Anyone heard of this guy?

[Numba1goalie]

So yesterday I sold my Vehicross. The person who bought it was accually a lawyer in Arkansas who had a client who rolled his previous Vehicross and has been in a coma for over a month. They bought my Vehicross do conduct testing on it for their case. They didnt tell me who it was against or anything but thought maybe some of you might of known if this guy is going to be alright or know more details on what they are doing?

[Maugan_VX]

Oh great. They are going to try and prove that the VX, (SINCE YOU KNOW ITS BUILT ON THE DANGEROUS TROOPER CHASSIS) is unstable and prone to flipping.


I haaaaate lawyers sometimes.

I went over to Jerry Lemond's place to pickup a new set of OEM brake pads. He was a trainer for mechanics for Isuzu for 21 years. He now has a hookup to salvage parts off totalled Zu's and then crush them. He said one day a totalled VX came to him. He said it had been rolled, but only the rear view mirrors and the passenger side door had been crushed in. The frame was fine he said, but since the insurance company had salvage titled it, he had to crush it.

He explained to me how he goes about crushing these things. Basically he takes one of those huge dumpster things, lifts it up with a forklift above the car, and lets it drop. He says that it takes about 1 or 2 smacks to flatten your average VW or passenger car, 2 for a rodeo and some troopers.

He said that the first time they dropped the forklift on the vx, it made the side glass shatter, but it started bending the forklift at the right angle of the forks. After the second smack it hadn't even crushed in the roof yet but most of the glass had shattered out of it.

He said it took 4 full smacks JUST to get the roof caved in. He said that that was enough, and they couldn't crush it any further.

The kicker is, he's got pictures to prove his story.

[kpaske]

Wow, it sounds like the VX frame is quite sturdy...

I've put mine to the test a bit by overloading the roof rack. I forget what the max load rating is (150 lbs?), but I drove from Georgia to Maryland to Washington with over 500 lbs up there without any apparent issues.

[Maugan_VX]

I made a trip to Ikea and half of the $1000 we spent there drove home on the roof rack with no problems.

[MrCrowley]

Try to be an optimist about that lawyer. He may realize they are full of it, fall in love with the VX, and keep it for himself. We already know it is one of the least prone to roll over suv type vehicles available. Oh wait... my whiplash is acting up again.... whats his phone number?

Im not going to waste too much time on the top heavy trooper thing. Its been beaten to death. After owning three of them, I couldnt disagree more. I had 33" Mud Rovers on a 98 Trooper, and it would still outhandle most large SUV's and all pickups. For those that actually bought into the domestic manufacturer paid negative advertisement about Troopers, just think- they all went out and bought safe and reliable Ford Explorers :thumbdn: to keep themselves and their families safe. Thats the sad part.

Oh yeah, my opinion on the small weight capacity of the rack is that the rack will hold much more, but in the case of extreme g forces like an accident or evasive maneuvering, they kept the capacity small to try to keep the stuff on the roof. Same principle as to why the Trooper has a higher towing capacity than the VX. Even though some of us "push the limits" more than others LOL

[Maugan_VX]

I too owned two troops, an 89 and a 93 and have nothing but pleasant things to say about them.

question, were those Fords the special "Ford Firestone 'Exploder' Series" ?

[MrCrowley]

During that timeframe of negative advertisement.......yes. They were one in the same. The Ford Exploder!

[Joe_Black]

I'm still just slack jawed that somewhere VX's are being crushed. :(

[Maugan_VX]

Joe, when you come up here, I'll bring you over to this guy's place. You'll be like a kid in a candy shop I promise.

He's got one whole wall of the place with racks of 3.5 blocks just sitting there collecting dust.

[Triathlete]

I'm still just slack jawed that somewhere VX's are being crushed. :(

I can't believe some jackhole attorney would buy a VX just to crash it to prove a point! Oh wait...it is an attorney! :mady:

And numba1, how could you have sold it to them knowing what they wanted it for? :_confused

[Maugan_VX]

lets put it in perspective here though people. There's some unfortunate person in a coma presumably because he was in an automobile accident. Lets not lose sight of that.

Now what frosts my chaps is the assumption that the attorney bought the VX just to use it to prove that theres a design defect that made it liable for the coma.

I pray thats not what the purpose of it is, but I can't imagine that theres a reason why a VX would cause a coma and 99% of other vehicles on the road there wouldn't.

[nfpgasmask]

The kicker is, he's got pictures to prove his story.

And so you are in the process of getting these photos to share with us???

;) Bart

[Anita]

Interesting...an attorney goes through the process and expense of buying a VX. Could it be that his client is going after Isuzu wanting to prove that this rare, limited production vehicle somehow went to production without thought to safety? hmmm.. we could prove him wrong.

[Maugan_VX]

I don't think the pictures are digital.

I'll ask Jerry next time I talk to him if he's got them handy. The pictures are part of the deal he has with crushing these cars. He has to prove that they are crushed and pictures are part of the proof so I really don't know what/where they are.

[Numba1goalie]

The lawyer didnt tell me his intentions on the case. I guess I shoulda asked.

When I asked him to clarify more on the testing he did say that they were just going to use it on a track and do manuvering that his client had done before the wreck.

Funny thing too is he said that when it is done he was thinking about giving it to his son, who was the person who came to pick it up. And his son was all siked to see it and said he was hoping to take it home soon. Go figure!

If you get those pictures I wouldnt mind sending him to this guy in Arkansas.

[MZ-N10]

hmm...doesnt sound like he thinks the vehicross is gonna roll....lol

[Maugan_VX]

Send him pics of WormGod's wreck.

That will convince him of the safety :)

[WyrreJ]

hmm...doesnt sound like he thinks the vehicross is gonna roll....lol

You never know with lawyers. They don't have to believe something to argue it in court.