Well i bought a 1999 trans am about a month ago, a week or 2 i noticed some things on it that just weren't checking out to me and upon furth inspection i realized it has been in an accident.

the first thing i saw was this and thought nothing of it

from what i can gather here, is that the battery toppled over and the terminal arced onto the tower.
Then i noticed this

oh okay, so maybethe front pushed in a little, seems relativley fine now, headlights work numper isn't broken, car needs paint but okay.
also saw the rad was slightly kinked but looks relitvely straight, car drives straight.

Also i dont have pictures on me right now but also noticed the fender frame thing are slightly dented. The front passenger fender has been repaired with bondo ( i dont know why they didn't just buy another fender) and the plastic underlining doesn't quite fit well as the fender seems to push out some and not line up real well.


I also noticed this fun stuff, i'm very new to body so for me, i thought it was possible bubbling paint form heat or something so sanded it down and saw this, bondo and obviously a hole from pulling a dent...


Well my father in law pulled the bondo off and this is what we saw (the black paint was added by me to help protect the metal somewhat)

This is from the rear passenger fender right in front of the wheel, it is kinked right at the fender lip, so i know the dent can't be pulled out perfectly.


So this has been a real mess so far, the carfax is clean, the title is clean and i wish i would of looked it over a lot better. I guess because i got such an awesome deal and straight up person on my z28 i thought this guy was straight up, oh well. So now i'm trying to debate where i want to go with this car, replace the rear fender, bondo it, or just drive it as is and buy a roller. Figure people with more body experience then i have could chime in. Also as soon as the weather is decent i will take it to some people and get their opinions.

 

Well, if the seller knew, then they should have disclosed this. Unfortunately for you, it sounds like they didn't. It looks like it could have been a bad accident, they fixed it and sent the car on it's way.

You might have tried a Car-Fax report, but not every accident is reported to them.

To me, the damage looks like it was fairly bad and someone slapped it back together to sell it. If you are looking for a show car, this isn't a good starting vehicle. If this is just a driver that you're going to have fun with, then maybe it's not so bad. What does the rest of the car look like?

That one picture shows the side molding isn't even straight

 

i noticed the side molding thing, when i bought the car i knew it needed paint but believed the body to be relativley straight from what i could tell. the drivers side seems to be good besides some peeling clear coat. Also the carfax was accident free. Might just drive it as is and try to get a roller net year and swap over the engine i guess. Any more opinions are welcome, and if i can ill try and get more pics this weekend.

 

Looks to me like someone wanted a "deal" on getting this dent fixed (possably to sell) and this is what you get. The car is far from ruined just have someone fix it correctly and nobody will know its there

 

I'm going to have the guy that painted the hood on my old z28 fix it up and re paint it. The main thing i'm worried about is the front so much, the back i'm just curious if i should replace the fender or not. I saw you thread with the bondo on the rear fender, although you were able to pop the dent so much better. The plan is though, while discouraging, i really want to give this car a new lease on life, partially because i know it was my fault for destroying my camaro and feel i need to bring another nice f body to the world.

 

Dude I completely understand getting attatched to a car and wanting to bring it back. I have a 95z roller I just cant let go of....someday Ill drag it out and do something.

Your core support does look pushed back but it can be easily corrected with a pull or replacement from another car. How do your gaps look? Can you see any areas on the inner frame where the metal wrinkled from the core being driven back?

 

looks like bullet holes :/

 

never trust a car fax...i saw a 2012 car repaired and repainted by the dealer and they didn't report it to car fax.. they say it is the responsibility of the buyer to inspect the car for its overall condition and they do not need to say anything other than used...(and there is no law that states that u have to report a repair or collision to car fax).. sorry that i did not mention the model of the car or dealer that repaired it for privacy reasons

 

i would never pay for a car fax its not even a legal document, example you could never use a car fax in a court case

 

I didnt pay for a carfax, and actually at the time of buying i didn't even look at one. Looked at one after i noticed the damage to see if it was on it and if i was dumb for not checking. I realized i should of checked better, and while it was poorly done, not looking for it it didn't jump out. Strange how a car isn't yours and you notice no imperfections, but once it is everything pops out like acne on a teenagers face.

