Look!!! Whatnot to give your child at 17

[Oldmanmopar]

340

 

[67valiant 100]

Wow, that makes me want to put the /6 back in.

 

[Oldmanmopar]

My Daughters fiancee was flying over 130 mph As per reconstruction investigation. The rear shock mount broke after hiting a dip in the road. They did not hit anythying. The . car just tumbled through a corn field. All were ejected and killed eccept for one. This change my life forever. When you think you know someone and can trust them with the safety of your child things always seem to go for the worst. Believe me you never want to get that call in the middle of the night. Oct 22nd 2009. VW Jetta 1.8turbo. My daughter was not killed but this devistated here life and ours forever. It was terirble I got the call because they could not find her at the scene. My wife started screaming and dropped to the floor. You never want yout little girl to go through this.

 

[dusterny]

Amen to that. Don't give a kid a high powered car until is old enough to respect it and have some idea how to drive it.

 

[dustermaniac]

Prayers sent to you my friend. So sorry to hear about the loss of life. God Bless you and all who have lost a loved one to an automobile accident. let this be a lesson to the ones who see this and remember that this could be you.

 

[guzzimike]

I am sorry for your terrible experiences and loss..


But to be fair and present another side to the issue, when I turned 17 my parents gave me a 1967 Camaro SS (350, 4-speed, 4:11 gears). I respected the power of that car, and never got into trouble with it.

In turn, when my son was 17 (in 2005), we built and gave him the 1968 Dart GT you see pictured in my Sig Line. We never had any issues. He never got a ticket or in trouble of any sort with that car.

Subsequently, he got an older MBZ (1991 300E) for going to College.


There are no guarantees in life.


--

 

[66340SEDAN]

Wow, those pictures are hard to look at, I am very sorry for your loss.

I am glad my first car only had a 318, if it had something bigger I may not still own it. My first car was almost an unrestored 50,000 mile 72 Demon 4-speed with a mild 340.....I was so close to getting that car, the owner backed out at the last minute.....man I miss that car. I think if I had gotten that car I would have destroyed it or even worse, I was 15 at the time.

 

[RedFish]

Every life that is touched by this tragedy deserves our thoughts and prayers.
This thread will make a difference in someone elses life too. Thats how our God does things. I dont pretend to understand his method to the madness. All any of us can do is accept and trust.

 

[cudamark]

This reminds me of a 17 year old who bought a fast (9 sec. 1/4 mile) fuel altered car from a guy at our local track. The kid never raced before and promply hit both guard rails and the car in the other lane on one pass! Luckily nobody was hurt but lots of damage to both vehicles. Let's teach them to DRIVE in a low powered car first.....then ease them into racing at a sanctioned event.

 

[4flats]

I am sorry for the losses, and it truly chills me (I have 3 daughters), but lets teach our kids to be responsable. (period). It's great if they know how to drive, and certainly don't need to learn on some screaming 1,500 hp beast, but kids are kids. Plenty die every year in underpowered econo boxes. As parents, we need to teach them responsability in all areas of life, that's our job. If we can do that, they stand a better chance no matter what they drive.

 

[67DartGT340]

The stories put a chill down my spince, sorry to hear about the losses. My Dad gave me my Dart at 17, with the 273 all prepped to go and 3.32 gears. Once as I was heading out I puinched ti around the corner laid some rubber and almost lost control. Little did I know Dad was on the driveway watching. I got home that night he put it to me simple, if he ever saw me drive any car like that again, he would rip up my licence and sell the Dart. Lesson learned.

 

[hemizach]

It's a terrible thing, but it could have happened to anyone no matter what the age. People in general today are shi**y drivers... not just young ones.

 

[J-MacsMopars]

Okay, this is totally off subject, but I don't know whats a worse wreck. The Demon or the guy standing behind it in red short short shorts, white cowboy boots, no shirt, and a sweet trucker hat. lmao.

It's very sad to hear these stories. I started driving muscle cars, mostly Darts, at age 15. God knows I should have died many times but for some reason he spared me. It's to bad that kids just don't know how to stop before its to much.

 

[Crash1]

I was 25 when I wrecked mine. A GT Turbo Cruiser running 25 lbs of boost. I was going too fast and rolled it through a pasture and walked away. Ive never had anything fast so you need to step up a little at a time or play at the track till you get the hang of things. Sorry for the loss, I know that sinking feeling. It goes through my head everyday what my parents were thinking (they were right behind me). Its not a good feeling

 

[sublime green]

Im 16 now and have driven the 383 duster since I was 14. I see what you mean as far as to much power to yound which is why I would just like a 318 duster or demon but I will get to drive the 340 duster if it ever gets finnished. Hopefully thats not my fate.

 

[blackbomber]

I don't mean to be insensitive, but the car did NOT kill the driver. The driver killed the driver. And maimed his passenger.

Darwin's law at work here.

 

[J-MacsMopars]

Hopefully thats not my fate.

That is entirely up to you.

 

[69DARTS]

sorry u had to go through that

 

[Schneiderman]

I don't mean to be insensitive, but the car did NOT kill the driver. The driver killed the driver. And maimed his passenger.

Darwin's law at work here.

True... but if the driver was in a different car, the results may have been different.

