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LamborghiniBuick Park Avenue Ultra 100mph + Speeding Crash
I Lived... But How?
Route 9G, NY
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1996 Buick Park Avenue Ultra Crash. March 2, 2004 - 4:30 Pm - Route 9G ( This Story Is Long ) First Car. Speeding.
I was 16 years old and I had always loved big luxury cars, never small cars and never anything imported. I had a thing for Buick my grandfather raised me building old cars and he always swore even when he was 16 "Nothing beats a Buick" the first day I got to drive one I was in love. Just the sense of security behind the wheel and the luxury surrounding you. Anyways of course my age still wanted a Buick that wasn't a dog and had as many features as I could afford. I went to work for my neighboor and he spotted it and said to go look at it but I told him I couldnt afford it since it was 3 grand more then I had. So with my head held low I went to work praying that God would get me the Park Avenue I want. Well on the way back from shopping with my mom she spots it in this guys yard this time and makes me pull over though I insisted I didnt have the money. We both looked at it and of course I popped the hood, checked the under-carriage did all the typical manly duties while she watched me in action. When I got done he asked me if I wanted to drive it and I said no because I had already had my hopes up. For it being a 96 ( I had wanted the 2002 design or 2003) it was 100% new. There wasnt a spec of rust, dust, not a crease in the leather, not a stain to be found in the carpet. I couldnt believe my eyes for it being a 96. My mom took the keys from the guy and made me drive it so I did. As soon as we got in it I felt compelled to peel it out, I left a nice trail of rubber down the road and couldnt believe the way the supercharger whined and a front wheel drive car could lay rubber like that. Even though I liked buick I still knew it was no sports car. My mom yelled at me and so did the guy going for the test drive he said "I dont appreciate you driving my cars like that. If you love it... respect it!" Anyways we got back and I was in love. My mom looked at me and asked me "Do you want it?" and I couldnt believe my ears I was getting EXACTLY what I wanted for my very first car. So anyways on the way home my mom looked at me and said "ill tell you right now if you drive it the way you did your going to smack it into a tree" of course I did the typical 16 year old bull "i wont I wont" so I got the car in November of 2004 and right before Christmas in December I had my license.
The first day I took it out by myself I passed someone. And I couldnt believe the power of 50- 80... before you know it I was passing everyone in sight... 3,4, cars didnt matter. I would have friends make fun of me for driving a grandpas car and we'd take our cars out and race them. That grandpas car beat a handful of typical teenage cars ranging from Hondas, Audis, and a Bmw. I got addicted to speed and showing off, but being made fun of only made me feel like I needed to prove it even more. My mom looked at me one night as I walked out of the house grabbing the keys and said "Justin... if you dont slow down your going to wreck your car. And at the speeds your going Ill have to bury you most likely." She looked me dead in the face with a look that I couldnt erase from my head and if I knew then what I know now... Id have honored her warning. That same day I got my first ticket for doing 20 over the limit by a Ny Trooper.
Two days later I got ticked off at something and was going to take a drive to Connecticut to clear my head so I headed up 9g and got behind 5 cars that weren't doing 55 MPH I looked, no cars, fast motor, plenty of room and power and dived right in. I pushed the gas half to the floor then all the way (causes better acceleration) I was going from 50 right up to the 100.... I remembered looking down at the speed ometer because the car jumped.. it was the limiter setting in at 110 I let off a little bit and held it at 108 and in my head was thrilled by the whining sound of the supercharger. I got past all 5 cars and figured I was in the clear. Right as I went back into my lane a Honda Civic ran a stop sign and pulled right out in front of my car. I didnt even let off the gas. My body became paralyzed and I knew I had to do something. I knew braking wouldnt help.... and if i hit them Id have killed them. Imagine a Park Avenue rear ending a Civic at 110 Mph? So I swerved to the left, crossing the oncoming traffic pattern the car went into a drivers side - SIDE plow. My side of the car took out a post of 6 mail boxes, a farm size, and a couple mile markers. I was terrified and didnt know what was going to happen I looked down at my speed and the needle was still up over 100 MPH I had never hit the brake and my foot was STILL on the gas. The whipped a bit and went back to a straight line during the whipping I heard my moms voice in my head saying " your going to wreck your car" clear as a bell. I was so paralyzed I couldnt move and my grip on the wheel EVEN THOUGH I WASNT STEERING was like a vice grip but I heard her voice. I thought for some reason STILL that she was wrong and that it was all going to be over in a second. And it was..... right when the car straightened out I looked up and saw a tree in my path, I turned my head to the right and kept my eyes open and within a few miliseconds the car plowed the drivers side right into the tree. I can remember it all, the glass cracking, the crunch, the air bag bang as it busted out of the dash, and the way my face looked and what I saw as my eye went right into the airbag. My head barely moved thanks to the airbags and my body didnt move at all thanks to my seat belt. So the car was filled with smoke from the air bags , I thought it was on fire so I jumped out and my door wouldnt open so I climbed out the window.
