Well my luck having a freshly painted Pinto that was solid as a rock and straight as an arrow for $1900... has ended. My friend forgot the car was there at his house and turned into it while backing up. The crusher in this case was a Dodge Durango with big, wide tires that crushed the right rear quarter panel... now I need to find parts... great. Here are some pictures for your... hopefully not enjoyment. >:(
(http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m309/beegle55/033109_175700.jpg)
(http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m309/beegle55/033109_180000.jpg)
(http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m309/beegle55/033109_183501.jpg)
-beegle55
Ouch!! :accident: hope your friend is paying for the damages
It would have to be something very hard to fix like a quarter panel. Excellent. I don't even want to think about it. And yes, his insurance is fronting the cost of repair to the final cent or we wouldn't be friends anymore. :mad:
-beegle55
That's good. Still it's a shame to see such a beautiful Pinto hit. Hope she looks as good as she did before the damage
:'(
Well, it doesn't look...too bad, but that sux. A good body shop should be able to lop off that quarter and weld on a new one, and just paint the affected area, but mix'n'match repaints fade at different rates and in time the repair would become noticeable. Have you contacted the shop where the car was repainted? They probably have the best chance of matching the paint.
Good thing it was a friend, not a relative, or they wouldn't cover it. My brother backed into one of my cars on the way out of the driveway. I found out the hard way :mad:
Chuck
Me too. The paint is new so tinting the paint to match due to fading shouldn't be a problem. Its just that quarter panel replacement can be very tricky and I hope I can trust my local body shop to do a good job because I can't do body work.. that is one auto expertise that my family really doesn't manage well with. The original body shop is somewhere in Tennessee I'm guessing because they had it repainted around 2007 before I got the car.
-beegle55
Wow, that really sucks! I know people who would scrap a car for damage like that. Me on the other hand, I would rebuild my Pinto from the sub-frame up if I had to!
Glad to hear it's getting fixed, still sucks that it happened in the first place though. :(
Well it will be repaired in full at the culprits expense. It will be a very tough job and I just pray it turns out at least 4 out of 5 stars. On the upside, I'm removing the cracked crome trim on the rain gutters and having them sanded good down to the roof and painted while I already have orange paint, thats something I've wanted to get done. I'm also, since I'm going to be parts scrapping anyways, am going to get a new rear bumper and fiberglass bumper cover because it looks like it got damaged in the hit even though I know it was already like that... so this could turn out to be good. OH- and I wanted to remove the mud flaps anyways and I got one side out of the way already... :lol:
-beegle55
Hey, sorry to see that!! Glad it is repairable.
uhhhh, i dont know, looks like it'll buff out to me.... :look:
you sure you want to replace the quarter? doesnt look like thats completely neccessary. id be more inclined to have the metal reworked back into shape.
sorry to see that happened by the way.
I'm pretty certain the pictures do the damage justice and it is actually worse than what shows. The panel is bent outward and that crushed in part is about five inches inward and bigger around than a basketball, with an invisible (at least from the pictures p.o.v) dent that didn't break any paint but is as large as a size 10 shoe so I'm almost sure it couldn't ever be worked out to look any count... I wish it would buff out :D
-beegle55
did you by chance happen to tell you friend that he had to walk if he wants to come over anymore? lol ;)
I was at his house :lol: and he was driving, but from now on, I'll be the only one in the driver seat if my car is nearby.
-beegle55
Well I have an update. The body shop that I trust/is ran by my dads best friend gave an estimate yesterday. $1300 for bumper repair and they say they can correct the quarter without replacing... and that's good news if it comes out right. While in the shop, I'm going to have the cracked and faded 'chrome' rain gutter covers removed, the gutters sanded, and painted orange. I'm going to replace the rear bumper totally including filler (filler is bowed, rubber isn't in good shape, large scratch on bumper) and am going to have the car wet sanded and buffed to smooth out the paint a bit. Also am going to have all seals excluding the trunk and front glass seals replaced, including beltlines... and last but not least, I (myself) am going to sand and paint the front grille and headlight bezels and start restoring the interior. I'm going to have a major jump on the exterior restoration with this accident.
-beegle55
Well I guess the crash wasn't such a bad thing after call. Talk about a "nudge" of modivation!
Oh god,that would be one of my nightmares if someone i knew did that to my car,accident or not.Anyway,im sorry this happened to such a pristine car buddy.I had a 78 pinto brand new back in 78 when i was 17 and banged it up bad on its 2 month anniversary,lol.I ran into a sitting still 73 chev at 45 mph and the back end hopped over the yellow line on impact and a chevy vega clipped my 1/4 panel coming the other way.The damage to your 1/4 panel looks exactly like the damage mine had and when the car came out of the body shop,the 1/4 panel was the best part of the job,youd never know it was hit,but the rest of it turned out pretty shitty.I didnt realize it till after i signed the insurance claim but the roof was actually lifted up and the firewall had a gaping hole ripped in it around where the heater is.Me being 17,shy and quiet,they walked all over me when i argued at what a crappy job they did so i ended up plugging up the hole myself and driving around with one side of the roof higher than the other.Nobody else noticed it but i knew.
This thread really makes me wonder about the work done to my car back in 78 shortly after my mother backed into a very large barbecue.
Picture a pinto running the passenger quarter panel into something like this:
(http://www.barrel-barbecue.co.uk/bbq.jpg)
Except it was twice that size.
Ford replaced the quarter panel but didn't match paint correctly. If you look close on my car, you can see where the new quarter panel meets the body of the car at the seem.
The adjuster from his insurance company got to see the car on Thursday and liked the Pinto and said it was a shame that it happened. He really thought the car was in great condition and promised that the company would back the cost, he had worked with the body shop that I wanted to fix the car and said he would look over the estimate and it shouldn't be a problem. I'm awaiting final word from him and eye-ing a '77 Cruising Wagon that might be my next project in one of our family friends junkyard, depending on the condition and price. ;D Us Pinto boys are plain crazy. If the wagon isn't too bad, title or not, I might buy and make a race car out of it worst come to worst. But hopefully it has a title and won't be too far gone. I'll know tomorrow...
-beegle55
The car was put into the shop on Tuesday of last week and I expect it back by Friday. I took of the poor condition 'chrome' rain guards and am having the gutters sanded and painted orange to match the car. Also, apart from the obvious damage, I am having all the dings fixed AND meanwhile, someone grazed the car on the drivers side and put some paint down and another small dent :mad: this car seems like and IDIOT MAGNENT. Anyways, patching all the damage up and am having it wet sanded and buffed to give the paint a more smooth finish. Wish me luck, I hope it comes out good. ;D
-beegle55
Glad to see you back and also getting that beautiful car squared away.
Quote from: Carolina Boy on May 05, 2009, 01:47:33 PM
Glad to see you back and also getting that beautiful car squared away.
Thanks! I actually just spent six days in the beautiful state of California and it worked out good to have the Pinto in the shop while I was gone to pass the wait time without it surfing on Huntington Beach (which is just awesome.) I will definitely be back in Cali sometime. ;D
-beegle55
Quote from: beegle55 on May 05, 2009, 11:40:11 AM
apart from the obvious damage, I am having all the dings fixed AND meanwhile, someone grazed the car on the drivers side and put some paint down and another small dent :mad: this car seems like and IDIOT MAGNENT.
You don't happen to live in the Dallas, TX area do you??
This is the reason my Pinto is so banged up - too many morons per mile... :nocool:
Glad the costs are being worked out and the car is getting fixed - good luck!
Rob, he is in West Virginia.
Chris
Thats the big fear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Drive in and some wing nut hitting us.............