I'm a motorcyclist, I've been riding since I was 8 years old. I'm 21 now. Most guys my age who get motorcycles get sportbikes, and most of them don't have a darn clue how to ride them properly. A lot of people my age die on sportbikes. Many of them are killed as a result of mistakes they made, on bikes that are too powerful and responsive, but if they made the same mistake on a less powerful bike, they would not have crashed.

Yes, they die as a result of their own decisions and actions. But if someone had coerced them to make a different decision- ie, a parent forcing them to learn on a sensible bike instead of a sportbike- the same actions on the bike would be less likely to kill them.

I got my coronet at 15, it needed an engine and I wanted to put a 360 in it, my dad made me get another 318. I can't complain, he paid half for the engine. Maybe he saved my life too, who knows.

 

[JTG]

I've been a passenger in a car that had too much power and the driver(my friend) couldn't handle it. He lost control and the car did 4 complete doughnuts down the middle of the main interstate. Thank God it was 3.00a.m in the morning and there was very little traffic and we did not hit any other cars, light standards or guard rails. Gives one alot to think about afterwards.

 

[Oldmanmopar]

340

 

[Lost Bushman]

At 16 I was rolling around in a '88 Plymouth Sundance 4 door, 4cyl, 5 speed, that I saved for and bought for 1500 by myself. Slow, the speedo only went to 80. One night, while my folks were out to a company dinner I took my dad's '74 Corvette for a joyride to impress a girl from school, picked her up, cruised around and ended up racing my buddy in his '71 Firebird...right past my parents.
My ***: Kicked
My License: Gone
My little Plymouth beater became my dad's 120 mile-a-day commuter. (No financial reimbursement)
I was up EVERYDAY for 6 months at 03:00 raking my dad's desert landscaped yard so he could "count the grooves in the rocks".
I was picking up dates in my Shoebarus, getting to work on my Chevrolegs.

When I turned 18, I had to pay for my own insurance, another vehicle ('94 Dakota), and Dad's new $20 a month "Driveway usage tax".

Don't steal your Vietnam Vet Dad's car and race like a jackass down a main road near your own house....Lesson Learned.

On a side note, my dad let me borrow the Corvette for my honeymoon last summer, 13 years later. I got a ticket for impeding the flow of traffic.

 

[MR.7DUSTER3]

7Duster3 learned to drive the Duster when it had a slant 6 running on about 4 cylinders ,It now has built 360 in it and I beleive that he has the respect for power now,

Hopefully he is reading this post.


Bob---MR.7DUSTER3

 

[LXguy]

There's no excuse giving a kid a car like that Demon. Horrible brakes, horrible overpowered power steering, and loads of power all built with 1970 crash standards. In other words, a 100% death trap for an inexperienced driver.

Kid would probably be alive today if he had gotten a camry instead.

The argument that you'd be just as safe in an old car as a newer car is completely laughable. I know we love these old cars guys, but get real. You'd have to get hit by a semi going 100 to compress the driver's compartment like that in a new car.

They haven't invented the idiot proof car yet, but have the same wreck in a 90s or nerwer car that you have in a early 70s car and you'll likely walk away from a wreck in the newer car that would have killed you in days gone by.

I was a teenager in the 80s, when the 5.0 Mustangs were new and the old rear-drive detroit iron was cheap. Almost all of my peers had V8 cars, including me (360 Dart). I never hurt anyone or got in serious trouble, but it wasn't for lack of trying. Most of us got away with it in my time at high school, but there was some serious carnage for those who didn't.

Prettiest girl in school got paralyzed for life when her idiot boyfriend rolled his 1970 GTO. Buddy of mine seriously F'ed himself and three of his friends up running his 442 into a tree at about 80mph. Another buddy damn near killed himself (and me) running his T-bird into a parked car 3 days after he got it. Most of the fast cars at my school didn't get wrecked, its true, but due to a statistically significant sample, I'll still say horsepower and hormones don't mix.

For my kids, its four cylinders, front wheel drive, airbags and anti lock brakes. Yeah, if they get plowed into by an excursion or a semi its going to be bad. But they'll still have a much better chance than they would in an A-body.

 

[DusterN73]

I ownd this 1971 GSS Demon . It was altered in its past with bucket seats, floor shift, and 72 stripes badges and scoop. My friend bought it off of me for his son in 1987. He owned it for Three Days. I sold it with 3:23-1 gears. His dad left him take it out. He wound second gear tight and shifted drive and lost it. The car slid off the road into a rock as big as the car. Driver killed instantly at 17. Passenger Paralized at 16. Don't let this happen to your child. I made my son drive a pickup. and race on a track from 12 years old till know. He currently drives the sprint pictured in my gallery. He is now 25 and we finished the orange Duster for him. He knows how to drive and he respects power. Don't give your child an over powered older car to learn how to handle power on the street. They do not handle, stop, or have the safety features of the new ones. The steering wheel in ths car was against the passenger side roof post. it popped away when they cut off the roof. The seats together were narrower then one seat with the console. The factory tach was over 400 yards into the field. This happened on a long straight road with nothing on either side . The rock was 50 yards into a grass field. I had to tow the car to my shop and see all the friends and family coming to see it. some would drop to the ground when they rounded the building. I have had a recent worst experience with my oldest daugters fiancee if intersted I will post the pictures. I believe if teens see what the end result is they may slow down.

Cant see the pictures.