'Squashed like a concertina...'

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We’ve all seen pictures of crashed cars and looked at them in amazement, wondering how on earth the driver and/or passengers walked away unhurt, but this one may beat them all. Would you believe the unfortunate driver of this Mini got away without breaking a single bone, back in November 1970? Just look at the front of the car, mangled at an almost 90-degree angle while at least one of the headlights is still intact? It looks as though the engine simply snapped from its subframe and turned around. Quite incredible.

For a change, there is plenty of information about the whats, whens, hows and whys, too, so we’ll repeat it here for your education:

‘That incredible tangled mass of metal under close scrutiny by a policeman is - or rather was - a Mini car. And even more incredibly, a car from which a man walked dazed but unharmed after a four-car pile-up on a ‘death trap’ stretch of the M1.

‘The driver, 34-year old Irish-born scaffolder John Walsh, was motoring south along the motorway between Hemel Hempstead and Watford when a car ahead spun across the road. A driver behind it braked hard. Mr. Walsh’s Mini smashed into the back of the second car. And a fourth car smashed into his Mini, squashing it like a concertina.’

‘Mr. Walsh explained all to his sister in London last night before he travelled back home (by train), to Derby: “I remember the car in front having to suddenly brake.” He said. “The car behind hit me at the same time. I could actually feel my Mini getting smaller and smaller. And when the windows started to crumble, I said to myself “It’s about time to get going. Somehow I jumped through a window and ran backwards, not knowing where I was going.”’

Despite his escape, Mr. Walsh had one big fear last night - breaking the news to his wife. “You see”, he said, “The Mini belongs to her. I do hope she’ll understand…”’

We cannot add much to that, other than that it seems that the Mini cannot have been very old at the time of the crash. The Mk. III Mini had just been launched at the time and it seems Mrs. Walsh’s hadn’t been used that much yet, judging by the clean underside. What a lucky escape. Be careful out there…

Words: Jeroen Booij; picture: Associated Press
 

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