners would say that there done with fieros. and that it was the fieros fault they wrecked and that there gonna buy a suv now.

plus that is the most badass wreck ever :thumbleft: Wish I could jump my dirtbike like that !

[84fierotrevor]

its only to bad that he didn't do that in fiero5's green car with the underbody lights on. people would have been calling in UFO sightings.

[Series8217]

Trev, you're digging up the comedy goldmine! We DEFINITELY ought to get sonic 50 together and have the launching contest. "Sonic, you go first!"

Did the cop write you up for anything?

Nope. Not yet at least? I honestly don't know how fast I was going, and I don't think they can tell by the skid marks since they don't end with the car stopping (obviously). The cops were exceptionally nice. They had some great stories and one of them was telling me about all the stuff he's done at Laguna Seca for SCCA and whatnot, all the cool cars they've driven, etc. Once the tow truck got the car up the hill they were asking the motor was out of and what it took to put it in, etc. In the pic with me and the two cops I think they were checking out the motor and I was trying to figure out whether or not it was damaged.

Is the first picture taken from the point at which you left the pavement?

Heh heh. No. That was partway down the hill I think. I'll ask my dad though (he took the pic). I think you'd be able to see the fence I went over. I think he took the one you're talking about you could see the hill that I hit from the road (you can't see it in the one we did take from the road.) If I had missed that hill I would have sailed all the way down into the next canyon below and certainly wouldn't be typing the message. Might still be down there.
The people who stopped said they saw a huge cloud of dust and thought it was fog, and then saw the skidmarks.
Here's a pic from the road:

That small silver and black speck is my car. I put the higher resolution version of this pic is on the gallery I linked to above.

[SappySE107]

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