just a reminder - drive with care

[kogi]

not even the ol mighty duesenberg can help you from fatal injuries
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050802/ap_ ... car_safety

take care and drive with care.

[spl310]

Ken,

I just hit the link in your signature line. Great photos!

Bummer on the Dusie in the story... The Volvo pilot should be horsewhipped.

Y'all drive fast, take chances and talk back to cops!! (just kidding!! )

[Redtail]

these guys drive with care:

Fix 'em up, buff 'em up and smash 'em up
Jill Burcum, Star Tribune
August 5, 2005

PINE CITY, MINN. -- A few specks of dirt have landed on the aqua hood of the restored 1959 Ford Edsel and Jaye Neubauer can't stand it.

The 18-year-old briskly brushes the hood clean, stands back to admire his work, then spots more specks and goes at it again. As he does, the clean-cut teen proudly points out the car's pristine grille with the large, distinct chrome oval.

Neubauer and his dad spent countless hours fixing up the car after hauling its rusting hulk out of a pasture back in April. Tonight, Neubauer will take it for a spin for the first time -- at the Pine County Fair's classic car demolition derby.

"I want to see the grille smashed to pieces in the first hit," Neubauer said. "I want to destroy the car for some reason."

Yeah, you heard him right. The Edsel's an American gladiator, not some elegant dinosaur trotted out for parade duty.

The collector car and 17 others from the tail-fin era will fight to the death in a clash of the sheet-metal titans tonight as a rare twist on a grandstand favorite -- the smash-'em-up demolition derby -- gets underway at the Pine County fairgrounds in Pine City.

It's called an "antique demolition derby," and only cars built in 1965 and before qualify.

The expected standing-room only crowd of more than 3,000 will see the aqua Edsel duke it out with a 1964 Checker cab, a 1965 Plymouth Fury, a '63 and '64 Cadillac, several 1963 Ford Galaxies, and a 1964 Dodge station wagon, among others.

The winner is the last car still running after drivers rev their engines and ram each other with the pedal floored. Pine County fair officials say they added the event, which will be one heat in the fair's well-known demolition derby, at the request of drivers in the area who wanted to try something new.

"I think the crowd will enjoy it. They'll get to see a little different look of cars," said derby organizer Mike Ovik.

Not everyone is so excited.

"I've never heard of such a thing, and to be honest, I'm appalled," said Keith Mathiowetz, editorial director of Old Cars Weekly, a Wisconsin-based magazine for classic car enthusiasts. "My livelihood and my hobby is antique vehicles, and the preservation of them. To see them go to a needless death .... it's not good."
Pine City, Minn.

Scott Wimmer, the derby's chief organizer, didn't feel his pain.

"It's going to be great ... just to watch those guys when the nice grilles they can't find anywhere get all busted up out there," he said, chuckling.

Cars left to rust

Neither competitors nor old car enthusiasts are really sure where else this has been done, though the Pine County Fair had something like it in 1992.

"You can only do it about every 15 years," said Jaye's father, Bob Neubauer, whose family has become a sort of demolition-derby dynasty in Minnesota.

The reason is that it takes a while for enthusiasts to acquire the critical mass of classic cars needed for a derby. Finding the right car is tricky.

The cars crumpling tonight aren't the ones hobbyists buff with diapers and tuck away in the garage each winter. Those can cost thousands of dollars.

Instead, classic derby cars are the ones left rusting for decades in a pasture, as Neubauer's Edsel did. Their motors are shot, their transmissions trashed. Their value, if any, is in their parts.

Spotting these cars takes a bit of luck. Bob Neubauer saw the Edsel in a pasture near Rock Creek, Minn., while on the road for his job. Father and son returned and bought the car, which didn't run, for $100.

According to a price guide published by Mathiowetz's company, the vehicle in that dilapidated condition was probably worth about $560.

After the addition of an old Dodge pick-up motor and parts from a 1969 Chrysler, the Edsel now roars to life. Smoke curls from the chrome pipes thrusting from its hood.

Tonight, the cars' drivers will compete for first-prize money of $800 to $1,000 (Wimmer hasn't decided the exact amount yet), a 5-foot tall trophy and of course, major bragging rights.

Jason Zastera, 19, believes he'll be a contender. His 1964 Dodge station wagon, which cost $150, is painted John Deere green and yellow. The car is a tribute to Zastera's young friend, T.J. Fedder, who died recently and who had wanted to drive the car in this event.

Zastera has no regrets about his car's impending doom. He said there's an appeal to having it go out in a blaze of glory.

"You don't see too many things like this," Zastera said. "There's going to be a lot of rust flying out there."

[dbrick]

I used to work for Volvo, learned one important thing, Never hit or get hit by a Volvo. They are a 3500 pound deadblow hammer. They were doing crash tests at 45 MPH into a 40 yard dumpster full over the top with cement chunks at Volvo National Headquarters. The dumpster kept moving. They had to dump another 20 or 30 yds of cement behind the dunpster. The standard for the test was no damage from the firewall back and all doors open with one finger. The three I saw all passed.

We used to have people come in for a new bumper cover and some trim, the cars they hit never ran again.

Now an all Volvo demolition derby would be something to see. A dozen 240's running into each other would be a blast. Saw an all Checker demolition derby years ago on TV. They had to call a draw for the last two.