[TheEnglishman]

Finally got all the little kinks and irritations sorted on my 97 Gen III. Popped out the intake silencer, installed my K&N filter last Sunday and took it for a spin before stopping at the carwash and making it 'purty'. Changed my own fuel filter for the first time as well the weekend before -- I was feeling good about the whole thing.

I had it under minimal insurance - yunno basic liability and low and behold a huge retaining wall decided it was going to fall on my car. Engine still turns over - I just cant sit in the car anymore without sticking my head through the gaping hole where the wind-sheild used to be

The wall owner's property insurance may cover it - as it was an 'act of god' stemming from a huge downpour it would not suprise me if they decided not to pay out a red cent. That was the story when another friends wall recently collapsed.

Mechanically everything seems ok enough ... radio still works. It hasnt been driven yet because I dont own a shovel and I dont know a dwarf with a license.

Oh yah my nice clean floor and the butt portion of the seats are under mud ... has anybody got something similar they want to share, I need a laugh and I have not quite gotten the stage with my own car quite yet. I'd post photos but my digital camera was sitting on my passenger seat along with my new glasses and my cell phone.

Guess I was lucky I wasnt sitting in it. Ever had anything happen to your car that just drops your jaw and has you standing there like somebody just beat you with the ugly stick?

 

[submariner]

Taylor Michigan, Corner of Eureka & Racho Rd. December 2001

My first car... dark blue 1989 Buick Century Limited... ah, good ol' blue... despite being a 'Limited' it had only power locks and cruise control as options. manual front seats that DID NOT RECLINE were standard (pay attention, that'll play a factor later on in the story)

Well, in December of 2001, My mom and I were returning from a trip to Home Depot. wel left the parking lot and were politely sitting behind a 1993 white Taurus GL at a red light (and you thought there wasn't a Taurus involved in the story!)

Well, as we were patiently waiting for the signal, this blue Ford Ranger comes barreling down Eureka Rd. and hit us from behind, I saw the guy in my rearview mirror, managed to let out a "SH-T!" and implant my foot on the brake before impact. The force buckled the trunk pan and rear seats forward and downward. The force at which we hit the front seats permanently reclined them at around 45°. We were also shoved into the Taurus in front of us, with a man, his wife, and two little girls. Luckily their damage was limited to a cracked bumper, and the rearview mirror inside which was knocked off the windshield.

The Ranger that hit us had his front bumper pushed inward a bit.

Of course, the Taylor Police arrived and took statements, etc from the lot of us. The Taurus and Ranger both were able to leave on their own power, and o'l blue required a flatbed haul home.

When we recieved the police report for insurance (we both had minor whiplash) we were apalled to realize the sheer incompetence of the Taylor police. The errors were as followed:

1: Passengers: for all three vehicle reports, passengers were listed as "NONE". as mentioned, My mom was with me, and the driver of the Taurus had 3 passengers.

2: Color: the report listed a Blue Taurus and a White Century.

3: Tickets issued: NONE. the driver of the Ranger WAS NEVER TICKETED! My car was totalled and he got off with no ticket!

My parents took this to the Taylor police, who corrected the passenger count, and the issuing cop simply said (regarding the incomplete/inaccurate) report "If an ambulance is not called, we don't care about finishing the report"

Yeah, Taylor police are idiots. I miss ol' blue, but I moved onto a 1998 Malibu, then gave that to my mom when I joined the Navy, and then the 88 Sable in CT, and the '02 Taurus here in WA.

 

[henrysel]

I would go ahead and sue the property owner. Whether his insurance decides to cover him isn't your problem. Property owner's insurance can claim act of god all they want. All you have to say is that it was their improperly maintained wall that fell on your vehicle and you wish to be made whole.

 

[TheEnglishman]

Originally posted by submariner@Jul 31 2004, 06:47 PM
3: Tickets issued: NONE. the driver of the Ranger WAS NEVER TICKETED! My car was totalled and he got off with no ticket!

The same thing happened to me in Waukegan, IL. My ex (then) wife was driving and noticed a guy screaming toward us as we sat at the lights. She floored it as they flicked green about the same time she saw the car got us rolling before the impact - I remember the sound of him locking his breaks up for what seemed like seconds before he finally nailed us. Got us so good I cracked a vertabrae in my neck from the whiplash and have a bit of floating bone in my neck (nowhere it can cause damage). Wife ended up having a bone fushion done on her back almost two years later because of her problems. The Jetta we where driving held up pretty well and she is still tooling around in it now - VW build solid cars.

The impact left the guys license plate inversely printed on our rear bumper - he turned around and drove off. Got a ticket but retained his license. I always thought leaving the scene was a felony. Had me spitting angry when I got ticked for doing 15 mph in a (5 mph) car park a few months ago.

 

[detroit_raver]

yup. in my 97 Taurus GL. put sooo much work into it for years. i did custom painting, had it tinted, performance chip, FSTB, CAI in the wheel well, new tires, rims etc.. had the car pretty much done. and than this past may, the hubbie drove it down a flooded road and all the water went up my CAI. engine was shot. had to get a new car. i'm still sad, but the engine is a lot better in my 2004 SES!!

 

[henrysel]

I've been driving for over 15 years now and in that time span have been involved in several accidents. None of them were my fault, the other drivers were drunk, running red lights, not looking etc., so I have pretty much given up on spending money doing mods and things like that, I just stick the money in the bank.

I kinda learned my lesson on the first car I bought, did brakes, transmission and a bunch of other little stuff to it, then the body really started falling apart, probably spent more than twice what I paid for the car which wasn't much to begin with. Then the body really started falling apart and I got tired of fixing it after 9 months.

 

[godspunk32]

Went to cut out my intake silencer with a reciprocal saw and cut through my headlight wiring harness. Had to rewire everything. All works now though.

