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We spent several days working on gravenge and getting the interior dried and things cleaned.








When we got done, she wanted to go to her friends house and of course, she needed gas. I gave her my card and sent her to the gas station and she was on her way home when she had a spider on her leg. She took her eyes off the road for a second and looked up to see a F550 with a flatbed stop in front of her. She was only doing about 10mph when she hit him.








Not sure what we are going to do yet. I just spoke to a local body shop and believe it or not, they can still get OEM parts to fix this. The labor alone if I supply the parts is $1200 just to fix the structural part, not the hood fender or bumper. If they provide the structural parts and the labor it will be around $3500.

The truck only ended up with a bent tail light/license plate bracket. The hitch with a ball on it went right into the right headlight. The police officer did not give her a citation. He said the main reason was because the other guy was in such a hurry to get out of there.

She is pretty upset right now and can't stop crying. She really loved this car and doesn't want to let it go.

OMG, at least she is ok. Is it sad the pictures brought a physical tear to my eye. I know people may disagree. But fixing it wouldn't be the worst I idea. After letting my 99 go and getting the Caprice, I regretted it not only because I spent more money on it then it would have costed to get the 99 fixed. But I also hated my 2nd car.

Glad to hear no one got hurt! I think you should supply the parts, cheaper all around.

Is it illegal for trucks to keep their hitch on the truck out there? It is now here in IL, you can get pulled over for it.

And just make sure she isnt txting while driving

And this is why we despise spiders.

Glad she's ok and Gravenge still did the job of protecting her. I hate saying it but repairing that will be a LOT of work. If at all possible, try to avoid grafting another passenger support and opt to have that straightened. Radiator support will be relatively easy to replace, though drilling through the spot welds will grow tiresome after a while.

Look on the bright side, now you have an excuse to get a NEW coolant overflow bottle

PITA or not, I would fix it... Don't let it go because of something like this. Glad everyone's ok.

I wouldn't scrap a car unless it had rust issues, but then again I'm special like that.
Best bet is to let the body shop replace the supports. Un-bending metal is cold-working it and makes it brittle and likely will crack it, not good on a body support that bears the load of spirited driving or if it gets hit again.

Good luck!

Reminds me of when Jerry sold his,

Ouch, that sucks Matt & Kathy. I'm glad she's alright. Reminds me of when I totalled my 00, something about putting that first bonne out that really hurts.

Hope they can get it all fixed up and you get it back on the road.

Sorry to see what happened, but glad everyone's ok. I really hope that you can get it fixed and back on the road - it'd be a shame to let a car like this go.

Yeah id be surprised if having that hitch in place is legal.

See how everything plays out..

I would probably fix it.

There is no law in any state that I know of that leaving a receiver/ball in is illegal. Hell, a lot of the farm trucks around here have the Brute bumpers with permanent tongue hitches. How would you remove that when not in use? Kind of an off-the-wall post. She was either going to hit the hitch or smash into his bumper. I'd bet he's sure glad she didn't smash the whole back of his truck in.

The hitch is what caused most of the damage. She swerved at the last minute. The big tear in the top of the bumper is where his "bumper" hit the car. If she would have hit square, it would have taken out both sides and the hitch would have gone through the radiator and possible engine damage. The hitch was actually above the bumper.

Been doing some work and it looks like I will be getting it back on the road soon.

glad to hear your keeping it and fixing it up, Gravenge is a historical element and needs to be on the road!

good luck!

I'm on the other side of the bridge, I wouldn't fix it. Even if it is Gravenge, it just doesn't make sense financially. If she had owned the car for years and years and was very attached to it, then maybe. But she has only owned it a few weeks. Save the $1500-2000 to get it back on the road, and put it into another car.

I would see what I could do with it myself or check out craigslist for adds of people that do bodywork on the side. The guy that fixed up that part on my old '93 (which was MUCH worse) did it for about $800 and it looked great afterwords, didn't have to replace anything structural.

The worst part will be finding the other necessary parts to repair it...

I am not necessarily on either side of the fence on this one, rather sitting right on it. As someone who spent likely triple what my old '93 was worth to repair it and get it back on the road despite the financial aspect of it, I can totally understand wanting it back on the road. However, I can also see where it really isn't smart to put that kind of money into a car this old....

harofreak00 wrote:I'm on the other side of the bridge, I wouldn't fix it. Even if it is Gravenge, it just doesn't make sense financially. If she had owned the car for years and years and was very attached to it, then maybe. But she has only owned it a few weeks. Save the $1500-2000 to get it back on the road, and put it into another car.

Another car, that will probably be less reliable and more of a money pit. Trust me, from experience. It'll be better off fixing a car you know was well maintained then buying another car with an unknown history. My Caprice was perfect proof like I said before. Biggest car mistake I ever made. I would have been so much better fixing my 99.

Gravenge was a well-cared for car in its time, but its been in storage the last how many years?

I want everyone to know that Matt told me first about the accident and how awful he and Kathy felt about it. But I reassured him, and Kathy, there is no hard feelings with whatever happens to Gravenge. She has had a good life and whether or not this is the end of the road, it makes no difference.

Unlike the midwest cars, there is no rust issues and overall the body/structure of Gravenge is VERY sound. Unfortunatly, she is an old car and you have to think about how much money you want to sink into such repairs.

I understand completly no matter what happens.

As John stated, this car is great shape. It runs great and still looks good. I am not going to be putting the money in it through a body shop. I will be doing all the work.

sandrock wrote:I hate saying it but repairing that will be a LOT of work. If at all possible, try to avoid grafting another passenger support and opt to have that straightened. Radiator support will be relatively easy to replace, though drilling through the spot welds will grow tiresome after a while.

After getting the battery and overflow bottle out, it is not that bad. The structural frame was not damaged at all. It didn't no damage to the wheel well or the strut tower. I have already started to straighten out the corner and it is not going to be that bad. The worst part is what Sandrock mentioned. I will get a closer look at that when I get the radiator and AC cores out.

All the parts I need will be readily available from 3 local pick and pulls. We already visited them last weekend and there is a total of 9 cars between the 92-95 years.

I have made my mind up and it will be back on the road. It gives me an excuse to use the welder and air tools I have laying around. Although, I don't really need another project to add to the list.

myfirstbonnie wrote:I have made my mind up and it will be back on the road.

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