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Posted by: Pilot Mar 8 2008, 01:27 AM

Well, it's official. The F-bodies are now trying to kill Kevin. So I'm sitting at home enjoying the blizzard warning when I get a call from Kevin. He's been viciously attacked by a V6 Firebird. He was crusing down the interstate when he saw the firebird in the slow lane lose it in the snow and come plowing towards him. After he sped up (brakes? in this snow? HAH!) to avoid her, he lost sight of her and then felt the clunk which threw the truck (a friggin 1 ton now traveling at close to 60 mph) sideways about 30 degrees.

So now he calls me, the nose of the Firebird is in his truck and he's following a rather nice looking 27ish, blonde dental hygienist to my apartment complex. Apparently she's my neighbor. I trudge out into the 4" of snow to join in the merriment. He hasn't seen the damage on his truck so I brought a flashlight. We pull the front of her car out of the truck while she's drying her eyes and plop it in front of her car. I distinctly remember hearing her say, "I hate this damn car. I was just about to trade it!" About this time we grab the light and go to inspect Kevin's truck. He could have sworn from the severity of the impact that she not only caved in the passenger side of his truck, but that she also pushed the truck into the jersey wall on the driver's side. Not going to be a fun day.

Well, as it turns out, Kevin needs a new rear passenger side tire. Maybe a wheel. It's at least scratched, possibly bent. The rest of the battle tank survived miraculously (damn. I love Chevy.) without a scratch. Apparently the driver's side impact was the tire becoming close friends with the recently plowed, compacted, frozen snowbank on the side of the road (Kevin's Ice Removal Service... Ice and Noses done while you wait!). Now, Kevin has his own, traveling version of the snowbank firmly packed in his wheel. That's going to be fun to get out.

Tally:

• 1 - 31" Bridgestone Duravis truck tire... $162.50
• 1 - 16 x 7" GM work truck, 8 lug steelie... $cheap
• 1 - new thong for blonde firebird driver... $fun
• 1 - '99 Firebird V6 nose for a wall ornament... $priceless

Update: New Title - "How to Find a New Dentist and Have a Smashing Good Time!" or

"Trackbird's High Impact Dating Service!"

Posted by: killer_bluebird Mar 8 2008, 02:19 AM

lol!


Sorry to hear about the truck Kevin, glad to hear that it was just a flesh wound.

Posted by: cccbock Mar 8 2008, 03:36 AM

All I can vision with the title of this thread is a bunch of Transformer zombie-like Fbodies all going after Kevin

Upon waking I was glad to know it wasn't as bad as in my dream.....

Bock

Posted by: CJ-TA Mar 8 2008, 04:17 AM

Pics (of the girl) OR BAN!

LOL.

Important thing... everyone is ok.

Posted by: 2manyfbods Mar 8 2008, 04:42 AM

+1 (and sorry about the car)

Posted by: Racerdad916 Mar 8 2008, 04:45 AM

I have a REALLY big slide hammer if he needs it..... and a sawz-all and a welder. we can fix it...... and Cassie's is being fixed by professionals. Seems the 1 ton frame machine wasn't enough to pull it to where it neeed to be. They had to straighten the frame on her car, that's why the trunk wouldn't close.
Welcome to Crash City Kev!!!!!

Posted by: Glenn98ZM6 Mar 8 2008, 05:23 AM

4" of snow?!?!?!? bla...... north DFW got 7" yesterday. 2nd time in 5 days. now we are looking at high 60's on sunday.

Posted by: Pilot Mar 8 2008, 05:30 AM

Hey now... I hate to ban you, but if that's what you want...




Shit Glenn, I was talkin to the girlfriend about that, it wasn't 7"... ask me how I know...

Posted by: roadracetransam Mar 8 2008, 05:44 AM

Snow??? What is that?
It is sunny and 80 at my house.


I just had to rub that in.

Sorry abuot the truck Kevin, and congratulasions on "hitting" it up with the hygenist. (I didn't know you were THIS deprate for a blond's phone number) Kicking you while you are down.

