Thor96 wrote:

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AlleyOop007 wrote:

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Thor,
Here is more on the story from the Odessa paper: Odessa Paper

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Sully, I was trying to avoid any ethnic gesture, but... What can I say... yeah. 5 adult Latinos in a pickup truck. Extras usually ride in the back. I referenced the ethnicity as nicely as I know how, didn't I AO and Texas Ed? A drunk, er uh, Latino is worse than a Redneck at taking a sucker bet. I remember the first really bad accident I ever witnessed. A car load of, er uh, Latinos tried to pass, on a straightaway and level ground, but not enough space to complete the pass. It was a bloody mess.

Hey, I've seen 5 or more adult Navajos in a standard cab pickup more than once during the winters I lived in Northern Arizona. I don't know what will happen to the Navajos if full sized pickups are phased out with the lefty environmentalists in control. Guess they will have to go back to wagons pulled by horses.

Thor96 wrote:

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AO, you may have missed a part of my post. I was trying to identify the people without reference to the Rio Grande. Only a Texan would understand that. I'm sure Pepperbelly caught it.

I think Pepperbelly has a pretty good insight into the matter. I'm in question that the fumes would back pressure into the cab unless the exhaust system was in ill repair and also the floorboard. We're talking Texas, not Missouri. They don't use salt on their roads, so most floorboards are healthy, and cabs are protected pretty good from fumes. I'm also still wondering why the motor wasn't drowned out.

Thor, I didn't miss that part of your post. I knew the ethnicity of the victims from the initial news release. My post about the Navajos was just to indicate that other groups are known to stretch the capacity of a pickup on occasion.

As for the pickup, I guess we need know more about it. I can visualize a pickup with lifts that would get the engine high enough to keep the engine from submerging but leaving the tailpipes low enough to be under water - I see them pretty often in West Texas and Eastern New Mexico. If there are leaks in the exhaust system between the headers and tailpipes, the fumes could easily find their way into the cab through the floor or firewall (a "ranch truck" of any appreciable age is certainly susceptible to loosing the seals around wiring and other penetrations through those areas). I assume that the a/c was on since all the windows were rolled up. If that's the case, they were either re-circulating the air inside the pickup or if the a/c was set to bring in outside air they may have been bringing in the contaminated air (I don't know where Ford's a/c units access outside air when the a/c is set on "vent" but the source may be from in front of the windshield where the contaminated air rising from under the hood would be sucked into the cab.) What I can't understand is why the occupants didn't open the doors (if they couldn't open the windows) when the fumes started pouring into the cab; after all, the witness said the fumes were thick when they broke the window. The occupants must have smelled the exhaust fumes before they became overcome.

sully wrote:

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. . . It is the utter stupidity of the victims involved. If they were under the influence of drugs or alcohol, it is very likely they couldn't process that they were being overcome by exhaust fumes.

I take that to be another vote for my nomination of these poor unfortunates for the 2009 Darwin Awards.

Thor96 wrote:

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AlleyOop007 wrote:

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I take that to be another vote for my nomination of these poor unfortunates for the 2009 Darwin Awards.

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Yeah, you are right, we have no choice classify them candidates for the Darwin Award. IMO, anybody who drives while intoxicated and takes dumb bets is a candidate. Oops? Have ever done that? Yeah, guess I'm lucky to be alive. And I was a candidate back in those days for a lot of dumb stunts.

Hey Alley, back on that cab capacity. Remember the 46 Ford truck? I had one. Cab was narrower than a Toyota pickup. Me and a buddy double dated a couple of fat gals one night, all squooshed in. One of the girls (mine) weighed 250-300 and the other one was 200-225. I weighed 145 and Leroy weighed maybe 135. We were the little guys. Leroy ended up marrying the little one and his brother ended up marrying the big one. I just remembered their names but will keep them in confidence to protect the innocent. Me and Leroy? We weren't innocent of anything.

You and Leroy must have been sitting in those girls laps since I cannot visualize it any other way that would allow you two "shrimps" to survive.