Matthew Shannon McDonald, 23, of Te Awamutu was the passenger in a Mazda 323 which crashed after crossing the centre line on Station Rd and careering through a solid wooden barrier. He died at the scene.
The driver and owner of the car, a 19-year-old Kihikihi man, remains in a critical condition in Waikato Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.
[…]
“On this occasion the vehicle had been towed to get it started. It had an RX7 motor for a Mazda 3 which is not compatible at all.”Mr Tooman said somebody had fashioned a steering wheel using the rim from a wheel and the spokes of an old steering wheel.
Sometime during the crash the rim has become detached from the spikes, he said. “The spikes were still on the steering column and they were like three knives sticking out from the steering column.”
It was yet to be confirmed how much, if at all, the pair were injured by the spokes.
The car’s wheels were also mismatched with two mags on the front and two old steel-pressed wheels on the back.
The wheel nuts on the rear wheels were also worn.
Frankencar. Sounds like he threw a car together from junk. I’m not sure a coveted Darwin Award is in order. He had to have a few brains cells to make this thing work for a while.
What a waste! You take the time to do a 323 rx7 swap only to wuss out at the end. As a one time owner of a swapped gtx, I say shame on you. Bigger question though, did the motor survive, I am always looking for spares.
One less idiot on the road. No loss !
I beat the Darwin Awards myself!
When I was young and not so smart, I built a Triumph TR-4 with a narrowed Ford 9-inch axle and put in a Chevy 350 with a 4 speed trans.
It could do – no joke – 0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds, cruse at 120 mph and a theoretical top speed of 160, although the front end got too light for comfort at 140.
Still living!
Sounds like what I drove in college..
I knew a guy who mananged to strip the spline off the steering wheel end of the steering shaft, I believe it was a ’59 Ford. he drove it for a month with a pair of locking pliers before somebody told him about “JB Weld” (epoxy). Yes he is still alive. Yes he has reproduced.
#4, Ah Yea,
Rest assured, I think everyone with a bit of imagination and a touch of ingenuity has done something similar. What differentiates those pushing the envelope from those on a suicide mission is knowing when to quit.
Glad you’re still with us.
NOTE, I don’t think I’ll relate some of the things I’ve done, I’m not in one of my more humble moods.
At least he remembered to include a fire extinguisher.
Kihikihi man???? what???
I knew this area in the North Island of NZ (it’s been over a decade). I don’t know the people but I’ve seen lots of shall we say, free-lance cars. While it is dumb to take such a chance like this and the result, if related to the steering wheel is understandable, it ultimately just makes me very sad.
I wouldn’t be surprised if these guys are/weren’t students at the University of Waikato.
#4 It was the passenger that died, not the driver. “One less idiot on the road. No loss!” – he had family, friends. You have no idea of the situation. You’re a heartless idiot.
I don’t think anyone dying in a manner that was not really their fault is funny, and this shouldn’t be in the “humor” section. It just serves to further de-sensitise us.
What do you expect from a no star crash-test rating?
Hey Ah_Yea,
When you hacked the TR-4 were you stationed at Keesler AFB? I knew a guy who did the same thing just before shipping out to Germany. He had plans of eating up the Autoban with it, but we never heard back if it worked out as planned.