My buddy and I were putting a new intake manifold and carb on his old 86' Monte Carlo, and while I wasn't there, he took the carb off, but didn't label any of the vaccum lines or electical connections (electric choke), and since we really didn't know our a$$e$ from our elbows, once we got the thing back together, he had to get it towed to get the carb set up.

I got hit by a drunk driver about three months ago, who insisted that it was my fault, had an infant in the backseat. He drove away. Cops took four hours to get there. They didn't find the plate I gave them, so I got stuck with the bill. I still haven't gotten around to fixing the damage yet. I figure about 700 bucks. Bastard.

JR

 

[TheEnglishman]

Originally posted by detroit_raver@Aug 2 2004, 11:36 AM
yup. in my 97 Taurus GL. put sooo much work into it for years. i did custom painting, had it tinted, performance chip, FSTB, CAI in the wheel well, new tires, rims etc.. had the car pretty much done. and than this past may, the hubbie drove it down a flooded road and all the water went up my CAI. engine was shot. had to get a new car. i'm still sad, but the engine is a lot better in my 2004 SES!!

I both feel for you and am jealous at the same time. Well I got my insurance check yesterday and bought myself a Jeep Wrangler - I am feeling a lot better about the world ;-D

Its old, its beat up but sound and I'm going to drive to the other side of Wisconsin today without the roof, do some camping/fishing/meat burning/drinking and have me a long weekend.

I'll miss my Bull however I hit the drive in movie theatre last night and was able to sit up straight and watch the movies (i, robot & the Manchurian candidate). Just flipped down the windsheild ;-D

 

[mikehawk]

Back in February I was parked out in front of my house and some drunk ******* with a suspended license and no insurance took a corner too fast, locked up his brakes and slid into my car. He got a $5 ticket for no proof of insurance and I got to pay a $500 deductible to get my car fixed. Ahh...the system works! :thumb:

 

[5spdsho]

Originally posted by submariner@Jul 31 2004, 06:47 PM
Taylor Michigan, Corner of Eureka & Racho Rd.

You from Taylor? or were you just around these parts

(im from taylor)

 

[XLSuruaT]

The story of my 95SE

She was an abolsutely beautiful car. I pimped it out with whatever funds I had which included 3a racing head lights and a sony rf cd changer. Unforunatly, she was totalled on a gloomy friday. On the morning of 11-17-2000, I drove down my street and the city was doing contruction with the sewer pipes. Sewage started flying out as I drove by and dirtied up the side of my car. I had spent 5 hours the week before waxing and cleaning the interior & exterior. There was not even a spec of dust. It looked like it came off the dealer's showroom floor. Horrified and pissed off at this, I took an alternate route home. As I made an unprotected left as my signal turned red, a ford van ceased to stop and took out the front of my car. I was lucky, it could have been worse where he could have t-boned me, but I had purposely made a wide turn to let the volvo behind me make the light too.

I felt like a knight losing his most noble horse. On a good note, the insurance company was impressed with the condition with the car. Three weeks after the inurance totalled it, I went to them to try to buy it back. Unfortunatly, she was sold to a rebuilder in Mexico.

 

[godspunk32]

Originally posted by mikehawk@Aug 5 2004, 03:09 PM
Back in February I was parked out in front of my house and some drunk ******* with a suspended license and no insurance took a corner too fast, locked up his brakes and slid into my car. He got a $5 ticket for no proof of insurance and I got to pay a $500 deductible to get my car fixed. Ahh...the system works! :thumb:

Why didn't you sue???

JR

 

[mikehawk]

Originally posted by godspunk32+Aug 6 2004, 08:23 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (godspunk32 @ Aug 6 2004, 08:23 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-mikehawk@Aug 5 2004, 03:09 PM
Back in February I was parked out in front of my house and some drunk ******* with a suspended license and no insurance took a corner too fast, locked up his brakes and slid into my car.  He got a $5 ticket for no proof of insurance and I got to pay a $500 deductible to get my car fixed.  Ahh...the system works!  :thumb: 

Why didn't you sue???

JR [/b][/quote]
It's stupid. My parents found out he lived in the ghetto so they started freakin out and just made me drop the whole thing. They figured he was some psycho with nothing to lose.

 

[thsncc1701]

When I was like 10 or twelve my dad had a 1987 Oldsmobile Ninety Eight Regency (This car was fully loaded it had every imaginable feature except ABS. It even talked.) we took the car to get serviced at a major shop in my town. We were having the oil changed and having the rack and pinion replaced on it because it was leaking.

We dropped it of about 9 o'clock in the morning and were told to come by about 3 that afternoon and the car would be ready. The car was in perfect shape not one ding or scratch on the paint.

We came that afternoon to pick up the car. My dad paid for it and I was going to go with him to drive the car home. When we got up to the car the driver's door was smashed!

My dad goes to the shop manager and he said the car was like that when it was dropped off. My dad said it was not and wanted the number of the insurance. The manager asked the tech that checked the car in at the counter he even said the car was not dented when it was dropped off that morning.

We delt with the shop's insurrance for 2 weeks and got nowhere. My dad finally got an adjuster to come out and look at the car. They wanted to total it. But my dad was able to get $850 out of the insurance because the adjuster said the door probably had to be replaced. We receved the checkand my dad took it to a body shop. They were able to pound out the dent repaint the door so it would match the rest and replace the moulding strip. All this for $450. We also had to spend another $50 because the way the door was hit it damaged the lock and the car would not lock or un-lock from the outside using the key.

Oh and yes there was a taurus involved what happened was the tech that was replacing the rack and pinion was backing the car out of the bay and was steering to avoid a taurus parked at an odd angle out side the next bay and hit one of those red steel poles that stick up so you dont damage the building.