Hot Rod driver killed in crash on South Carolina road with SUV, coroner says
A South Carolina man was killed Sunday morning when the Hot Rod vehicle he was driving was involved in a crash with an SUV, according to the Kershaw County Coroner’s Office.
Walter Grannen III, a 73-year-old Lexington resident, is the driver who died in what Coroner David West called an accident.
The collision happened at about 11 a.m., said Sgt. Tyler Tidwell of the South Carolina Highway Patrol.
Grannen was driving a T-Bucket Hot Rod east on S.C. 34, according to West. Near the intersection with South Gate Drive, in the Camden area, the Hot Rod swerved into the westbound lane where it collided head-on with a 2018 Ford Expedition that was driving west on S.C. 34, officials said.
Grannen died at the scene, according to West.
Tidwell said that there were two people in the SUV, but no other injuries were reported.
There was no word if anyone involved in the wreck was wearing a seatbelt.
Information about what caused the Hot Rod to veer toward oncoming traffic was not available. Neither Tidwell nor West said if the crash remains under investigation.
Through April 19, at least 230 people had died on South Carolina roads in 2026, according to the state Department of Public Safety. A minimum of 914 people were killed in collisions in South Carolina in 2025, DPS data shows.
At least six people have died in Kershaw County crashes this year, and 15 people died in wrecks there in 2025, according to DPS data.
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