It had to happen . . .

[David Petke <dpgoofy@ix.netcom.com>]

I knew it had to happen.  I liked that car way too much . . . .  On
Saturday night, my '97 black\black GLX was destroyed in a wreck. (I think)
I was in Philadelphia, and the light was changing.  I got the green and
went through the intersection.  Out of nowhere, some brainchild in her
Prelude coming in the opposite direction decides to make an illegal left
hand across 3 lanes of southbound traffic,(she had a red) and procedes to
mash the whole front of my car.
	The car performed marvelously.  The belts tightened, the bags deployed,
and my date and I walked away from it.  I got a nasty friction burn from my
left wrist to mid-bicep. (including a nice imprint of the bag vent on my
forearm.) She had some bag burns on her forearms.
	The whole front end of the car is pushed in about a foot. The radiator was
destroyed, but believe it or not, the engine still purrs.  The way the
wreck happened, I had to back away (under power) so the tow trucks could
get in there.  After taking a breather, I hesitantly started the engine.
It fired right up, and was still smooth.  I eased the clutch out and backed
up.  (Insert painful crunching and ripping noises here)  I pulled the car
to the side of the road.  That 30 foot trip featured numerous grinding
noises from stuff dragging on the ground (ugh!)
	I'm not sure if the car is a total or not.  The engine still runs, but was
a bit crooked sitting in the engine bay.   I'm going to wait to see what
the insurance adjuster has to say about the whole thing.  The car was only
10 months old and had 8K mi. on it.  Then I'm going to try to demand they
total the car and buy me a new one.  I'm not sure if I want to have it
fixed. I had an '85 Cabrio that was hit and it was never the same after that.
	In a wreck:  The fabric on those bags is COARSE!  It has a texture not too
far off from burlap.  Expect scrapes if it ever goes off on you (god
forbid).  VW packs an AMAZING amout of that white stuff (talc?) in the
bags.  The whole car was so clouded, I couldn't even see the dashboard
until I got the window down and vented the car a little.  That stuff also
tastes terrible, and burns your lungs. (Hey, VW.  How about some mint
flavor next time . . )
	Conclusions: 1. The Jetta is a damn tough car and is a superbly engineered
machine.  Appreciate it for qualities I hope you never find out about. 2.
In accidents, Jettas are a LOT tougher than Preludes. (the other car was
F*&cked) 3. If the insurance company totals it, It'll be an INCREDIBLE
parts car from the firewall back. (practically new)

Watch it out there. . . . 


				Dave

Dave Petke			DoD # 1615
Kennett Square, PA		AMA#429282

" . . and Sir Issac Newton's ghost echoing in my helmet"