Collision Repair - Survivors - The Un-repairable Wreck

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Driver: Nathan Andrews (16)
Passenger: Ben Andrews (14)
Date: February 1998

The following is an excerpt from Chuck Andrews’ column,
PROFESSIONAL PERSPECTIVE (NINES #240 Issue)

"The 900S was driven by my 16-year old grandson, Nathan. His brother, Ben, was in the passenger seat when reality hit. Nathan, an inexperienced driver, was going too fast on a gravel road--feeling much too secure and safe for maybe even a classic Saab. The reality hit for us when we got the phone call notifying us of a serious accident involving the boys. They should be okay, we thought. They were in a Saab, right? We bank on that security but when the call came there were lots of doubts about how good that choice would be.

The car had skidded off the road into the right-side ditch that was lined with trees. The impact of the car uprooted a 12-inch tree, which it hit between the left front wheel and the windshield. The Sheriff’s Dept. couldn’t determine if, at that moment, the car was upside down or on its wheels because it continued through the ditch to do damage to another tree and ended up on its right side facing the direction it was originally traveling. The damage to the car was so bad that the Sheriff’s Deputy cancelled the air ambulance. That is a real bad blow to security, but then he looked inside the car, he found two boys needing some assistance to get out — no fatalities at all and fortunately not in need of the air lift!

That old classic 900 had done its job! The center post between the doors had bowed, the dash shattered, and the steering column joints had all done their job. The kneepad was broken, the steel beam between the door posts in the middle of the dash had bent, but held. The security that led to poor judgment almost led to catastrophe. Nathan had a broken collarbone and Ben had a broken leg. Not as much injury as expected when you see the damage to the car. There are consequences, even in a Saab, for poor judgment."