Is this the end?!

O

oddball

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Came home last Wed to this:
ls_quarter.jpg


Fedex guy apparently used my LS to stop his truck. He pushed it about 6 feet and up onto the curb. Estimate from my body shop friend is $4.5k to repair. I suspect that's a teensy bit more than the cash value of the car. Amazingly, the chrome trim is readily available and cheap! Bumper covers not so much, but hoping I can find something in the junk yards.
Hoping I can get some cash out of Fedex, bash the quarter out to a reasonably decent shape, and keep it on the road. The son currently has a '04 Sentra that I'm sure he'll destroy soon, so trying to keep this thing around as long as I can. *sigh*

In other news, the Stinger is still buckets of fun.
My buddy's blown '99 Town Car put down ~80 more ftlbs than my Cutlass, so now I've gotta build another engine to put him back in his place. It just never ends.
 
Had a hit just like this and was quoted 2500-3500. Had the driver pay for it.
 
I would be pushed. At least he owned up to it.
 
As it was a parked car, most states consider it property damage instead of an auto accident. they should be on the hook for 100% of the cost.
 
Very good looking Lincoln LS. I would have it repaired and enjoy such a nice vehicle. I agree about some of the comments about having the cost covered.
 
Good point on the fact that it's property, not auto. I hadn't realized that! Gives me some room to argue.

Yeah, I've done a ton of mechanical work to it over the past decade - just replaced all of the rear suspension last year - so I really want to keep it on the road.
I can source some of the parts cheaper/easier, so it really comes down to how nice of a repair I want. I'll just beat out the panel so everything works and go from there. They quoted replacing the quarter, but this panel can probably get close enough for me. It'll really depend on the light mount - that area is a hot mess. Complex formed bits all adhered together.

I'm very familiar with all the self-service junkyards on this side of the metroplex. LS's used to be common (~6 in every yard) but they're fading out now. All the current ones have pictures from the front which look great, so I suspect they were all rear ended. Cuts down on bumper options.....
 
That has to be totaled. Now you just have to dance around taking the $ from insurance or some other way. One way means a salvage title, the other may show an incident on carfax. I don't know for sure. My kid's Jeep is a salvage after some vandalism but I don't care, she's driving it till the wheels fall off.
 
Since Fedex self-insures it's not logged as an accident, nor will the title get modified. But my damages are limited to fair market value - not the cost of repair.
Good news is their initial offer is $2,400, which is almost $1k more than I was expecting!
 
Ouch is right! You might want to go over that corner with a fine tooth comb. There might be more hidden damage than you know.

Inner quarter and trunk damage... Suspension damage? Is the transmission ok... or did it shear the parking pawl?

If all checks out you might get lucky with some heat and body tools... but the tail light panel will probably have to be replaced. Drill spot welds and cut. Same with boneyard panel only cut extra large so you have extra to work with.

Sounds like your body shop buddy could become your new best friend.
 
04_Sport_LS said:
I'd get that $4500 estimate in writing and keep sticking it in Fed Wrecks face.
Click to expand...

I don't think he'll get anywhere that way. He needs to find as many LSes around that are for sale or recently sold that are comparable to his. If they are more than$2400, they may raise their offer.
 
joegr said:
He needs to find as many LSes around that are for sale or recently sold that are comparable to his. If they are more than$2400, they may raise their offer.
Click to expand...

Best course of action.
 
Yeah, waiting on the copy of their appraisers report to see if I can shoot any holes in it.
I'm intimately familiar with the car and went over it right after the accident. Only non-cosmetic damage was the RF lower balljoint, but it might've been bad already. Already replaced that. Forgot how much I hate messing with those uprights.
 
And of course Fed Wrecks is going to low ball you. I'd point out to them that it was a good thing nobody was in the vehicle at the time ... or they'd be dealing with a personal injury claim too.

Did the driver say what happened? Did he get squeezed by an oncoming vehicle? My suspicion would be that he was on his cell phone.

Too many idiots doing that today while driving, even semis. Had a big truck come half way into my lane on a 2 lane road years ago. I ended up in the grass before he realized he was left of center.
 
Got $2900 from Fedex. Found a decent bumper, decklid and lights at the junkyard and cut out a big chunk of quarter. Paid for the chrome trim but no telling when it'll actually ship. Even got a new trunk scuff plate! Tired of that thing popping off every time I opened the trunk.
Reminding myself how awful I am at body work. No one will mistake this for a professional job.

IMG_20190422_162616.jpg


But, got the paint (tri-coat :mad:) and did a test panel. 4 coats of pearl somewhat matched the old paint..... Hoping to finish the body work and paint it this week. I'm just going to do a sharp line at the bottom of the sail panel. There's plenty of wobbles along the weld line, so it'll look terrible, but oh well. I know this isn't the "right" way to do it, but it was fairly easy. Total expenditure: $1000. Hours: ~40 (to date)
 
As "luck" would have it, my son backed into the LS a couple of weeks ago. It was the front left corner this time - smashed up the bumper, fender and headlight. And I had actually bought new aftermarket headlights in 2018! Thankfully the hood, core support and inner fender were all fine. I didn't get a pic of the damage, but did snap this of the parts before I threw them away.

IMG_20201024_162625.jpg


Found all the parts at various junkyards around here. The bumper is white, which I didn't realize since it was overcast that day and it was covered in muck. The fender was blue and had a couple of big creases in it. But I had all the paint already from last year, so what's a few more hours? And someone had done a terrible job trying to urethane the headlight. Had to slowly sand that thing all the way down and bring it back.

IMG_20201025_155256.jpg


Holy orange peel, batman! My first time using a "real" spray gun from DeVebliss came out much worse than my old HF gun.... But, it's beige and roughly the right sheen.

Then spent about an hour and a half in the freezing rain putting it back together. It lives on.


The left rear corner still looks, well, decent. Oddly, the seam is staining yellow, but the rest of the panels look fine. No idea what's happening there.
 
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