Posted on 08/19/2017 8:16:36 PM PDT by lowbridge
A family heading to Cape May, New Jersey, found themselves in an improbable situation earlier this month when a drawbridge lifted right underneath their car and they were forced to jump the opening.
Terence Naphys, after paying the $1.50 toll at the Middle Thorofare Bridge that connects the Wildwoods and Cape May via Ocean Drive, was heading across the bridge when a steel metal grate suddenly lifted 3 to 6 feet underneath his car, Naphys told Lower Township police.
Naphys was in the car with his wife, his daughter and his daughter's friend, and he was worried his Toyota RAV4 would fall the 65 feet down into the water. So he accelerated and jumped the gap.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcphiladelphia.com ...
I was walking across the Burnside Bridge in Portland last December when it was getting ready to open. A bell was ringing and someone was shouting from a tower but it didn’t dawn on me that this bridge opened and was opening now. I got across just in time.
I stood and watched for a while, thinking a tall-masted ship or something would come down the Willamette, but nothing came. They do this periodically, it turns out, just to keep it from rusting.
“It’s got a cop motor, a four hundred and forty cubic inch plant. It’s got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It’s a model made before catalytic converters, so it’ll run good on regular gas. What do you say? Is it the new Bluesmobile or what?”
$10K in damage to the frame and suspension per the video there. Ouuuuch. Given that you’re alive and the car isn’t in the river, of course.
Fix the cigarette lighter.
Must have had plenty of speed, those little boxes sure cannot accelerate.
From your nick, I am guessing the ‘Sweet Home Chicago’ song hit right at home too. Loved the music and movie.
Always pack clean underwear.
Elwood’s BluesMobile...
".....that'll make the kids drop their slurpys"
I had that happen as a kid about 70 years ago when riding in my grandfather’s 1934 Dodge over one of Chicago’s drawbridges over the river by the same name. The bridge started opening shortly after we got on it but grandpa raced to the opening and jumped the gap. Obviously I’ll never forget it.
That’s a neat story.
Actually a friend of mine had one with a V6 in it and it would HAUL!
Oh, yeah. And I have driven over that bridge — the normal way — many times!
The newer ones do not look as ridiculous as the older ones.
Sounds like the guy has a bit of PTSD going on there... and I can’t say I blame him.
It this was a self-driving car, programmed to obey all speed laws, it would be underwater now.
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