It's Friday Labor day weekend. I was late for an extremely important meeting, I had less than a half hour to get there and it was a 40 minute drive without traffic. I had the vette with me, so I was confident I would make it in no time. The time was 3:35 in the afternoon. I hopped in the vette and hit the open highway. The old days of weaving in and out of traffic and strategically gaining ground in heavy traffic came right back to me. As my confidence grew so did my speed. Once I made it threw the " blood clot " which is what I call the group of cars that ride in packs and never seem to get around each other, it was smooth sailing. About three quarters into my journey is where I met the weekend traffic. After a small stint of stop and go, traffic seemed to move right along. I lost some time so I needed to be sharp as a tack and ultra responsive. The old C3 didn't disappoint. I was hugging the line and keeping with the fast pack. with approx 1/2 mile left which 1/4/ of it was highway I started to feel relieved I would make it on time for my meeting with seconds to spare. relaxing just a bit I looked in my rear view mirror for a mere few seconds, when I looked back forward my worst fear was staring me down. Traffic had stopped dead in it's tracks almost suddenly, I immediately stepped on the brakes, but it wasn't enough runway to safely land this bird. I hit the Mercedes in front of me and sent it back to Germany. Luckily new cars absorb more energy than old cars. No one got hurt thank god, and the girl driving couldn't have been nicer. She looked at the vette and felt sorry for me, didn't even worry about her car. 30 years with a spotless driving record, over in seconds. As far as my old girl goes, she'll need a new fiberglass front nose, thankfully the fenders, hood and top fiberglass are in perfect shape. All the damage was under the bra. doesn't take much to add up to $3500 though. at least that was the first appraisal. I put the car back in storage and I've been in a 3 week slump. She still runs fabulous and there was no frame damage at all. Now I just need to save my pennies to have the rest of the car painted, seeing as the insurance will cover the front. And now I can add the 79 chin spoiler I have for it. We will rebuild, it will be stronger and better than before. And some day I will wake up without reminding myself how much of a dumb *** I was. I need to stick with just cruising.

I missed an important car show, and will miss Vets to Vettes in Billerica this fall, but I will be there in spirit!

She doesn't look too bad but under that bra is a bag of potato chips. good thing it was never perfect, that is why we had the bra. Onward and Upward

 

Well-written = +5 points

No injuries = +10 points

No lawsuits = +20 points
_________________________

Sub-Total = +35 points

Crunched ! = -50 points

Insurance ! = +50 points
_________________________

Sub-Total = +35 points

Knew better = -100 points
__________________________

Learned a lesson = PRICELE$$

 

Damn, that sucks man! Glad the Mercedes driver was very nice, and yeah, save your pennies and get it done the way you want. You should add a pace car spoiler (says the black 79 owner who just added a pace car spoiler to his). It made a big difference in how cool the car runs.

 

So, the lesson learned is: "What's behind me is not important".


I'm glad no one was hurt!

 

That sucks Toonz, I was looking forward to talking to you again at the Vettes to Vets. I'm glad your okay and no one was hurt.

 

We can't dwell on our mistakes, as humans we all have made them.
Glad no one was hurt (except your pride).
Good luck on the repair, and fresh paint.

 

what insurance do you have? If collector car I have found they are pretty generous and take into account you have to paint other parts to bring it back to where it was. Also have the appraiser come to you first, not the body shop (go to the body shop on your own as a cash customer). I had an incident with my TR6 and they paid almost 5 times the deal I cut with the body shop. The shop owner in conversation as he fixed it, pretty much told me that they squeeze what ever they can out of insurance, in his own words "that's how we make the most money". I paid cash and still got a very nice job and money in the pocket to boot. If there is hidden damage they can always call the adjuster to the shop to modify the estimate.

 

No cops, tickets or points = miracle

 

We do not have collectors insurance. As a matter of fact I may just pay out of pocket for it. It's complicated but I'm not quite sure the woman I hit was legal. We have not heard from her, she could not produce a registration on site. Not sure if I want the points on my license. I'm going to wait one more week and make a decision from there.