Sad sad day... beloved viper gts gone...

It's been a tough ordeal to go through... I am definitely buying another soon. It is such a crying shame to see my baby is such bad shape. After a long recovery from head trauma, broken neck, broken back, and most of my ribs among other injuries. It's time for some closure. I decided to send her to copart for sale 8/1. I was going to repair or part her out, but it's too painful. I know I'm a wuss, but I have a lot of emotional attachment to my vipers. I'm glad I wasn't in the RT at the time... Anyway here's a pic. Maybe one of you will end up using her parts or resurrect her one day...


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Wow, yea, thats sad, another B/W down and out. Looks like Every bodypanel has damage

Im expecting a crazy story...

>>>After a long recovery from head trauma, broken neck, broken back, and most of my ribs among other injuries.<<<

Good to see that you survided - what happened?

what t f happened?

It looks like it's still driveable... I'm joining the "what happened?" bandwagon.

not a wuss at all about getting thru all those physical issues but yes on the viper. that can easily be replaced, you cant. dont sweat the small stuff. thats why you have insurance

Holy S***, you're lucky you only had .... head trauma, broken neck, broken back, and most of my ribs among other injuries. It looks like you're lucky to be alive!

Ouch that looks bad, glad you are okay...

What caused the wreck? Also, the wheels look OK, when you're feeling up to it, use the insurance $$ to get another B/W to go on top of those wheels and you'll feel even better.

klpilot said:

It's been a tough ordeal to go through... After a long recovery from head trauma, broken neck, broken back, and most of my ribs among other injuries. It's time for some closure. ............ I know I'm a wuss, but I have a lot of emotional attachment to my vipers. I'm glad I wasn't in the RT at the time...

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Recovery and P.T. from that event proves you are NOT a wuss...........
You obviously are not blaming the car......and apparently have an RT/10 to help you recover? Fresh air is good!
Be Well........ [ KL = German A/C?]


PS, it is obvious what happened: The RF headlight popped out, taking the RF hood louver with it, and took out the windshield. It then passed thru the back-glass. All that flying glass in the cockpit caused a loss of control. After a valiant attempt to recover, it plowed thru a hedge on drivers-right, ripped off the mirror, and then flipped over.

Ha ha ha. I like JonB's story... Yeah, it still runs and drives... It still sounds really good...sadly. I was pretty ticked off at the copart guys when they decided it was a special jungle gym to jump on for rides! Some people just amaze me... I have no memory of the accident. Control was lost in a sweeping right... rear traction loss. Car spun and went off into the desert rolling a few times. I was life-flighted to our regions major trauma center. Very lucky to have survived. By the grace of god I am now reasonably fully recovered. It should have been much worse, so I feel lucky. Obviously I screwed up big time... I have raced pro in offroad cars and amature sport bikes. My ego always thought these things happen to someone else... I have no doubt that I would have been killed had I been driving my RT/10. Anyway, I'm on the hunt for another b/w. I keep telling my family I don't care if they're $10 or $2mil, it's still my favorite car. Things like this sure do change your perspective on life. These things happen for a reason... Many blessings have come out of this. It kills me to see these cars this way!

klpilot said:

Ha ha ha. I like JonB's story... Yeah, it still runs and drives... It still sounds really good...sadly. I was pretty ticked off at the copart guys when they decided it was a special jungle gym to jump on for rides! Some people just amaze me... I have no memory of the accident. Control was lost in a sweeping right... rear traction loss. Car spun and went off into the desert rolling a few times. I was life-flighted to our regions major trauma center. Very lucky to have survived. By the grace of god I am now reasonably fully recovered. It should have been much worse, so I feel lucky. Obviously I screwed up big time... I have raced pro in offroad cars and amature sport bikes. My ego always thought these things happen to someone else... I have no doubt that I would have been killed had I been driving my RT/10. Anyway, I'm on the hunt for another b/w. I keep telling my family I don't care if they're $10 or $2mil, it's still my favorite car. Things like this sure do change your perspective on life. These things happen for a reason... Many blessings have come out of this. It kills me to see these cars this way!

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Wow! Glad you survived and ready to get another GTS! Enoy the RT while you search for the b/w! Just one thing though, you need to edit your story to include a deer somewhere. ALL major Viper accidents involve a deer. Its strange, but do a search, every accident ever mentioned on this site involved a deer. Your accident was pretty intense, so feel free to include 2 deer

Obviously, JonB hit the nail on the head!! That always happens with these cars! Without that loss of control it would have been a simple bit of paint work. As it is, you'll have to do quite a bit of buffing to fix her up.....

hang in there you will have a new B/W before you know it!

Sorry to hear about your accident, be glad you're on the road to recovery !! BTW, did you happen to purchase that GTS from Tim in Ripon Ca.?

I feel for you my friends , I know how it is when the car becomes a part of you , glad you are still here to enjoy another day with all of us ! Don't look back it will only made it harder , happy happy life and happy car hunting that can always be fun!!!!

sorry to hear about your loss on the GTS.. be very happy that you've made a recovery. your health is more important.

klpilot said:

I have no memory of the accident.

