|
|
Back in January 1999, after Jean had only been driving with her new drivers licence for 3 months, we are broadsided by a guy sleeping at the wheel. Jean is driving me to work at 6:30 am. We enter an intersection in the heart of down town Vancouver and get nailed by this fellow driving a Ford Ranger pickup at over 40 mph. We took it square on the door with a little damage to the front fender. The truck really dug in at the door post but the rear quarter panel was spared any damage. I was not quite so lucky being the passenger in that seat. The hood of the truck came in through the side window and I smashed my head on it hard. This was not a great way to start the day and a day we will not soon forget.
Hats off to AMC's solid construction and the 50 lb crash beam in the door. This totally saved my skin. As the pictures show, this car really took a beating. The police wanted to have it towed to a salvage yard because, after all, it is only a Gremlin. I said no. We limped home in the car, cleaned it up, and prepared for our appointment with ICBC (our Provincial government's insurance corporation). We lucked out big time! The insurance adjuster could simply not get enough of this car. He kept asking where we had kept it for the past 25 years because he could still see original factory over-spray under the wheel wells. I explained to him that we owned the Gremlin, not because we were dealt a bad hand at birth, but because we wanted to. He appreciated this and was not about to allow the car to wrecked. So long as I found a replacement door and window glass, he would approve the repairs. A 1981 Spirit donated its door and the car was soon returned to its former glory. There is no evidence of the accident aside from the new stripe being brighter than the original. This car remains Jean's daily driver.
|
