Mosteller's camaro

[Bob]

I'm sure everyone knows about the camaro wrapped around a telephone pole setting on top of what was mostellers on main st?

I remember the crash but not much else. I was telling a young friend with a hotrod camaro about it and realized I didn't know exactly what happened. So I googled it... [grin]

first the car, for those who might not know it

#1


#2



What do you guys remember of this? I've heard many stories, the only common link to them all is there are "parts" still in the car.

now some snips from message forums (most very old)

The story goes:
2-3 kids where in this Camaro street racing another car or truck. Somehow the car became airborne and hit a telephone pole on its roof in the air. The car wrapped around it where the front and rear bumpers where almost touching. The pole was cut off on each side of the car and it was placed on top of Mostellers Garage. Other rumors say that the car still has human remains in it.
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I used to work for the guy that built the motor in the 69 at Ooltewah Manufacturing. He built it for some 16 year old kid. We got to talking about cars one day and he brought in the pics of it while he was building it. He said that believe it or not, the motor wasnt hurt to bad and that even though all 3 people died in the wreck, there were people waitong at the junk yard trying to get the motor

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That is the story on the 69, Big rivals at Central High went to go race one was in a truck(like a 70 model), hadn't been beat and the other in the 69 with two other guys, rumor was the truck nudged the 69 as he was getting pulled, then history has it. They couldn't put the car in the junk yards because of the pieces of bodies left in the car and they wanted to display the car for all the racers to quit racing.
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[Police Moderator]

I'd heard similar stories and that the parents were the ones that wanted it on display to discourage street racing.

May be someone could do more research and find the original news story.

It has been there since before I was a rookie.

[dvc]

I went to school at Tyner (not Central) with the guys who were killed in the Camaro.IIRC it happend on North or South Terrace.

[Bob]

Tyner makes more sense than hixon. My understanding is the car left the road on south terrace just past belvoir. but again, thats what i heard [grin]

[JC]

Back in the day, mom knew and did business with the guys at Mostellers and knew the story (the real story) behind it. I don't remember much of the story, but I do member her saying that there were parts in the car that could not be retrieved.

I've heard similar stories from junk yards of parts being found while salvaging so it's believable.

Why don't you give Mostellers a call and ask them about it?

[cadillacdude1975]

from what i remember, it was a drag race on south terrace that ended up as we now see..............and it includes parts that were not able to be removed.

edit: i googled it and here is what i found........

This wreck happened on 7/7/78 in Chattanooga, TN and was a result of street racing. There were two boys together in the car both died instantly and they are burried side by side at Hamilton Memorial Gardens in Hixon, Tn.

The father of the 16 year old driver knew the owner of the wrecker service and had the car put on top of the building (where it remains today) as a sign to others to not be morons and street race.

www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=324021&page=15

post 296

[sarahm]

I know the guy that was driving the truck. His wife was best friends with one of my roommates. I haven 't seen them since the late 80's. His wife told me that he had nightmares about the wreck all the time.

[Bob]

Thanks guys, my 20 year old friend is thoroughly freaked out.
(the object) So that old camaro is still doing its part to curb street racing.

[grin]

[coffeeshooter]

I have vague memories of this incident. I drive past there all the time but never look up.

[captainrt]

I was behind this car the night it happened and remember it well. I had a 69 Roadrunner back then and we had all been making our rounds that night. The Camaro was a 1969 Z-28 with a 302 and it was racing a Ford p/up truck of 1950's vintage. As we topped the hill, I backed out of it because of the traffic light ahead. The Camaro was slightly ahead and hit his brakes just as the truck was changing lanes. The truck clipped the bumper of the Z-28 and it simply went into the air sideways. I estimate they were going around 90=95 mph because I was still doing 80 and slowing down.
The car slid on it's passenger side right into the pole instantly knocking out the power in the area. The sound was like a sonic boom. The truck slid just off the road onto the sidewalk.
The two boys were 16 and 15 years old, the driver lived in Hixson and the passenger lived near the lake off of Kings Point road if I recall. I know their names but out of respect to the families will not post them.
The driver was hanging half out of the car and the passenger was bunched up in the floor and no, there are no remains in the car. They were both removed and taken to East Ridge Hospital. Other than being bloody, they were intact and really did not look that bad.
I remember the headlights were still on and the radio was playing and that made it kind of spooky.
The fire department pried open the trunk and tore into the back seat to see if anyone was in the back seat in spite of us telling them nobody else was in the car. The wrecker tried several times to pull the car off the pole with no luck. They cut it top and bottom leaving what you see today.
The driver of the truck was brought up on charges of vehicular homicide. The police began a major crackdown on drag racing after this ending an era that had gone on since the 60's.
In those days Brainerd road was the place to be on Friday night. We would cruise all night, park in Jubilee city parking lot and drink beer, do burn outs, head over to the drive in and check out the cars, go to the Cotton Patch...just had a lot of fun. I miss those days.
I lived in Brainerd near Moore road back then and went home and got my camera, I have some pictures taken at the scene just moments after it happened. If I can find them, I will post them for you all to see.

[joedog]

And another urban myth is laid to rest.

Thanks for the post sir.

[captainrt]

Here are some pictures of the Camaro taken that morning after the sun came up, I hope they show up on the post...I'm no Bill Gates with this stuff. One other thing, the truck was a 1956 Chevy, not a Ford. Sorry Ford Fans, I found some old notes I had made with the pics.
If you look close you can see blood on the door and in another, some on the glove box door.

[Bob]

he is getting the photos to me via email, so I should have them up shortly after I get them.

