John, glad you are OK! Those photos are scary. Just shows how well our cars are built.
I can see why you didn't want to talk about this at first, pure shock of having gone thru that must of been hard on you.
As others have said "metal can be replaced, you can't".
Good luck, and many miles in the new one.

 

HA! He's already got the new one ripped apart for modding! Ata boy!

 

OMG that must of been one scary ride !!! Thank God you where alone is right !!! I dont think anyone would make lite of this !!!! Glad everything worked out OK !!!!

 

Very scary -- glad to hear that you are okay.

 

Nothing slowed down, it happened in the blink of an eye. As I told Franc, I saw road - grass - water, and it was about that quick. I was told the airbag deployment has to do with many different sensors and the angle I went apparently did not trigger it, because it did trigger the passenger side.

I was the last car in the pack and the road was EMPTY, I was down in the car trying to get out, realizing that even though Franc and Evan were with me, they were not with me. It was the large rear main hatch that I had to bust additional glass from, but it was broken, thank god. Once I got out of the car, I was soaking wet and bleeding all over my head and hands, and I called the cops from my barely functioning cell phone, and hoped Evan and Franc would be coming back. It appears they went by the scene 2-3 times looking for me, but as you can see from the pics, there was nothing to see from the road. It was not until I climbed out and was standing on the side of the road that they saw me.

 

Hell ya, the only way to do it. And I have to say, it is going to be one of the sharpest XF out there (Maybe I am biased LOL)

 

Hey John,

quick question, It is pretty scary to think to be in that position for me because the car is so small. But you said the top was crushed and u couldnt get out of from the side windows, right? I am looking at the last pic (on the tow truck), and the top doesnt look crushed to me.

So, my question is, could one get out of the vehicle by using the side doors, if this ever occurs?

I am actually pretty scared that if it was me, I dont think, i could get out at all.

 

John,

I don't know who said it first, but here it goes:

God takes care of fools and drunks.

We qualify on both counts!

Glad you're OK.

 

I also wonder about the weather that day. It was giving little sprinkles thru the day. Not enough to make everything wet, just enough to get it slick. I don't know if everywhere else in the country has this, but in Florida we have our version of black ice. The road collects all the fluids in the middle of the road & after a light sprinkle it all rises to the top. If you get "out of the groove" on the road you can start slipping all over the place. We have way more accidents after those light sprinkles than after torrential rain storms. There aren't any traffic cams on those roads & our cars don't come with a black box so there isn't any way to ever know 100% for sure. I think that with your driving skill you probably had more than one thing go wrong that caused a cascade effect. Two wheels off the road on slick grass, maybe without any tire pressure on one or both, two other wheels on slightly damp roads with oil & other fluids on the surface .... Mario Andretti would have been like Bambi on ice - nothing you could do at all. I'm just super glad that you were ok & Molly wasn't with you.

As for the airbag not going off .... there are specific sensors that must be hit for airbag deployment. From the pictures it looks like the doors were in pretty good shape & the bumper was crunched on the sides but doesn't appear to have taken direct frontal impact. I have seen cars hit a pole dead on in the front, but they split the uprights between the sensors without setting off the airbags. Remember that airbags are SRS - Supplemental Restraint Systems. Supplemental seems to be the key word there .... John showed all the power of buckling up!!!

 

Great pics glad you were ok and God had a plan for keeping your wife safe that day. I've been in a rollover once when I was a teen, and it's scares the bejeebies out of you. Absolute no control until you come to a stop.

 

My best crash was in the late 60s, Rambler Ambassador Station Wagon, push-button automatic, night, ice....spin-spin-spin....when it finally stopped I open the door & realized I was suspended in mid air on a large pipe over a 15 foot ravine. I jumped for it to get out. Only found out later that was a natural gas pipe spanning the ravine parallel to the road. That could have been real ugly!!

 

So what exactly is going on in THIS picture!?!?!

 

Glad you walked away from that. When I heard about this at the lodge it just took some of the shine out of the whole weekend for me.

Over the years we have seen pictures of these cars absorbing astounding amounts of punishment and still protecting the contents of the passenger compartment. Good thing you had a real roof.

If I was stripped nekkid and dipped in butter, don't think I could make it out the back window. But then the thought of drowning might provide a little motivation.

 

Muscle, the pictures on the tow truck do not show the driver side, where the roof was collapsed about half way down the window, right where my head was moments before. I tried to break out the window with a metal mag light flashlight I had, but I could not break it. Between the tint and the strong windows, I figured I was too much of a wuss LOL. Once the officers arrived, he said that it was because I was hitting the middle of the window, not a corner. he said if I had hit a corner, it would have broken immediately, good to know for the future.

I think someone could definitely get out the window, but look at the windows, they are not very large anyway and where I landed, the rocks on either side made that nearly impossible.

A man has to be able to keep some secrets

Once I realized water was coming in, it was the addrenaline that got my butt pushed through that bulkhead, I don't think I would have been able to make it under normal circumstances.

I felt bad because I took the mood way down on Sunday night, but in retrospect, I am glad we got the enjoy the trip for 2.5 days before this happened, some of the last moments with her were some of the best, thanks to some good friends.

 

Speaking of last moments, were you able to rescue the pictures taken at the waterfall?

 

Damn man... Glad you're OK. Your's was one of my all time favorite Xfires, I'm sorry it's gone.

 

It's only natural for the mood to be impacted by such a horrific event among friends.
Yes... your loss was a very moving thing for most all of us.
I know I felt literally numb and had no desire to even eat dinner that night.
I think I felt your loss almost as if it was my own car that was gone.
I can't explain it really but it was a tuff night indeed.
I just know how proud you were to have such a one of a kind beauty and for it to be destroyed in a matter of seconds in the way it was is frightening.
You handled it better than I ever could have I assure you !!!

 

After seeing that wreck John, I'm so very happy it turned out as well as it did! It is so very sereal, I also rolled an old VW bug 28 years back, and my new bride was not able to go to work that day (she was sick) I rolled on my roof in the dark going south bound in the north bound lane of a buisy 2 lane, lucky for me it was not buisy that morning and as I hit the ditch/swamp I rolled 8 times (No idea why I still remember counting) I remember thinking "here we go again" it reminded me of when I used to race Motocross in the 70's.

Anyways, very glade your still with us John.

Angelo and Lynda DeAngelis
Barrie Ontario

 

You are still a young fellow. Let me tell you that the good memories trump the bad ones in years to come. Can't wait to see what you got cookin for your 'near black' new ride. It will take some doing to beat your last set of rims though. See you next fall.

 

You must be getting old , I sent you those pictures a few days after the wreck to crumpy's email and you PMed me and said you got them LOL.