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Ever rolled a car?
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Rick
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Joined: 27 Apr 2005
Posts: 22423
Location: UK

PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2018 4:58 pm    Post subject: Ever rolled a car? Reply with quote

Afternoon all,

Having added in the story today of an Austin Somerset that was rolled in the 1960s, set me off wondering if anyone else has a tale to tell of a rolled car? Maybe you were driving, or were the innocent passenger or simply a passer-by who witnessed the event unfolding??

Have you ever been to an organised display that involved rolling a car, such as that shown below?


http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/stunt-cars.htm

Back in the day ...


http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/rolled-car.htm


http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/damaged-renault.htm

RJ
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47Jag



Joined: 26 Jun 2008
Posts: 1480
Location: Bothwell, Scotland

PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2018 5:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I haven’t rolled a car but came as close as you can without completing to roll. We were on a rally in November ‘63 in my A70 and were doing really well. The weather was awful with falling snow obscuring road signs and road edges. We were on a small country road and met a car coming the other way. It ‘looked’ like I had a shoulder at my side so being the gentleman that I are:D I move to the left to allow the approaching car to pass. Initially all was well and when the other car was clear I made to move to the centre of the road. That’s when the roll started and we dropped about 2 or 3 feet only to be ‘saved’ by a good old hawthorn hedge. The shoulder I had perceived was nothing more substantial than a snow crust on long grass. It took two recovery trucks to extract the car.

Art
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mikeC



Joined: 31 Jul 2009
Posts: 1770
Location: Market Warsop, Nottinghamshire

PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2018 5:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've never rolled a car myself, although I understand I got very close to it during a VSCC driving test many years ago!

Back in 1937 my mother was teaching her young sister to drive, when they were hit by a horse-drawn brewer's dray - the Ruby was a write-off:






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in the garage: 1938 Talbot Ten Airline
Recently departed: 1953 Lancia Appia, 1931 Austin Seven, 1967 Singer Chamois, 1914 Saxon, 1930 Morris Cowley, 1936 BSA Scout, 1958 Lancia Appia coupe, 1922 Star 11.9 ... the list goes on!
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Penman



Joined: 23 Nov 2007
Posts: 4746
Location: Swindon, Wilts.

PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2018 5:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi
I've witnessed 2.
First was in the 70's, a Dauphine on a r/bt in Eastville, Bristol. I suspect that was a rear engine whipp caused by over exuberent acceleration the occupiers and passers by just rolled it back on it's wheels and off they drove.
The other one was about 10yrs ago, late at night, when leaving the M6 at jct 29 northbound, a driver in front of us decided after reaching the chevron area that she wanted that junction, swerved left and caught the wedge end of the Armco.
https://goo.gl/maps/7CHHVz25ik42
I think the Armco went to the end of the grass area then.
The car just rolled onto it's side and I stopped behind it, stuck hazards on and got my car evacuated to the hard shoulder, one of my passengers did the 999 call band I went back a bit in my Hi-Viz to try to slow down any other traffic leaving at that junction.
Seemed about 10-15 mins before we got Police/Ambulance there and I could shift my car to the shoulder. Just gave a witness report and then we went.
Never heard anything further so presumably there was no action taken and I don't think there were any injuries.
What did strike me about witnessing that was that it all seemed to happen in slow motion, but I believe that is a function of the brain taking in what is happening.
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Rick
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Joined: 27 Apr 2005
Posts: 22423
Location: UK

PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2018 5:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great photos Mike, would it be ok to include them on the main site? suitably credited etc etc.

thanks, RJ
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Penman



Joined: 23 Nov 2007
Posts: 4746
Location: Swindon, Wilts.

PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2018 6:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Mike
I don't see your photos, just a small icon.
When i click on them it takes me to my own photoimage pages.
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Bristols should always come in pairs.

Any 2 from:-
Straight 6
V8 V10
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Da Tow'd



Joined: 16 Jun 2010
Posts: 349
Location: Bella Coma British Columbia Canada

PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2018 6:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In 1967 I worked in a "Imported Car shop" in San Francisco. We had just finished installing dual carbs on a customers VW . My partner and I took it for a shake down cruise. We drove up to place called Twin Peaks where I took some photos of the car with SF skyline in the background. I left my camera case open in the back seat.
We were both strapped in and on a long down hill section of the road I figured I'd see what she would do since we had our friend gravity helping.
I passed a few cars and got a bit squirrely on one curve over corrected and put it on its roof.
Both of us upside down spinning until we hit a fire hydrant on the side of the road.
The hydrant sheared off and a huge spray of water was all over us. My pal starts freaking out saying "its gas get me out of here" . His upside down weight was holding the seat belt from releasing so I helped pull the latch -he falls to the upside down roof and knocks the window hard with his elbow.
We crawled out just as a crowd starts to form. We asked if some of the guys would help flip it back on its wheels.
I saw my Nikon cameras and lenses scattered all over the inside - I gathered up most of the camera gear.
Just then the fire department shows up and shuts off the water.
We gave factious names and asked if we could have the hydrant for my friends dog but no.
We had spare oil in the car so I poured it in and it started up like nothing happened.
we jumped in and took off.
About a mile from the accident we come up to a stop signal I push hard on the brake but hard pedal but no stopping action
I yanked up on the E brake and it slowed down. I looked down at the pedal assembly and there was one of my 35mm metal film cans wedged behind the brake pedal .
Back at the shop I told the boss what happened and expecting to be fired he said we better find another good body and swap everything over.
A week later we gave the owner his new car. He even laughed that we found the same colour body-
All at my expense
young and foolish and very lucky to have made so far
Hank
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BigJohn



