chancecasey

Thought someone might like to see the carnage. Not "too" bad really.

RedlineMan

Ouch...

Not too bad? That **** end is swung pretty good. You haven't gotten the estimate yet, I take it? Not cheap.

chancecasey

Not too bad as in - I walked away unscathed. Damage estimate is at $12K so far, but they haven't put it on the lift to check underneath yet. The insurance company is still investigating - understandably so. Likely it will be totalled, and instead of doing the smart thing and walking away, I will probably buy the salvage. And a tube bender. And FRP doors, roof, tail, quarters. And and and....

Anyone need a perfectly good Autopower roll bar complete with SFI padding?

Gary R.

I've got a set of nearly new lights and reflector (about 1000 miles of use) for you when your ready!

RedlineMan

Yeh...

Glad you're OK. I was gonna throw out a starting price of $10 large. Been there! I did this one a couple years ago. As light a hit as it was, it was still $10k. The uni-body was swung on both ends, but not near as hard as yours.




I've still got some bits left from that project I can get to you cheap if you head down that road. Off the top of my head I remember some bumper parts. Let me know. Give a shout if you need advice.

Wreck Me Otter

Ouch...sorry to hear. I had heard that a Cab hit the wall that day when I visited a friend of mine that was there that day.

38D

Glad you're ok.

I'm not sure that car is worth it to fix. If it was an ultra rare car like a cup, then yes. But for a run of the mill C2, I would just walk away. When you whack one side and the other side it bent too, it is seriously bad news. I'd guess you are looking at $35k minimum.

John H

Buy it and part it out. You can do pretty good by selling the motor, tranny etc if you have the space, time and patience.

Veloce Raptor

What corner?

Glad you are OK.

chancecasey

T4. Went 2 off in T3, and like a dummy did not back off but hit T4 full blast, and my left rear tire had no grip. By the way, ABS really kind of F's you when you are sliding on a gravel pit. I'm not saying it's the car's fault, I'm just saying, ABS isn't always your friend. I'll be looking into one of those "lock up" devices if I take the ABS racing. I'll also try not to be on the gravel in the first place

I'll know more about what direction I take with the car once the claim is settled. The good news is that I finally heard from them today and they have agreed (as they should) it will be covered, and we will hammer out the details next week. I can tell you that if they're salvage value is reasonable, I WILL buy the car and part it out myself, either partially for my own racing purposes or completely to recoup some of the money I've dumped into this thing over the past year and a half.

earlyapex

Sorry to see your car damaged, but glad that you came out of it unhurt. Where did it happen?

My SC suffered the same damage at Sears Point when I spun at T8. I came out 12K poorer. I actually ended spending much more money as I used it as an excuse to make further modifications.

I bought my the fiberglass body pieces from Rennspeed. Great prices. Good quality. Great service.

http://rennspd.com/

RedlineMan

Hey;

I'm going to give you a little different perspective. I don't look at these things as just some car. I look at them as a member of my family. If that loved one is not beyond hope, I think they deserve every opportunity to live on. If it is terminal, well then you have to let them go.

This car is most definitely repairable. I don't care that it is a "run of the mill" C2. If it were a Honda, then who cares. It's not. There are people such as myself who can not necessarily afford to go out and buy the Porsche of their dreams, but they can damn sure give someone's old friend a new lease on life.

I say if purchasing the salvage is feasible, either repair it, or sell it as is to someone who wants to make use of it. Again, it is most definitely repairable from what I see. There is nothing in those pics that represents a permanent detriment to the car.

The worst part is the right frame rail and inner skirt, and the rear pan. It is mashed and swayed pretty bad by the looks of it. I'd want to see that rail to judge whtehr it would pull or not. Obviously you need a quarter and bumper on the outside. If the driveline is not damaged, then rest is just tinker toy stuff. The left side will swing back around fairly well and be repairable, I'd wager.

Maybe I'm wierd, but if they are save-able, I save'em.

JackOlsen

Exactly. The true test of a car guy's character is what he does when something like this happens.

Is it a warning or a test? Do you scrap it or make it faster?

Of course: it's a test. Time to make it faster.

38D

If someone is paying you to do so, then I understand that view. But for the rest of us, it makes little sense to spend huge $s on a crash like this. Just by looking it seems to need a rear bumper, rear deck, both rear quarters, one wheel, a half shaft w/CVs, a trailing arm, rear shock & spring, upper shock mount, rear sway, sway link, all new taillights..that's what $10-12k worth of parts right there? And that is just what we can see. Who knows what else is bent. Then add in all the time trying to get it sort of straight, prep, and paint. Unless you can do all the work yourself, it's dead. And even then, it is worth more in parts.

If you have lots of suspension & engine goodies, you could retub the car. That you can do mostly yourself.

chancecasey

John, I agree with you 100% in this case. I have a LOT of my own hard, sometimes bloody, maddening, work in this car and, yes, I am 100% aware of the financial impact of each strategy. However, it's always more than just the dollars and cents. Anybody who disagrees doesn't get a p-car to begin with, or even hit a track for that matter. Where's the financial prudence of either of those to begin with?

I'll know more for sure next week, but I think a very likely outcome is something on the order of $20K claim payment, minus $12K outstanding loan balance, minus $8K for the salvage. I walk away with a wrecked car free and clear, and maybe a little pocket cash to boot.

Doing all the work myself, I'm pretty confident I can get it racing in the PRC GTL class for an additional $8K net (after selling the good stock bits), spent over the course of this year. Won't be the fastest car in the class, nor will it have a lot of the trick stuff others have, but I could really give a crap. It's MY car. I BUILT IT. And dammit, I'm going to learn how to drive it so well it doesn't matter that someone else's cost 5 times as much - I'll still put the woop *** on them. At least, that's my goal. I have a long way to go, I know, but so be it. If I can't beat someone with my slightly slower car then I need to keep driving until I can, not run out and buy a faster car.

But that's just me / my style. YMMV.