Wrecked at close to 150MPH! Is it fixable?
07-26-2004, 10:13 PM
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Wrecked at close to 150MPH! Is it fixable? Ok, first of all, I would just like to say that I'm the absolute DUMBEST and luckiest person in the world.
About a month ago (june 19) I decided to take my 2001 WS.6 out for a little joy ride. I was seriously itching to drive it, since it'd been sitting for 7-8 months for storage, and while I piddled with a cam swap and other little tidbits. I had yet to have it tuned either, but, It kinda ran, so I took it out. Well, the longer i drove it, the more and more I couldn't resist stomping on it....so I did.
Going down a back country 2 lane road. the road is straight as far as turns go. What I failed to take into account, was that it had 2 LITTLE bridges that raised up slightly. The road was deserted. So, I came to a stop, and decided to see how many gears I could break the tires loose in. So I take off. 1st, slide sideways into 2nd. breaks loose in 3rd. Gears are flying by quite quickly, because, GOOD GOD this thing revs fast. Don't remember if they barked in 4th. revved out 4th as I'm coming over the first little bridge. shift into 5th around 145. hit the second bridge, and the worst feeling I've EVER had in my life.....the *** end getting loose. Instantly sideways.....AT 150 mph!!!! Telephone poles whizzing by on the left side of the road, which is the way my car is pointed. I'm off the right side of the road, right next to a 5-6 ft. deep ditch. back tires are HANGING off the ditchline, in the air! slide on this side of the road for what seems like forever. All this time praying that it doesn't roll. car shoots across the road, amazingly sliding between 2 telephone poles, into a cornfield. car spins around to face the other side of the road as I'm sliding through the cornfield. cars slowing down at this point, and I'm thinking...great, lots of body work that's going to need to be done. as I'm thinking the wreck of the century is over, the then, deflated tires, catch dirt. And the car rolls 1-2 times. Lands rubber side down, and I jump out. Smiling like i've NEVER, smiled before. I just walked away from a wreck of upwards of 150MPH! How many people can say they've done that? At the same time, I wanted to cry. walk around the car, trying to find my now lost cell phone, and assessing the damage. I'm thinking totaled. Which most definitly blows, because I love that car. I can honestly say, that I will never forget the feeling of that rearend breaking loose. Worst feeling ever.
What really makes me mad about the whole situation is, I had my best friend with me. This makes the whole thing 10x worse for putting his life in danger. Amazingly, he suffered no injuries either. We both sustained some seatbelt rash, and I had a slight cut on my head from getting busted with a cornstalk.
Ok, onto the body work part of this post:
The insurance company totaled the car, which I figured they would. But to me, it doesn't seem that bad. I haven't got the car back yet, to really go over it with a fine tooth comb. almost all body panels would have to be replaced, as would the T-Bar, windows, etc. If the frame is not damaged, which I've been told by a few people, that, that isn't even a big deal, I might try to fix it if it doesn't cost too much. I've been told that if the frame is damaged, that you could put it on a frame rack, and straighten it out, then cage it for some more support, which I'd planned on doing anyways. I was also told that you could take a porta-power to pursuade the t-bar back into place. Another suggestion was to hack the T-bar off and weld on a new one. I was told that the t-tops would probably leak, but this isn't really a big deal, since I never drive the car in the rain, unless i was caught out in it. T-tops survived the crash (flew out of the hatch), hood survived (pretty sure) interior's fine (pretty much). I'm thinking, the only major things are the body panels, and the t-bar. Here's some pics for you guys to judge off of. I don't really wanna have to buy a new car, as I'm kind of attached to this one, and all other F-bods that followed would be......tainted.
Besides...I think I dark metallic gray WS.6 with some blue pearl in it would be just frikkin sweet! But, all in all, I don't think it turned out too bad for a car that was just involved in a 150mph wreck. 
Do you think it's fixable? and for how much would you guesstimate?
Sorry for rambling on and on. But I haven't posted here since the wreck, and I had a lot of making up to do. Thanks for any input guys. And you don't have to say it....I know I was stupid. LESSON WELL LEARNED!
