Fox T-Bird/Cougar Forums

General => General Fox T-Bird/Cougar Discussion => Topic started by: Whiteboy on December 25, 2010, 10:59:04 PM

Title: Not the BEST christmas in the world..... but it could have been much worse.
Post by: Whiteboy on December 25, 2010, 10:59:04 PM
The Bird is all but totaled. Icy roads suck. and I almost cried in front of my brother. lol.

About 1:00 today (christmas day) I was driving having a good time with family and on my way home from eating at my grandparents house when i slide out of control and over-corrected to keep from ditching it, but in the process i mis-judged the road and how slick it was and ended up spinning a few times for what i think the officer said was 324ft, hitting only a curb, mailbox, telephone box, and slowly bumping into a telephone pole itself. The engine is fine except for i think there could be a slight crease in the oil pan.

but the body is bad.... really bad.

list of things:
Middle parking lights busted,
Grill gone,
front right pony rim destroyed,
windshield is spider-webbed from my bro's head,-- he's fine we walked away without a scratch...yeah...we're that beast haha.
The telephone box completely demolished my driver's side 1/4 right behind the drivers door.... its caved horribly.
and the side window right above the 1/4 is busted but surprisingly straight.
of course, the front right side where the wheel was busted, the tie rod end is shot.



most of it is easy fixes except for the 1/4 panel...... i hate that. I honestly dont believe its fixable....

All in all, I may have lost my baby, but the wellfare of me and my bro were way more important and although I hate seeing my car a wreck like it is, im glad we are OK and hope everyone had a great christmas.
Title: Not the BEST christmas in the world..... but it could have been much worse.
Post by: turbo_88_XR7 on December 25, 2010, 11:29:57 PM
post pics of the 1/4.. it may be fixable as far as it didn't cause any serious damage to the understructure
Title: Not the BEST christmas in the world..... but it could have been much worse.
Post by: Whiteboy on December 25, 2010, 11:42:01 PM
(http://lh5.ggpht.com/_uCnCigpQUuE/TRbHOWfxcBI/AAAAAAAAA5M/l56z97vRdT0/s640/2010-12-25%2012.58.13.jpg)

lol the door still locks.....thats a plus.
Title: Not the BEST christmas in the world..... but it could have been much worse.
Post by: turbo_88_XR7 on December 25, 2010, 11:53:13 PM
ah, looks very fixable.. have you looked underneath to see if anything is bent, rippled, creased or out of shape? it mainly looks like cosmetic damage aside from the door pillar being twisted back a bit
Title: Not the BEST christmas in the world..... but it could have been much worse.
Post by: Whiteboy on December 25, 2010, 11:54:39 PM
By the way...... traveling 324ft only takes about a half a second cuz i dont remember ANY of it except seeeing us slow down before we hit the pole and thinking " holy  what happened"
Title: Not the BEST christmas in the world..... but it could have been much worse.
Post by: Whiteboy on December 25, 2010, 11:57:25 PM
Yeah its mostly cosmetic the frame is straight, but i mean... seriously? lol its almost reached the point of kinked. weld-in and bondo or what?
Title: Not the BEST christmas in the world..... but it could have been much worse.
Post by: turbo_88_XR7 on December 26, 2010, 12:04:09 AM
I personally would cut and weld a new front 1/4 half(or a full quarter if you want to eliminate the future possibility of rust)..

but you could get away with pulling it out, working with a hammer and dolly, and smooth the imperfections out with a slight coat of filler.. but i don't like using filler when it's not necessary.. lol
Title: Not the BEST christmas in the world..... but it could have been much worse.
Post by: 88turbo on December 26, 2010, 12:56:08 AM
glad you guys are alright, having damage to my bird here recently too I feel your pain. I almost cried after I hit my deer and saw my front end exploded all over the road. :(  but in time things will be back to normal.. dont give up, put your best foot forward and get the things fixed.
Title: Not the BEST christmas in the world..... but it could have been much worse.
Post by: vinnietbird on December 26, 2010, 06:54:00 AM
Sorry to hear about the damage,and glad that everyone is fine. How fast were you going to slide that far in such a short amount of time? Good luck with the car. If it's not fixable,find another body and start swapping parts. That's what i did after getting hit twice in two weeks.
Title: Not the BEST christmas in the world..... but it could have been much worse.
Post by: hypostang on December 26, 2010, 11:16:34 AM
Glad you are OK , the car should be able to be fixed .
Title: Not the BEST christmas in the world..... but it could have been much worse.
Post by: jcassity on December 26, 2010, 12:32:34 PM
wow, Im glad your all ok though because like the thread title says, it could have been worse.