Posted by: trackbird Mar 8 2008, 07:28 AM

Hey, it's a hardcore way to get her phone number (and follow her home), but I've finally had to resort to whatever works I guess. .

I saw her lose it and I gave the gas a squeeze to try and get by her. However, there is not much acceleration on ice/sleet/slush/snow (a few inches worth) and I knew that hitting the brakes meant I'd likely have her hit in front of me and I'd try to drive through her drivers door. That sounded very dangerous and I didn't want to go there, so speeding up seemed like the right idea. The impact was much harder than I expected and when the truck spun the other way and I felt it hit, I was sure the drivers side rear had tagged the concrete retaining wall. Once I got stopped and got out, I didn't see any damage, none. I actually walked up and looked 3 times. When I first stopped, I looked in the rear view mirror and realized the entire nose was smashed off of her car and figured I had serious damage as well. So, I was expecting the worst. When I walked back to the car, she was sitting inside and was visibly shaking. She rolled down the window and I asked if she was ok, she said she was, but all she could see was my truck and she knew it was going to be bad. Amazingly, it wasn't bad. Her car took pretty signifigant damage, but the hit saved her from going head first into the wall at 45+ mph and I was probably a softer hit than what she was headed for. So, all things considered, it was as good as an accident can be...if that's possible.

I'm just amazed that nobody was hurt, very little damage was done to my truck and nobody else got tangled up with us while we were trying to get off of the side of the road. I didn't like standing out there with cars sliding by, no thanks.

I felt so bad for her, it was her birthday today and she wound up in an accident. I guess it could have been worse, she could have been hurt. I think my thought to speed up is what saved us both from a much worse situation, though it meant I was probably doing 60+ when we made contact (and she was probably around half of that). I'm still amazed at the whole thing and the complete difference in damage. I need a tire and maybe a wheel (I drove home on it though, so it holds air and all that) and she is probably close to being totaled. It was a 99 V6 Firebird with 150,000 miles on it. I'm still shocked.

Posted by: bsim Mar 8 2008, 08:04 AM

Now you know where she lives, but did you get a number?

Posted by: StanIROCZ Mar 8 2008, 08:07 AM

Did you offer to make her birthday a better (dinner, booze, cake etc etc etc)? Or maybe you told her that SHE owes you dinner for the mis-hap?

Did you get a phone number?

Posted by: v7guy Mar 8 2008, 03:32 PM

if you really felt bad the least you could do is take her out for dinner, I mean it was her birthday.

Posted by: Ojustracing Mar 8 2008, 03:34 PM

Hey Kevin I wonder if she could come up with a Payment PLAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

John

Posted by: trackbird Mar 8 2008, 04:25 PM

Yes.



I started to tell her that Garrett and I were going to the pub around the corner and ask her along. Then I forgot to...



Geez, I'm detecting a theme here.

Posted by: Pilot Mar 8 2008, 07:40 PM

Kevin... can't blame them... the guys have a good idea

Posted by: KeithO Mar 8 2008, 08:35 PM

...sounds like the making of a great "how we met" story...

Posted by: StanIROCZ Mar 8 2008, 09:22 PM

Yeah, a story to tell the grand kids!

Posted by: v7guy Mar 9 2008, 04:41 AM

I've heard stranger stories of how a couple met. Go for it.

Posted by: DRD T-bone Mar 10 2008, 02:39 PM

What's this snow stuff you speak of? Glad to hear you're ok!

Posted by: QUASAR Mar 10 2008, 03:28 PM

Good to hear it wasn't too bad, for you at least. Poor girl probably lived in that car. Now she needs a place to stay for awhile. pics and phone # or BAN

Doesn't the city shutdown at 1/2"?

Posted by: trackbird Mar 10 2008, 04:00 PM

Well, I called my insurance company and we called hers together. She hasn't filed a claim yet??? That seems odd to me since that car is going to be quite close to totalled. I'm not a body shop, but I'd say $3k+ in damage (probably closer to $3,800) and it's a 99 V6 firebird with 150,000 miles on it. That's probably going to be pretty close. But she's not called them yet? They would only tell my agent that there was a policy with her name on it, but couldn't say if it was current/valid, etc. My agent is concerned since they didn't say "yup, she's covered" (like they usually do). So, I'm not convinced her insurance was current at this time. I don't yet know that it isn't, but I guess we'll find out.

