April wrecked The Clam

Exactly my point.

Vetteman's car is likely out of commission for several months at least. What's he (or his wife) do for a daily driver in the meantime? He'll probably have to buy another car.

 

I'm not sure what else to say except do you need help finding parts?

Did he get the A-Price (Nickname for a Caprice sedan his wife was driving, in case anyone doesn't know) fixed?

 

I have no idea if the wagon is/was Vetteman's only driver. No matter what it is that's a problem. Even if it were a new car and the only vehicle it is a problem finding something to drive until it is fixed. Not all late model parts are in stock for immediate replacement. So old or new, its a pain in the rear.
I know, my Dodge truck has been down over two months for mechanical weirdness and I'm not driving the old cars right now.

 

The parts may not be in "immediate" stock, but a few days gets them all in. There is no comparison. It is far harder to find parts for a 45 year old car than it is for a 5 year old car. A late-model car in an accident might need to be in the shop for a week or two getting fixed. This is nothing compared to what it will take for Vetteman to fix his car, if he fixes it at all.

Which is another thing. We have not heard from Vetteman since he started this thread. We're all only assuming he'll fix the car. But he may decide to scrap it and get something else. Probably lots of discussion going on in that household right now.

 

NO don't scrap that! YIKES BLASPHEMY!

 

Brandon and April have a couple old Caprices they can drive, and the family has assorted other cars also. I think Brandon still has his old 40's Chevy and 50's Deville conv also?

His Pop at minimum has a 71 Pont Catalina conv and a '67 Camaro.

 

Hey guys, I'm sorry I haven't responded. It has been an absolute madhouse around here. Get to work at 5:30 am and deal with insurance and buying a new vehicle and go straight to bed. Today was my day off but I was up last night because April (pregnant) has a fever and Rose (1.5 year old) was throwing up all night. I just got a minute but I haven't had time to read all the responses yet.

We get her a '99 suburban 4x2. I'll hopefully have time to get back tomorrow.

 

Very, very sorry for this - so glad no one was hurt so far as we know. Damage to the wagon has to be understandably discouraging, bit it is fixable.

 

John's salvage in Seguin Texas had the parts you need on a sedan. Just an FYI, no clue what shipping would cost, but he has the parts.

Really sorry to see this and hope it's fixed soon. Just glad nobody was hurt!

 

around here there was a guy going to run 2 of these in the demo, he wanted to sell parts off them, 1 was an oldsmobile the other was a Pontiac. I couldn't tell you if there still there because of all the snow we got.

 

Potential donor car, but fairly pricey for what it is.

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/cto/4876456692.html

 

$3000? really? pretty rough

 

He could offer him $2000. You never know.

But this is what it's going to take to fix this wagon, if the OP decides to fix it. Any car in good enough shape to provide the needed fender, hood, etc. to repair the wagon is not going to be a $500 car, most likely.

That's always an issue in repairing collision damage. At what point are you spending too much, and it would be cheaper to just buy another car.

I wonder what his insurance says about all this, too. I presume he has some kind of daily driver insurance, not collector car insurance, and the insurance company does have a say in how much they'll put toward fixing this 44 year old car. They may do an estimate and decide that the cost to repair is more than the value of the vehicle, and they'll total it, take the car, and give Vetteman cash. I guess, then, he could try to buy it back from the insurance company as a salvage vehicle. I presume he'd have to give them at least what they'd get for it from a scrap yard.

There was similar situation over at classicolds some months ago. Guy had a '66 Delta 88 (I believe it was), car was rear-ended, and the insurance company totaled it, gave him money, and then sold the car at auction. There was some back and forth about whether or not to get it fixed, people were chiming in with all sorts of possible sources for parts, but in the end, it came down to the insurance company's decision about what to do with the car. I believe the owner had thoughts about trying to buy the car at the auction, but it sold for more than he was willing to spend to get it back. Someone wanted it, though, apparently for parts.

There is no guarantee that, in the end, vetteman's car will ever get fixed.

 

I think that it must depend on what insurance company you have. My brother had his truck backed into by a cement truck, and the insurance company totalled his truck. He could have taken a larger payout (~$2500) and had them take the truck, but he decided he wanted to keep the truck. They paid him a smaller amount, (~$1200) but he was able to keep the truck and do most of the repair himself.

 

$225 that's what I had to pay to get my wagon back


And i'll be MORE THAN happy to buy it back and fix his! Mine is unfixable!