Sad day...

[zoner]

My car got customized yesterday, and not in the good way:





I think the thing that sucks the most about it is that my brother was the one who hit me. He feels really ****ty about totalling my car. I went through the trunk area and got underneath it as well and it looks very fixable. Somehow the hatch glass didn't explode and the only metal that looks like it would definitely need replacing is the hatch and the rear sheet metal around the latch area. Both rear quarters surprisingly only sustained minor damage and can likely be straightened. Obviously the bumper cover, supports, etc. will also need replacing. Estimated impact was about 25 mph and other than my neck being incredibly sore today, neither of us were injured.

However, I just got finished driving it back from Santa Barbara (about 120 mi.) and it seems like there is something not quite right in the rear suspension. It was kind of 'hoppy' on occasion, almost like the shocks were blown and the rear seems like it is squatting and soft over bumps/dips. This is what concerns me the most- if the rear geometry is somehow jacked, I really don't feel like dumping money into trying to track down what could be wrong. When I got in to drive away after it had happened, it felt like the transmission had been pushed rearward an inch or so, as I initially had a hard time shifting it into 2nd gear w/o hitting the console with the shifter. After driving it for a few minutes, it seemed to no longer be a problem but I'm wondering if maybe I didn't bust a mount or two. Trans. mounts were replaced about a year ago, but engine mounts have never been replaced, to my knowledge.

Since this car has had about $5,000 put into it over the past 4 years or so, I'm going to get screwed on insurance so I'm not sure what I'm going to do...

[slow_ti]

Damn man. I'm sorry. Id be so pissed at my brother. I'd wanna kill him!

[planksta]

how did he hit you?

[eurohb]

FUDGE DUDE! i know a really good body shop that my buddy owns if u want the number text me
909-561-4852
Just glad ur both ok

-Bryan

[Ralliart10]

Damn that sucks!!

[cooljess76]

Ohhhh noooo... Sad day indeed man. So sorry to hear. I think I remember seeing a black hatch and doors fs on craigslist. I'm sure I've seen a couple being parted out on craigslist, but I think they're both white.

[wolferj-RIP]

Damn, that looks nasty... Sorry about your ti, but at least no one was hurt (except your neck, which will get better...)

Get that car to a very reputable shop for an inspection to have a professional asses the damage. That way you can really see what will need to be fixed. Be sure to check your motor mounts, your trans mounts, the diff mount and your rear shock mounts.

Hope you can save your clean and sweet ti!

[tiFreak]

that sucks man, it's even worse when it's family since you can't really go after them for money. hopefully everything works out and you can get your ti back on the road

[teetime4one]

so bummed to see this picture of your car. i hope you're able to repair the damage and get it back to its former glory...such a nice ride. good luck dude.
P.S. hope your neck feels better soon.

[Mr.Squeelerz]

Bummer! Painful to look at....but, glad to hear you're all ok....and didn't beat on each other after the fact.

[zoner]

Naah, I'm not like that and my brother has had a pretty tough year so I mostly tried to deflect the attention away from this for the remainder of the weekend. His insurance already called me and an adjuster is coming to look at it tomorrow. I'm pretty sure they'll want to total it, but if it's close or not too far over, maybe I can make a deal with them and source some of the parts myself, so as to avoid a salvage title and just get it road worthy again.

After starting it up to move it this morning, I'm pretty sure there is a broken mount(s) somewhere. I think that the 'hopping' I was feeling yesterday was the drive train flopping around and the motor seemed loose and clunky when it was idling cold. Just one more thing to deal with.

I should know where it's all going by this time tomorrow...

[eurohb]

Hope you get it all figured out. If insurance pays for it.. do I hear part out? Jk

[zoner]

UPDATE: After 2+ months of trying to haggle with Allstate, I finally threw in the towel and let them total the car and pay me out. They put the ACV (Actual Cash Value) of the car at around $4,600 - not too bad, considering overall condition and mileage, but I'm still losing considerable money based on all of the work (about $5,000+) that has gone into the car over the past 5-6 years. I bought the car back from Allstate for $600 (I could get that much for the wheels tomorrow). The car still drives and is very fixable, but I'm not sure I want to put the time and effort into getting it road worthy again, especially since I'm not sure if there was any rear suspension damage and I know for certain it has at least one busted motor mount, post-accident.

Over the weekend, I picked up a '97 Active model, alpineweiß, 5sp, with 130k, that has been very well taken care of over its lifetime. This car is waaay better, cosmetically, than my '95 is (pre-accident!), leather is soft and supple, engine is strong, and doesn't even have so much as a door ding. I'm thinking of stripping the '95 and putting the good stuff on the '97, wherever possible. I'm also trying to talk my brother into swapping the M42 into his E21 but I think that might be a little more than we're both willing to tackle at this point.

Unless someone can give me a compelling reason to fix the '95, I'm pretty certain I'll just gut it and have a lot of parts to unload... stay tuned.

[cooljess76]

Welcome back zoner. Congrats on the new ti. I kick myself everyday for not keeping my M44 for a 2002ti project.

[Jean H.318TI]

just give it to me ill take the crash car, would be the perfect drift car to just put pipe bumpers and forget about the damage while drifting