I'm not going to tell my 20 year old friend though, she freaks out every time she sees that car and its slowed her down (while driving).. [grin]

[captainrt]

Thanks Bob for helping me get those photos posted. Over the years I have come by stories online about this wreck when doing some other type of search. I have heard that four boys were killed, that it was a single car crash caused by a drive shaft falling off, they hit a dip in the road, one even said it was a tornado.
I don't do much posting, have no twitter, facebook or myspace accounts...I just do old people things and read. When I saw this site, I figured I would put it to rest.
One important fact I left out: It has been said that the boys were drunk or had been drinking. This was not true.
While these young fellows were not close friends of mine, we use to pop hoods and share stories while in the parking lots every weekend. Everone had a "car crowd" they belonged to and they were in another one from mine. They were good kids.
I was a mechanic at a Chevron station back then and always let some of them come by after hours to use the bays to tighten a header bolt or check something out that required it up in the air.
Anyhow, it was a bad night I will never forget.
I hope this has helped shed some light and I might stop in from time to time and read some other stories, this seems like a nice place you have here.
Hey, here is one for you to get started- anyone remember Rome Benedict and his wild painted Superbird? He was with WFLI and WGOW (AM back then) and drove that crazy car all over town blasting music from those speakers he had on his car. Remember?
My mother went to school with him and I use to keep that rattletrap running for him. Sadly, Rome passed away at Memorial Hospital in 1994. He gave me a watch that had a black dial on it, every thirty seconds it would light up with a naked woman on it and said "Time To F@#!" I still have it. (don't tell the wife)
Good day all.

"RT"

[joedog]

Sir, if I may ask, I did not see a year this happened. When was it? actual date not needed just a year.

[captainrt]

1978

[joedog]

Thanks

[SunnyKC]

Very interesting.. sad.. but interesting.. My Uncle was just in a bad car wreck.. girl pulled out in front of him on the highway.. she just pulled out and he T-boned her.. her passenger was killed immediately.. and My uncle has been in the hospital ever since... 3 weeks now... and I'll tell you all right now.. I have slowed down considerably!!

[Deleted]

> I have slowed down considerably!!

I haven't. I still go as fast as the law allows (depending on road and weather conditions).


which probably explains why so many people tail-gate me.

[rnlqts]

captainrt:
where exactly did this happen?
are you rtn?

[Bob]

Dec 4, 2011 8:42:50 GMT -5 rnlqts said:

captainrt:
where exactly did this happen?
are you rtn?

read the thread please, I'm sure every question will be answered.
rtn doesn't post here, as far as I know.

[rnlqts]

The guy (captainrt) never says exactly where this happened. Others speculated North or South Terrace. I want to know what part of North or South Terrace, (they are long roads) from the guy that was on the scene at the time the accident happened.

[Bob]

I know he said somewhere but didn't find it.

they started at germantown headed east on south terrace. The "hill" mentioned in the post above is the hill that belvoir is at (kinda) the bottom of. it was the second (I think) pole past the intersection the car hit. (before the ramp starts)

[kansasgal42]

As the mother of one of the boys in that Camaro that has been on top of Mosteller's garage, I can tell you what really happened. On July 8, 1978, several boys had gotten together in East Ridge and when it was time to go home, they all left and went down South Terrace. In the Camaro were 2 boys, the driver being 16 ( going to Hixson High) and the passenger being 15 (going to Tyner). They had gone to school together at Ooltewah in the past. The truck (that has been described previously) and the Camaro, both going too fast, got their bumpers tangled on South Terrace right at Bacon Trail. The Camaro spun and went airborne and hit the telephone pole top first and wrapped around it - tail lights to head lights. They got the boys out by 2 wrecckers pulling the cars apart and they were taken to Erlanger ER. They were both dead at the scene. There were only those 2 boys in the car and there were definitely no body parts left in the car. The car was taken to Mostellers garage and placed in their lot. From all I have understood, there were so many teens who knew them both that went to see the car that they pushed the fence down maybe twice so the owners of Mostellers put the car on top of the building to keep their fence in tact.

[joedog]

Thank you for the telling us your side of the story and I feel confident in speaking for the CMF gang here in saying, We are truly sorry for your loss and apologize if this has brought back up the horrible memories of that night.

[Deleted]

Yup.

[Bob]

What Joe said. And I feel confident that there are enough key words in this article to dispel all the urban legends.

[kansasgal42]

Just an FYI. As of June 17th the 69 camaro is no longer on top of Mosteller's garage. It was taken down and is now buried in an undisclosed location.

[captainrt]

Kansasgal42: I, too, am sorry this story refuses to go away. I posted my recollection of that night in hopes of setting things straight so that it might go away again. With the advent of the internet, I have literally seen this story told all over the world. I was not close to Meryle (Eddie) or Thomas (Tom) but saw them every weekend with the car crowd or at the dragstrip. You were correct that everyone had been in East Ridge earlier; some of us had pulled in a church parking lot off of Germantown road to wait for the others. I recall it had a pea gravel parking lot. Feel free to leave me a private msg. if you want. I had been to both Tom and Eddie's house...I may well have met you. God Bless: CaptainRT

[hparker619]

Now i know the Real truth about what happen & i'm very sorry you no longer have you're son or his friend ...... I have been racing on the street for over 20 years even after looking at the camaro on Mosteller's Garage ...The only thing that made me stop was after 20 plus year's Hamilton county got me on 27 and i had enough & I said that's it i'm not a kid anymore and took my car apart , sold everything ! That was 7 year's ago........