well.....Fred has been reduced to an organ donor.

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Mark, if the car still runs and will yard drive....you should video him driving it up the driveway and into the garage to take it apart. I'd say you have one of him driving it the first time after y'all finished it. Splice the crashed one onto the tail of the fresh one just to have something to pick at him with years down the road. It's good that you, Jake and Josh can pick with each other.

:thumbsup:
 
1st off, Josh is fine.
That's what is important. The rest is just a car and there are more out there.

My oldest son put one in the ditch, upside down, when he was 17. He and his passenger were unhurt. It slowed him down and gave him some respect for speed and what can happen. He's 40 now and his oldest daughter started driving this year.
 
Very glad the kid is OK.
Lesson learned the hard way. Making mistakes is part of growing up.
That being said, who among us hasn't done something similar and luckily didn't crash. I came really close a few times.

That's because you didn't have a skull denser than depleted uranium.
Some of us had to wreck cars, motorcycles, get arrested, get married... You know, DENSE.
 
1st off, Josh is fine. Crawled out one of the side windows with just a scratch on his right hand.
No other vehicles involved.
He learned a hard expensive lesson yesterday on his way home from school. Came out of a side street where the pick-ups are parked in the one pic, making a left, and got on it a little too hard. *** end spun around and off the side of the road and down the storm drainage embanbkment.....
Heartbroken and pride destroyed.
Money aside, alot of love and time was in the build. Told him his next one is all his expense with 50% of the labor coming from me.

It is not going to buff out.....

He'll pull the driveline, interior and as many little bits that survive - He's already talking about stripping it down and finding a mostly solid roller Duster/Dart Sport.

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Glad he`s alright .
Done some really stupid stuff myself !!
 
Glad he is ok!! Car can be replaced. I still do "dumb" stuff and I'm 51...lol. Hopefully he learned how quick it can get away from you.
 

So Josh finally started talking about the whole thing last night. Admits he got on it leaving the side street, which we all knew, and over corrected with some panic mixed in and simply lost it.

He also said he has a vision for the next one. After he strips Fred down and scraps the carcass, he hopes to find a mostly solid Duster or Dart/Dart Sport body and use as much as Fred as he can. That way some of Fred lives on. He mentioned going with a fine green metallic flake in a gloss black paint so Fred shines thru on sunny days.
 
Why do I hear that old song "Freddies dead"? :realcrazy: I'll keep an eye out around here for a Duster or Sport. Josh may end up being about as good of a body man as he is an HVAC man...lol.
 
Thank the Lord he is OK!
Seriously, thank God for that.
Holy smackers!

I've helped you out and shopped for his next car.

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Not a little torch and welding can’t fix for a big block powered ride, right?!?!?! Perfect sleeper except for the slicks and tunnel ram scoop outta da hood.
 
Summer '83, 17, radial re-craps up front...bias snows on the back, ssslloooow manual box w/o a Joey Chitwood spinner knob;
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So Josh finally started talking about the whole thing last night. Admits he got on it leaving the side street, which we all knew, and over corrected with some panic mixed in and simply lost it.

He also said he has a vision for the next one. After he strips Fred down and scraps the carcass, he hopes to find a mostly solid Duster or Dart/Dart Sport body and use as much as Fred as he can. That way some of Fred lives on. He mentioned going with a fine green metallic flake in a gloss black paint so Fred shines thru on sunny days.
The fact that he told the truth and admitted what happened speaks volumes to his character, and how he's being raised. Sounds like you're doing a great job.

Sorry about the car, glad nobody was hurt.
 
Josh has been talking about a little more, still. Said he did not realize he was upside down until he wondered why his arms were over his head. Said he remembers facing the left gaurdrail, then the brush on his side of the road, then the braches were in his windshield. Said he did not realize he was upside down until he wondered why his arms were over his head. The engine started racing way fast so he turned it off. Saw his phone lying on the headliner and called me before he managed to undo the seatbelt to land on his shoulder on the ceiling. Said the girl in the car behind him helped him slide out the side window. I was on the phone with him while all that was taking place. Now I know what all the extra noise was.

Just crazy.

Anyway, he's starting to look more and more for Fred 2.0. Problem is he's on a very limited budget at the moment, only working about 10 hours a week. Told him I'm not going to let him empty his savings, because as soon as he does, something on the Dakota will break and he won't have the money to keep it on the road. His work hours double next week and then starts a full time HVAC internship/junior apprenticeship in February, and keeping the part time job on the weekends for a while. I told him it is good that he is seeing what is out there project wise, but I need him to dismantle and save as much as he can from Fred before dragging another one home. He's hoping to find, in this order, 70-72 Duster, 73+ Dart Sport, 73+ Duster, 70-74 Dart. Have found a couple of prospects already, anywhere from 2 hours (close enough for sure) to 10 hours (just a bit too far) away, but just isn't the right time. No driveline needed, partial interior is a plus, mostly solid body in need of minor work and paint preferred. I suspect sometime around late January/early February, he'll be like "lets go look at this, Dad...." Unless the absolute right sweet deal pops up before then.
 
I wish timing was right and the ones I showed you were closer because those looked to have great bodies and I thought price was right Joe
 
I think a lot of us are lucky our cars didn't OR haven't yet suffered a similar fate. I was 18 in 1979 when I bought my '69 340 auto car the previous owner had carb jetted, distributor curved, and shift kit in trans. I am not really sure how me and the car are still here today....

Other note is when temps start to drop engines make a tad more power and tires grip quite a bit less. And these old school cars sometime atmospheric conditions they make a bit more power on some days then others and traction varies on conditions too. So what you got away with previously bites you in the *** when conditions change. I try to tell the young folks watch it in the cooler temps the risk are a lot higher.

Lastly this could have been a whole lot worse. So glad NO ONE was hurt.
 
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