Progress Thread Let's try this again...

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All the parts are in, just have to wait for an opening in the guy's schedule. His shop is swamped right now, so his estimate is for the end of the month. I'll get it back just in time to run out the gas in it and get it laid up for the winter.

I also talked to a lawyer recently about what I should do about the ticket, and she said I should show up to the court date and hope nobody else shows so they throw out the case. Afterwards, I got a call from the insurance company saying one of the other people involved is filing a personal injury claim (whiplash is my best guess), so I'm not sure if that changes the game from a legal standpoint. I guess if you were injured, you'd probably be more inclined to go to court against the guy that allegedly caused your injury, right?

As disappointing as all of this is, I'm just glad the damage wasn't worse and that it's repairable. Time has given me a little bit more perspective and I've realized if I had been going even a little bit faster, things could have turned out far worse than it did for everyone involved. I look at the damage to my car and the damage to the guy in front of me and I can't believe the energy that was able to literally bend the frame of my car just cracked the other guys bumper a little bit. It really makes you think about the safety of these cars and how they would fare in a more serious accident compared to modern cars.

I'm not going to stop driving it, but I'm definitely going to think twice about taking it on my rush-hour commute--staring down old construction trucks that I'm pretty sure are held together with zip ties and bubble gum--to work
 
Thought I’d give a quick update on where things are.

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Apparently the frame was bent 7 inches left and 4 inches down. Luckily there were no hidden problems according to the body shop and all that’s left to do is finishing work like paint and blending.

My insurance company said we’re taking 100% blame for the whole thing, and my court date is the 26th, so we’ll see how much higher my premiums will be as a result of this. Hopefully the fact that we’re paying out will mean nobody will feel inclined to show up to court against me and the whole case will be thrown out.

Do you guys think the car going to drive the same? I know a good body shop is almost capable of working miracles but I can’t help but worry that I’ve ruined the car somehow by putting it through a frame-damaging accident.
 
Thought I’d give a quick update on where things are.

E69014F5-FA6D-4DD9-852F-9EE816E7BE66.jpeg
493EAB89-E6B6-4C09-8763-BE888816BEA8.jpeg
71946A40-8877-4D8F-B4C8-49A9CDC2E209.jpeg


Apparently the frame was bent 7 inches left and 4 inches down. Luckily there were no hidden problems according to the body shop and all that’s left to do is finishing work like paint and blending.

My insurance company said we’re taking 100% blame for the whole thing, and my court date is the 26th, so we’ll see how much higher my premiums will be as a result of this. Hopefully the fact that we’re paying out will mean nobody will feel inclined to show up to court against me and the whole case will be thrown out.

Do you guys think the car going to drive the same? I know a good body shop is almost capable of working miracles but I can’t help but worry that I’ve ruined the car somehow by putting it through a frame-damaging accident.
Most people will never know the difference when they get one back that's been fixed correctly.
 
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Thought I’d give a quick update on where things are.

E69014F5-FA6D-4DD9-852F-9EE816E7BE66.jpeg
493EAB89-E6B6-4C09-8763-BE888816BEA8.jpeg
71946A40-8877-4D8F-B4C8-49A9CDC2E209.jpeg


Apparently the frame was bent 7 inches left and 4 inches down. Luckily there were no hidden problems according to the body shop and all that’s left to do is finishing work like paint and blending.

My insurance company said we’re taking 100% blame for the whole thing, and my court date is the 26th, so we’ll see how much higher my premiums will be as a result of this. Hopefully the fact that we’re paying out will mean nobody will feel inclined to show up to court against me and the whole case will be thrown out.

Do you guys think the car going to drive the same? I know a good body shop is almost capable of working miracles but I can’t help but worry that I’ve ruined the car somehow by putting it through a frame-damaging accident.
Are you sure it was inches and not millimeters?
 
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Are you sure it was inches and not millimeters?

The text I got said inches. Honestly I believe it. The rail buckled just forward of the shock tower so if it’s measured from the front of the car I could see how it could be that far.

The front left corner of the car took the brunt of the impact, so all the energy was focused in one area, then it was transferred across the radiator core support (which tore) and pushed over the right side a little bit as well.

The impact really didn’t feel that bad from the driver’s seat, but I guess if that much energy was absorbed by the deflection of the frame rails it makes sense.

As stated above, 'should' be no difference 'if' done correctly.
You have to have confidence in the shop doing the work.

That’s good to hear. I know the metal itself won’t be as strong as it was before and the value of the car is probably lower now, but as long as the driving aspect won’t be affected, then I’ll be ok as long as I don’t get into another accident.

The shop doing the work is run by the guy that put the car together in the first place, so I trust them.
 
The text I got said inches. Honestly I believe it. The rail buckled just forward of the shock tower so if it’s measured from the front of the car I could see how it could be that far.

The front left corner of the car took the brunt of the impact, so all the energy was focused in one area, then it was transferred across the radiator core support (which tore) and pushed over the right side a little bit as well.

The impact really didn’t feel that bad from the driver’s seat, but I guess if that much energy was absorbed by the deflection of the frame rails it makes sense.



That’s good to hear. I know the metal itself won’t be as strong as it was before and the value of the car is probably lower now, but as long as the driving aspect won’t be affected, then I’ll be ok as long as I don’t get into another accident.

