Well, we're finally home. Unfortunately on the return home we encountered a few problems. Some of you know we we're heading to the Pittsburg area to pick up a new car, Fiero even. Well, things that day, Saturday the 29th started out as planned but quickly turned into a day from hell for us or our friends . The trip back started at 4:30 for Boomtastic and MsBeth from Mass to Pittsburg and at 6:00am for myself and Elvira from Va Beach to Pittsburg. The weather was nice at first for us but got shitty when we got into PA. Weather in Mass was rainy thru Connecticut for Eric and Beth. They were driving his Dakota pulling his BRAND NEW trailer to carry my car home. About 9:30 that morning we received a call from Eric. They got into a major wreck. Some punk 17 year old kid decided to take mom's car on a joy ride, no license mind you, and lost control in the left lane. He came across and forced Eric and Beth into the right hand guard rail head on. Then, as if this wasn't enough, they got broadsided by a Schneider semi. Not a pretty sight I'm sure but fortunately they both survived the incident with just bumps and bruises (we hope). Haven't seen the pics of the vehicle but the truck and trailer are totaled.

We were in total shock. In disbelief at first, worried about them. We had our son take off to get them from the Stamford hospital to bring them home.

Hence the story continues....at this point we called the seller to get prices on a U-Haul and trailer combo to bring it home. Unfortunately, it was way more then I could afford ($1000+) so we decided to get the car later and head to New Hampshire, all the time keeping in touch with Eric and Beth on their progress and with my son, on his travels to Stamford.

We were on 83 North outside of Harrisburg PA when we came up on some bad rain. I bumped it down a notch or two (Actually I slowed down to under the 65 mile an hour speed limit because of a semi in the right lane. I decided to try to get a round him. I got in the left lane, which had a 4 foot concrete barrier placed right at the edge of the lane (no shoulder space to the left). As soon as I got into the turbulence of the trailer I hit a big puddle in the road. Needless to say, we started to skid out of control. It all happened so quickly yet I remember it all. Skit to the left and spin to the right, right under the semi trailer. I remember looking at Renee and telling her to hold on cause we're going under and there is nothing I can do. It was like a carnival ride gone wild. We Spun out front first under the trailer, watched the windshield fold down, the tops shatter and then we caught on an I beam UNDER the truck and spun around backwards with the right side front wheel rubbing against the right rear trailer tire. When we came to rest under the trailer, I gained my orientation and was relived that it was all soon to end, thinking that the truck was going to stop. To my surprise, we started to accelerate, hung under the trailer getting pulled backwards with me all the time on the brakes. This is when we stared to panic a little. It was obvious that the driver of the rig had NO idea that we were under the trailer. The only indicator for him was about a foot of the front of the car sticking out from under the trailer on the passenger side. Anyway, we got dragged like this for what seemed forever. Going back t the scene of the accident, we realized that he pulled us like this for a little under a mile. Finally I started to see things slow down, I knew things we're coming to and end. All the time under the trailer we watched the trailer wheel rubbing up against the car, bouncing off the ground as if it was ready to come over us. We finally came to a stop. Thank God!!! I open the door, and stepped out of the car. Not a single bump or bruise. Renee, o the other hand, was stuck in the car. Not pinned or anything, and not hurt (except of a gash in her elbow) but not enough room to get out. The driver of the rig ran around and couldn't believe what he saw. More amazing to him was the fact that I walk out as if nothing happened and that Renee was ok as well. He figured we were dead, as did everyone else who showed up on the scene. Everyone was in disbelief that we walked away from this accident. Unfortunately, the Formula T-top is no more. Now it will become a roadster We will try to salvage the car seeing that it was one of our favorites and saved our lives. I kept telling everyone there that if anyone talked smack about the safety of a Fiero, tell them about what you just witnessed. All I have to say is someone was looking over all of us that day. A whole bunch of gratitude goes out to Bob and Penny Schlag, who dropped everything and came out to Harrisburg hospital to help us with the rental car arrangements, getting the car out of the rain and into one of their dry stalls and just being there for us at a time of need!! We GREATLY APPRECIATE the help!!

