What the PCS is About-another chapter

John Burchfield

John Burchfield

PCS Life Member
I thought it would be nice to post some positive news in light of all the negativity that has been going on. A little over two weeks ago, I had a little mishap in my '67 Crown on the way home from Camden, where my car barn is located. This happened at a forked intersection where my road came into another at a less-than-90-degree angle. The car in front of me had stopped for a vehicle coming from our left. I stopped and was looking hard over my shoulder to make sure the way was clear and started forward without looking, thinking the other car had gone on since the vehicle had passed. Well, it hadn't and I banged into the back of a '98 Dodge Caravan going no more than 10mph or so. It didn't look like much damage had been done to the Caravan, and as I was thinking my car was probably unhurt I saw steam coming from under my hood :( I hopped out and stepped over the developing trail of coolant on the road to make sure the other driver was ok. She was an older lady and was fine. This happened in Chester and I immediately thought to call Rocky Pollard to recommend a wrecker service. Rocky bought a funeral home in Chester about two years ago. He knew of someone right down the road and the guy was there in minutes, but not before a fire truck and ambulance wailed up! Apparently some passerby called 911 which caused an exaggerated response to a fender bender! I guess I was the big news in the small town of Chester-many folks were driving by w/ gaping mouths, etc. Rocky offered to put my car in his f.h. garage for the night (this happened about 530pm) and gave me one of his cars to get home. Rocky was on the scene in a few minutes and we all had to wait for the highway patrol to arrive. The trooper listed me as "contributing to accident" but didn't cite me "since there's so little damage" which was nice of him! The Caravan suffered two small cracks on the bumper cover and a softball-sized dent on the lower right of the tailgate. It seems big heavy, pointy Cadillacs are fragile in low speed collisions! The radiator got pushed into the fan (thankfully a new one has already been located as noted in my post in the technical section) from the pushed-in bumper and grille. I'm glad no one was hurt and that there wasn't more damage. Rocky was a big help in getting me squared away so I could get home before too late. It turns out the lead fireman does some part time work for Rocky. Having a PCS friend "to the rescue" really took a lot of the pain out of the ordeal! I'm mainly mad at myself for letting a moment of carelessness tear up one of my favorite cars!

Now that I'm a site supporter I'll post the photos Rocky took of the, hmmm, "ordeal." "Crown smashup" is maybe overkill for this accident! The third photo shows Rocky's daughter Roxanne, who thought the '67 was "pretty cool"! I'm unloading things before heading home in Rocky's very nice no.2 hearse, an '89 RWD Eureka Cadillac. The eagle eyed will note I'm holding Army boots behind the door! Thanks Rocky!
 

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times like these one can't have to many friends. those big old bumpers were mostly decorations. even more so when you get out on the end. having the radiator jump out of the mount and into the fan was a common problem with the front end crunch. but getting that kind of help and a loaner car to boot that is what makes the day. do me a favor when you get the chance, from underneath take a pictures of the gas tank filler on your car. someone has modified this one of Jim's and we want to get it back to better appearance.
 
John, sorry to hear you had the crash, glad it's not worse and nobody was hurt.

It's great that Rocky was able to help you out. I'm eternally greatful for all the help I've received and all that I've learned from everyone else over the years, and I hope I've helped others a bit. Yes, that is what PCS is about, helping each other with our cars. It's not about all the other stuff.
 
If it had to happen you couldn't have been in better company than Rocky! Great guy and good friend. Another reason to carry the PCS roster on those out of town trips or at least a Yellow Book of Funeral Directors to find a nice funeral director to help out.
 
John ED Renstrom said:
times like these one can't have to many friends. those big old bumpers were mostly decorations. even more so when you get out on the end. having the radiator jump out of the mount and into the fan was a common problem with the front end crunch. but getting that kind of help and a loaner car to boot that is what makes the day. do me a favor when you get the chance, from underneath take a pictures of the gas tank filler on your car. someone has modified this one of Jim's and we want to get it back to better appearance.
Click to expand...

Ed. Do you mean pictures at the filling end or gas tank end? These Superiors had an odd arrangement of the filler pipe, connected to the filler housing behind the gas door and to the tank on the other end with neoprene connections. The pipe goes into the SIDE of the tank about midways top to bottom, which makes getting the tank good & full a bit tricky. It takes patience and a few minutes since you're pushing a lot of gas out of the way to get completely full. Important to have a full tank when you're travelling and it only holds 20 gallons! I'll be glad to get some photos, but it will be a while as those cars are in Camden and I have a little trip to Michigan in the meantime :D.
 
John,

Thanks for sharing the experience and photos with us. I echo the sentiments of those above, especially that no one was hurt and that PCS friends are priceless. Heaven knows I've been on the receiving end of assistance more times than I can count and am proud to be a part of such a great organization made up mostly of kind, caring people.
 
Glad to hear that it all turned out for the good.

Nobody was hurt and it sounds like you have the items to get the can back in good running shape again.
 
yes if you can when you can something not quite right about the way this one looks but it may be the way it was made. to me the tail pipe is wrong but I see the factory mounts for it. the filler swinging way down under is just strange.
 

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Ed, Yep-that's the old "hanging curve" Superior filler pipe. I can't remember whether the tail pipe is above or below the filler on mine. As soon as I get down there w/ camera we'll know!
 
Glad no one was hurt and the car is repairable. Small world though, John...my cousin Sue used to live in Camden. She now lives in Lugoff. The rest of her family lives in Orangeburg and if i remember correctly, they had a summer place up on the Santee River
 
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