Yup, I have purchased a carpet set and tonneau cover from LMC and the parts they offer for our Dodges is growing, they don't offer reproduction grilles or radiator supports as of yet. And I get that. The expense of tooling versus the number of units that can be sold. The parts catalog for an old Dodge truck is a lot thinner than for an old Corvette!

 

Absolutely, we were lucky, we were actually heading almost directly sideways (me in the passenger seat heading towards the trees), when the front end clipped a tree and spun us around so that we had the main impact with the rear of the car. Even so, the Midget had seats without headrests. We were lucky. I can relate to your issues with deer, kangaroos are a huge issue around home here, I dodge a roo on the road at least once a week. It's one of the major reasons that excellent headlights are one of the highest priority changes I make to my vehicles.

 

Glad you and your wife and dog are OK. Looks fixable.
This is the time of year I hate the most with the rut coming up. Since my '71 is my daily driver I'm on high alert at all times. I've hit a deer with my '06 Cobalt SS, never saw it coming. It was like Scotty beamed the damn thing in front of me. Did over 2 grand of damage. I'd hate to think about hitting one in my Vette.
Be careful out there especially on the back roads.

 

I know it's not about my Vette but I just wanted to give a quick update on my damaged truck. Fortunately there was a lot of cosmetic damage and again, thankful that no one was hurt.
After hearing numerous horror stories of dealing with insurance companies I have to say my personal experience was a very welcome relief. My appraiser was super helpful and a car enthusiast himself so there was never a question of the pre-accident value of my truck and we completely agreed on its value as more than just an old truck. Matter of fact, he said he'd never seen a Dodge of this era outside of a Little Red Express Truck in this well-preserved state (as well as being a fairly rare, nicely optioned Short box) so there was never the option of having it written off!
While the body shop that handled my appraisal is very good at repair of new cars, there was concern about their ability to find parts and match the patina of my original paint, so I was given the option of having my truck towed home and I could receive a cash payment and do the repairs at home. Since I did all the original paint refurbishment and lettering originally and I know this truck inside out I took the truck home and took the fair cash settlement.
Thankfully I was able to save the fender and the original patina that goes with it! I built a bracket and jig that enabled me to slowly pull, hammer and dolly out the nasty kinks. It took time but as you can see I have a very minimal amount of bodywork on the leading edge and minor blending to make the damage to the fender disappear. The rest was bolt on stuff, including rad support, rad and a 74 grille which I actually like better than the 72 that was damaged.
As the pictures show my Dodge is very close to being good as new... or as good as almost 40 years of natural patina has made it.

 

You did a great job, looks as good as before

 

truck just shrugged that deer off. "Get the buck outta my way!" that flat grille is a deer version of the old choo choo cow catcher. one tough old beast. great looking tough old beast...

 

nice job, sweet ride!

 

Are you a fan of Grand Spaulding Dodge?
When I was a kid growing up in Chicago my big brother (when he took me cruising) would always drive past Mr. Norms dealership. Years later in fact the last couple of years at a car show I got a chance to meet him. To me he is a legend in drag racing.

 

That turned out Awesome! I'm glad the insurance company treated you well. That's not always the case. Truck looks great!

 

I’m a fan of many of the tuners from that era, most notably Grand-Spaulding and Baldwin-Motion. You see I was born in the early 60s and while I was infatuated with cars since as long as I can remember it was my mom’s younger brothers that fully shaped my love of cars. My uncles Bernie and Gary had all manner of new Chevy muscle cars from 427 Impalas to thumping big block and nervous small block Camaros, and they had absolutely no fear of wringing them out with this pre-teen riding shotgun! They also had a full complement of car mags that I always had my nose in with articles and ads that showed how to make your fast street car a faster street/strip car.
But one of my strongest and best memories involves my Uncle Bernie. It was in 1971 and he had just been recruited by Chrysler as a hotshot young mechanic to work with Mopar warranty issues. While the Hemi cars were soon to be gone they still had big blocks and other tricks up their sleeves and he brought one of those tricks home with him in late summer of 72. As we walked out to this car he told me to always remember this car because it was a one-off factory mule. There it was, a new for 1973 Road Runner. Black with white stripes, small block and 4spd. But instead of it being a 340 as it should have been it was sporting a “tweaked” 360 to be used from 1974 and subsequent years. Bernie’s job was to take it to its limits to see if it would hold up under extreme abuse and that he did. I clearly remember the sound of the motor with its very healthy cam, the exhaust note, the howl of the Goodyear Polyglas tires and the sheer violence when he dropped the clutch at 6 grand.
Back in those days it seemed that there were chances for a street race on every second corner, and trust me, Bernie had opponents sandwiches made and handed them their lunches at every opportunity. What a great day!
As a note, Bernie was the go-to guy when he was with GM to tune customers C2 and C3 427 Vettes so he was well acquainted with horsepower.
So yeah even at a young age I was really influenced by factory muscle and the efforts by tuners of this awesome time to make normal guys and their cars legendary in the street wars.

 

Hi Homestead. We'll have to get together at one of the shows next year as we live very close together. As you know, but others may not is that we have govt run car insurance which can be frustrating, but my adjuster was awesome! As an enthusiast himself he completely understood that sometimes cars are more than just a sum of their parts and are a part of the person that built them. I also did my homework and tracked prices for comparable vehicles as did he and we completely agreed on the pre-crash value of my truck. Great guy and restored my faith that big corporations can have real people working for them.

 

You ende up with a totally different grill. Do you like the new one better?

 

Like others have said, VERY GLAD you all are ok, and too boot yawl up there in frozen north.....we have issues here in FLORIDA too....

long about 98 or so I hit a small FLORIDA deer on night...~45mph from out in front of a minivan.....both healights of my '72 permanently removed.....did custom work instead....
a Verizon truck backed into the front in a parking lot.....ten years ago....further work, a jacked up pickup backed over my nose almost 2 years ago.....that is all for the '72 vette ....that set in the garage all day long now.....

now for a friend, who got his father's 3/4 ton chebby van he and family driving along down south a ways....a damn PIT BULL jumps out from side of road, right into right front, and bent the living HELL outta that van....
wife's son....TWO pickups totalled by illegals.....in the last 5 years....we can do next to nothing because they have more rights than we do...another topic...just telling the truth of the shituation.....

When I met my wife, she had a '99 Escort...only NEW car she ever bought...rear ended TWICE, car repaired...this all about 16+ years ago....I bought her a Miata....got rear ended at a traffic light yet for time #3......nothing hard......

She setting in traffic at a light in the '99 Escort....rear ended at 45 mph....car in junkyard...she to hospital, ME debating on what gun to use to execute the damn illegals....serious....but she was just black and blue, and no broken bones.....5 years later now, I not so sure I maybe should go hunting.....


on pickup #3 now.....

regular playing Dodge BALL out there,...remember that from screwal daze???

 

I actually like the 74-76 grille best from this generation of Dodge trucks. My truck is actually a 78 and considered turning the signal lights into air ducts like the image attached that I did for a magazine a few years ago.
Ultimately though, I have never really been fond of the 78/79 grille so I ditched it in favor of the 72 grille which also got me into certain pre 72 car shows as well.

 

You have just described everyone's dream, job. ^^^
I started young too, I was 8 years old the first time I went to US30 drag strip in Indiana. I haven't been the same since.
Your story sounds cooler.