It should go without saying that one should always give a vintage car a thorough inspection before taking it out of storage for a drive. Looking at the brakes and brake lines can be particularly important, as these components are crucial to safety, obviously, and can easily deteriorate if the vehicle has been sitting stationary. Unfortunately, one C2 Chevy Corvette owner had to learn this important lesson the hard way when he took his car out of storage earlier this year.
A home video shows the Chevy Corvette owner in question pulling into his downhill driveway in his ’66 convertible at a high rate of speed. As the vehicle descends the driveway, it becomes clear the vehicle has no brakes, giving the driver the option between barrelling through his fence and into the lake behind his house or purposefully crashing into the side of his home to slow the vehicle down. He chooses the house, which was likely the right decision, but the outcome is still quite tragic.
“First time pulling my 1966 ‘Vette out of the basement garage in six months,” the owner says in the description for the video. “I backed up my steep driveway showing off for my daughter’s boyfriend. I spun the tires going down to my upstairs garage. When I tried to brake, the pedal went to the floor. I pulled the emergency brake. Nothing. I had three options. Hit the cars parked on the left side of my driveway, run through my fence and most likely into our lake, or run into my house. I chose the house.”
This impact was relatively low speed, but the damage to the car is significant. The entire front right quarter panel is destroyed, while the front right bumper and pop-up headlight are also heavily damaged. This would be a fairly easy repair job for any restorations shop, but it certainly won’t be cheap.
Check out this unfortunate C2 Chevy Corvette crash in the video embedded below.
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Comments
WAFF, can’t fix stupid!
then why do you broadcast your stupidity to the world?
I don’t drive like an ass jack do you?
Care to share your own opinion about this post or do you just want to troll other opinions (obviously).
It’s OK. If there’s no hope for you, the rest of us will be just fine!
👋
🎤
So up until that point of his drive is when his brakes failed?
Looks and sounds like some type of mechanical failure leading up to the crash. Sucks, but if not some malfunction, then he deserves idiot of the year award.
It seems odd that his service and emergency brakes failed…. yet they worked fine backing up.
I think the guy forgot how to drive a stick and mashed the clutch pedal instead of the brake. That’s the squealing sounds when he drops the clutch.
Who pulls into their driveway that fast? Not to mention then posts it to be seen and commented on.
Forgot to drive stick, hardly. He has 2 beautiful cars, that are most likely manual. Not sure why anyone would want a sports car without manual. “Auto is faster!” Great, it’s not about how fast you go, it’s nostalgia. If you want fast, buy a supercar, most of them are auto.
Interesting post
🤣 CLASS A – IDIOT.
It’s OK. there is still hope for you
She’s pretty nice on top and pretty ugly underneath. There is no excuse for having a vintage Corvette and then not maintaining critical components. None.
I Think I Would Have Chosen The Lake. 🤔
Why not hit the fence straight on ? It’s softer then brick. It’s obvious the headlight isn’t a working original headlight so the repair cost isn’t as high as what you may think. Why not jamb shift to first gear to let the engine power stop it??
What do you mean it isn’t a working original headlight?
My mistake. After looking at it on a larger screen, instead of an I-Phone, I was mistaken. The headlight folded closed and appeared to be a blocked off area that is placed inside when the flip-up lights are removed. My mistake. It would have been a lot less to fix if the were the case. I check closer next time before I open my trap!!
He was able to “fix” the railing. He should feel good about that.
Once again we see someone post a video of their own stupidity. Would you rather be a famous idiot or, just not famous. It doesn’t change the fact he wrecked the car for sure. All that’s missing is ” Here, hold my beer, I got this” If I’m the daughters boyfriend? I’m looking for a better gene pool. Smh
Could have happened to anyone. Period.
6 months sitting? First thing, BLEED THE BRAKE SYSTEM.
DOH!
They failed going forward, but magically started working again when he backed up?
Not knowing the condition of the mechanicals of the car, prior to the crash, or whether or not the man actually owns the car, I’d hate to speculate that the accident was due to driver error. However, it baffles me that people of means will go out and buy these vehicles but not take the time to invest in their own personal driving skills. They’ll spend thousands upon thousands of dollars on cars, but not one cent on driver skill.
You get what you pay for.
