Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

What else is there to say... the man who 'drives like a vicar' crashed his car.

Crashed it on an icy back lane on my way to the swimming baths at 0850. The sun was beaming and roads were clear in Pickmere Village, and the guy who towed me out said that his car said it was 4.5 degrees in Great Budworth when he set off. He also lost control and skidded and swerved and only just missed my car. The whole stretch of road was like an ice rink because it was still in the shade.

Noticed it was bit slippy where I was so I was going quite slow, but it just went as I came out of a slight bend. It just went sideways, just missed the car coming the other way, went into the hedge on the left of the road with my front left corner, then pirouetted into the position where I ended up backwards into the same hedge.... but further down the road.

From my initial assessment it looks like the off-side steering arm is broken or has popped out - the front wheels face each other, the off-side front wing is dented and needs replacing, the front near-side fog/driving light needs replacing (although Ben's protector is intact), the undertray is detached, and the paintwork is damaged in lots of places by the hawthorn hedges. Fortunately there is no other panel damage.

I had put it on the road on Friday to take it for assessment of the bodywork by an old man in Congleton. I was going to replace the front off-side wing and the bonnet anyway, so bodywork wise it may just be a few screws holding the under-tray thing on and a fog lamp that is the extra expense. There was water leaking as the car was pulled backwards onto the truck, the engine was running all the time to make it easy to turn the steering - it may have overheated, although the temperature guage reading was alright.

The hedge will grow again so the farmer can whistle. He was there within minutes telling me he could pull me out if I 'made it worth his while'. I told him the recovery would do it for free, and anyway the Landrover Discovery guy did it for me. He then went to see how much money he could blag for the hedge.... like I say, he can whistle, I crashed into it, didn't go through it, so any livestock in the field is still secure.

Three other cars only just managed to miss my car when they came down the lane - all 4x4s, all losing control. One of them was good enough to stop and tow me off the verge.

Worst thing - why did a neighbour have to be driving the other way and watched it all....... he casually wound down his window and said "are you alright John?". I have to own up now and tell everybody where the car is before he does, ha ha.

The BMW has 18 people watching it, and the ebay auction ends Tuesday night - it will pay for the repairs I suppose.

And it all happens so fast in slow motion!

Sorry to hear that. Hopefully the damage isn't too bad and you can get her up and running again quickly.

Sorry to hear of your little off, so easily done in this weather, at least you are ok, and sounds like the car will survive

Sorry to hear this John, easily done in this weather unfortunately. Is the fog light glass broken or the back box? Fronts are available as replacements. The steering arm is probably the track rod end as that normally breaks first. The undertray will have either cracked & dropped off or the bolts may have sheared, because they are only M6 or so.

Unfortunate. Hopefully it just turns out to need the parts you say. Not very nice but at least Hawthorn bushes are a bit softer than walls.

Sorry to hear this. I'm glad you are OK, and hope the car can be repaired inexpensively.

Good luck with it.

Iv got an undertray and drivers side fog/side lamp. If that's off any help?

Sorry to hear that.
Its the one thing we all secretly dread every winter ,losing it on ice. I lost my first Lux at 20Mph on a roundabout in the rain. Just like your car it spun in slow motion whacking first the front then the rear end on the crash barriers. Complete write-off after 9 years driving like a Sunday school teacher.

Glad to hear that you are going to restore it. If I were you I'd take out a private action against the farmer for his hedge obscuring your view whilst driving in the ditch lol

I walked to the shop on Sunday morning and when I crossed the road I almost fell over.
Freezing cold night but the morning sun was quite warm.
How unfortunate that you got caught out like that.
I hope you get it fixed and are back up and running in now time at all.

Good luck.

Pictures added at beginning.

Dammit and ouch

Have to say these are the worst car I've ever driven when there's a hint of snow or ice about and that's saying something when I was running big Capri's and XJ-S's in my teens and driving like an idiot regardless of road conditions.

I've just spent 2 weeks with the back half full of any old junk I could lay my hands on to add weight and nearly flat tyres for gentle 10-20mph creeps to the shop every few days, but no amount of prep will see you through an icey patch on what appears to be a good road and these cars do frighten me a bit being old and not up to the same crash standards as newer cars.

At least you're OK, metal can be replaced but we can't

Interesting because in the snow & ice I used the 944 rather than the Jag! Because of the 50/50 weight distribution I didn't find it bad, but I was concious of being gentle with no ABS etc. although the lack of crash protection didn't worry me. But then I started driving in cars with no belts, no ABS or any other abbrieviations & no crash protection!

Drove my '44 once in snow. Fun going sideways but with massive low profile tyres on really it had very little grip. Would be better with the stock tyres I'm sure. Claim on the insurance & get another! You may even make a bit on it at the moment if you have agreed value. Not difficult to buy at the moment! Every cloud has a silver lining. Might even repair if the inner wings are ok. Worth getting a good bodyshop to check it over. Good luck with it.

At least you are ok and the damage looks to be cosmetic which should be relatively straight forward to fix.

I went arse over tit in a car park on Thursday morning, got out the car and slipped on the ice.

Good luck with getting her repaired and let us know what needed doing.

I'm glad you're ok John. I hope you get it fixed ok.