About a month ago (june 19) I decided to take my 2001 WS.6 out for a little joy ride. I was seriously itching to drive it, since it'd been sitting for 7-8 months for storage, and while I piddled with a cam swap and other little tidbits. I had yet to have it tuned either, but, It kinda ran, so I took it out. Well, the longer i drove it, the more and more I couldn't resist stomping on it....so I did.
Going down a back country 2 lane road. the road is straight as far as turns go. What I failed to take into account, was that it had 2 LITTLE bridges that raised up slightly. The road was deserted. So, I came to a stop, and decided to see how many gears I could break the tires loose in. So I take off. 1st, slide sideways into 2nd. breaks loose in 3rd. Gears are flying by quite quickly, because, GOOD GOD this thing revs fast. Don't remember if they barked in 4th. revved out 4th as I'm coming over the first little bridge. shift into 5th around 145. hit the second bridge, and the worst feeling I've EVER had in my life.....the *** end getting loose. Instantly sideways.....AT 150 mph!!!! Telephone poles whizzing by on the left side of the road, which is the way my car is pointed. I'm off the right side of the road, right next to a 5-6 ft. deep ditch. back tires are HANGING off the ditchline, in the air! slide on this side of the road for what seems like forever. All this time praying that it doesn't roll. car shoots across the road, amazingly sliding between 2 telephone poles, into a cornfield. car spins around to face the other side of the road as I'm sliding through the cornfield. cars slowing down at this point, and I'm thinking...great, lots of body work that's going to need to be done. as I'm thinking the wreck of the century is over, the then, deflated tires, catch dirt. And the car rolls 1-2 times. Lands rubber side down, and I jump out. Smiling like i've NEVER, smiled before. I just walked away from a wreck of upwards of 150MPH! How many people can say they've done that? At the same time, I wanted to cry. walk around the car, trying to find my now lost cell phone, and assessing the damage. I'm thinking totaled. Which most definitly blows, because I love that car. I can honestly say, that I will never forget the feeling of that rearend breaking loose. Worst feeling ever.
What really makes me mad about the whole situation is, I had my best friend with me. This makes the whole thing 10x worse for putting his life in danger. Amazingly, he suffered no injuries either. We both sustained some seatbelt rash, and I had a slight cut on my head from getting busted with a cornstalk.
Ok, onto the body work part of this post:
The insurance company totaled the car, which I figured they would. But to me, it doesn't seem that bad. I haven't got the car back yet, to really go over it with a fine tooth comb. almost all body panels would have to be replaced, as would the T-Bar, windows, etc. If the frame is not damaged, which I've been told by a few people, that, that isn't even a big deal, I might try to fix it if it doesn't cost too much. I've been told that if the frame is damaged, that you could put it on a frame rack, and straighten it out, then cage it for some more support, which I'd planned on doing anyways. I was also told that you could take a porta-power to pursuade the t-bar back into place. Another suggestion was to hack the T-bar off and weld on a new one. I was told that the t-tops would probably leak, but this isn't really a big deal, since I never drive the car in the rain, unless i was caught out in it. T-tops survived the crash (flew out of the hatch), hood survived (pretty sure) interior's fine (pretty much). I'm thinking, the only major things are the body panels, and the t-bar. Here's some pics for you guys to judge off of. I don't really wanna have to buy a new car, as I'm kind of attached to this one, and all other F-bods that followed would be......tainted.
Besides...I think I dark metallic gray WS.6 with some blue pearl in it would be just frikkin sweet! But, all in all, I don't think it turned out too bad for a car that was just involved in a 150mph wreck. Do you think it's fixable? and for how much would you guesstimate?
Sorry for rambling on and on. But I haven't posted here since the wreck, and I had a lot of making up to do. Thanks for any input guys. And you don't have to say it....I know I was stupid. LESSON WELL LEARNED!