At this point all that matters is that no lives or limbs were lost. Bumps and bruises heal with time but death is forever.

Here are some pics of what the Formula looks like today. A sad sight but not as bad as expected. Actually the rescue unit did more damage with the jaws of life then the accident itself, but all in all she fired right up and I DROVE her into Bob's garage. May she have a well deserved rest. She will be back.

Our prayers go out to Eric and Beth for a speedy recovery from the bumps and bruises and once again, thanks go out to Bob and Penny Schlag for all the assistance in a time of need. We love you guys!

Rob and Renee aka Chester and Elvira.

More pics will be posted when I get the film developed later today.

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No motor - Soon to be a bottle fed 383 V8
2.5" Drop
11" Brakes
17" Revolutions
RCC Coilover Suspension
Updated! www.dirtyratracing.org

OMG! First off, I'm so thankful to hear that everone made it through their respective ordeals OK. It was scary even reading all that!

It's amazing and scary to hear all of what happened... I'm almost in shock sitting here looking at the pics. -just glad that you're all allright!

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Looking for Fiero posters?

We are all glad that you ALL are OK.
A car can be replaced but people can't.
You two going to be around in the next day or so? We can swing by and say hi

I hope that Eric and/or Beth post on here soon so we know how they are doing as well.

Let us know if you would like us to come over maybe tomm to visit. We can go out to a local place or something for dinner as well maybe?

Steve

[This message has been edited by Fiero5 (edited 03-31-2003).]

Imagine my shock when I get a link from Bob Saturday evening to some pictures about "his Saturday," and see this topless Formula sitting in his garage. I had to ask to get the story, but it had a happy ending in that Rob and Renee are OK. Renee is a bit sore, but I trust the "refreshments" helped with that.

Get well for Carlisle! Oh, and please lose the black cloud before then.

I'm also glad to hear that Eric and Beth are OK.

P.S. You guys just had to top the "mule" incident, didn't you? (Sorry, couldn't resist)

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Mid Atlantic Fiero Owners Association
New England Fiero Association
Keystone State Chapter, P.O.C.I.
P.O.C.I.

[This message has been edited by Denny (edited 03-31-2003).]

My gods!!! What a horrid ordeal!!!

I am so glad that everyone is ok. That must have been the scariest moment of your life.
Someone reallyw as watching over you on that day. I am glad you are all ok.

Randy

OMG!!!

I'm sitting here at work reading this, and I'm just stunned.

I've never met any of you but I'm still breathing a sigh of relief. I'm very happy that you all are okay.

Just said a little prayer of thanks that it wasn't worse.

The car looks sad, but it *did* save your lives. Not many people get a ride under a semi and get to tell their friends about it.

My best to Beth and Eric, too. I hope that their injuries also are minor.

Steve

Oh my gosh! That is unbelievable. Thank God you guys are not hurt badly. That is an amazing story. If there is anything we can do please let us know. MsBeth and Boomtastic hope you guys get better real soon too. There difinitely is a God.

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Red 88 GT T-Top 3800 Supercharged
White 88 GT Stock
Please give me a rating if you appreciate my contribution.

You must have thought it was the end for you! After reading that, the pictures didn't seem so bad, but it's AMAZING what happened to you!

So, it WILL fit under a semi, you just gotta remember to go out the other side, huh?

I have had too many bad experiences driving my Fieros in the rain. I hate doing it.

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Come to the 20th Anniversary celebration
_______ _______
http://www.cfogi.org/anniversary.htm

Dude! You and Renee had a guardian angel watching out for you thats for sure. Thank god both of you are allright. Same for Boombastic and MsBeth. Shame about the car but at least it gave its life for yours. If there is anything I can possibly do to help give me a call ok?
Rich

Holy Crap!! I'm glad you two are all right. I am so glad you weren't hurt too badly.

