by Chris Chilton
- Multiple classic cars were damaged in a freak accident in Texas.
- A 1958 Willys pickup struck a C2 Corvette and a 1977 Trans Am.
- Three people were reportedly hospitalized after the incident.
Auctions are exciting places when bidders are fighting over blue-chip classics, but Mecum’s most recent sale raised pulses for the wrong reason after one of the lots launched an attack on at least three other collector cars.
Images from the Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas, auction this past weekend show a 1958 Willys pickup embedded in the side of what was once a beautiful 1966 C2 Corvette.
Chain Reaction Chaos
Solid information on what exactly went down is scarce, but Reddit poster Zyncon suggests a Mecum driver’s foot may have slipped, causing the Willys restomod to t-bone the C2, with one of the cars’ owners apparently close by and forced to watch the disaster unfold.
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The same person claims that three people were taken to hospital as a result of the crash, which also damaged a 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am and a 2019 C7 Corvette ZR1. We’ve reached out to Mecum to find out exactly what happened, whether the three injured are okay and whose insurance company will be picking up the tab.
Though the Willys is clearly slightly crumpled around the nose area, the damage looks like it might not be too bad. According to its sale listing it’s equipped with a 5.7-liter Chrysler Hemi engine and eight-speed automatic, and features a custom cab that’s been extended by 8.75 inches (222 mm).
The C2, whose own listing says it had covered just 25,477 miles (41,200 km) at the time of the accident was ordered in a “very rare” code-982 Mosport Green paint (let’s hope it’s not the original coat) and with the L79 version of Chevy’s 327 V8 that pumped 350 hp (350 PS) to the rear wheels via a four-speed manual transmission.
Based on what we can see in the pictures the C2 definitely came off worst, and it’s not only got wounds on the passenger side where the Willys struck it.
Things look just as bad on the driver’s side, where the Corvette was shunted into the black and gold Trans Am, itself a low-mileage machine with only 23,070 miles (37,100 km) on the clock.
But not as low-mileage as the car the Trans Am was pushed into. We’re not sure which C7 ZR1 coupe it was, because Mecum had two Sebring Orange examples on offer at that sale, but one one of them had covered only 258 miles (415 km) and the other, just 656 miles (1,060 km).
And here’s the really painful part: the two Vettes and the Trans Am are all marked as sold on Mecum’s site, suggesting the hammer had fallen on all three before the driver dropped the hammer on the Willys. the Willys, but the way, didn’t sell. Maybe it was jealous.
We’ll update this story if we hear more.