Unfortunately I guess I was too presumptuous with my hopes of keeping the Lude forever. In one second everything has changed. I was driving home from Tracy after my wife and I took some measurements of our house being built and we were driving back home to our apartment in Fremont. We were travelling down 580 West and was in the 3rd lane from the fastest (the lane that exits to 680 South) long before the 680 South exit comes up as there is usually a stand still backup.
	We came to a casual and complete stop one car length behind a red VW Jetta as we waited for traffic to start moving again. I looked up in my rear view mirror and saw a large truck with lift kit barreling down directly towards us. I had no choice other than to hold the brake down hard (in the hopes of preventing my car flying forward into the next car from the impact) and brace for impact in the one second period of time I had to react. The truck rammed into my car which then catapulted forward into the Jetta, which might have also tapped the back of the white truck in front of it. There was then a subsequent jolt.
	I was stunned for a few seconds and the first thing I noticed was my wife panicking, as I wasn't moving. My body was stiff, so I then checked to see if my wife and myself were ok. There were no bones broken, but I felt an immediate pain in my left knee as it smashed the console. I had to mentally command myself to untense and try to move around. The adrenaline rushing through me was intense, and my fingers trembled. My wife's left leg was also bruised and tender. The truck had hit so hard that my right leg ripped the alarm remote control off the key chain, and knocked my chair back from it's original position. I then hobbled outside to check if everyone else was ok, and then inspect the damage on the car. The rear end of the car was destroyed, the truck hit so hard that the back got crumpled in by about a foot and a bit. The structure of the car has been warped. The impact was so great that the grills on my high end Rockford Fosgate subwoofers flew off (the clamps are screwed down). The back seats were pushed in, if someone was in the back they would have broke their back for sure. You can see by the picture with the truck that my car flew by more then a car's length from the point of impact, and I don't think he was even near to slowing down based on the fact that there's no skid marks under his truck. The front of the car is also crumpled in making the hood unaligned and unable to close. Besides the body damage of the car , the structural integrity of the car is compromised, my two 12" subwoofers are destroyed, as well as it's amp, and the Clifford Concept 40 alarm system's central unit is destroyed leaving the alarm system non-operational. The KONI shocks are also messed up and make strange noises. As the shock wore off, I could feel the pain in my left knee becoming more prominent, as well as a pain on my right elbow, upper middle left back is hurting and becoming stiff, as well as middle back, including my neck becoming stiff. My wife's left leg is becoming more tender, and her neck from the whiplash is causing her pain. The doctor gave us muscle relaxants and anti-inflammatory medication, and we get to look forward to physiotherapy.
Everytime I see the Lude it's painful. I've been scouring the used cars classifieds, and finding VTEC preludes is difficult. The Lude has been like a friend, has reliably taken me vast distances, and I feel like I am betraying it by letting it go. The Insurance companies consider it a write off considering it will cost about $13,000 to fix. I almost feel like keeping it, so that one day in the future I could restore it, but unfortunately I cannot afford that option right now. What's worse is I know they won't compensate for all the modifications I've done, and I just put in brand news tired, had the timing belt done four days before along with a bunch of maintenance. There's no other car that I really care to drive, every other car to me is just a... car. I suppose I'll get a 91 Accord or something, I don't really care, if it drives what more do you need. Everyday I dred how painful it will be when they tow it away... Goodbye old friend.