Featured Folks Of Interest Matt from Strong's Garage in bad accident.

I know some other people here are familiar with the Strong's Garage YouTube channel, it's a vintage car repair / restoration shop near Edmonton, Alberta. They're buddies with Scott at the Coldwar Motors channel. Matt Hotte, one of the owners, was in a horrific accident - someone hit him head on while he was driving his 1966 Mercury pickup (same as a F-100 Ford here in the States.) He's survived, but has a long recovery ahead. There's a Gofundme site set up for him if you're interested in helping out. There's also a short update video on their channel. https://www.gofundme.com/f/supporting-the-hotte-family-a-call-to-community

 

Dang, that’s awful. Sure hope he makes a full recovery.

 

WOW ! thats some impact. Best wishes for Matt and family

 

Please tell me the ass clown responsible for this was arrested, handcuffed, charged and thrown in jail.

 

Will have to see what happened, could’ve been medical-heart attack, etc on the other drivers part.
Man that is terrible glad he survived and for a full recovery.
Dan

 

Far out in that’s an ugly freaking scary outcome. Praying that the future brings a good outcome for Matt and his family.

 

Very bad, you wouldn't want to experience that.
All the best for your recovery.
Regards Harald

 

Wow! Never seen a body come away from the frame like that. Yikes! Speedy recovery to the injured guy.

Chris

 

Saw this on Youtube last night. Fingers crossed he is OK. Seems like he is a champ and have been watching the youtube channel for a while. Was surprised to see the cab off the chassis. Apparently he was also thrown clear. Wont speculate on that or the cause of the accident.

 

I have built 3 of these trucks for a life long Buddy , they are tough as a nail . That was one hard hit to knock the cab off the frame . If no other injuries other impact and tossing the body around in the cab ,he will probably will have life long spinal / nerve damage age to deal with . Prayers out to him and family for a speedy recovery .

 

Man, that's hard to look at! Prayers for Matt and His Family.

 

Sorry to hear this. Wishing him a speedy recovery.

 

Oh my!...Thoughts and prayers to Matt and his Family.

 

Life changing for sure. Tho better than an ending.
Bless The Hands that heal.

 

Was the floor rotten around the body mount bolts?

 

Thoughts and prayers heading north of the border!
That was hard to see first thing this morning.

 

Considering the quality of their work and the condition of the other vehicles I've seen in their videos, I wouldn't think so, but it's probably not worth speculating about how and why it happened.

 

Wow! Hope he heals up ok. I really like their channel and wish they'd put up more videos, they seem like some genuinely good dudes.

 

That is an ugly picture and story. Best wishes for recovery.
The guys run an old time shop working on old cars and using old tools. Neat channel. He's also restoring a Continental that Scott's been helping with along with some other great cars. The amount of time and care in his work shows.
I don't recall anything on the truck, but between the area's inspection and his own level of care, I seriously doubt that was falling apart, which is even more scary. The front of the frame indicates massive force.

 

Had a 65 f-250 built like a brick shit house got hit on the right front fender just a small dent way more damage on the other car. Glad to see him survive it that must of been quite the ride in that cab wasn't his time that's for sure.

 

As @Sharpone said we don’t know the full story.

A couple weeks ago I witness what was almost a head on at the site of crash site.

It was on a state road that runs north and south, he crash was on a short straight between to blind corners.

The car head of me and myself were headed north we were wave into the south bound lane to pass the crash and emergency vehicles in the north bound lane as we approached the blind corner on the opposite end we meet a car going south bound.

The flagger on the south bound end waved a car through with traffic coming! Everyone got stopped in time!

One of the volunteer emergency workers started jumping up and down and yelling at myself and the other north bound driver.

When I got even with I stopped waved my finger at him and emphatically told him “Don’t wave traffic going two different directions through at the same time!”

As I was pulling away a New York State Trooper told him the same thing.

 

A minor clarification - Jim owns the Continental Mk. II, not Matt. He also has a Continental Mk. I and a 1954 Ford he was using as a winter beater, which is hard core when you live where the temps go down to -40.

 

My mistake. They are both great guys.

Just watched the YT video. I check at least a couple times a week, even during summer when I know it's the busy season and they don't post much.
This one is really sad.

 

There was an update posted to the GoFundMe page a few minutes ago:

The past few days have brought significant changes for the Hotte family. On Tuesday, Matt underwent pelvic surgery, and the doctors are pleased with how it went. Wednesday brought another major milestone: Matt was successfully extubated and began breathing on his own. One of the most emotional moments came when Cassie heard Matt’s voice for the first time in days — a powerful reminder of what a gift it is that he’s still here. They were even able to talk and reflect on the blessing of his survival. Matt knows that Jesus saved him and is the only reason he is still here.

That same day, Matt shared a tender moment with Ida, lying beside her in the hospital bed — a special time of connection and comfort.

Looking ahead, Thursday holds promise as the medical team evaluates whether Matt can be cleared to remove his neck collar. There’s also hopeful talk of moving him out of the ICU soon and into a quieter space to rest and continue his recovery.

Cassie and Matt are no strangers to the ups and downs of a healing journey, having walked a similar road during Ida’s time in the NICU. They know progress often comes in steps — sometimes forward, sometimes back — and we ask for continued prayers for steady healing and strength in the days ahead.

The outpouring of generosity on the GoFundMe has deeply moved Cassie. She’s in awe of the kindness shown by people near and far. Thanks to your support, they can focus entirely on Matt’s healing without the added burden of financial stress.

Matt’s spirit remains strong and determined — he’s motivated to get home to his children as soon as possible. Please keep praying for continued healing, strength, and a smooth path to full recovery.

 

It should be noted that baby Ida was born on 7/22 and had to spend time in the NICU due to complications, and only was able to go home with the family just three days before his accident.

Another bit of good news is the Gofundme site has raised over $112,000 Cdn as of this post, and it looks like more pledges are being made every few minutes. It's great to see everyone stepping up to support them.

 

Years ago my mother and father were driving their nearly new Ford pickup down the highway. The guy that was approaching them from the other direction had fallen asleep, crossed the center line and hit them head on. That car was going between 55 and 60 mph at the point of impact. Dad had nearly stopped and was as far to the right as he could get. Fortunately everyone survived that crash with minor injuries.
Even with that nearly new truck, the cab was nearly separated from the frame, 3 of the 4 cab mounts were sheared when the frame was twisted out from under them. Had dad not been nearly stopped, the cab may have separated from the frame.
Any speculation as to why the frame and cab have separated is premature, based on one picture. Head on crashes are ugly, and as the speed at impact increases, the uglier they get.

Prayers are being answered every day, simply because he has survived and is making remarkable progress at this early stage.
I will join the prayer list along with those praying for quick and total recovery.

 

Wow he is lucky to have survived that one at all and getting thrown out in a wreck kills more people than staying in the seat.

 

Matt is probably less than 15 minutes from me (his parents, where he was coming from, are apparently only a couple miles from me), and we're about the same age. Having met him a couple times, he's a really nice guy. I've toured Strong's Garage and it's really cool too, and they've found a niche that was missing around here in the mechanicals on cars from the early part of the 20th century.

The roads where this happened are the rural roads where I go out cruising regularly in my old cars, so it sure makes you stop and think.

I hope he has a good recovery, you hate to see this happen to anyone.

 

Sure wish him a full recovery. That was a wicked lick there.