"kids died in father's modified car" news item

[akku]

uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20081208/tuk-kids-died-in-father-s-modified-car-dba1618.html

Sad for the kids.

quote: "A number of the modifications were ill-judged, many were incompetently carried out"

Wonder what they'd think of some of the mods I've seen done over the years, and TBH a couple of ones I've done myself...

OK its not us this time, but I don't like the juxtaposition of "DIY modified" and "deathtrap" which will stick in a bunch of people's minds as synonimous after this sort of thing.

At least the news is waterlogged with MPs crying about being accountable to the police so this will largely be burried by that.

[Deleted]

sad news!

One caliper bigger than the other? That's just plain dodgy! I operate one rule with mods, If i cant afford to get them done, or cant do them my self, they don't get done

[Mike]

We covered this story at work when it first happened, very sad story and it appears that the bloke in question is looking at a custodial sentence for what's happened.

I hope that people won't make the connection modified=dangerous, and in this case i think his driving will be the centre of attention rather than what he had or hadn't done to the car.

[reanimation]

GF read this to me earlier, been some grim motorised stuff in the press.

I guess people shouldn't confuse modified with shonky, but they do work hand in hand occasionally.

You can start being paranoid and reading your own virtual headline cant ya,

[Autofive]

off road land rover, and a numpty who fitted different calipers to the front, none of this story concerns retro car owners. It's sad that kids died, but thats their pop's fault. send the killer to jail. Enough said

[v8lee]

Incredibly tragic story for all involved, but I hope this doesn't provoke a load of "ban all modified cars" type hysterics, as is often the media's want.

[Andy Camaro]

you think that stuff is scary when i used to work in an engineering machine shop now in computing! a guy there told me that back in the mid to late 70s a mate of his worked for vaux and they used to make some shocking cook ups.
like 3 dr vivas! yes thats right one side of the car had a 2 dr body and the other had a 4 dr body!
not to be outdone! he also told me of the one disk brake models! one side had a disk at front and a drum at the rear where the other side of the car was the L spec and had drums front n rear.
then another guy i worked with did his aprentaship with ford and remembers some old lady brought her lovely mk3 escort in as it was running "lumpy" she had had it for a while just the thing to go to the shops once a week kinda thing. but the shocking info was when they took the head off the engine! can you guess? nope? well it had 4 cylinders etc but was the all new 3 piston model and didnt even have a con rod just as well!

[v8lee]

Dec 8, 2008 20:54:17 GMT Andy Camaro said:

well it had 4 cylinders etc but was the all new 3 piston model and didnt even have a con rod just as well!

Hmm.. I've heard that one before - you sure its not an urban myth?

[scaryoldcortina]

Dec 8, 2008 20:58:27 GMT v8lee said:

Dec 8, 2008 20:54:17 GMT Andy Camaro said:

well it had 4 cylinders etc but was the all new 3 piston model and didnt even have a con rod just as well!

Hmm.. I've heard that one before - you sure its not an urban myth?

yeah, c'mon... what's keeping the oil pressure up if there is a rod missing?

Back to the topic... Looks to me like the prosecution just wanted to nail the lid shut. Dangerous driving plus unroadworthy car. The man deserves the jail time. His kids Didn't deserve what happened tho, thats just a sad waste.

[bortaf]

Heard them both before except the 3 door was a marina and the 3 cylinder was a Vauxhall
but then it was at a ford meeting so they would be telling tales of woe about other manufacturers.

Sad storey and i do wonder how many of us have been close to this sad end, i know when i was single i did few questionable running repairs and had a few close escapes but not since me kids have been about

[Autofive]

"He pulled the Land Rover over to the near side but as it mounted the grass verge a bracket close to the rear axle snapped, causing the car to turn on its side before flipping over and rolling down the bank into the water"
dangerous driving and a badly maintained land rover - some numptys don't deserve a driving licence

[marinanut]

Dec 8, 2008 21:49:19 GMT bortaf said:

Heard them both before except the 3 door was a marina and the 3 cylinder was a Vauxhall
but then it was at a ford meeting so they would be telling tales of woe about other manufacturers.

