From davidw@msa.sps.mot.com Mon Sep 23 12:32:49 1996 From: David Wolfe Subject: Firehawk in critical condition To: austin-f-body@halfdome.tivoli.com (Austin F-body Club), f-body@f-body.org (F-body List) Date: Mon, 23 Sep 1996 12:20:29 -0500 (CDT) Please forgive the length of this article. Ladies and gentlemen, '95 Firehawk #523 is in critical condition. I don't expect it to live. I was rear-ended last Thursday. The prognosis has yet to be determined. Any information on Firehawk resale value would appreciated so I have some facts when I talk to the adjuster. I doubt they have Firehawk in their books. I was headed home from work with a friend and co-worker ~18.00 last Thursday night (east on Hwy 290 for you Austin folks) in heavy traffic. A Geo Metro was stopped halfway in the left lane and halfway in the left turn lane. Westbound cars were heading for the turn lane about 50 yards too early and it couldn't get over. Anyway, I slowly came to a complete stop behind the Geo. In a few moments we were hit from behind with tremendous force. The impact rotated the 'Hawk about 40 degrees left at which point I contacted the Geo at about my right parking lamp and put it completely in the turning lane. We completed another 130 degrees of rotation where we finally came to rest facing west in the center lane. The 4500 pound '95 Explorer that hit me continued past and stopped in the left lane between me and the Geo. We never heard any tire noise. The only skid marks were mine; I was completely stopped, resting on the brakes. No one was seriously hurt. My friend and I suffered minor whiplash. The front seats collapsed from their usual 45 degree F-16 fighter pilot position to a 20 degree hospital bed position. The angle probably saved us a world of pain as most of the energy travelled up through us instead of perpendicularly against us. The rear seatback dislodged and hit my friend in the back of the head leaving a nasty bump. Yes indeed, there was enough energy in the collision that the back seats were part of the so-called crumple zone. Later my friend made the wry observation that anyone back there would have had two broken legs. Talk about understatement. :-/ Outside things looked pretty bad for me. The Geo had small dents on the bumper and rear hatch. The Ford left on a flatbed (4wd so you can't tow) so I assume the radiator was holed. I didn't notice much body damage. In other words, the other two cars didn't look much different than they did a few seconds earlier. The Firehawk, however, did not fare so well. The hatch split and flew up with the bottom half still latched. The right rear was pushed in as far as the tire would let it. The left side wasn't as bad as it appeared all contact was made right of the license plate. Plastic and interior parts were strewn all over the road from the spin. Underneath it looked like the frame was torqued. Friends encouraged me that this was probably a fatalistic illusion. Strangely enough, no glass broke. I had it taken to Red McCombs Pontiac which has an excellent body shop. Friday night I visited for a better inspection and pictures. I was right: both frame rails are unusable. The axle was ripped from the suspension on the right at the welds. The right rear tire held air but I doubt many belts made a complete loop -- there were deep punctures in the tread. Hopefully the driveshaft wasn't pushed into the transmission and engine. The only two body panels that weren't bent, ripped, or turned into an accordian were the left front quarter panel and the hood. However, I noticed a couple of nasty stress marks under the hood I hadn't seen before. I don't remember what the top looked like but it was preventing the hatch from lowering. Everything in back was garbage except my emergency road kit wedged in the bottom of the trunk. Underneath, panels were wrinkled all the way up under the front seats. The driver of the trendy new SUV was a woman carrying an $800 cell phone. It was not damaged so I doubt it was involved. However, it seems evident that she was not paying attention. The speed limit was 45mph. I'm no professional, but the evidence I saw indicates she never hit the brakes. Damage was at a level such that my tail was not high (already completely stopped) and her nose was not low (not braking). At the scene I couldn't even look at her. She apologized (almost a confession!) and asked a couple of questions to which I responded with a `yes' or `no'. Further discussion was neither invited nor accepted. She received three citations: failure to maintain a proper distance, no registration, and -- get this -- no insurance. Lovely. She claimed that she did and would call me the next morning with the information. Turns out it lapsed 29 Aug for failure to receive payment. Probably same with the registration. Basically, she didn't have her shit together. Once the Geo figures this out they'll probably go after my insurance. After calling and telling me about the insurance she was apparently feeling a pang of guilt, called me again, and offered to pay my deductable. I didn't say yes and I didn't say no. I suggested she wait until my insurance company contacted her. I wanted to say, ``Thanks, but $200 isn't even a drop in the ****ing bucket for what your lack of attention and skill did to me yesterday and what will come in the months to follow with my insurance. Yesterday I was driving a very rare $30,000 sports car and tomorrow I'll probably be driving a $20/day rented piece of junk. You're sorry for the INCONVENIENCE?'' Anyhow, at this point State Farm is still doing its thing. The adjuster will be out today (Monday). He'll probably order a tear-down and complete the assessment Tuesday. I'll send an update when I know something. It still has plenty of residual value but from what I saw and talking to the body shop manager, it's probably going to be a total loss. Even so, how much value could be left after a rebuild of that magnitude? Anybody wanna buy a ``slightly used'' Firehawk? I love my family, my friends, and my animals...and I loved that car almost as if it were a living thing. Sure, it's just a piece of steel, but it was a rare and beautiful piece of steel that I enjoyed immensely -- I already put 25 kilomiles on it! It may very well be impossible to replace, particularly since I'll be taking the hit on depreciation long before I'm ready. With any luck it might have even gained value 10 or 15 years down the line. I was certainly planning on keeping it that long. I don't know what I want to happen now. If it is repaired do I just sell it? If it's a TL do I bite the bullet and get a new one? With '96 Firehawk production at around 40 cars will SLP even bother in '97 let alone '98? What do I do in the meantime? Thanks for reading this far. Please keep an eye out for your own little bit of chaos and drive safely. -- __ __ 1 3 5 R 1995 Firehawk #523 / /_/ / |_|_|_| 3' shorter, 100lbs. lighter / ,_ / | | | David Wolfe /_/ /_/ 2 4 6