wrecked and replaced

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Penstarpurist

Penstarpurist

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A week or so back my younger son calls me up and says he hit a tree head on driving his brothers 68 Fury-III 4 door at like 40mph. No injuries other than some bumps and bruises, thank god. The car subframe is bent in 3 places. Car is totaled, we bought a clean parts car to restore it. Great grandparents bought it new in 68, it has to be resurrected. So to keep my boys able to get to work, school and in general around I talked to a buddy who is a mopar fan, told him about the car being wrecked. He said he had been thinking about selling his 71 valiant 2 dr hardtop and to check it out. New tires, brakes, power steering pump, etc. Clean interior overall. 318, 2bbl, vinyl top, 4 piston disc, etc.
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Picked it up for $1200. Drove it home, runs great, shifts good, stops great. Probably won't let my lead footed son drive it much. Lol. As it was his brothers car he wrecked.

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Tell speed racer, "Nice driving Elmer Fudd"...

Did he say that the tree just jumped in front of him???


Glad nobody's hurt...
 
You might want to consider something else that isn't a muscle car, classic, or even something nice. Like a worn out honda. Leave the older cars for someone to fix up and enjoy rather than wreck them. I wrecked a few cars when I was his age... showing off, not paying attention, etc.. One was my 68 Charger... had to find a fender for it. After that I started "somewhat" paying attention.
 
Nice Scamp -- overall appears to be in good shape - it looks straight and looks like it's all there - but um, 1/2 a vinyl top :D and you got some big ol' rust issues going on out back which surely don't end at what we can see. On the other hand, disc brakes surely means it's been upgraded and the fact that it's a V8 car is nice - you could easily make that into a fun toy.. I kinda like the idea of buying a Honda for "Hotrod Harry"...
 
4 piston disc brakes were an option on those cars. It could have been upgraded but necessarily so. I believe even slantys could have gotten them if the box on the order sheet was checked. I have seen wierder **** like 8.75s behind slantys too. And actually documented as ordered that way. A buddy of mine had a 72 dart 318 / 904 combo. It had 4 piston disc brakes. Was decoded off broadcast sheet.

As far as letting the young ones drive the old ones, i agree w mullinax95, get him a hondua or a hyundai. Who cares if that **** gets wrecked. Kids dont usually pay any effin attention. They wise up after a few wrecks. Thankfully it wasnt another car or a pedestrian he hit.

If your want your kid to pay attention and not do stupid **** have him put all his hard earned money into a restoration. I'd make him pay for the replacement parts, and help hunt down the replacement parts, since this stuff wont be easy to find. I'd also make him earn it with a **** ton of sweat equity to fix the fury he so nicely fucked up. They think twice when its their own money and sweat on the line, less so when its somebody elses. Thats the price you pay when ya **** up somebody elses stuff.

All my vehicles are standard shift. Nobody in my household knows how to drive standard shift. Its also an unwritten rule, that my vehicles are off limits. I never have lent any of my vehicles in the past, or present to anybody. The pick of that wrecked fury further reinforces the fact that i will not be lending any of my vehicles to anybody in the future.

Thanks for reminding me not to ever do that. Sorry for your loss. They are only original with original paint once.
 
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Trees are not usually planted in the middle of the road which means he must have jumped a curb or driven onto some grass before finding a tree. As others have mentioned, giving him another classic car with no reprocussions probably won't be much of a learning experience which means it's likely to happen again. If he's got no skin in the game, what is there to learn? Does he pay for his own car insurance? If he didn't (or even if he did) an accident should increase his premiums unless a claim isn't going to be made. The point that needs to be made is he needs to experience some pain, which could be based on $ or time or both, to realise crashing another car should be avoided at all costs.

Tossing him the keys to that Scamp or even a Honda with no 'pain' from wrecking the Fury is a recipe for the exact same thing to occur again!
 
when i was sixteen 50 odd years back, I was backing my 49 chevy ( first car) out of the yard and baked into a big pecan tree. hurt nothing obviously. I said WTF and learned to watch. I did not want to be back hoofin it again!
 
Lol, no he didn't mention the tree jumping out in front. Said it was a stuck throttle, I said yeah right, stuck under his heavy foot. I had given the car to my older son who drives like an old lady. My younger son who wrecked it just happened to be the one driving that day, a desicion my older son regrets letting him do. Something I'm sure he won't let him do again. The replacement car came out of "hotrod's" duster project budget, so he is paying for it. The tree was on a school property, which he will have to pay to replace as well. As for the valiant, it is a bit bubbly under what's left of the vinyl, but definitely in our skill set to repair. My wife really likes the valiant, so after the fury is repaired with "lead foots" help we will get the valiant repaired and looking good. My son has definitely been getting some lectures and grief over this. I told him wether it's bad luck or bad choices he needs to take a step back and see what's going on around him. I know he feels bad about it, not only was it his brothers beloved 68 Fury-III, but was also a family heirloom that has passed down through several generations. I was 12 when I asked my great grandparents when I would get it.
 
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