Sad storey and I do wonder how many of us have been close to this sad end, I know when I was single I did few questionable running repairs and had a few close escapes but not since me kids have been about

How could you have a 3-door Marina, the bodyshells are completely different? (4-dr Saloon, 2-dr Coupe)

It is worrying that the phrase 'modified car' crept into this, I would more have gone with 'bodge-up'. Terrible what happened...... poor kids.

[Lex]

That hardly sounds like a modified car. The media always exaggerate ffs.

[Colonelk]

saw this on the news and they didnt mention mismatched calipers (probably too complex for people ) but did mention loads of stuff I would of thought of as immaterial.... eg

-brake and accelerator pedals worn
-speedo under reading

Sad that they died though, and shocking to hear about different calipers!

[76jimmy]

As much as we can all call this man for the stupidity of his modifacations on his landy, just remember that he will always have to live with the fact that they were his flesh and blood he killed on that horrific day, and will probably haunt him till the day he dies.
I can also say that I have driven the same road in a transit 2 years old totally unmodified and in a1 condition and its a b@stard piece of road which is normally in poor condition, with the canal at the side and a very steep decline into it off the road NO barriers along it I am suprised there hasnt been many more accidents along it.
But I think he must have been a total prat overtaking other veichles along there.
RANT OVER

[bstardchild]

Dec 8, 2008 21:49:01 GMT scaryoldcortina said:

Dec 8, 2008 20:58:27 GMT v8lee said:

Hmm.. I've heard that one before - you sure its not an urban myth?

yeah, c'mon... what's keeping the oil pressure up if there is a rod missing?

JB Weld?

[BenzBoy]

This is the second "home mechanics" disaster story I've seen within a week. I read another about some guy that fixed his girlfriend's rear wheelbearing on her car. Over-tightened the hub nut (must have been taper bearings), the thing seized after a while and flung her off the road, killing her.

It's a very sad story, and I hope there isn't some kind of knee-jerk legislation from the gubbermint after some tabloid campaign. Fact is, a poorly maintained car is dangerous whether it's a Landy that's been poorly modified by an off-road enthusiast, or some 2 year old car that's been ragged the ar$e out of by a sales rep and the pads are on the metal because it hasn't had an MOT yet.

[retrowagen1234]

Dec 8, 2008 20:50:00 GMT Autofive said:

off road land rover, and a numpty who fitted different calipers to the front, none of this story concerns retro car owners. It's sad that kids died, but thats their pop's fault. send the killer to jail. Enough said

how would that help? i hate that attitude , he's allready got to live with the fact he killed his kids, but no lets just throw him in jail like hes a menace to society. i felt the same way about that guy whos daughter died on the quad bike. the poor sod has to live with that and now hes been done for somthing like manslaughter?

[Autofive]

poor sod, yes, but his bad driving and poor and dangerous maintainance of the land rover cost lives. the mans a numpty and the jails in this country are full of numptys. I have no pity for him. What about the mother and the other 3 kids? my sympathy is with them.

I know a bloke who overtook a car and drove straight into a copper on a push bike coming the other way. The bike rider died. He got 6 years for manslaughter. Out after 4 years, he still feels terrible about the whole thing, but his driving skills and poor judgement were to blame.

and before anyone asks, yes, I have taken risks in my driving in the past. But, my car is well maintained and I alone are responsible for my actions, if I killed someone, I would not expect sympathy, but to go before a judge and jury of my peers and take the punishment the law dictates.

we are straying off topic a little here, another high profile incident where lives are lost and involving 'an older modified car' and / or car enthusiast is bad press for us all - but it should serve as a lesson to us - to maintain our motors properly and keep our driving within the realm of our ability and not take risks with our own and others lives

[herald948]

The disc on one side drum on the other Vauxhall appears in Murray Walker's autobiography. He was the advertising executive who did Vauxhall's work and he relates being shown a Victor in that state when he was on a visit to the Opel factory as an example of why he had a problem boosting his Continental sales figures. His words: "If I hadn't seen it myself, I wouldn't have believed it". So if it's an urban myth either he originated it or he's lying. Write to him and ask him

I do have a friend who bought a Mk1 Cavalier back in the day that had an indicator repeater on one side and not on the other. Didn't even have the hole in the panel.

Land Rover man? Forget all the froth about modifications. It was quite simply an unroadworthy car just like any other and it should not have had an MOT. If I was the tester who passed it I would now be getting very worried.