What have you hit in your 300...

[2.3litre 343]

...and what damage did it cause?

My Dad ran into the back of a Mk.2 Fiesta some years ago and totally destroyed it. All he needed was a new bumper chrome trim and a small bit of paintwork to the front panel(early style 345)

[JAS]

The first time i drove my 360, i hit an old Zetor! (tractor)

the car did not get a scratch but the tractor was

[5lab]

my dad had a citroen go into the back of him @ 60 when he was doing 10.. both cars written off but the 340 was completely useable

[Duvel78]

In 1993, someone ran into the back of my 340 (picture on the left), my mom was driving, the car was stationary because the traffic was jammed and a sleepy driver has hit the car (full speed...) The Renault Espace was DESTROYED, engine CRUSHED, no bonnet anymore, exploded headlights... Our Volvo had only a damaged bumper, the rest was so minor...

One year after that, it's a Citroën C25 camping car that runs into te back... On the motorway! I put a picture here so you can imagine the beast...



The driver did a stupid manoeuvre to avoid our car, the whole left side of the C25 was destroyed... Our right rear wing, bumper was slighty damaged, the indicator was also broken... Nothing compared to the C25 damage, the driver was crying when he saw that... again!!!

The safety is really good in that car

[shimon340]

Hi,

Three 340 stories for you.

My first accident was in a 340, on a country road. Doing 40mph+ on a sharp corner...carried too much speed so the side of the car caught the trees on the side of the road. It started running along with the right hand wheels on the road and the left running off the road on the embankment. Unfortunately, a bridge that crossed a river was coming up. There was a barrier at the side of the road just before the bridge to prevent you from going down the embankment. Where this barrier starts, there is a concrete piece in the ground and the barrier starts a ground level then has a diagonal piece like this shape / which has the horizontal barrier at the top which runs across the bridge to the other side where there is a \ shape piece. Basically a barrier like this /--------------\

As the car was going along two wheels on the road two in the ditch, the start of the barrier acted like a launcher ( just like in a stunt in a movies lol! ) and launched the car up off the road. It crashed nose down towards the bottom of the embankment, rolled over and hit a tree near the river. Car stopped leaning on the left hand side. Climbed out, UNHURT and walked up to the road ( it was nightime ) in order to find a phone to call police. Anyway, someone saw the car down the embankment ( as the lights were on - I'd forgotten to turn them off ) and had called the police already. They picked me up an took me home. No charges etc as I hadnt damaged any property or anyones car etc.

The only injury I had was a small cut on my hand where I grabbed a branch of a tree as I climbed up the embankment

Volvo 340 saved me! Police said I was lucky to be in a Volvo.

Damage to car.

Smashed open oil sump, split open petrol tank and ripped open diff.
Front valance / spoiler damaged by tree.
Front subframe damaged
Rear De dion suspension bent and wheels pushed in by roll over.
Dent in roof ( minor )
Dent in C pillar ( minor )
Damaged doors

Repairs

Replaced sump and oil pump, petrol tank and fitted new gearbox and diff.
Replaced front subframe and rear suspension.

Car at this stage was roadworthy if new bumper fitted and you could liv with the dent in the C pillar, doors and valance. Changing the doors would have made the car roadworthy. No damage to chassis at all, all suspension mounting points were in the same place etc.

The car became a restoration project which I am currently working on.

This proves the strength of the 340!!!! ( Which is why I'm driving my 4th one now!!)

all the best

Shimon

[5lab]

good effort sah. but is it really worth repairing, rather than just getting another one?

[5lab]

oh i forgot. i also hit a wooden post by overcorrecting some oversteer on a tight corner in the rain (that'll teach me), moving over to the wrong side of the road, and there were some posts (6" thick, well grounded) stopping people driving on the grass. post did its job, broke a plastic clip on my front bumper (now replaced) and put a dent in behind it (which is small, and un-noticeable unless you look for it).

[KeithB]

Bought my Volvo in '92. Haven't hit anything (boring safe Volvo driver?).
Since about '96, I'd say every panel on my car has been hit , each time the car was parked, it is so maddening to return to your car to find a panel caved in

[Chris_C]

When I first got mine a micra went in the back of me at some lights, jolted the car, had a look. Micra bumper on floor, my car had that lovely cartoon sparkle as if nothing had happened

[jtbo]

Actually nothing, but previous owners have been very active in that. At sides and bottom have few bents, also front of hood lid is in very bad shape. Rear bumper is bent too

Even I have been lot on road, I still haven't had lot of accidents. Only once at winter I had accident as my car had totalled shocks at rear and tires with 2mm surface left. Weather was quite slippery and there was bit snow in my lane.
One Volvo 240 did come against me in middle of road in S-curve and I was doing 70kph (limit 80, lol) when I tried to go closer to side of road front wheel grabbed from snow and rear started to slide, car had not enough power (5th gear, stupid me) and it spinned 720 degrees and stopped in 10meter distance from where it all started. There was way over 1m snow so no damage to car, but Volvo driver did not even stopped

Back then I had Mazda 626 Diesel from 1987, no power, noisy and made from paper it felt, but was cheap drive as I did 20 000km in a month, 5l/100km.

[V6 Man]

Cruising along the A832 in Scotland late one night at about 75mph (the road had just widened out form single track with passing places to a nice long wide straight) I met a Stag who was crossing the road to go down to the loch for a drink. Despite breaking hard I must have hit it with the front passenger side at about 55mph causing a large dent in the wing, broken trim on the windscreen pillar where it hit the beasts neck, a large hole in the windscreen where its head came through and a blown front passenger tyre. I changed the tyre whilst waiting for the windscreen guys to arrive and once the glass was in was on my merry way again.

[Janitor]

a sheep at about 65mph,single track road and the stupid thing jumped out of ditch in front of car,slowed to about 50mph,but the only way to go was straight on or straight into the ditch it jumped out of...so straight on we went.hit it on its side,luckily for the car it went under and came out of side getting runover by the back wheel-damage,dinted front valence and a broken engine mount.Remedy-engine mount from breakers and a big hammer

[wjp01908]

Well I`ve never actually hit anything but my previous 340 (I`m now on my third) was totalled by a selection of tiles from a neighbours roof that came down in a gale.

Punched a hole in the roof, took out the tailgate glass and bent the frame and some nice deep dents in the bonnet.

Fitted a new tailgate and stuck some tape on the hole for a while until we found a better one.

Scary thing was, I`d walked past the car on the way to the local shops moments before....

Will

[Duvel78]

a sheep at about 65mph (...) hit it on its side,luckily for the car it went under

Oh with the car on your avatar? I was wondering why your front spoiler was damaged...

[5lab]

nagh thats his race 360, far less milage than his road 360