Close Call In the Clipper

Posted by Gary On 2014/3/26 9:15:58

It was a gorgeous afternoon here in North Central Florida yesterday after I got home from work so the wife and I decided to wake up the Clipper and drive the 13 or so miles over to a nearby restaurant for some all you can eat catfish. We finished up and headed back home and didn't get more than a mile down the road and right in front of us a late model 4 door Tahoe just plows into the back of a GMC Sonoma or Canyon that was dead stopped and turning left just 6 car lengths ahead of us. We were running about 55 or 60 miles an our and the driver of the Tahoe never hit the brakes. I slammed on brakes in the Clipper and nearly lost control of it trying to dodge the pickup truck that was flipping over and over from the rear impact. Out of the corner of my eye I see a body flying across the road and landing on the shoulder. There was debris everywhere but I managed to stop on the right shoulder of the road without hitting anything, jumped out of the car and was the first one over to the poor man that was thrown out of the back window of the pick-up. He was struggling to breath but other than some road rash on the side of his head appeared to be O.K. One guy was calling 911 while a few others walked up holding blankets and car pillows and all we could do was wait for the police and rescue after that. Once the police had all of my information and we were free to go, I hit the starter on the Packard and although she fired right up, she also made an ugly noise that sounded like the Bendix or ring gear broke a tooth off as it bounced around and then most likely fell down in the bottom of the bell housing. Anyway, we headed home and decided to stop and get some ice cream only to discover when we went to leave that the starter wouldn't spin the engine over. Sounds like it always has when the Bendix engages but it won't spin over at all like it's locked up and I can't turn the engine over by by hand either. I'm not sure what would have caused it with my having to slam on brakes but it has to be related somehow as it has never given me problems before.