Man, that sucks! I would sob for weeks and mourn the loss of my dak if
that were to happen... I would wair black.... glad you lucked out on
insurance, though! I'll bet there's an R/T that would look really nice in
your driveway somewhere =) Glad to see ya'll are okay!
-mike d.
88, V6, LE, 3.55, SlushBox, mild mods
miggitymike@juno.com >or< mpsykes@erols.com
"Illiterate? Write for a free brochure..." =)
On Tue, 21 Jul 1998 21:26:49 -0400 Jason & Norah <janor@ican.net> writes:
>Well, I guess it's time to say goodbye to one of our Dakotas. It's
>been a
>good truck, and it's difficult to let it go. Of course, our families
>don't
>understand how anyone can get emotionally attached to a vehicle, and
>trying
>to explain it is pretty futile. I hope some of you might be better
>able to
>sympathize.
>
>For those of you who don't know us, my name is Jason Bleazard and my
>fiancee
>is Norah Kiraly. We met here on the Dakota mailing list in November
>of
>1996. I moved to Toronto from Orem, Utah last summer and we're
>planning on
>getting married some time this fall.
>
>My Dakota is a white 1995 4x4 regular cab, and Norah's was a black
>1995 4x2
>club cab. Even though we have almost everything in common, we first
>met
>through our trucks and we feel like we owe them a debt of gratitude
>for
>bringing us together.
>
>On July 11, I had planned on getting new tires put on mine. We were
>travelling together, the plan being that I would drop mine off and
>then we
>would take the other one on some errand runs that needed to be done.
>
>We were turning left at an intersection, and Norah was in the lead.
>When
>the light changed, the car coming the other way slowed down like he
>was
>going to stop. As Norah started out into the intersection, the guy in
>the
>other car realized that he was going too fast and decided to speed up
>to try
>to clear the intersection. The left front corner of his car slammed
>into
>the front right corner of Norah's Dakota, pretty much putting a
>two-foot
>dent in the front. It smashed in the bumper and pushed the whole hood
>up
>and back.
>
>Then both the Dakota and the other car spun off of each other, and his
>left
>rear corner hit the right side of her bed. This pushed her headlong
>into a
>lamp post. Dakotas are not exactly light vehicles, but hers had spun
>around
>almost 180 degrees like it was on ice, and the car wound up turned 90
>degrees and in the left lane of the road we had been trying to turn on
>to.
>
>Meanwhile, I'm sitting in my truck watching the whole thing frozen in
>place.
>Once she stopped moving, I managed to turn mine off, set the hazard
>flashers
>and run across the street (I only dimly remember any of this).
>
>Thank God, she was okay, except for some nasty bruises. They took her
>to
>the hospital for a couple of x-rays and released her. Believe me guys
>when
>I tell you that you never want to watch your wife / fiancee /
>girlfriend /
>significant other get into an automobile accident. It's not a very
>good
>feeling, and I never hope to see anything like it again. She's still
>pretty
>sore, but at least she didn't get any serious injuries.
>
>The Dakota, on the other hand, was not so fortunate. The side
>sheetmetal of
>the cab no longer lined up with the bed, meaning one of them had
>shifted on
>the mounts. All of the coolant and oil drained out into the gutter.
>Not
>surprisingly, the insurance company totaled it out.
>
>Of course, since Norah was making the turn, the police decided that it
>was
>legally her fault for not allowing the oncoming traffic to finish
>running
>the red light. The cop told her she could either pay the ticket or
>fight it
>in court. He said "I hope you can read between the lines here. In
>order to
>convict you, I have to take time out of my schedule and cancel
>whatever call
>I'm probably going to be on, track down the other driver, have him
>make time
>in his schedule, drag him away from work, and we both have to show up
>in
>court in person and prove that you turned when it wasn't safe. I'm
>very
>busy, and I think the other driver probably is as well."
>
>Now, the Dakota only had three months left on the lease. We had
>spoken to
>the dealership a little about what our options were going to be, and
>they
>said that since the mileage was so low and we had taken such good care
>of
>the truck, that we should be getting some equity out of it if we
>traded it
>in. We were planning on trading it for a '99 4x4.
>
>Isn't it funny how attached we are to a machine? We knew that trading
>it in
>would be somewhat sad, but not too bad because it would be going to a
>good
>home. Knowing that it's just going to a junkyard, I feel like I've
>lost a
>friend.
>
>The good news, which we just learned, is that the insurance company is
>going
>to cut a check for the full value. There was some question whether
>they
>were going to do this or just settle the remainder of the lease with
>Chrysler. The dealer has found a new 4x4 for us, black just like the
>one we
>had before. It's probably hugely silly, but I think I'll be able to
>take a
>little comfort thinking that the old truck is still with us, at least
>in
>spirit. Hopefully everything will work out with the financing and
>insurance
>and we can take delivery of the new truck later this week or early
>next
>week. It'll be nice to get this behind us and for everything to get
>back to
>normal.
>
>Oh, I almost forgot. The car the other guy was driving was an 87
>LeBaron.
>This is the second Dakota I know of to be totaled in a frontal
>collision
>with a LeBaron (see Josh Brown's on the Dakota Pictures page -- his
>looks
>much worse than ours did). Watch out for these LeBarons. They seem
>to be
>magnetically attracted to our radiators.
>
>This whole thing has shown me just how quickly things can happen.
>I've
>noticed that I've been paying a lot more attention to my driving since
>this
>happened. It's just too easy to get comfortable and let your
>attention
>wander for one or two critical seconds. Be careful out there.
>
>Jason
>
>
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