Ford Mustang - Tumblr Posts
When I was 19 I was a complete nut case behind the wheel. I was seriously dangerous. Although I had never been in an accident as a result, I should have been many times over. When I look back now I am horrified! On this day in 1972, however, I was driving in a uncharacteristically safe manner.
Pictured above is what was left of my 1967 Mustang after a head on collision w another car while on my way from my day job to my night job. The other driver and I were going through an intersection from opposing directions. He wanted to turn left in front of me but there was a car in front of him so he swerved from behind the car into my lane. Just as we both entered the intersection we collided at about 30 mph each which was, according to physics, is equivalent to colliding w an immovable object, i.e. a concrete wall, at 60 mph.Â
Both my knees took out the dash instruments where they impacted and my face hit the windshield. The recoil tore my seat completely off it’s tracks. I flew back and then forward again. When it was all done the transmission was partly in my lap. I did a quick survey of my body and couldn’t find any apparent injury…at least that’s what I thought.
I had sunglasses on during the accident and when I reached up to remove them after the accident they wouldn’t come off. I pulled and pulled and finally broke them free. Immediately, blood gushed everywhere. What had happened was, when I impacted the windshield the bridge piece on my sunglasses embedded itself in the bony part of my nose. When I pulled them free it was like taking the cork out of a down turned bottle of red wine because the bridge piece had broken clear through to the marrow. Fortunately, that was the only injury I received.
Curiously, as I was holding my sunglasses and finally got the blood out of my eyes I noticed that the bows and the frames were nearly flat. What had happened was, I hit the windshield w such force that momentum caused the bows and frames of my sunglasses to take on the curvature of the window. W that much impact I cannot, for the life of me, understand how I didn’t go through the windshield. Incredible!
After my car was towed away and I was dismissed from the scene by the police, I went home, called my co-worker and asked if they could come pick me up so that I could go to my night job. I finished out the evening w my night job and felt no ill effects except for severe nausea when ever I thought about how my beautiful Mustang was, needless to say, totaled.Â
I was sued by the other driver because I had been ticketed for driving too fast for conditions. I hired an attorney who proved in court, via police evidence, that I was traveling at 30 mph and it was clear and sunny at the time of the accident, and that the other driver turned left in front of an oncoming vehicle. I had hired the attorney to defend me in the suit brought against me by the other driver and to sue the other driver for damages. The ticket was dismissed and I won the suite but my attorney received 2/3 of my winnings because of the double representation. His name was Pete Velde. ~ Trabue Gentry
Photographed by Trabue Gentry, 1972
I need someone to service my Mustang while wearing Daisy Dukes.
And no, that isn’t a euphemism.
27 litre V12 Rolls-Royce vs 5 litre V8 Ford
Speed!