one less q in the world

[Denise Riley TQO <driley@tqs.com>]

It looks like Rolfie ('86 4kq) was totaled yesterday.  He valiantly gave
his life for ours and was quite a gentleman in the process.

We were on Hwy 217 in Beaverton Oregon when we were hit from behind,
twice.  This is the rainy season in Oregon and Hwy 217 is the only
north/south highway in the area.  It is heavily used by a bunch of
idiots.  Almost everyone tailgates, even in the rain.  Anyway, we had
just merged onto the highway on our way to work yesterday, in the rain,
when the person in front of me slammed on their brakes.  I braked hard
(panic stop) to avoid rear-ending them and Rolfie stopped an inch or two
from their rear bumper.  We were immediately hit on the right rear by an
18 year old girl in a Jeep who was trying to avoid us.  The middle aged
lady in a droF tempo behind her hit us at full speed on the left rear.
The droF lady had to be right on the Jeep's tail because the 2 hits were
microseconds apart.  

Most of the damage was caused by the droF. Rolfie's sheet metal on the
left is badly crumpled, the truck has a crumple ridge a good 6 inches up
from level, the spare tire is jammed into the gas tank and truck hinge
and all the lights on the rear of the car are out.  The fender and
bumper were torn loose and the exhaust pipe is on the ground.  The wheel
well was pushed into the left rear tire so much that the car won't roll.
 All fluids and metal bits stayed where they belonged. The body shop
thinks he will be totaled. 

Rolfie, the new brakes and rotors, and the D40M2 tires all did their
job.  We stopped in time to avoid an accident.  The brakes locked up and
we slid a few feet, but we still stopped in time.

No one was sited because we weren't hurt.  Had we been hurt, both would
have received tickets for reckless driving.  As an aside, the Jeep
swerving into the next lane caused 2 other cars to touch bumpers.
Rubberneckers on the other side of the highway crashed 2 more cars.  In
total, 7 cars were damaged to varying degrees because 2 people followed
too closely.

If the car is totaled we'll buy it back. It has new rotors and brakes, a
new Optima battery, euro lights, rebuilt alternator, TSW stealth wheels,
and probably slightly flat spotted tires. It is undamaged from the gas
tank forward.

Denise Riley - now q-less but driving a brand new ovloV AWD wagon as a
rental.