Image via johnsykesofficial/Instagram
Rock guitarist John Sykes loved one of his guitars so much, he almost dove into his car as it was ablaze to rescue it after a horrific car crash. We’ve seen plenty of cases of mothers doing superhuman things to pull a child out of a vehicle following an accident, but this was something else.
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Sykes was driving his car in an unspecified location sometime in the mid-80s when a truck T-boned him, knocking the professional musician out. First responders were able to pull him through the open driver’s window, frame damage was enough the doors wouldn’t open.
However, as Guitar World notes, when Sykes came to on the side of the road and saw his vehicle going up in flames, his first thought was the 1976 Les Paul guitar he had in the backseat.
That guitar was special to the man since, according to him, he used it for the entire time he was with Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake. He claimed to have not had much of an emotional attachment to his guitars, expect that one.
To the dismay of first responders, he jumped up and tried running back to the car, exclaiming he had to rescue the guitar. We can only imagine how men who had risked their lives to save his would feel about him risking his life again to get a musical instrument out of the backseat.
Fortunately, firefighters extinguished the blaze before the guitar was damaged.
This story sounds insane to the average person, and it is, but gearheads or car enthusiasts can relate. After all, we love our rides and while we personally wouldn’t put our life on the line to save one of them, we get why people in the heat of the moment might do just that.
That specific guitar, like a car you’ve owned for a long time, is loaded with memories. Losing it in turn leads to the memories fading.
Image via johnsykesofficial/Instagram