But I have to tell you that is not the proper way to chop top a Fiero

OMG, Thank god you all are safe. I will Miss the T-Top. Geesh You & Renee, Eric & Beth. I think me and Jaime will lock ourselves in the house. LOL

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Josh Join us for FINE 2003

Come to NEFA's swap meet

I'm glad to hear you made it the rest of the way with no more problems.
I'm also glad you found us at home so we were able to help.
The Formula is resting right now in the dry in my garage. Here are a few shots of it at rest now:

It's in a safe place until you're ready for it.

I've been in touch with Boomtastic. He's pretty disappointed about his loss, but thankful it wasn't worse.

Let me know when you're ready to come get it.

[This message has been edited by grgoyl86 (edited 03-31-2003).]

It's a good thing Fieros are built so tough - but I never thought they were that tough!

We're glad everyone is alright.

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God is good. And Fieros are tough....amen.Glad you all are ok....life is a fishbowl-sometimes youre in it and sometimes you get the opportunity (good or bad)to look out AT it for a second.

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Victorian Valhalla

THANK GOD you're all safe. The Fiero can eventually be fixed. I'm just glad none of you were really hurt. Now I'm really afraid to go to Carlisle this year

Oh my God. Thank God none of you were seriously hurt. I hope you had a spare set of drawers with you, because I know I would have needed some, if I were in your position. I hope the Black cloud that seems to be hanging over NEFA members leaves soon.

Oh God! Thank goodness you are all ok!! It's such a tragedy to see your Formula like that, though! That's been one of my favorites for so long - the combination of T-tops, meduim red, Mr. Mike's in the beachwood interior, oh man. It makes me want to cry.

I can only imagine what I'd feel like if that happened to my beloved Formula. I'm glad you're going to try to save it.

Again, thank God everyone's ok. That's your first concern. If there's anything you need, I'm sure I speak for everyone here on the forum when I say just ask and we'll do all we can to help.

It makes it so much harder, when you know it looked like this to start with:

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[This message has been edited by Formula88 (edited 03-31-2003).]

WOW!! Glad to hear you are alright!! Sorry about the car.

I guess the bad luck continues. My uncle drove his 02camaro SS down to Fl for a SLP day down in daytona. His car is quite rare and it left a mint 1400mi car. One morning he woke up and found someone had backed into his car in the hotel parking lot, smashing the front corner. If that wasn't bad enough, he got rear ended by an oil truck in Virginia coming home.

I guess the good thing is that everyone came out ok though.

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19 Year Old Fierophile.
--1986 SE V6, Wild Custom Notchback
--1984 SE Modified Notchback

I see the Holley scoop survived too

Seriously though, the car still looks pretty structually sound? Though I am looking at pictures only but still.

Steve

Ho-leeeeeeee catz!!!

Very glad to hear you're safe.

I actually hadn't ever seen pics of your car until F88 pointed me to this thread... OMG, it was in perfect shape, too!

But I definitely think you have the right idea... rebuild that thing into a ragtop!! It deserves the best after saving your lives!

I'll be very glad to donate a 'Formula' logo windshield banner for you to use once you get things back to that point. It's self-adhesive vinyl that makes it appear to be etched glass. (As F88 can attest, I haven't offered these decals to ANYONE - it's been my own personal thing for my car alone thus far.) It's the least I can do to be able to help in some way rebuild an absolutely gorgeous Formula like that one.

Again, glad to hear everyone is safe and healthy after an ordeal like that!!

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Patrick W. Heinske -- LZeitgeist@aol.com
1988 Red Fiero Formula
- 1st Place - Stock Coupe - FOCOSEVA 2000
- 3rd Place - Stock Formula - FOCOA Nat'l 2001
- Class Winner - 1982 to Present - Tarheel Tigers All-Pontiac Show 2001
- Class Winner - Fiero: All Years - Tarheel Tigers All-Pontiac Show 2002

[This message has been edited by LZeitgeist (edited 03-31-2003).]

WOW! I'm stunned too.

Just glad that everyone came through ok.

