72 Mach 1 vs tree

[Hemikiller]

This was posted over on the VMF

My friend's daughter was recently in a bad crash in Montana. Her and her boyfriend were in a 1972 Mach 1 and hit a tree. The pictures are pretty frightening. Not sure how fast they were going, but I must admit I've driven my Mach 1 faster than the speed limit at times.

They were both hurt badly and are currently in the hospital. No pressure, but if anyone would like to help them out, here is a link to their Go Fund Me Page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/medical-...&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer

 

[Stanglover]

Wow, what a hit. I'm surprised anyone lived through that one.
Thoughts and best wishes for a full recovery to them both.

 

[mjlan]

Yikes. That doesn't look good...

 

[timachone]

Best wishes to the young pair - hope they will recover full and soon!

 

[Kilgon]

Sorry to hear the bad news. Hope they make a full recovery. This should serve as a reminder that these cars lack the safety features of today's cars, and that even small collisions can be deadly. We need to all be careful and make "wise" driving choices while on the road.

 

[rvrtrash]

Best wishes for their speedy recovery.

 

[73inNH]

That looks really bad. Looks like the roof was probably cut off to get the people out.

I hope they recover quickly and fully.

 

[tpj71mach]

Wow, they certainly are lucky to have survived that, wishing them a speedy and full recovery.

 

[giantpune]

Looks like they had to use the big power tools to cut the roof off to get them out.

 

[Bentworker]

Those pictures eliminate any second thoughts about installing a proper cage in my car.

That accident is spooky. Seems like a common theme among the bad wrecks is oddball tires.

 

[giantpune]

Those pictures eliminate any second thoughts about installing a proper cage in my car.

The first thing I was looking for is any indication that there were 3pt seatbelts. And after that, any signs of a fire.

 

[71ProjectJunk]

I wrapped my 1971 Sportsroof Mustang around a tree like that when I was 16 years old, but it wasn't nearly as bad. I hope that they are alright and get well soon.

 

[Mister 4x4]

Those pictures eliminate any second thoughts about installing a proper cage in my car.

That accident is spooky. Seems like a common theme among the bad wrecks is oddball tires.

What's oddball about the tires? Mastercraft Avengers are good tires... more than likely even better than the Cooper Cobras on mine. Definitely better than what was available back in the day.

That poor car - looked to be a really nice one. I hope the kids are going to be OK - I know it looks worse because of all the things having been removed to get them out being piled back on top, but dang.

I've seen that car before, but I can't remember if it was on one of the Facebook groups or a member here.

 

[Bentworker]

What's oddball about the tires? Mastercraft Avengers are good tires... more than likely even better than the Cooper Cobras on mine. Definitely better than what was available back in the day.

That poor car - looked to be a really nice one. I hope the kids are going to be OK - I know it looks worse because of all the things having been removed to get them out being piled back on top, but dang.

I've seen that car before, but I can't remember if it was on one of the Facebook groups or a member here.

Honestly I don’t know if there is anything wrong with those tires, just a connection between totaled 71-73’s and those tires seems to exist.

Probably has more to do with too much go pedal and not enough other safe driving components.

 

[Mister 4x4]

Fair enough - I hadn't really paid attention to that detail. Good eye. What I've heard of Mastercraft Avengers has been pretty positive though, so I'd guess the latter is a more likely the real cause... unfortunately. Still too bad it had to happen - for both the people and the car. I hope they're OK... the car is pretty much done.

 

[detritusmaximus]

Honestly I don’t know if there is anything wrong with those tires, just a connection between totaled 71-73’s and those tires seems to exist.

Probably has more to do with too much go pedal and not enough other safe driving components.

I had a pair of Mastercraft tires on a car and didn't care for them one bit. But in my case and the wrecked 71-73's....no idea how old they were, either.

 

[DAverkamp]

Thanks for sharing this hemikiller. I hope these kids pull through with their health intact regardless of the loss of another classic car. That was a plus 50mph (IMO) lick to L shape 2 tons of "used to be" fun and the tree will always win. Back in the 70's-80's these crashes were commonplace with hotrods and more fatalities. Nowadays its rare to see this as most drive these beauties with more "respect" because of value and well, respect.
I highly doubt tires were a factor and hope everyone has these photos in their mind and will think a bit more before "hammering down" on a city street.
Sad story on lessons learned the hard way, but glad to hear they somehow survived.

 

[71ProjectJunk]

It has nothing to do with the tires, when I wrapped my 71 Sportsroof around a tree when I was 16 years old, I was doing what young kids do, stupid stuff with little driving experience. I was street racing on the highway when someone just pulled in front of me, I stomped on the brakes going easily 100 MPH, hit the steering wheel hard left, and never let go of those brakes to try and straighten the car, or moved that steering wheel to try straighten it. I ended up going off the highway into the grass, doing a bunch of 360's and landed on a tree. The drivers side door, the roof, and the floors of the car took much of the impact. The roof looked like a pyramid, and one of the steel supports on the roof, the one that hold the dome light, broke in two and put a nice gash on my passengers head. I do not know what happened here, but it most probably involved young kids being young and just going too fast, thankfully they are alive, and hopefully they will fully recover.

BTW, that tree laughed at us, it totaled the car, and we did no damage to that stupid tree except to pull some bark where we hit. I vowed revenge on that tree! Every time I would pass by that tree I would curse it. About a decade later the city went in and knocked it down to expand the highway. You have no idea how happy I was when I saw that three go down in flames

 

[73 Mach 1 4 me]

This was posted over on the VMF



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I did the same thing to my 1st Mach 1. The damage wasn’t as severe because the tree I hit was only 10 inches in diameter and snapped. I was very lucky and didn’t get injured , but my poor mach1 didn’t survive. They don’t take impacts from trees very good especially side impacts. I loved that car and always wanted to replace it. It took me 40 years to do it but number 2 is in the garage and treated like the queen she is.

 

[jpaz]

Damn, that’s horrible! Hope the people who were injured will be ok.