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V10SpeedLuvr said:

Just one thing though, you need to edit your story to include a deer somewhere. ALL major Viper accidents involve a deer. Its strange, but do a search, every accident ever mentioned on this site involved a deer. Your accident was pretty intense, so feel free to include 2 deer

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See there was a deer, he just doesn't remember. Sorry to see the car, but glad you are Ok and heading towards a full recovery!

Sorry to hear about your wreck, but glad your doing ok. And i believe what you said about things happen for a reason. So i hoped you learned your lesson, get another GTS. They obviously hold up well in a roll over. But i hope you never have to find out again.

klpilot did you have a roll bar installed?

No after market roll bar. I can see a steel "roll bar" in the roof section. Interesting enough it looks like the driver door almost broke in half from my body impact on it. It appears this allowed my upper body to stick out of the car during the rolls. It's very scary... I hadn't seen the car in a couple years. Last I remember seeing it, it didn't have a scratch on it. I had it put in storage after the accident with plans to repair her when I was again able. When I saw it for the first time last week I knew right then it was out of my ability to repair it. So that's when I sent her to the auction. I suppose if no one wants to buy it, I'll have my buddy part her out. I really don't want to deal with it though... there's a bit of a bad juju feeling with a car you should have died in. I was going to keep some of the after market parts, including the wheels, but it has caused a lot of stress on my better half. So I decided to start fresh with a new car.

Jeebs : all I can think of is I hope others will learn from my mistakes... believe me you have a lot of time to think about many aspects of ones life while in hospital beds for extended time periods with doc's and family grateful and surprised at your survival. Then there are years of sleepless nights, pain, resentment and anger and from yourself and family...and still is. It has been an immense financial impact and cost...

Believe me I wish it were a deer, but had it been maybe I could blame things on something else... Then maybe all the blessings that have come out of this would not have happened. I began dating my future wife while still in the hospital, and now am a proud family man... many, many blessings have come from this that may not have... I won't bore you.

PS This post is not in any way for sympathy for me. It's to share my story for others, and bring attention to the car. I want a new fresh start and can't wait for the new b/w gts...

Interesting. Thanks for sharing the details that you remember(or were told...) So how long ago was this?

Im wandering about the seatbelt. Is it the Reverse design of the Viper seatbelt that allowed you to hang out the window?
Do you think a "normal" seatbelt over you left sholder would have been safer.

With a 4/5/6-point harness do you think you would have walked away?

>>>No after market roll bar. I can see a steel "roll bar" in the roof section.<<<

There is no roll bar in a GTS roof. Don't ask how I know!

Is the viper currently drivable? lol. That would be killer to show up to a meet like that. I saw a ToyotaMR2 on the way to work thismornin that looked worse than that like it had been rolled several times

If the frame is straight the chassis/trans/motor could be a good donor for a GTS-R clone trackcar
(not sure how complex it is to replace the roof on a GTS...)

All lightweight panels can be purchased here:
http://www.autoformgroup.com/autofo...tegory_id=103&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=26
&
http://www.autoformgroup.com/autofo...tegory_id=102&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=26


then throw a wing&splitter, brakes, shocks, ect... and she is ready for primetime :

JonB - PartsRack said:

PS, it is obvious what happened: The RF headlight popped out, taking the RF hood louver with it, and took out the windshield. It then passed thru the back-glass. All that flying glass in the cockpit caused a loss of control. After a valiant attempt to recover, it plowed thru a hedge on drivers-right, ripped off the mirror, and then flipped over.

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Possibly one of the stupidest, and funniest things I have read for a while. I laughed loud enough for my wife to ask, WHAT? from the other room.

Glad you are doing well, as everyone has said, the car can be replaced.

kpilot,

Bottom line, you are now ok, and that is so great to hear.

We all love our cars, but at the end of the day they are hunks of metal and plastic. Life is more important.

Good luck with your sale, enjoy the RT and best wishes in all else.

Jon

in the gts there is but not in the rt...it does not look like a typical after-market roll bar, its made of square tubing with a angled brace in the upper corner that makes a small triangle for extra strength, its behind the plastic panels behind the doors, they seem to do a pretty good job

ViperGTS said:

>>>No after market roll bar. I can see a steel "roll bar" in the roof section.<<<

There is no roll bar in a GTS roof. Don't ask how I know!

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klpilot, you mentioned it is going to auction.....do you know when and where?

Sorry for you loss, but glad to hear you are ok!

Yeah I think the seatbelt was a major factor along with the door breaking...

Yeah, it runs great and drives. Motor/tranny/rear end/brakes/susp/radiator look good. All it may need mechanically is a new electric fan and air filters. Looks like the hood braces took them out. Not sure how well it will drive. I only drove it around the neighborhood about 25-30mph. I would guess to say a crash like that would cause a need to put it on a frame bench to check tollerances and allignment??? All electronics doors/windows/radio... work! Head lights won't come on for some reason??? I did think about turning it into a race car, or finding a flood victim and put both together, but as I stated before I kinda just want to start over. It's in the Copart 8/1/11 auction on the web. Located in Arlington, WA, but I believe it's all online.

Thanks for the kind words