That was a nice Formula too

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Jeff
AOL IM : Only2xsess

WHOA.. that's serious.. I'm glad you're all ok, and I hope everyone heals quickly.

I will be showing this to my dad, he doesn't think Fieros are safe... I'd like to see his precious little Toyota survive that, and protect the people inside it as your Formula did.....

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steve@digitalfusion.on.ca
"Whoever said money can't buy happiness.. didn't have much of an imagination." - Steve King, 1997

Thanks for all the kind words...Here are the shots when we were under the trailer. I was able to just open the door and exit unscath. Renee had to be cut out thru the passenger door but was not pinned in any way.

She will live again!

Just some bruises and 4 stiches...

I'll post more in a while. Time to eat and get

Wow, what can anyone say to that.

When you said "Return from Daytona was not a nice one", we thought maybe you had a couple of flat tires or something.

That Fiero is a tough little car, it served you well. You've gotta keep that car to celebrate it's saving your lives.

Refurb that baby and take it to Daytona next year, you're sure to win the hard luck award.

Archie

[This message has been edited by Archie (edited 03-31-2003).]

Glad you all are alright, Does this mean i should have purchased the t-top and kept it in WV? it was only 15 minutes from my home where ya picked it up chester, You should email the previous owner and show him the new roadster pictures.

matthew

DAAMMMNNNNN!!!! I can't believe this thread!!! Carolyn and I got to meet and chat quite a bit with Renee & Rob (Elvira & Chester) Man , it seems we've known you guys forever after meeting you. All of us in our little group were calling them "The Love Birds" because of their new empty nest.
I'll be honest guys, this brought tears to my eyes!! Thank God you're alright!!! That had to be the "Ride from Hell" Hope you both recover from your bruises , but thank God you're still here to tell about it.
On the lighter side , Carolyn said your luck had turned with all the door prizes you guys won!!! Guess they're scattered all over the place. Thank God for that Fiero Spaceframe!!!

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Damn!.... sosososo glad to hear that you're alright. Archie and everyone else is right, she's a tough little car. It doesn't look that bad either. Keep us posted on how eric and beth are then too.
Matt

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Wow! :O I'm so glad you are ok. Cars can always be fixed

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I am glad your all ok.
I didn’t stop and chat but you may remember me from the Saturday of the Daytona show, I made the comment about never having enough Fieros at about 11:30.
Sorry for your loss but I am sure you will make it better than it was.
Was it lowered? Before the accident?

I was thinking about this ordeal while out mowing my lawn and it's probably a good thing it was a T-top car, sad but better for you two perhaps.
I'm not going to talk about what might have happened if it was a solid roof car.

I didn't have any clothes to wear out of the hospital as mine were covered in Glass and blood! The nurse was nice enough to give me a pair of scrub pants and let me keep the johnnie I had on and a set of hospital footies (my shoes were still in the Formula!). I felt like I was escaping from the hospital, but I was too stunned to care at that time!
When the rescuers got to the scene and asked Rob what kind of car it was, he told them "It's a Pontiac Fiero." They freaked out and were trying to clear people out of there as they were afraid it was going to "catch fire because of the electrics in the doors". What kind of crap is that! I am going to write an article to Pontiac Enthusiast to try to dispell the myths of our little cars. Geez!

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Elvira
President, New England Fiero Association (NEFA)
www.dirtyratracing.org
Blue 87GT 5sp (TruBlu)
Black 86GT 5sp (The Dirty Rat)
87 GT 4-seater (2+2)
Maroon 88 T-top Formula (Fun-In-The-Sun)
85 GT autocrosser (Auto-X)

Visions of "Christmas Vacation" are in my head. I think you should win the "Hard Luck Award" for the rest of the shows this summer!!!!! And I thought 6 miles of glare ice down a mountain towing my son's 4 Runner on a trailer was enough to pinch off nails. St least I had some control of the situation, unlike nearly a mile of being dragged under a semi.

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...Perfection....