The shop doing the work is run by the guy that put the car together in the first place, so I trust them.
There is such a thing as “diminished value” for a car involved in a collision even though it’s been fixed correctly, as a potential buyer may expect to pay less if he/she is aware of the accident. There are ways to go after the insurance company for additional payout as I under it.
 
There is such a thing as “diminished value” for a car involved in a collision even though it’s been fixed correctly, as a potential buyer may expect to pay less if he/she is aware of the accident. There are ways to go after the insurance company for additional payout as I under it.

Hopefully the fact that it was minor frame damage (right?) won’t diminish the value too much. I’d imagine given its age a lot of these cars have had similar repairs.
 
Nobody is driving around a Fox they're going to make bank on. Those examples still have things like Window stickers, original floor mats, factory plastic still covering the seats.

You get diminished value for driving a new car off of the lot. These cares are out of the territory of being sold by NADA standards. You could say the same for damned near anything that qualifies for [agreed] insurance and [classic] tags.

Modifications add to diminished value as well. I wouldn't be caught driving one of these cars without subframe connectors. :shrug:

I wonder how my
old band uniform
held up all of this
time.
:think:
 
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I wonder how my
old band uniform
held up all of this
time.
:think:
I can answer that. If it is a Fruhauf uniform and was cared for at all, it will be a classic design or out of style by now, and in too good of shape for the administration to want to replace. Hopefully a new hat and accessory has updated it by now. There is another old name that makes fully lined, wool suit quality uniforms about as well that would still be in use. And the director has had to order more because kids care bigger than when you were in school.
If it is a Demolin, the material is pilled and faded, almost every uniform from the same batch will have split the same seam, it looks tacky, and the director is planning on a bonfire, even if the band has to march in polo shirts and black pants for a year.
If you were younger, it could have been a Band Shoppe uniform. They are well made as inexpensiveky as practical, machine wash only, and have been replaced three times since you graduated for style reasons.
What brought this up in relation to the Mustang in question?
 
Nobody is driving around a Fox they're going to make bank on. Those examples still have things like Window stickers, original floor mats, factory plastic still covering the seats.

You get diminished value for driving a new car off of the lot. These cares are out of the territory of being sold by NADA standards. You could say the same for damned near anything that qualifies for [agreed] insurance and [classic] tags.

Modifications add to diminished value as well. I wouldn't be caught driving one of these cars without subframe connectors. :shrug:

I wonder how my
old band uniform
held up all of this
time.
:think:

I guess I should stop worrying about the dollar value of the car, especially since I’m not planning on selling it. Hopefully I’ll get it back before it snows. I already have some winter projects in mind for it, mostly with the interior.
 
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Got the car back yesterday. It drives fine except the steering wheel is still turned to the right. It did that before the accident as well, but the shop fixed it by doing an alignment and rotating the steering wheel on the shaft so it was straight. I’m not sure if this is the same issue. I think somethings wrong deeper in the steering gear. And getting into the accident just made it worse. It still tracks straight.

In any case, I’m going to be putting the car up for the winter probably this week, so I’m not going to worry about it until next spring.
 
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B67D91C9-74EF-4856-B48F-043E01FF6523.jpeg


Got the car back yesterday. It drives fine except the steering wheel is still turned to the right. It did that before the accident as well, but the shop fixed it by doing an alignment and rotating the steering wheel on the shaft so it was straight. I’m not sure if this is the same issue. I think somethings wrong deeper in the steering gear. And getting into the accident just made it worse. It still tracks straight.

In any case, I’m going to be putting the car up for the winter probably this week, so I’m not going to worry about it until next spring.
It looks good.
 
B67D91C9-74EF-4856-B48F-043E01FF6523.jpeg


Got the car back yesterday. It drives fine except the steering wheel is still turned to the right. It did that before the accident as well, but the shop fixed it by doing an alignment and rotating the steering wheel on the shaft so it was straight. I’m not sure if this is the same issue. I think somethings wrong deeper in the steering gear. And getting into the accident just made it worse. It still tracks straight.

In any case, I’m going to be putting the car up for the winter probably this week, so I’m not going to worry about it until next spring.
I have an '86 GT in the same color except mine has the Canyon Red interior. Mine is waiting for paint, and I hope it looks this good when it's painted!
 
B67D91C9-74EF-4856-B48F-043E01FF6523.jpeg


Got the car back yesterday. It drives fine except the steering wheel is still turned to the right. It did that before the accident as well, but the shop fixed it by doing an alignment and rotating the steering wheel on the shaft so it was straight. I’m not sure if this is the same issue. I think somethings wrong deeper in the steering gear. And getting into the accident just made it worse. It still tracks straight.

In any case, I’m going to be putting the car up for the winter probably this week, so I’m not going to worry about it until next spring.


Car looks good.

Center the steering wheel. Turn it lock to lock in each direction. Same amount of travel in each direction, or is one direction more than the other?
 
'old guy' trick
Center the steering wheel, mark top with a piece of tape, turn the wheel both ways to lock marking the top with tape, shows you how far off you are if any. Also look at your tie rod ends to see if one has more thread.