The plot thickens...

Worst case, State Farm will cover it and I have a $100 deductible (that's less than the cost of the tire it will need). So, I'll be ok either way, but I hope her company handles it.

Posted by: bubba353z Mar 10 2008, 04:06 PM

Maybe we need to rename this thread:

The uninsured are now trying to kill Trackbird........

Posted by: trackbird Mar 10 2008, 04:15 PM

Ahh, that's the potentially uninsured. We can not confirm or deny the fact that she is insured at this time.

Posted by: bubba353z Mar 10 2008, 04:35 PM

I was lumping in the loser that hit the Mazda.

Posted by: TwistedFocus Mar 10 2008, 04:36 PM

Oddly enough I had a pedestrian try that with me once.... Once.

Posted by: trackbird Mar 10 2008, 05:16 PM

The pedestrain probably had a better chance against your car than this car did against my truck. I wish I'd had my camera to take pics. It was far more damage than I expected.

Posted by: trackbird Mar 10 2008, 09:30 PM

Heard from her insurance company. They are going to look at the truck and take care of any damage. The rep said that the other driver said she is a bit sore (not unexpected), but doing ok.

Posted by: trackbird Mar 11 2008, 04:11 AM

Tonight, I called the girl who hit me to check on her. She said she had a really bad headache on Friday but was feeling pretty good now, just a little sore. She thanked me for being so nice and helping her out the other day after the accident. I told her no problem, I was just wanting to make sure she was ok since she took a really hard hit. And, I got the name of the dentist she works for so I can schedule an appointment (I've had a tooth that bugs me on occasion and she told me the other day but I didn't write it down). She said she told her office that I might be in and they all want to meet me??? I'm not sure what that's all about, but I found it pretty funny. The insurance adjuster is going to drop by my office in the next couple days to take care of the tire and then I need to get it to a shop to get the axle and alignment checked out and they advised me that they will pay for any other damage.

All should be well.

Posted by: CrashTestDummy Mar 11 2008, 05:23 PM

It's that white icy stuff they blow out of a machine onto your lawn so the neighborhood kids can play in the cold when it is 95 outside.

Glad to hear you're okay. Accidents are strange, light, low-speed bump that dents a fender a little can send everyone to the hospital, while a head-on at 60 mph has everyone standing around the wreckage wondering why no one was hurt.

Posted by: trackbird Mar 11 2008, 05:29 PM

I called Team Chevrolet to get prices on the parts and found that the final talley is:

$276.85 Rear bumper (it's bent on the corner, it did make contact)
$60.27 for the left one and $62.28 for the right one - Rear bumper step pad (the plastic part on top)
$201.71 Wheel
$72.30 Center cap
$162.50 Tire (tirerack + freight and mounting and balancing)
Rubber "fender flare" above the rear tire
Alignment is being checked.

Not too bad. The bumper hit the snow hard enough to bend the end of it, but it has no scratches on it. So, I did hit the wall, but it was snow covered and I didn't see scratches so I assumed I missed it.

For grins, I priced a rear axle assembly (in case it was bent, which doesn't seem likely). I was quoted an MSRP of $4100 for a 4.10 gear 11.5" rear with a G80 locker and "my" price of $3352.88 + truck freight. Oof.

Posted by: trackbird Mar 27 2008, 03:53 PM

Took the truck down to Bee Line performance in Columbus today to get the rear axle checked out. They are an alignment shop that has a reputation for being top notch (and then some). When I called I asked them if they had room to get an extra cab, long bed 3500 in the shop and up on the rack. They said "No problem".

When I pulled in and walked inside, I saw a tractor trailer sized diesel up on the rack and went "Oh, so that's why it was no problem". These guys do Greyhound busses, race cars, and about anything else. 20,000 lbs? No problem...

