Plane vs car: guess who wins!

Now, it’s not really clear from the reporter’s description here, but it appears that a Cessna 172 (a delightful little plane, kind of the woody wagon of airplanes) full of FBI agents was taxiing to its hanger in Aurora, Oregon, when it collided with a Lamborghini Countach (an exquisite car, once the greatest performance vehicle in the world and still a work of art, although not so much after the accident) full of a cranky 69-year-old man, which happened to be crossing its path at speed.

A senior citizen playing chicken with a plane full of Feds. Whatever happened to simply plowing into the farmer’s market?

Should you be possessed of such a vehicle, this is one maneuver we do not recommend, for obvious reasons. Please make a note of it; we do not want to have to repeat ourselves.

Not only does the Countach sell for around $90,000 (the Cessna is less than 40k) {and btw what kind of low-rent spellchecker is this in Firefox that doesn’t know the word Countach, I mean like seriously) but it can apparently sustain enough damage that the repair bill totals more than the price of the car.

From OregonLive:

…One of the agents wrote in a report filed with the NTSB that the plane was “moving down the taxiway about to enter our hangar area, moving at about a fast walk and crossing a narrow inner taxiway perpendicular to us when the aircraft crunched to a sudden stop.

“Out the left side window of the aircraft I saw a small black sports car dart from under the prop moving to my left, gushing fluid,” the unidentified agent wrote.

Treit, a licensed pilot, says he had the right of way and that the pilot should have spotted him.

Treit, who lives in Aurora and owns a business at the small airport, this month filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government, accusing the pilots of negligence. He is asking for $105,500 in damages.

I’m assuming the extra fifteen thousand is for his wounded dignity, but I must ask: just exactly how much dignity does a litigious 69-year-old man in a Countach actually possess?

UPDATE: Hey Farkers! I’m not 100% sure this one in the picture is the car, but it is the right year, the right colour, and it was wrecked around the same time, in the US. There aren’t that many of these babies around, so I’m betting this is the one. Probably the guys at WreckedExotics.com can help settle things. Click on the pic to go to its home page.

The car was moving at speed from right to left, and essentially tried to dart in front of the plane, which was moving about 5mph. At the risk of repeating myself, Do. Not. Do. This. Also: Planes have right-of-way on taxiways.

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::