To make the story quick I had no marks and no pain. I called my mom and let me tell you kids all something about a mothers love.... never get inthe way of it and always listen to it. Because they are incredible souls. My mother drove the speed I was doing to get to me as soon as she got the call my father said she was out the door before he even said I had a accident because somehow she knew what had happened. I dont know how she knew where I was on the road but she knew and she was there. And when she got there she fell to her knees and cried her eyes out and hugged me as tight as my hands gripped that wheel. I had hit the tree at 106 MPH on the drivers side. The tree stopped right in the axle housing. The motor wasnt touched, and nothing inside the car was touched either. The car had some pretty bad frame damage. As they put me in the back of the ambulance I saw my baby being put on a flat bed and let me tell you. I will never cry as hard as I did that day, I threw a emt off of me to watch them do that and my mom looked at me and knew the hurt and regret I was feeling and she took me in her arms as I balled like a infant and never once TO THIS DAY has said "i told you so" but she did. For some of you Im sure you cant understand how a guy feels about a car but humans dont mean as much to me as cars do, Im just that type of person call me cold call me what ever. But ultimately love is love. And you know something that car did what your best friend would do... lay down their life to save you. Had I settled for a Honda Civic like all other teens do... Id be dead dashboard mangled up into my face and dead. But I chose a car I loved and was my friend and it saved my life. Many times I feel like I killed my best friend but in a way I guess I killed my best friend WHILE it saved me. The auto body looked at the car and was amazed for the speed the damage was nothing. I had hoped that it would be fixed but God wanted me to learn that lesson and I had to. It sucks like you wouldnt believe. There are days Im mad at God for not taking me like I think he should have. But most days I just know now Im here for a reason. When my grandfather heard the speed and was looking at the car he patted me and looked at me and said " Only in a Buick kid.. only in a Buick" call it a grandpas car all you want.. and now I have the confidence to know dont make dumb choices because others dont approve . Like what you like and screw them.
I am now 19, its taken to this age to see anything good in that wreck and learn my lesson. Im a stubborn kid and I was more then ticked off a God because after that I went through a lot. But four other teenage lives all alone one by one have been taken in car wrecks EXACTLY like mine in the last month. All tree collisions at LOWER speeds. Granted they didnt have a Buick in fact it was a honda, subaru,mitsubishi, pontiac.. god still put them in those cars for a reason and there all gone. 2 young guys and 2 young girls. I have learned God has a purpose for all of us, some are meant to die young, some are meant to get a damn good glimpse of death at a young age, others wont see it until there old and its their time. So even though I can say and you can all say "teenagers please slow down" if Gods wants them.... your not going to save them but warning them. But this story isnt so much about "slow down or you'll die" as much as it about "slow down or you have a rough road ahead of your".... because
After this wreck I got three wreckless driving tickets from the same trooper who nailed me at 20 over two days prior. I had to worry for one whole year about losing my license but in the meantime needed another car. I wanted another Park Avenue my mom said she wasnt giving me a dime this time I was to get a better job and deal with car payments so she was about to co-sign a loan for another Park Avenue Ultra and when the signing came she said "Is this one Supercharged as well?" And I said "Yea.. its the ultra" and she put the pen down and said "Hell no..... you can have the model with the straight V6 Im not burying you this time around" and I was ticked off.... I got a new Park Avenue but you wanna talk a power difference and for a car buff that straight 6 wasn't winning the races against Audis that the supercharged one did. Still a big beefy motor dont get me wrong but didnt have the 0-60 power behind it. So because I was mad its like I was black and white with the car some days loved it other days was pissed I couldnt have the one I wanted so I took my anger out on the car and didnt respectfully drive that one either. So one day while showing off I drove it sideways down a rock filled embankment. Hoping it was totalled guess what it wasnt because it had minimal body damage and at THE TIME the underbody wasnt bad either. Needed new tires and two new axles but that was it. I owned it for 2 months and did that and from that day foward I sank 6 grand of my hard earned money into fixing it left and right because none of the problems cause by that accident showed up until the insurance company no longer considered it result of wreck. I went through two tie rods, two wheel bearings, two struts (think electronic ride is cheap? try 1400$ just for the front) and the car had a shake at 60 MPH that NEVER could be found. Car was gorgeous.. here I have a nice 40,000 car thats got 48 K on it and it rode as those it had 200K on it and IT WAS THE 1996. All because I got pissed off at not getting my way... because I didnt see my wreck as a lesson. Then right before I got rid of it I had yet another accident. My brakes failed during a sharp corner and instead of ABS it locked up and sent me into a smokey four wheels locked up 360 WITHOUT my seat belt on. It took down a sign and I actually prayed that time and begged got because I had no belt and right beyond that sign was a tree. After that I realized the mistakes I had made.. I owned the car for another year and had no more accidents, SLOWED MY BUTT DOWN, and got no tickets. Its been 1 year and 6 months and I do no more then 10 over the limit now, I only pass one car at a time. I traded in the Buick 6 months ago and I am back in a high powered car but Ive learned that just because you have it under the hood doesn't mean you need to prove it. I bought a new Dodge Durango 5.7 Hemi I dare to say it would smoke the first Buick but Ive stomped it once and once was enough.
So kids... if you've read this far. My message to you is if its your time its your time... no need to rush it so slow down! But slow down even more if your in a ride that your heart and soul is into because you'll never find that car again, and the life lessons ahead of you aren't pretty. My insurance was 556 a month, then when I hit 18 it dropped to 310 then when I bought the beastly SUV it went to 410. I went from having a car I LOVED that I OWNED OUT RIGHT and was 100% happy with to a car I'm paying 500 bucks a month for and 85% happy with it.
Listen to your moms.. they love you. Think before you act not just because if you die... because if you LIVE. Justin B.
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