Date:         Tue, 4 Feb 1997 23:30:16 -0800
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Austin <austins@ix.netcom.com>
Subject:      Re: Vanagon "annihilation" on TV.......



>>I saw an interesting video on Discovery Channel's "Invention" once of a 
>>Bug being driven off a cliff. It rolled over a few times, then landed 
>>upright with nary a scratch on it. Buses were built much the same way, so 
>>that if they got hit, their convex shape just rebounded and reflected the 
>>kinetic energy of the impact. VWs, in fact, had some of the earliest 
>>safety cages...
>>
>I was once at the beach (northern CA) & happened to be looking at a traffic
backup on a downhill section of highway 1 that stretched uphill to a blind
curve, with a Bug as the caboose.  I remember thinking 'I'd sure hate to be
in that VW if someone came screaming around the corner' (as is want to
happen often on that road) when sure enough Maw & Paw in their mobile
tornado magnet rumble around the corner, try to brake/swerve but as the road
was just fill at that point there was naught but straight downhill on either
side so Paw elected to get personal upon the poor little Bug with his
WinnieWagon - everything slowed w-a-y down at that point...drivers side
wheel goes up & over the Bug & the RV gets airborn-I have a permanent mental
image of the bottom of the RV as it's doing a slow spiral in mid-air &
disappears over the far side of the road & down the cliff.  Having spent too
much time being trained as a medic courtesy of the taxpayers I ran up to see
if there were any survivors to be helped:  Maw & Paw were the worse off, but
their main concern was what had happened to their dog; the young couple in
the Bug were shaken & distraught to say the least, but also ecstatic that
their new baby in a car seat in the back was OK.  They'd been shoved hard
into the car in front, & there was a perfect tire crease over the engine
lid, shattered the rear window, continued over the top & ended at the drip
rail on the passenger side...the RV was at the bottom of the gulley with
most of the plywood & thin corrugated sheet metal ripped off. Bugs be tough!!!
>
>Austin 
>