WOW. I was just wondering about seeing some pics of crashed 914's to see how they do in collisions.

OUCH. Glad that your son is okay.

Might explain why my dad did't let me drive his SIX until I was 40 years old!

They say that all collisions are preventable.....................but having kids live through them is probably the most important!

Wreck's happen! I had 5 good ones "growing up" and I made it in my career as a State Trooper!

We say there are two classes: 1)those who have wrecked AND 2) those who have YET to wreck.

He has just graduated and he has a lot of life experience in this one!

Tell him to hang in there........

I did alot or research before I allowed him to have the car.
I looked at alot of wrecked 914's....its a tought little car.
From all the wrecks, even this one, that I have seen....the passenger compartment holds up well.

Any car that gets t-boned of wraps the door around an imovable object just holds up as well as it can.

The 914 is a little tank.

Rich

Yes the 914 will take a pretty good beating, but being unibody and having the fenders welded on is what takes alot of force, but unfortunately it gave it's life, but your son's ok. I was in the same boat this summer. The good news is in this market you'll find a donor shell or whole car for a very reasonable price.

YIKES!!! Maybe you should get him something a little more stout like a sherman tank for the next car. I am dreading the day my daughter is old enough to drive. She is 12 so I have a few more years of peace.

Good thing he is ok that is all that matters.

Speed kills; young kids and speed really kills. Very glad your son was not injured and the only loss is the car. I have always told friends, when they ask about what is a good first car for a kid, buy them some old 300K mile MBZ sedan with a diesel engine and automatic that weighs like 5K pounds and goes 60 MPH with a good down hill run. Then when they turn 25 to 30 get them a real car.

All of that is sound advice.
My boys started in a volvo..they beat it to death.
Nothing major, both had their first accident in the volvo.
We built the 914 for a while as he was learining in the volvo.

I did do alot of research of real world examples of how the 914 held up in accidents. I looked at alot of real world pictures and saw a few up close and personal before deciding to get him one.

From the pictures and stories I experienced and the survivors stories or actual accidents I was satisfied that the car could take one serious hit...
I dont base decisions like this on speculation nor on opinions...I like to see facts and post accident carnage.

Let me say this, I got him another 914...I am not afraid of the car, just the driver.
Currently he is driving a toyota until he rebuilds his latest shell back into a car.

For all of the parents here, and kids, its a good car. Its well built.
If you have rust, fix it...
The car is designed to take the impact.
Please make sure you have a spare tire up front and its bolted to the floor...it is an inegral part of the crash zone up front.

Frontal impacts are pretty much the same on most cars.
Side impact is the risky one and as we all see by these pics...the car can take it.
The longs and dash/cowl took all the impact and did exactly as they are supposed to do...they protected the occupants.

Rich

My daughter was in a car accident (Jeep) within 5 months of her license; 4000 dollars damage. She's a much safer driver now!

So, this might just be the lesson he needed to get back on track. And as others said, the trusty 914 gave it's life to save his.

Paul

So Rich and Rocket how is the build of Grimace MOD2 coming along?

Glad to hear he's ok. Hope he learns to enjoy driving slower now.

The 914 seems to have great crumple zones everywhere. I bet the engine bar breaking and the tranny breaking off also helped dissapate some of the kinetic energy. There was a fella on here a while back who said he hit a lincoln head on at 50mph in a 914 back in the seventies... and lived to tell about it.

Wow that looks rough. Good thing there wasn't anyone sitting in that passenger's seat. How fast did he hit the tree at? Glad to hear no one got hurt!

Glad this accident had a good ending Rich!

My daughter will be in my old Benz when she's gets to drive...

I talked with Rich & his son after the accident. There was a passenger in the car when Rocket wrecked.

I am amazed when I see these pictures how well the passanger compartment held up. They t-boned a tree. I slid off an icy road in a 914 back in 1988. It wasn't as bad as this one, but the car was totaled.

Rocket was lucky, but the guy riding shotgun was really lucky! They both walked away from this accident.

Well,
My son has been busy working as a mechanic and the accident put a big dent in his finances.
He should be all over the 914 this winter and early spring...I know he will be nuts without it in the summer.

I love my boy and I am very happy he made it through this.

Rich