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#1
07-13-2004, 12:09 AM
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TV Tragedy
2 July I was transporting 6 televisions from my girlfriends house to my garage in San Antonio. The right front tire blew on her Toyota van. I then side swiped a Semitruck and was struck from behind by the wide load of steel it was hauling. Was then put into a 360 degree plus spin at highway speeds. I was able to keep the car off the cement wall and off the grass. I know what you are all thinking and Tony Stewart did not run into me. The Tv destruction was massive. My new late 40's Crosley 10" combo took a direct hit. The crosley was then pushed into my Zenith Space command 300 tv. It suffered cabinet damage and a busted CRT. The chassis to the crosley was in front with me. It survived intact. The Cabinet did not. You can see the part of my other Zenith sticking out the back window. It along with my 1951 Raytheon survived with minimal cabinet damage. I will have to rebuild the Crosley though.
polaraman 
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#2
07-13-2004, 12:17 AM
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This is what is left of the Crosley cabinet. I have located a source for the new wood for the sides of the set. I will attempt to rebuild the cabinet. The other set is the Space Command 300. There is a hole punched right through the side of the cabinet. I have some stuff to fix that also. Have to look for a new CRT. Both sources of wood/masonite will come from parted TV sets. It was a shame that the televisions lasted so long and to damaged in a car wreck. Well that was my Fourth of July Fireworks!!
polaraman
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#4
07-13-2004, 05:32 AM
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 Look at the van, glad you are OK.
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#5
07-13-2004, 05:35 AM
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Jeez Louise what a disaster, glad you didn't get hurt....sorry about the sets though. Never saw a Toyota van look better! Grind it up and make it into an ashtray. Next time use an American van! LOL
Anthony
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#7
07-13-2004, 06:31 PM
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Holy Sheetrock!
Glad you're both ok... Must have been a hell of a noise inside that thing! Wow. Sorry about the TVs too, wish I had some parts to donate. Have to agree w/Anthony on the van however. Weren't those the vans that all got bought back because of engine fires? Or was that the Nissan S-box from the same era? You'd think a mid-engined van would be less violent during a blow-out. Find your lady a nice A-100, lol!
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#9
07-13-2004, 07:45 PM
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It was an interesting trip. I actually thought the car behind me hit me. I did not know what really happened till I got out and looked at the damage. I took a high speed driving class a few years ago. Got to drive my own car for the week. I feel that it helped me this time. I-35 between San Antonio and Dallas is one of the most deadly roads in America. It is being made worse by excessive growth and the highway going to 4 lanes each way. Hope you are all safe this summer.
The Televisions are going to be replaced, a life can't. I wrote down measurements from the Crosley. I will be driving back to Texas soon the drop off another load at my house in San Antonio. I will pick up some sets and bring them back to Georgia. I may have to put a car out of the garage. The Tv collection is taking over. It is a fun hobby though. You folks are great! Been looking for a 60's Dodge panel van. An A-100 would be sweet but they are expensive. We can all thank the Little Red Wagon for that. I looked at a 66 Dodge telephone company van last week. Too rusty for me. Want to combine the two hobbies by making a television repair van. It would be neat to display the restored van with a few vintage televisions in the back for display. Think it would be a hit(AHEM!) at car shows. The Toyota van is about to be recycled into more toyotas! polaraman
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#10
07-13-2004, 08:05 PM
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Well, if you get an A-100, Econoline or Chevy Van from the early '60s, be double-dog careful. Those guys all handle like pigs, & the brakes aren't anything to write home about. Solid front axles, high center of gravity, buggy springs & terrible weight distribution make them a good deal less than sports cars. Still, it would be kewl to have one decked out like an early '60s TeeVee repair truck !! Paint a couple of tubes on the side & maybe a roundie, & yer all set !!-Sandy G.
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#11
07-13-2004, 08:48 PM
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Glad to hear you are ok,too bad three of the tv's got damaged.But as you said tv's can be replaced and a life can't.
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#12
07-13-2004, 10:00 PM
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Wow!
that van is wasted! It's a shame about the TV's but we all seem to agree that the main thing is you're OK 
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#13
07-13-2004, 11:25 PM
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Sandy is right, those old turds handle like a drunk wearing roller skates on greased ice. (my ode to Uncle Tom)
Straight axles, king pins, (now decrepit) leaf springs, teeny drum brakes (which were too small even when new). There are cures for all of this, just costs moolah. Rebuild the axles, replace the springs (fiberglass or carbon fiber are even better....sit lower, ride smoother, handle safer and outlast the originals) Am sure you can convert to disc brakes using mostly off the shelf Mopar parts (Carmine, suggestions?) My story of a early mid 60's Chevy van (inline 6 between the seats). At the time I was supplying vehicles for movies and TV shows.......for the pilot episode of Wolf (TV show) they wanted to have a stunt in which a car chase ends up with a car crashing into a tow truck towing a car. Well I scrounged up this van at the junk yard.....the cylinder head was laying on the floor and everything was apart. but none of that mattered. We did the stunt but they never crashed the cars. At the same time a movie crew blew into town from Hong Kong and they wanted a van for their movie! Showed them the heap and they loved it, all I had to change was the color. "Does it run?" they asked "Sure thing, like a top" I sez. The next day I took the head to the machine shop, had them vacuum test the valves, check for cracks and straightness and slapped it back on with new gaskets etc. Crossed my fingers and it fired right up......even the transmission worked! I love it when I can sell the same vehicle several times. This HK crew was great, I sold them a couple of different vehicles a couple of times each and at the end of production they gave them all back to me to resell to members of the local crew!! What a hoot. Anthony
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#14
07-13-2004, 11:42 PM
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Actually, I wouldn't really recommend an A-100... Just said that for the laugh factor (BTW, somebody in my neighborhood has a "survivor" A-100 that's a daily-driver!)
I do like the TV repair van idea. I've thought of a similar display for my an old TV in the back of my '73 Monaco wagon. I would suggest getting any old Dodge van from about 1971-78-ish and just slap on the cool all-chrome grille from 71-73 era? Good thing about these van is that you can actually remove the door from a '71 and bolt it to a '03! In other words, tons of parts interchange well into the modern era, but you can keep the old styling. Much better than the A-100 in just about every way. Check around in Phoenix, there were always tons of them 4-sale cheap with no rust. Then hit the Ecology wrecking yard off of Van Burean and I-17... They've got dozens of those vans for parts... CHEAP! I'd suggest painting it the factory Turquoise, as every 70's repair van I can remember was this color!
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#15
07-14-2004, 12:03 AM
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When I was helping a TV repairman friend back around 1979-80 he had one of these Dodges, cept it was yellow and black.
He also had a 63 Corvair van he used for awhile too, but it was kind of a pain when you had to wait till it cooled down before it would start and go to the next call 
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