1970 Roadrunner - again

After I graduated high school back in '75 I went to work at WALKER Manufacturing in Seward, Nebraska. They made oem & aftermarket exhaust systems. I may not have been the brightest new hire they made.

I worked the first two days without taking any breaks because I didn't know that there was such a thing. On the 3rd day someone finally stopped and asked me why I hadn't been going up to the lunch room. Lunch room? Nobody had told me there was a lunch room. Rather than admit how naive I was, I let them think that I was just a really hard worker.

Over time I became accustomed to leaving the plant for the lunch period and driving to a bar in town that served burgers and chili. It became part of my normal day.

A snowstorm hit while I was at work one winter evening during the 2nd year I worked there. Although the weather was nasty I still followed my regular lunchtime routine. Visibility was crappy on the way into town but the road was manageable. 20 minutes later when I drove back it had changed.

Now it was a full blown blizzard. Traffic was creeping along and it was difficult to see the tail lights of cars more than about 80 foot ahead. As I approached the plant entrance drive I was barely able to make out the vehicle in front of me as he went down a steep 60 foot embankment. All I could see was the beams from his headlights as they flashed up and down through the falling snow in the sky. I was probably moving about 10 mph at the time. As I attempted to pull over to render assistance my right side wheels dropped off the concrete and the shoulder tried to pull the Roadrunner down the ditch. I eased it back onto the pavement and turned on my flashers.

As I opened the driver's door to step out, I noticed headlights coming up fast from behind. I dove back into the car and braced against the steering wheel with both arms. The pickup had spun around one and a half times before striking the back of the Roadrunner in the middle of the back bumper. It was estimated that he was doing around 65 mph at the moment of impact. My rear bumper was pushed half the distance in towards my rear window. Somehow nobody got hurt (other than a severe whiplash on my part). My roll bar supports had limited the impact damage. Without it the car would have buckled beyond repair.

The pickup driver was the son of one of the Seward county sheriff deputies. They tried to sue me for damages because I was stopped on the highway. It was thrown out of court when my insurance company's lawyers pointed out that Nebraska state law required that I stop to give assistance as first person on the scene or be subject to legal ramifications. Although I was found NOT to be at fault, Seward county law enforcement harassed me relentlessly for years afterwards. (the stories I could tell)

I think I began to have a bit of a darker personality after my experience. When it was time to have the car fixed, I decided to change the color from Go Mango to black. Eventually I added the flames.