Excellent. Glad you came out in one piece.
You live in Alabama. But where has the car lived all its life? Did you buy it used? Do you know where it came from before you got it? Maybe it used to be near the ocean, or up north where the roads get salted for half the year?
To me, and I suspect @Tester was thinking along these lines too, it sounds like something jolted the car (whether that was something breaking, or you ran over a metal bar, or hit the mother of all potholes, etc), and because everything under the car was rusted out, it was the final straw and caused catastrophic structural failure.
I got it pretty much new at a lot here. It’s obviously not in mint condition, but it’s also not rusted out either. Honestly, my driveway probably would have done more, considering all the washout that goes on when it rains.
You were abducted by aliens and examined and your memory was wiped. When they returned you to the place and speed you were doing they made a slight miscalculation and let you go 15 to 20 feet above the road.
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Are you saying that your car sits in a river when it rains?
Tester
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That would be my question as well. Driving through deep flood/washout waters routinely counts, too.
I dunno, maybe hit something like said, but sure sounds like the whole framing (unibody) caved in front to rear. Hitting something first would explain the light damage and then if it proceeded under the car ripping everything in its path. At any rate nothing to fix here. It’s done. Just be fun to know what was damaged.
Okay, haven’t been able to get any pictures due to weather, though I did learn that if you shift gears, the entire engine will shift forward or backward depending on the gear it’s in. Thought that was a nice little touch on the situation.
Whatever happened, the damage you describe indicates, as I said, catastrophic structural failure. No matter what the cause of that failure is, driving the car at this point is extremely dangerous. You need another vehicle.
I already have another vehicle. I just thought it was so bizarre, and decided to post here and see what other people made of it.
That’s good news!
Well, if the whole engine shifts forward and back… Actually shifts and does not rotate then I would guess that all of the engine mounts have broken, and the engine is sitting on the sub-frame, and that’s why your car is wrecked. Because the engine slammed into it. That was the initial bang you heard. Then it slammed into it over and over again as you continued to drive home. The engine is heavy and can do a lot of damage if you hurl it around a lot. Picture a big ball bearing in a cocktail shaker. Shake the bearing around and you’ll see dents in the shaker.
A broken engine mount is not going to damage the front bumper and headlights. Driving over large objects can break engine mounts.
I just re-read my post and I think there are a couple of errors that have lead you to that conclusion. I’ll post some pictures and edit the original post so that it is more accurate. I apologise, I wrote it from memory.