I grew up in a time of you learned how to drive on your own, You either had it or you didn’t. the Idea of being able to buy the talent to drive a high-performance car is just stupid to me. you are not entering in a racing contest,
and knowing when you can and cannot drive fast is the biggest part of it. I used to work at a big Named Chevrolet
dealer when I was a 17 Kid. I used to take many HiPo Vett’s, LS-6 Chevell SS, Ram Air GTO’s and others out on the service drive and LIGHT EM UP, IF you have a car and are afraid to drive it. Then you should not have it. PERIOD
And yes I did make a mistake : I put a new set of wheels on my 1967 SS RS Camaro, and found out the hard way
that the wheels where not compatible with the disc break calipers and sheared the break line on the front brakes. had to drive back home on the emergency break. Live and learn.
I for one feel sorry for this guy, I would bet one or more of the multiple piston calipers was froze up and caused the rubber flexible part of the break line to burst, his mistake was that he was planning a: Lock the breaks stop on a dime. he had no time to recover and like he said. His Choice: The cars (no), the lake (no), looks like he chose the less of all out-comes. it don’t look like the house was damaged and the Vett. was the lamb.
actually even though he is not very bright he made the right move hitting one of your own vehicles insurance will only pay to fix one of them you cannot have a claim against yourself
*facepalm.jpeg*
We sometimes tend to blame anyone or anything but ourselves when “accidents happen” and it was an “accident” as this Corvette owner didn’t do this on purpose or plan on this happening, so he obviously is to blame for this “accident”.
We can finger point all day long but bottom line is….the brakes failed (although isn’t the Emergency Brake mechanical and cable operated on this year C2…you just pull the T-Handle out towards you?) and the results of this owner’s actions are now going to cost him a pretty penny (sic) and hopefully he’ll find a reputable body shop to put this once sweet C2 back to what looked to be a really nice ’66 ‘Vette. I can imagine how this owner feels…got to hurt, and not only is he embarrassed
wrecking his classic Corvette but it’s on video, and there was an “audience” (ugh!) and now, thousands of us are shaking our heads and writing openly about this guys poor judgement call, and wrecking a classic Corvette! Boy, if that doesn’t hurt way down deep, then you have no heart or soul! One more thing…I’m betting that there was an expensive lesson learned here, and any classic Corvette owner would do good to learn from others mistakes. ‘Nuff said, call the flatbed and get this poor C2 to the shop and pray that this guy knows someone who can fix this once beauty back to perfect condition again.
I still didn’t hear a answer on my questions about the 2021 C8 corvette allocation yet when we’ll the dealer get there allocation on the 2021C8 Corvette When ?
Should’ve just gone straight through the fence and avoided the right side of the wall probably wouldn’t have been as much damage
Looks like there was something “wonky” with his front end before the crash if you freeze the video at the 2-second mark…
Also, he either removed the Corvette Sting Ray logo from the front hood or it’s a 1965 not a 1966.
Hey is it for sale?
As much as I hate to say this its at least 15,000 in damages to fix right a friend had deer damage on his 64 to fix it right and make sure all bonding strips are right needs a new proper nose 5,000 plus shipping the 15,000 is for glass damge a new nose paint and labor especilly if this an original car to make right lights motors and any other damage extra hope you had good insurance
If you look closely, This Vette did not have working original headlights. The flip-over mechanism had been removed and fiber-glassed solid. Long way from being original. A whole lot less to repair it also. It also makes the car worth a lot less money.
“I spun the tires going down to my upstairs garage.” Could the “snake-bit” Corvette owner be the father of Ferris Bueller’s friend Cameron Frye?
He didn’t even swear….
CorvetteRepair.com can fix it like new !
Jeez! I have a pristine 65 Mustang GT. Can’t imagine not knowing that everything works perfectly before driving. And WTF were you trying to prove to your daughter’s boyfriend. Just plain DUMB!
The hood is not a 1966.
I don’t want to be that guy who laughs at entitled folks misfortune but here goes😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Crashed my 73 f100 pickup the same way a few years ago…had it 35 years probably a million and a half miles on it. Could happen to anyone. When you’ve got no out. ..you pick one of least concern
Looks like the front end was already lopsided from the still frames before he hit the house/fence.
Man Crashes Classic Corvette Onto Porch-
Gets Mad at Fence
This is an antique, what was he thinking. That’s fiberglass too. I’m a fan of old Corvettes its been my favorite car. Called stingrays. They are powerful vehicles.
Turning the ignition off and just go for the fence and may never get to the lake, or turn away from the lake.
Better him then me