Joined: 01 Jan 2011
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Location: Wem, Shropshire

PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2018 10:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I rolled one when racing the oval track back in the 70's, but it had a sturdy roll bar fitted, so no drama except 6 broken fillings due to my grinding my teeth. My father told me of his rolling a wooden wheeled Buick post war. He had been sent to collect a car which had been stored during the war in a barn. He took oil/fuel/water etc. and got the car going. Heading down a raised road above fields he gave the Buick full fuel and the nearside wooden wheels collapsed due to woodworm, he barrel rolled down the embankment and landed the right way up, surprised but uninjured.
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Rootes75



Joined: 30 Apr 2013
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Location: The Somerset Levels

PostPosted: Thu Nov 29, 2018 8:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have never rolled a car myself but I recall when I was a lad coming round a bend close to my Grandparents and there was a TR7 that had rolled and ended up in the river.
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peter scott



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 7112
Location: Edinburgh

PostPosted: Thu Nov 29, 2018 10:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Back in the days when I had my Series II Minx I came across a similar Minx abandoned in a bye road. It had no engine and after my cousin and I had rolled it onto its side we left it minus its gearbox and rear axle.

Peter
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lowdrag



Joined: 10 Apr 2009
Posts: 1585
Location: Le Mans

PostPosted: Fri Nov 30, 2018 2:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Returning home at night cross country by the back roads, it is autumn 1983 and raining. On a bend is the gate into a field, and tractors and trailers full of beetroot have been coming and going all day leaving a mud slick on the road. The result was catastrophic; the car lost traction and we went head first into an electricity pole, snapping it in two and somersaulting over the stump into a hedge recently flailed. For some reason the insurers decided not to write it off but wished they had have done when, having ordered a new shell, found out that the hard top was another £2,000! It was lucky for us that we had put the hard top on only the week before, since the staves left on the hedge would surely have put an end to us both. It took the Mercedes dealer six months to finish the work, and I sold the car soon after.

Mercedes SL accident by Tony Brown, on Flickr


Last edited by lowdrag on Sun Dec 02, 2018 10:47 am; edited 1 time in total
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petelang



Joined: 21 May 2009
Posts: 439
Location: Nottingham

PostPosted: Fri Nov 30, 2018 3:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A long time ago...when we used to go out for a few pints on a Friday night, there were three cars in convoy, my Triumph 2000, one I cannot recall, and my mate Bill driving his Morris minor van, which was decorated with Ladybird livery spots on a red background.
Bill was following and I was the second car. The route took us south in the Essex countryside down a winding series of bends through part of Epping forest. I noticed Bill was no longer in the mirror and so signalled my mate in front to stop and we turned around to go back in case he had broken down.
As we approached, there was Bill, upside down in the van, still attached by seat belt, with fuel cascading from the tank.
Oh how we did laugh....
As there were four of us, we just rolled it back on its wheels, it started up, and we made our way onwards. Bill didn't even get out of his seat...
Minor damage, a cracking in the screen and a few dents, plus a whole melange of tools rattling about in the back of the van.
In those days we didn't have mobile phones to photograph the incident, which Bill was probably grateful for. However, it was amusing to see the "bug" upside down, wheels still spinning and our mate wondering why his world had suddenly gone upside down.
Those were great days.
We still made the local Chinese restaurant in time for our regular Friday night order.
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Ray White



Joined: 02 Dec 2014
Posts: 6264
Location: Derby

PostPosted: Fri Nov 30, 2018 7:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I once saw a delivery van leave the road and land upside down in a tree. I had been following this vehicle along a wooded, hilly road and thought he was going too fast for the conditions. He skidded (presumably on wet leaves) and left the road at a particularly steep section. Naturally, I stopped and went to the driver's assistance. He was worried about his cargo. When I opened the rear door I could see why. The van was carrying thousands of eggs. Unfortunately not many had survived!! WHAT A MESS!! Shocked
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mikeC



Joined: 31 Jul 2009
Posts: 1770
Location: Market Warsop, Nottinghamshire

PostPosted: Sat Dec 01, 2018 3:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sorry Rick, I missed your reply; yes, you are welcome to add them to the main site.
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in the garage: 1938 Talbot Ten Airline
Recently departed: 1953 Lancia Appia, 1931 Austin Seven, 1967 Singer Chamois, 1914 Saxon, 1930 Morris Cowley, 1936 BSA Scout, 1958 Lancia Appia coupe, 1922 Star 11.9 ... the list goes on!
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Bitumen Boy



Joined: 26 Jan 2012
Posts: 1728
Location: Above the snow line in old Monmouthshire

PostPosted: Sat Dec 01, 2018 7:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Never rolled a car myself, though I must have come close a few times in the past! I well remember, though, a story Dad has often told - oddly enough, I think the car involved was an Austin, though not sure of the model. Back in the day he was friendly with a gang of Irish labourers who were working on the same project, and on the way back from the pub one night before anyone worried about breathalysers they were all singing lustily and the driver was swinging the steering in time with the song. The inevitable happened and the car rolled but, all being well lubricated from the pub, nobody was hurt much. They climbed out and, after a little head-scratching, pushed the car back onto its wheels and carried on with their journey. Everyone was back at work the next day and I think the car stuck around for a while too.

I've no intention of trying it, but I wonder if a modern car would restart and be driveable after being rolled and simply pushed upright by hand?
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