Let us know what you decide on the bird, it looks pretty bad on the forward qtr but im not a body man by any means.  dents are one thing, creases are another.
Title: Not the BEST christmas in the world..... but it could have been much worse.
Post by: turbo_88_XR7 on December 26, 2010, 01:11:27 PM
it's a shame you can't get a clear shot at it from the inside to slip a 2x4 in there and smack it with a small sledge.. that would make it a hell of a lot easier to push 80% of the dent out.. you may be able to do that to sneak your door pillar back towards where it belongs though.. but overall, if there's no underbody damage, i say she's a fixer
Title: Not the BEST christmas in the world..... but it could have been much worse.
Post by: SirChirpAlot on December 26, 2010, 02:53:29 PM
Like you said it could have been worse.  Glad you guys walked away from this.
On side note that can be fixed.  Good luck with whatever you do.
Title: Not the BEST christmas in the world..... but it could have been much worse.
Post by: Whiteboy on December 30, 2010, 02:55:20 AM
Guys, if I were to sell the bird anyone on the forum has first dibs. What would the car be worth? I got it back on the road and it's all fine except the body and front end.
Title: Not the BEST christmas in the world..... but it could have been much worse.
Post by: 1Bad88tbird on December 30, 2010, 08:21:06 AM
Sorry to see this happened, I'm also glad you guys are okay. I think if you were to sell it wrecked you're not going to get much for it.
Title: Not the BEST christmas in the world..... but it could have been much worse.
Post by: turbo_88_XR7 on December 30, 2010, 01:42:40 PM
Quote from: 1Bad88tbird;347673
Sorry to see this happened, I'm also glad you guys are okay. I think if you were to sell it wrecked you're not going to get much for it.

x2.. you'd have to find someone somewhat local who's a good body man, most people are going to be afraid to tackle that kind of damage.. it's a shame you're in missouri, or else i'd lend you a hand in getting that 1/4 and door pillar straightened out
Title: Not the BEST christmas in the world..... but it could have been much worse.
Post by: Haystack on December 30, 2010, 09:35:15 PM
I have let $300 cars go for about that damage before.
Title: Not the BEST christmas in the world..... but it could have been much worse.
Post by: turbo_88_XR7 on December 30, 2010, 09:45:39 PM
that's not a $300 car.. lol
Title: Not the BEST christmas in the world..... but it could have been much worse.
Post by: daminc on December 30, 2010, 09:53:06 PM
I would try to find an entire quarter panel first (cut off a car) if you have someone do it, like a body shop, your probably looking at 2 grand minimum for replacing the panel... probably more to try and repair the old one......I'd love to fix that if you were a few hundred miles closer.
get yourself a welder and a panel.... or a stud welder and some body hammers....
Title: Not the BEST christmas in the world..... but it could have been much worse.
Post by: turbo_88_XR7 on December 30, 2010, 10:24:06 PM
and body work for dummies book if you don't know anything about it :hick: lol
Title: Not the BEST christmas in the world..... but it could have been much worse.
Post by: daminc on December 30, 2010, 10:54:51 PM
Quote from: turbo_88_XR7;347781
and body work for dummies book if you don't know anything about it :hick: lol

Check out some youtube videos too.... I should make one when I get to the other side....
Title: Not the BEST christmas in the world..... but it could have been much worse.
Post by: Whiteboy on January 06, 2011, 01:10:27 AM
Haha I'm a body man. But if it were a customer I'd decline it. It's all wrapped up back there uber the fender well pretty bad, the wheel bearings are going outtta the frontright and the front bumper and light assembly is demolished. I found someone who offered me 400. If I can't get 5 I'll take it. I'm sorry to say that thirds won't be out of my life just yet, I jus won't own one. I'm switching to mustang. 1991 gt 5.0 5 speed.
Title: Not the BEST christmas in the world..... but it could have been much worse.
Post by: 88turbo on January 06, 2011, 08:20:04 AM
Quote from: daminc;347790
Check out some youtube videos too.... I should make one when I get to the other side....

you should make one with a slide show of what you did on the 87.