An Audi "dies" to save another

[James Marriott <marriott@micron.net>]

Haudi,

No suspense here:  Karen's mechanically-perfect '86 4000S is dead. Her
*!&~ father, the *&@^~ driver, is ABSOLUTELY UNINJURED.

Details:
Driving north between Winnemucca and McDermitt, Nevada (70 MPH two-lane,
115000 lb truck opposing traffic, etc), he fell asleep last Sunday
(5/10) afternoon. Textbook driver-doze crash:  drift off right side,
wake up, jerk wheel ("No, I didn't touch it, it just went over there by
itself!" "Yeah, whatever, Jerry.") and overcorrect, go _really_
off--rally style--on left side of road. Car seemed to have been airborne
for a bit, and was STUFFED into a ditch bank; the right turn signal (in
the vertical center of the front bumper) was broken and pushed out and
replaced by grassy mud! All this to save the difference between a $100
RT airfare and $40 in gas, with the bonus of spending 17 hours behind
the wheel instead of two hours in a plane.

Next:
Car was pushed from mud by three passers-by and driven 200+ miles home
(at 40 MPH)

The verdict:
Frame bent (ripples near sunroof)
Driver's seat frame collapsed
Both brand-new front struts bent
Strut housings bent
Right LCA bent
Motor-mount broken
Hood/bonnet mis-aligned
Trunk/boot mis-aligned
Total loss with value of $2500

I'm contemplating salvaging the car and repairing it to sell as a
"beater."

cu
James, glad it was an Audi
Jerry, not so happy he lived when he first got home