[Oil Man]

It took me a month or more before I was ready to write this. I posted it to the ZL1 Exclusive board on Facebook, and figured I would share it here as well:



This is a LONG post. But no longer than I think it needs to be.

When I would post about my car on Facebook, or IG or wherever, I would always write what I wanted to write about my Camaro.

This is the post I HAVEN’T wanted to write.

In March of 2018, I hydroplaned my 2016 2SS on I-10 late at night, in the rain. I was tired, and not as sharp as I would/should have been, and I was probably driving too fast in the rain.

But the car died a hero, and saved my ass in the process. All the airbags fired, and even though I bounced the front and rear off a reinforced concrete center median at probably 80 MPH, I walked away with nothing worse than a minor abrasion from the knee airbag.

Afterward, it became even clearer to me that the safety systems of 6th gen Camaros are extremely well done. And ten days later, I walked into a showroom and bought the car I had really wanted all along; my 2018 ZL1.

And for the next 3.5 years and 138,000 miles, I loved the hell out of the Z, and drove it EVERYWHERE. Between the two cars, I had over 200,000 miles of seat time in 6th gen Camaros, maybe as much or more than anyone that doesn’t get their paycheck from GM.

The only hiccup with reliability was just recently, a failure of one of the shitty DOD lifters that shouldn’t have been in the car to begin with.

And then, early on Saturday the 2nd of October, just a couple minutes after setting out for home, I met up with a wrong-way driver on a narrow two-lane canyon road here in Southern California. A Ford Super Duty with a bunch of off road lights who was either drunk, suicidal, angry, or maybe all three. The highway patrolman told me later that he had apparently gone head to head with at least two other drivers in a 20 minute span, including an Uber driver with a dash cam, and that they were still looking for the truck.

But I was in a pretty impossible situation. I came around the curve to discover the bright headlights were on MY side of the road, with about 100 feet between us. I juked the car left, and quickly right again, to avoid running into the cut of the hilllside, the suspension unloaded, and the tires I had been driving on for maybe 2-3 minutes weren’t warm enough to give me a chance to hold the rear end down.

The rear of the car swung left, and I hit a chain link fence on the roadside with the nose, while the very end cap of a string of guard rail struck the rear quarter panel immediately behind the driver door. This spun the car clockwise as it nosed into the 50-75 foot deep ravine that is the bottom of the canyon.

The car overturned 4 or 5 times..I lost count..and after several VERY long seconds, it came to rest, wheels down at the bottom. The dome lights illuminated, and almost immediately, I was connected to OnStar. And JUST like those advertisements I’ve been hearing all my life about their emergency service, I was speaking to a live person, who was asking about my condition and assuring me that emergency services were on their way, and that he would be on the line until they found me…

…which was NOT a slam dunk. Because my car wasn’t visible from the road at all. And I had NO cell phone service down there. If I didn’t have OnStar, and I had been seriously hurt, I could have been down there for longer than I care to consider.

As for my condition? Once again, the car died a hero, and I literally had my bags packed and was ready to walk away when the fire department found me. I received more injuries scraping my legs in the underbrush walking back to the road than I did during the crash.

Even after rolling that many times, all the safety systems worked perfectly. The belt tensioner and centrifugal force kept me glued in to the seat for the whole ride, and the airbags made sure I didn’t bang into anything.

No lie, Seeing the car destroyed has kinda ripped me up. I LOVED that car. And it deserved better.

But please save my membership to this group, because I’ve decided, and even managed to get my wife to grudgingly agree, that the only suitable car for me to buy as a replacement..

Is another 6th gen ZL1.

And I don’t want to own anything without OnStar ever again.

I’ll see you all again in the near future. Thanks to my car.


Brand/Product loyalty is earned, not given. Thank you for reading my story, and may you all have a happy and safe holiday season.

[Jofu]

Daaaaaaaayuuuuuuuuum... Crazy story!!!

Very glad to hear you lived to tell the tale, and even better to hear you had (considering everything) no major injuries!

It will suck to have to wait for the ordering of another ZL1, but it will be well deserved when it finally arrives.

On a side note, I really hope they catch that sac of shit and throw them in jail where they belong.


Geoff

[donniedarko]

Thank goodness youre alright. What a story. Pretty remarkable the engineering in these cars. Best of luck on new ride.

[Puddin]

Glad you're OK. As someone who has a loved one right now trying to relearn how to walk due to an accident involving another ass hat on the road I completely understand how you feel.

[2SS Capt]

Wow, amazing stories, glad you are ok... The car proved itself to you, twice... Go out and get another one, you deserve it...

[Oil Man]

Originally Posted by Jofu

Daaaaaaaayuuuuuuuuum... Crazy story!!!

Very glad to hear you lived to tell the tale, and even better to hear you had (considering everything) no major injuries!

It will suck to have to wait for the ordering of another ZL1, but it will be well deserved when it finally arrives.

On a side note, I really hope they catch that sac of shit and throw them in jail where they belong.


Geoff

Thanks man. It’s been like 7 weeks, and I haven’t heard about the Bro-dozer driver getting caught, so I’m not holding my breath. But I’m good, and that’s what matters.

As far as my next Z, I’ve got my eye on 2-3 specific cars that are in transit to local dealers and should be here soon, and a couple of those dealers are being minimal about their asks on “market adjustment”, so I’m optimistic that I should be able to drive off in a new car in the next week or two. I considered ordering from scratch, but what I want is pretty close to what a lot of allocated cars ship with, and I’m not that patient…

Which is good, because I’m going through withdrawals.

[Aragorn]

Originally Posted by Oil Man

Thanks man. It’s been like 7 weeks, and I haven’t heard about the Bro-dozer driver getting caught, so I’m not holding my breath. But I’m good, and that’s what matters.

As far as my next Z, I’ve got my eye on 2-3 specific cars that are in transit to local dealers and should be here soon, and a couple of those dealers are being minimal about their asks on “market adjustment”, so I’m optimistic that I should be able to drive off in a new car in the next week or two. I considered ordering from scratch, but what I want is pretty close to what a lot of allocated cars ship with, and I’m not that patient…

Which is good, because I’m going through withdrawals.

Some bro dozers are insane.
Incredible story and glad to hear you are safe!