I finished the car in September and showed it at the Concours of America at St. Johns.
On August 7th 2015 we set out to drive across Michigan to be in a Concours in St. Joseph when the car sputtered and would only do 55 when it had been doing 70 with no problem. I pulled off and could find nothing obvious so we turned around to head home to get a modern vehicle. We're on the BOD so we felt obligated to go, car or not.
We were minding our own business, doing 55 in the right lane, when a semi fast approached. I watched in horror as the Freightliner grill started to fill my rear-view mirror. At the very last second, maybe 10 feet off my rear bumper, the driver swerved and hit us full force in the left rear which sent us spinning after the semi tire rolled up the back of the car and started it tipping over.
We spun violently ay I'd say 70-90mph making my wife pass out. All she remembers is seeing the concrete bridge support and hearing breaking glass. I stayed conscious and hung onto the steering wheel as best I could. As she passed out we were hit by the falling trailer that contained bundles of scrap steel. It hit us like a baseball off a bat and sent us skidding sideways for 100 feet before a rear tire blew and the wheel dug into the dirt.
That caused the car to dig into the dirt and go airborne where it flipped side over side 5 times before we touched the ground. The car landed on the passenger side, flipping the door open and rolling on it's top. When the dust settled I found my wife hanging, unresponsive, from her seatbelt. I dreamed her name and got no response. I started to gather my wits and realized that I heard the familiar sound of burning brush.
I opened the latch on her seat belt and she fell on me. Luckily, she's half my weight. She was still unresponsive and I knew I had to get her out of the burning car, regardless of her injuries. I know you're not supposed to move a person in that condition, but I couldn't let her burn up. I pushed her out of the car and then realized that I couldn't move.
I now know that the rear impact hit me so hard that I was forced back into the seat, hitting the metal edge and ripping 2/3 of my hamstring on my left leg away from the butt bone. I rolled out of the car, over my wife's limp body and was able to pull myself up using the car to stand. My leg just wasn't working. I stood and saw fuel-fed flames 15-feet tall.
I reached down and grabbed my wife's wrist and flung her some distance from the burning wreck and crawled to her and started dragging her away scooting inched on my butt with my good leg. Out of nowhere a good Samaritan came along and snatched up my wife and took her to safety. I rolled over and started crawling and what knocked flat by the exploding gas tank. It's not at all as spectacular as you see on tv, but it packs a wallop.
Another person came along and started dragging me by my shirt to gain some more distance. Then 6 people shoed up and carried off my 6'5" 265lb body. My wife had regained consciousness and was asking the same question, over and over. She took a big hit to the head and was literally knocked silly. A fire crew showed up and put out the fire and they loaded us into an EMS van and took us to the closest hospital where they put us in side-by-side trauma rooms.
They ran every test possible on us, but aside from my ripped hamstring, a fractured orbital bone and severe tennis elbow on my wife we were spared any life-threatening injuries. The wanted to admit us for observation as no one could believe how virtually unscathed we were.
I was interviewed by the State Police while in the hospital and was asked, "Do you know how many times you flipped?", astonished to being able to talk to me. He knew from witnesses. I told him 5 times and his jaw dropped. I explained that even at that speed I counted 5 flashes of light as the windshield faced the sun. I asked if the semi driver survived and she walked away from the wreck with broken arm and other injuries.
I asked what happened and he said she said "I looked up and saw a red car, just before I swerved". Were trying to get the investigation report.
The pictures below are from Dan Kirkpatrick Interior's FB page, showing disturbing before and after pictures.
