Last Sat evening it was about 70 and sunny so I figured I'd take the S out for a solo spin before putting it away for the night. I was on a back road only about a mile into my journey when I came upon a stake truck that was loaded with what looked like construction materials. Now this section of road is very curvey so I figured I'd just follow along at about 30 mph as I was in no hurry to get anywhere. All of a sudden some of the wood pieces, cut up 2x6's and other pieces fell off the truck directly in front of me. I had visions of wood all over the front of the car or even coming through the windshield. I attemped to swerve to my left yet was unable to totally miss all the material, some of it hitting above the passenger side rear wheel and then flying over the car just missing my head! After stopping I noticed damage to the rear wheel and quarter panel along with damage to the antenna. The truck kept on going, not knowing what had happened. I then drove back home. It was at this time I noticed the tire had lost quite a bit of air. Later I pumped the tire back up to see if it would hold air but by 2 days later it was down to about 15 lbs. Last evening I was able to take it to the body shop for repair. Today I got the estimate which came to nearly $1700. This includes a new rear tire, wheel and antenna. I have to only pay my $200 deductable. It should be noted that my rear tires have nearly 12k miles on them and I was planning on replacing them 1st thing next season so I told them to order me a 2nd tire so I have a matching set again. Hopefully the car should be done by next tues, the 5th. Here are a couple pics I took in my garage that nite.




When I get the car back I'll post some after pics, hopefuly the car will be good as new.
Levi

 

Bummer, Levi.

Glad to hear you were not hurt!

 

Sorry to hear about your mishap, NY, but don't worry, your baby will look as good as new when they're finished. Glad you weren't hurt, that's the main thing.

 

I'm thankfull I wasn't hurt but I'll tell you later that nite my stomach felt like it was in knotts. It's weird when things like that happen, it lasts only a couple seconds but it seems like everything is happening in slow motion.

 

I'd be . I'm so glad they can make things good as new and getting a tyre (British spelling) cheap is always good.

 

I hear ya on those knots in the stomach. Mine stayed around a long time after my accident. Isn't that funny. They left however when I saw my baby looking as good as new later on. Hang in there, buddy.

 

But I'm so glad you weren't injured, Levi!!!! I'm always leary of those trucks with wood and construction material on the back. We're awfully vulnerable in our little topless babies.

 

Levi,

I have that exact slow-motion feeling when something like this happens to me. Not a fun feeling! Glad you are OK and that the damage was not worse than it is.

Dave

 

So glad you are all right...seems as if you reacted as best you could. One time, years ago, I was on the Beltway here in DC and a piece of plywood flew off a truck in front of me and hit the hood about an inch below the top on the driver's side. One inch above and I would have bought the farm. Things can happen quickly!

 

Levi,

I am sorry to learn about your mishap. As always the important think is that you are here to tell about it. I hope that the body shop does a nice job.

As you may know from my post last month I got rear ended by an Ford E-350 van. It was just a love tap. As fate would have it. Jeff Peacock, the owner of the tire shop in Delaware that I stopped on my way to NY last month used to be a body repair guy for over twenty years before opening his new business. He over heard me on my mobile phone with the other guy's insurance company and made two suggestions that I would have not known to ask during the estimate.

I am not sure if this applies to you. But perhaps others can use this information. With metallic paints look for a body shop that has a paint technician that is certified in either Sickens or PPG paints. They are the best at color matching to compensate for fading of paint that is years old. Secondly: When one has to replace one body panel (I.E. in my case the rear bumper, or a fender) make certain that the estimate includes the cost of "clearing the quarters" in body shop terms. In other words, make certain that the estimate includes the cost of taping and then overspraying the adjacent body panel to blend the paint to allow for fading and providing a seemless color match.

For what it is worth: At the NorEastern I asked Ruined 2 (Phil) to take a peek at my repair that had been done earlier that week when I had the skin of my bumper replaced. He looked at it in the bright sun light at Cardinal Honda and could not tell the bumper had been replaced. Even though, he knew that it had been.

Again Levi, the good news is that you were not hurt.