OMG Rob, I don't know what to say, other than thankfully you and Renee are ok, along with Eric and Beth after their ordeal.

That had to be one scary ride.

I came home earlier today for lunch and seen your post, I did not read it at first, because I seen the top edge of a pic, and said to my buddy that dropped by for coffee, Cool! pics!

Then I scrolled down and said like OMF!, WTF? and I immediately thought the worst.

I reread your post 2 or 3 times, and everything still didn't make a whole lot of sense, I was stunned so bad.

I wasn't able to post at that time, and I thought of you guys all afternoon at work.

We are all lucky that your car held up in the time of need, and as much as we like our cars, thats all that matters in the end.

We got that spell of rain early this morning, and all day , and there were alot of roads and highways shut down because there was so much water comming down. It was wicked.
I said to Lori before she left to work, " be careful and go slow because there is a SH!T LOAD of water on the roads"

Again, thankfully the 4 of you are none the worse for wear, and take it easy guys, I imagine you will be sore for a few days.

Hats off to Bob and Penny for rushing to your assistance, they are wonderful people.

Anthony

glad your all ok! Any word on Boomtastic and MsBeth yet? I could picture everything as i was reading what happened.

Back away from the car because it might catch fire due to door electrics? Thats a new one...I would have yelled at him for saying that, especially about a car that basically just saved your lives

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--Adam--
1987 Blue GT 5-speed
IM AOL: FieroGT5speed
16 years old and already selling my stuff to pay for repairs to my Fiero...which i sold my stuff to buy in the first place

Thanks all. It was a wild ride but to be honest, neither one of us was scared. Untill the trucker didn't stop that is. I remember teling Renee to hold on for the ride and that we're going under. Asked her a couple of times during the spin if she was ok, and told her I'm doing what I can when she was yelling to me to make it stop. It seemed like we were under there for minutes instead of seconds...

On a good note, Eric and Beth are recovering nicely from some bumps and bruises. Nothing major that I'm awarwe of.

Rob D.

OMG that is almost inconceivable. Glad to hear every one is ok. If I hadn't seen the punctures I would have thought it was an early Aprils fools

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LS1 v8 T-Top 87 GT

http://ls1swap.tripod.com/

Chester & Elvira- Glad that you made it home safely, we don't want to lose any members of our community!

It's pretty interesting to see what actually "does" happen to a Fiero that makes it's way under a big rig. I have mentioned this to my buddies as to wether or not I could clear one being my car is fairly low to the ground. My conclusion: On the one you encountered, prolly not. I'm sure on one that sat a little higher I could do it succesfully though!

BTW, I won't be trying that stunt anytime soon!

Good luck with the T-top ride and glad to see your alright!

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'87GT 5" Drop on 17's, Can you say "Bagged"? -on air- (Custom paint, interior, stereo, exhaust, intake, spoiler)

'93 Eagle Talon TSi AWD (Big 16G, HKS TT, HKS EBC, HKS Intake & Exhaust, 2G Man, on 17s)
'91 Eclipse- 2.5" Slam FOR SALE

fieros only

Ya guys...Great to see you back home safley. You know I was just at another thread that asked "what is the nicest notchback" and I was soo tempted to write yours. If there is anything at all that I, personally, can do to help you out just name it and i'll try my best. Good Luck and lets hope both of you have a speedy recovery so you can give that top notch Fiero a speedy recovery!

Best Wishes

Steven Rossi

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Here is what she looked like at the show in Daytona.
We took second place in our class.

I spoke with you in Daytona, I am from Jacksonville, sorry to hear about your misfortune, that was a beautiful car. Glad to hear you weren't hurt.

You are really lucky. My Dad drove a truck, got tail ended by a woman in a Cadilac, she was stuck on his rear bumper, kept hearing a car honking but couldn't see her because she was right behind him. Finally noticed his heat guage going up, since she had her brakes on.

Again I am really glad you are okay, I really enjoyed talking to you and really liked your car. Maybe I will see you at Ed Parks Swap Meet.

DZ