A Sad Day.

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Rushsampson

Active LVC Member
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Waterville
So yesterday. Here I am at my folks house getting ready to change a ball joint (my father had the press), and a supercell thunderstorm comes rolling out of nowhere, and near baseball sized hail starts dropping out of the sky, and all over my car. There was no warning, and nothing to be done, I just had to stand and watch as my car got pummeled with baseballs for 5 minutes. Needless to say, the damage is significant. Every body panel save for the hood is peppered with dents, the center section of the tail light is broken, the passenger side mirror is broken, my heart is broken, and all of the stainless on the door trim is ruined.

Shockingly, I lost no glass besides the mirror, but I still filed an insurance claim for the dents and the rest of the damage, and im still thanking my lucky stars that I left full coverage on the car. So im not sure which way the insurance company is going to want to go, but either way I'm keeping the car and fixing the damage. Mostly I'm in search of the most decent looking center tail light I can find, preferably with the trunk lock emblem in as good a shape as possible, mine was pristine. Price is seriously no object, I just need to find one. The mirror I have already sourced. So if anyone knows someone I guess, or has one that they're going to want to sell pretty soon (waiting on insurance money), I would be very much so appreciative, and whoever you are, youre a lifesaver. Hope everyone else's Mark is thriving better than mine is. :/ At least it has a brand new ball joint, she finally drives tight as a drum.
 
That sucks
Good to here you're not giving up though.
That is one of my biggest fears when I take my car to work if for some of that hail to come from nowhere.
 
The benefits of plastic body panels: baseballs cannot dent it, but they can crack it. The insurance company will salvage it, but since you are keeping it and finding parts will take the rest of eternity to find (and repaint), I would go for the cheapest method there is (I'll talk about it below).

Here is your center tail light:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/93-96-Linco...NLY-/161780672258?hash=item25aae12702&vxp=mtr

OR

http://www.ebay.com/itm/93-94-95-96...s=Model:Mark+VIII&hash=item1c54104375&vxp=mtr

Since the car is now riddled with dents, replacing the panels would cost too much and popping them out will probably cost even more. You could bondo the dents, and wrap it with those 3M wraps they wrap super cars with. Almost flawless look if you sand down the bondo evenly. It'll last you a few years the wrap. Lots of work, but the end result will be a brand new "paint" job (wrap job in this case).
 
Sorry to hear that man. Are the dents on the roof and trunk or did the hail damage the sides also?
 
WOW that's bad news. On a good note, Bruce should have all the parts you need, maybe even body parts, (fenders, etc) Give him a call, he's in southern New Hampshire 978-420-7829. If they total it, make sure you buy it back from them. Good Luck
 
Okay! So the car was not a total loss. It had sustained about $2600 worth of damage, but that is still quite a bit less than the value of the car, so they opted to repair the damage. The car is getting PDR, and I've already sourced a few shattered parts, so she's coming back around again. The part I'm super stoked about is that the car gets to keep its clear title. I don't intend on selling or advertising the car at all, but I would also rather not have a branded title though. So that's how that went. Apparently the adjuster felt that it would be an easy total loss before he saw the car, and then changed his mind quickly when he saw it. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who feels my old Mark isn't finished yet.
 
Good news for sure! Glad this worked out for you. I don't know what I would have done if things went the other way if I had been in your situation.
 
I'm glad to hear it's getting fixed.......If you still need the center section light I have one with an excellent center lock emblem. The whole assembly is in better than good condition. We'll talk price later......It'll be a friendly price. Bruce......Senior Citizen;) Ah, I should have looked at your profile before I answered. The light assembly is for a 98 Mark......Sorry.
 
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