2/2/69 I Totaled my 1969 Corvette
It was a sunday afternoon it had snowed a few inches that morning. I took off and was in second gear and started slideing sideways, crossed the center line and went sideways right into a telephone pole.I was 18 years old at the time, it should have been illegal for someone that age to have a car like that.My passenger was taken by ambulance to the hospital,the pole came into the passenger door.I climbed out my window as the door would not open.Car was 435hp coupe yellow/saddle leather COPO. it only had 1275 miles on it, i still have the tank sticker and all paperwork, A day i will never forget.
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Re: 2/2/69 I Totaled my 1969 Corvette
Bummer. Did you order it as a COPO ? What dealer placed the order ??Tom Hendricks
Proud Member NCRS #23758
NCM Founding Member # 1143
Corvette Department Manager and
Specialist for 27 years at BUDS Chevrolet. -
Re: 2/2/69 I Totaled my 1969 Corvette
Guess it all depends on the "angle of attack", so to speak. I bounced my 63 between a telephone pole and some of those white stubby poles with the black tops they used to use at rural intersections. Mine was more of a scrape because I just got white paint on one side and paint rub on the other. Mine was approaching an intersection which was on the other side of a hill, coming upon a stopped car waiting for the passing of an oncoming car in order to turn left. The road was blocked so I chose the shallow ditch and the poles. Not many choices at 100 mph. Lessons learned.
Stu FoxComment
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Re: 2/2/69 I Totaled my 1969 Corvette
Ralph,
Did anybody buy the car from the insurance company?
MarkKramdenComment
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Re: 2/2/69 I Totaled my 1969 Corvette
How's your friend, out of the hospital?Comment
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Re: 2/2/69 I Totaled my 1969 Corvette
I ordered the car from Luby Chev. where i worked at the time, special trim / color combo. My friend just spent the day in the hospital if he had his seat belt on he would have been squashed by the pole.Comment
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Re: 2/2/69 I Totaled my 1969 Corvette
Ralph, have you Googled or run that VIN through any of the registries? Results may be interesting. Let us know. Chip.Comment
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Re: 2/2/69 I Totaled my 1969 Corvette
Glad to hear your friend wasn't seriously hurt. That's a hard stigma to live with over the years.
I once wrecked in my 56 Chevy from 130 mph on a cold dark night in December. We were all racing back from a place called "center of the world". I was going through the gears down a two lane rode with onion fields on each side. My buddy riding with me shouted "look out for the car with no lights!" It was a couple who had driven into the field for privacy and pulled back out onto the highway very slowly. I followed my first instinct to brake and my brakes pulled which threw my car into a sideways slide. Due to the time of year, I had a 50 Olds engine block in the trunk for traction. It shifted which exacerbated my slide. I slid down the rode from side to side as I tried everything to correct, even back on the gas at one point. I just couldn't overcome the pendulum effect of the extra weight. Each arc got wider until I was sliding through a shallow ditch and on my last swing out, I had to take out a row of country mail boxes or hit a big tree. I missed the car, and the big tree, but one large mail box tried to come through the windshield. It took out all the glass except the panoramic corners. All the glass ended up in the back seat except one piece that slit the bridge of my nose. The car stopped in the middle of the road. My buddy was under the dash for safety. I believe the couple stopped to clean out their pants and my other buddies arrived at the scene. They said they could see my tail lights going back and forth as fast as one could move their hand.
When the car went into the body shop the next day, we noticed the right rear bumper was curled under and discovered I had been clipping a row of small trees with it as I slid through the ditch. When we broke down the tires, we found a fist full of ground up grass and dead leaves in the right rear, and yet the tire never lost a pound of air. Go figure. Another lesson.
My buddy, who was with me, was in two other bad wrecks after mine; one a hot 59 Pontiac and another a 58 Vette. Guess it was all his fault as he was accident prone.
Stu FoxComment
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Re: 2/2/69 I Totaled my 1969 Corvette
What aspect of the car required a COPO order processing approval?Comment
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Re: 2/2/69 I Totaled my 1969 Corvette
Back in the late eighties i knew someone who worked for the Mass. RMV stolen car investigator, i gave him the VIN and we found out the car ha dbeen repaired and gave me a list of 3owners and the last owner reported the car stolen from Showcase cinema on 8/2/74 in Woburn Mass.at 9:19 PM and was found on fire at the Lenox street Projects in Boston 10;01 pm. i went to the Woburn police and they let me look at their old log books and i found the report, Then i went to the Boston Fire headquarters and looked at the old records in their file cabinets and made a copy of the report. I would say the owner had the car stolen due to the riseing gas prices at the time.I spoke to the person who last owned it at the time and he got a little nervous when i was asking questions.I have microfilm copies of all the owners after i wrecked it.One of the titles showed it had 12,990 miles on 1/10/73Comment
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Re: 2/2/69 I Totaled my 1969 Corvette
Ralph,
Any pics of the car? Sounds like a real hell raiserComment
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Re: 2/2/69 I Totaled my 1969 Corvette
Maybe yes, maybe no...
If the colors used were standard RPO listed and they simply deviated from the 'recommended list' for that year, I don't think there was any need for COPO authorization to build.
To my knowledge, it's still Chevy's policy to provide the buyer with any combination of RPO color/fabric regardless of the recommended list in a given year.
Now, if we're talking about something like a Shriner's car where you had a paint that didn't exist in the RPO system, that's a horse of a different color. That WOULD be a production special that'd require COPO documentation.
And, the car's tank sticker should call out the COPO by number. Further, I believe the COPO orders (by number) are still in the GM drawing system for access/inspection with appropriate authority...Comment
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Re: 2/2/69 I Totaled my 1969 Corvette
Jack is right. I have seen Ralph's paperwork and there is no COPO on it. The tank sticker has Ralph's name on it, but that is all that is out of the ordinary. There is no need to get your shorts in a bunch over Ralph's car.TerryComment
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Re: 2/2/69 I Totaled my 1969 Corvette
it says F2S087 in the COPO box and it is hand written RN4926 at the bottom and initialed, i showed it to John Hinkley at the meet in Marlboro MA. and he said RN means revision notice for the trim change.it also says special paint on the tank stickerComment
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