07-26-2004, 10:37 PM
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Originally Posted by 2_wacko
The is no way in hell that thing is fixable how could you do something like that to such a nice ride.
07-26-2004, 10:40 PM
#6
Yeah definitely F the whole fixing it thing. I feel that if you were to take that to anyone they would just laugh at you. If someone agreed...they'd have to be somewhat crooked. I wouldn't think any decently ran body shop would do that for the simple fact that, as someone already said, you wouldn't be safe in it. It's definitely totalled. As I've alraedy stated, I'd call it unfixable.
Justin
Justin
07-26-2004, 10:43 PM
#7
Oh yeah!!! I'm definitely going to have to start thinking more cautiously when I drive. I get my car over 100 at least once a month. Also, glad to hear you and your friend made it out ok. I can only imagine how freaking scary the out of control feeling was at 150 MPH.
Peace,
Justin
Peace,
Justin
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07-26-2004, 10:49 PM
#10
First off, sorry to see that your car is wrecked and happy that noone got killed or seriously injured.
Second.....Dude you have to lay off the crack. That car definitely had some serious frame rail damage and is a complete structural total. You should be happy you walked away with your life and just get another car. I wrecked my 96 Z28 a little over 6 years ago and the damage was similar to yours except I didn't roll it, at that time I also was hoping it wasn't going to be totalled but in reality I was better off starting over and I'm glad I did.
There are tons of F-bodies for sale so you can still get a similar equipped T/A in as good or better condition as yours was before the wreck.
For the amount of money it would take to make that car like new you could buy a new Viper and it probably won't be 100% right.
I'm talking from experience.
Just try to remove any undamaged parts and sell them and use the money for a down payment on another F-Body.
Good luck!
Second.....Dude you have to lay off the crack. That car definitely had some serious frame rail damage and is a complete structural total. You should be happy you walked away with your life and just get another car. I wrecked my 96 Z28 a little over 6 years ago and the damage was similar to yours except I didn't roll it, at that time I also was hoping it wasn't going to be totalled but in reality I was better off starting over and I'm glad I did.
There are tons of F-bodies for sale so you can still get a similar equipped T/A in as good or better condition as yours was before the wreck.
For the amount of money it would take to make that car like new you could buy a new Viper and it probably won't be 100% right.
I'm talking from experience.
Just try to remove any undamaged parts and sell them and use the money for a down payment on another F-Body.
Good luck!
07-26-2004, 10:55 PM
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I knew in the back of my mind it was gone...but I was just looking for a glimpse of hope. I was going to buy it back either way from the insurance company, and for the past month had planned on parting it out, but these past few days, I'd had several people tell me it was fixable. I'm not body or frame expert. I've got no idea how much abuse these things can take, so that's why I asked. Looks like i'm back to parting it out. Buy back on this thing is $5k!!! I hate insurance companys.
07-26-2004, 11:26 PM
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Perhaps it's seriously time you consider a car you're capable of driving without your brain stem overcoming the rest of your brain.
I hope everyone learns from this. There are open track days for a reason, and a couple hundred bucks for an event sure beats the **** out of the hole this guy dug.
I hope everyone learns from this. There are open track days for a reason, and a couple hundred bucks for an event sure beats the **** out of the hole this guy dug.
07-27-2004, 12:39 AM
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I'm pretty sure that you crapped yourself after that one..
Seriously, glad you and your friend made it out of this alive. Accept the fact that the car is a total lose.
I haven't had my Z past 120, and after seeing something like this. I doubt that I ever will..
Good luck finding your next F-Body.. be a little gentler this time.
Seriously, glad you and your friend made it out of this alive. Accept the fact that the car is a total lose.
I haven't had my Z past 120, and after seeing something like this. I doubt that I ever will..
Good luck finding your next F-Body.. be a little gentler this time.
07-27-2004, 03:01 AM
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Reality check. No... don't fix it... See how the roof is crunched, your frame is bent. You COULD fix it, but it will never be safe, and you will go thru too many headaches with things not aligning or fitting right. Get a new car and write this off as you said, lesson learned.
