Tuesday morning at about 7:35 am an idiot ran the traffic light a mile from my house and hit my 87 300D in the front door at about 60 (unless he was braking, unlikely). I ended up going south instead of east, somewhat smashed (pic below).

He was driving a '99 Chevy 3500 van (3/4 ton, I think), hit me about a foot in front of the B pillar.

Crushed the door in at least a foot, bent the windshield frame down, crushed the climate control and radio, pushed the dash up about a foot and out 3 inches or more -- someone had to find a pair of long pliers to reach in and shut off the engine (running at half throttle or so, I couldn't find the accelerator to pull it back up, and the hood latch was gone).

I unbuckled, climbed over and opened the passenger door and rummaged in the trunk for some paper towels to keep from dripping blood all over -- bunch of window glass in the back of my left arm and pretty good cut in my right arm from my exploded coffee cup. My computer stayed on the seat, believe it or not -- spinning the car around must have absorbed most of the impact. I don't remember if I was on the brake or not, or turned the wheel -- just happened to glance up to the left and thing, "oh sh.., this is gonna hurt" before he hit me.

I got two stitches, have to go down and get the glass picked out next week, and some VERY sore ribs, and a ride with two nice volunteer firemen down to the hospital for X-rays and stitches.

Bummer, I was planning on installing my new head something next month and rebuilding the rear subframe -- I had 274,000 or so miles on the odometer.

Now I gotta find another Benz, preferably another 87 300D!

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!