[1]There are a number of benefits to driving a fast, low-slung sports car like the Corvette; most of the benefits relating specifically to going even faster. But the low-riding Corvette also has to contend with speed bumps, potholes, and, as it turns out, the back end of the occasional tractor trailer. But what should have been a gruesome demise is now just a cool story one Corvette Z06 owner can tell his friends.
A Corvette Online reader tipped us off to this series of photographs from the Los Angeles Fire Department’s Flickr photo feed [3]. According to the captions, the Corvette driver slammed into the back of a moving van, narrowly avoiding decapitation by ducking just prior to the collision.
This is the sort of accident where it is hard to believe anyone survived; the initial damage almost certainly looks fatal, and undoubtedly would have been had the driver not ducked. As you can see from the pictures, the Corvette driver sits at just the right height for a high-speed scalping. Yet from all appearances, the driver seems more or less unharmed. Lucky him.
[4]
[5]
[6]
The Corvette is, of course, a total loss, and it looks like the firefighters had a hell of a time extracting the driver from his sports car. To be entirely honest, if it wasn’t for the Z06 badges, you can’t even tell if this Corvette started out as a convertible, the damage is that profound, with even the roof “halo” bent back. Regardless, the driver of this Corvette is a very lucky man with very fast reflexes.