The rear is perfect, no damage to anything back there (like I was guessing), but they did find a bit of toe out in the front (odd?) and I had them fix that for me. In and out in 35-40 minutes and back on the road for $57 for the inspection/measurements and a toe reset. Great bunch of guys and they seem to do excellent work...on anything with wheels.

The new tire is here, I'm just waiting on the wheel and deciding if I'm going to replace the bumper or not.

Posted by: CMC #37 Mar 27 2008, 04:42 PM

Really, there is a place called "Bee Line" alignment here. It has been here forever, they even have an El Camino (nice years) as their shop car in all the ads! Wonder if they are a chain?

Posted by: 35th_Anniversary_AS_Camaro_SS Mar 27 2008, 10:55 PM

dang, that's a hard way to get a girl's phone number.

Posted by: Sidney Mar 31 2008, 05:24 PM

I know I'm a little late to this thread but:

The reason you didn't have as much damage as the F-body was because you were accelerating. Force = Mass x acceleration. It also has to do with Kinetic energy. Saw this training video a few years ago about driver's training government/VIP drivers. They were all driving Crown Vics/Caprices. The speed during collision with the bad guy/blocker car was the same but the damage between accelerating and braking was huge! If the good guy was on the gas, he basically knocked the bad guys car out of the way and just drove off with little very little damge but the bad guy's car was creamed. If the good guy was on the brakes, then his car was smashed to a point where it was undriveable.

Sidney

Posted by: trackbird Mar 31 2008, 06:21 PM

Yea, that surely came into play. And, I applied a 1 ton truck steel wheel to a plastic firebird fender/nose assembly. It's easy to smash plastic with a large hammer.

I did get the new wheel and tire mounted and installed and swapped the spare on the truck to match (matching wheels). We ran the old wheel on the spin balancer and it has virtually no runout (.010 tops). So, the wheel didn't even bend from the impact, just a few scratches.

Posted by: Eskimo Apr 14 2008, 04:22 PM

Bow chicka-wow-wow...

Posted by: trackbird Jun 24 2009, 12:29 PM

Ha, just found this thread while looking for something else...

http://www.powelldentalgroup.com/team.html

Meygan would be the former Firebird driver.

And, that reminds me...

I was walking out of the office a couple days ago when my friend/co-worker was coming in. He looks up and says "just the guy I needed to see...come on, let me show you what I did to your truck".

Turns out, he drove up the (steep and 45 degree angled) back entrance to the parking lot that we both park in (I'm on the end, it's about the only place I can fit my truck in downtown) and he caught the end of my bumper with the entire bed of his truck. He actually ran 5'11" of a 6' bed down the side of my bumper. He even managed to cross the wheel opening, catch more metal and drive all the way off of my bumper. It buggered up the rubber top trim (step part of the bumper) and scratched (and maybe bent/slightly twisted) my bumper. The entire side of his bed is pretty well destroyed. The insurance adjuster is coming out today to look at both trucks. I'm guessing my estimate is under $750 (probably $600-ish) and I'm going to bet that his is around $3600. Lets see how close I am...

The truck was parked in the same parking spot that my 2002 Z28 was parked in when the asst. states attorney general turned in and smashed in the rear corner of that car. Maybe I do need to move...

Posted by: cccbock Jun 25 2009, 01:42 AM

Comments:

Megan=whoa

and

Parking lot=GEEZ!

bock

Posted by: trackbird Jun 25 2009, 05:09 PM

Oddly, I just priced some of this again.

$283.77 Painted rear bumper
$210.01 Chrome rear bumper (guess which one I'm buying?)
$72.81 for the left one and $66.07 for the right one - Rear bumper step pad (the plastic part on top)
$35.25 for the center step pad (where the license plate is located)

$384.14 total (and free freight)

The estimate was $545 (I think) and they are mailing me a check. I guess I'm just going to order a bumper and all the trim and replace the whole thing. That way I can assemble it all and not worry about breaking anything while taking it off. Guess I'll scrap (craigs list?) the old bumper and see if I can ebay off anything that's still useable (plastic trim). And, I can pay myself for labor.