 

if your talking about the frame rail thing the fender connects to then yeah, i did notice a little bit of damage like it was possibly pushed. All damage is before the strut tower brace. Would that have to be cut and new one re welded? All in all it just bites, and i'm sure my buddy could fix it however it would probably put getting a fresh batch of paint out on even longer. Also know i can't sell and recoup what i paid, i'm just to honest of a person and would show them everything that i found wrong, and i mean everything haha. Also for the rad support is that just bolt on or is it weld on? Would a pre 97 or earlier work? Just curious so if i do fix it i can know what to get one off of.

 

also it is raining probably all weekend but i'll see if i can get some more pictures tomorrow.

 

Sorry I should have been more specific...Im talking about the big square rails the bumper support is bolted to. Do you see any kinks in those? Try to see where it took most the impact (high/low and what side) and where the energy went. If it was hit high and just shoved the support back its not as serious as a kinked frame.

 

Alright ill take a look, nothing reall ylooks pushed just more dented last I looked, although I did think maybe the rad support was pushed a little. Ill get pics tomorrow and look at it some more.

 

Well went ang got some pictures, looks like the the damage was up top and the frame rails are straight from what i can tell. Finally something looks up haha. Anyways i took some more pics of the damage and fitment of the fender and such.





this is the gap between hood and fender, also the cracking bondo on top of the fender.


finally what it looks like all closed up with gaps and such, its not terribly bad but it isn't straight either. The fact that the frame rails look straight has made my day, would of hated to bought a car that was a lost cause. I knew the car needed pait just didn't think the body work would be this extensive, anyways still open to how i should approach fixing the issues, maybe a panel at a time? Think another fender will help close the gaps on the car instead of the bondoed fender?

 

The fitment isn't really that bad. Looks to me like it has been fixed by someone before.

How is the gap between the door and the fender?

 

Gap between door and fender are fine, nothing wrong that I noticed, doesn't rub or anything.

 

I remember there being a bracket right where the corner of the fender and front bumper cover meet that keeps everything aligned that could get either bent or misaligned and you would just have to straighten in out or realign it to get everything fleshed out again. It should be right around here:



My 97 Trans Am had a kind of puckered-in look to the driver side front fender like yours does. I went underneath and took off that plastic panel on the bottom and saw that the bracket was bent a bit. I took it out, straightened it, and it looked like new again. Might be something to check.

 

I will have to look into that, once i have a free nice weekend with no rain i'll probably remove the whole fender just to see what they bondoed, no idea why they wouldn't jsut replace the plastic fender its reltiveley cheap. I had the under fender off to try and install it better but dont have the pins/screw or whatever that connect it to said fender not like it would fit anyways. Bracket probably is out of whack i remember looking under and making sure there wasnt more damage further back. Hopfully its that easy to re align.


Anybody have any ideas for the rear quarter, should i jsut try to pull the dent more and bondo it again or save up money and find a fender and have the whole thing replaced

 

It not just something you buy and slap on. The rear quarter is a structural part of the vehicle and welded on. It takes a bodyman with extensive experience to handle a job like that. Trust me I am one myself. Real amatuar work there with the holes. Obviously the guy didn't care about further destroying the metal.

I'm kind of in the same boat myself. My rear quarter had a shotty repair done and I'm looking to replace it at some point if I can find a good donor car at some point.

And FYI on carfax. The only stuff that shows up on carfax is insurance claims. If someone wrecks their car and doesn't go through insurance and a claim is never made, its not going to show up on carfax. Carfax is a third party company that basicly helps the public get an idea on the history of the car, but its never 100%.