Crashed RMW pics! Cause you guys are sick...

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I was a mile from work Saturday morning, when some goofball approaching from the other direction, suddenly turned left in front of me. His years of playing MarioKart gave him the courage to attempt to powerslide a Ford Focus into a 7-11 parking lot, without yielding to oncoming traffic. If I can bend the LF part of the frame back straight (right at the steering gear, geez) I have an entire roady sedan front end to hang on this car. I’ll only have to buy a windshield, and probably suspension and steering parts. And maybe sneak a LSD under the wife’s radar.
My co-worker stopped to see if I was ok. And then take pictures?!?oh well

Oh wow, that sucks. Looks like one heck of a hit. Glad you are ok.

Got x-rayed (since other dude gets that bill) and I only got some muscle soreness. What sucks is i was about to deliver 6 boxes of Girl Scout cookies to my buddy. And now they probably all taste like airbag propellant

the photo with the firetruck is actually a nice photo.


Maybe just get a different, non-smashed wagon ?

Pausing for a moment of silence...Ugh,tough blow.

Glad you're OK. Get ready to dig in for a fight with the insurance company. Was the other driver ticketed (always a good thing!)?

Start collecting highball estimates of the vehicles from the top-end online sellers to counter the inevitable lowball offer saying your car is totaled. No matter how much the other insurance company says "final offer", no offer is final until you accept it. If their client is at fault, they'll want this one in the past before your neck starts hurting and you seek necessary legal attention.

Ugh...hate seeing this. I'm glad you're ok, that's the important thing. And I do hope you get a decent price as well....so you can get another wagon.

Take Care!

-Michael

Well, I only payed $2k for it 4.5 years ago, so no Collision coverage. But I’ve filed a mini-tort with at-fault driver’s insurance company, so I’m expecting a $1500 check at some point.
I know from a fiscal standpoint, this car is totaled. But I love it so much, I just have to spend a couple hours trying to save it. Today after work I spent I couple minutes cutting the hood free, and peeling the left fender off to get a good look at the frame (sorry no pics).
Hopefully by the end of the week I’ll find time to try my hand at frame straightening ‘Joe Dirt’ style.
I have nothing to lose....

I wouldn't waste my time. Unless it goes on the proper machine it will never be straight.

Swaggerwagon wrote:

Well, I only payed $2k for it 4.5 years ago, so no Collision coverage. But I’ve filed a mini-tort with at-fault driver’s insurance company, so I’m expecting a $1500 check at some point.
I know from a fiscal standpoint, this car is totaled. But I love it so much, I just have to spend a couple hours trying to save it. Today after work I spent I couple minutes cutting the hood free, and peeling the left fender off to get a good look at the frame (sorry no pics).
Hopefully by the end of the week I’ll find time to try my hand at frame straightening ‘Joe Dirt’ style.
I have nothing to lose....

It will be parrellelagrammed, look at the gaps on pass side door,.you need to tie it down really good to pull it.when it was hit it’t own weight took the kinetic energy and bent the front of the frame. If its just the horn thats bent, you might consider nipping it off a welding another matching piece in there,use a ‘z’ cut,..this all will be easier if you remove all the front clip.
I wrecked my 68 impala ss into a concrete divider, dragged it home and pulled the clip, i cut a matching piece of frame right from the body mount forward and stitched it on,.was very labour intensive removing motor trans and suspension, but car was fine when i was done,.after grinding the welds down and some black paint you had to look close to find the repair.
Pulling it back you need to remember what isaac said about equal opposite forces etc,.

Man that sucks ! Glad you are ok . I understand about loving these big cars so much .

I knew it was never going to Barrett-Jackson, I just wanted to see if I could get a couple more years of commuting out of it. So I hooked 2 chains to the rear (frame holes on either side of gas tank) hooked tha chain to a parked front end loader (definitely ain’t moving) and put 2 hooks on the left frame rail, near the gearbox. Attached a single chain to both hooks, made a wrap the frame horn. Other end of chain I hooked to a backhoe...which didn’t have the weight/power to help much.
Next up, huge front end loader, a real beast. Give a slight tug. Hop down, check progress. Repeat.,snap a chain every so often. At one point I was feeling sorta optimistic. Got the horn part roughly where it belongs (figured it would require slight adjustment at final measurement/reassembly) but my ‘front tire centerline’ still sucked. Basically LF tire was setback 3 inches. Where the left framerail curves inward at the firewall, was bent. Fire up the loader, tug, inspect. Repeat. Was going pretty good. Now I’m only set back two inches. But about there is where progress slowed. So I’m gradually getting more aggressive, using more force. So now I’m rollin coal, when the rear hooks rip tear out, ripping matching holes at the rear of each framerail. I looked at my watch. I could play with this all night, and the next night, and....or I could Tap-Out now. And get home in time to tuck the kids into bed.
So in total this autopsy took about 3 hours. I learned a lot about framework, it was a worthwhile experiment. I could’ve....

...seperated the body from the frame, and fixed the frame properly. I also could’ve spent 95 hours of my time finishing that job. It’s my year-round DD, ain’t-nobody-got-time-for-dat!
So tomorrow evening, I’m driving an hour away to purchase a 1991 OCC. once or twice a year, when I’m bored, I’d poke around Craigslist. And it is always crawling with sweet LT1 wagons (and sedans) all at great prices. This week, when I’m actually in the market for a 94-96 wagon, the only ones in the entire Midwest are $800 demolition derby cars, or people that eat mushrooms, then post their average condition wagons on eBay for $15k! So I found this wagon enthusiast just north of me. He seems like an honest seller, who in the decade he owned the car, made all the tasteful mods to the OCC that I would’ve eventually done. So I’m excite to pick this thing up. And feeling kinda silly that I’m dropping $3k on a 305

Yea, yea. Pictures...or it didn’t happen.
Anywho, the plan now is to pull engine,trans, crossmember, exhaust, almost all the wire harnesses, gas tank, quarter vent windows, hatch glass, shade for vista roof, cargo light lens,maybe the tailgate ..and anything else that I could potenially need down the road for my OCC. anything I’m forgetting?

Chop out  the pocket in the front crossmember for the AC compressor to splice into the Olds if you do, do the LT1

ABS  and piping in case you what to update to make the swap plug and play .

You can transplant a 350, or other larger displacement small block, and get an aftermarket TBI to make the OCC a lot more pleasant to drive. You can also get a large diameter TBI from a 454 that you can bore out the intake to match, and use a bigger cam with a reprogrammed chip on a 350 (LO5) to make some decent HP. I am looking for a set of Vortec heads to modify a 350 for my 92 OCC (other parts needed as well for the Vortec heads). I have an L99 cam in for the engine as well. With the other mods, headers and dual exhausts you should be able to get over 250 HP.

Check the SPID for the gear ratio. If you have the 3.23 (GU5), an engine transplant will make a nice driver.

Or he could bolt in the 260 HP LT1 he already has ??

Or if he really wants to do something interesting, he can bolt in a BBC with 500+ HP, and upgrade the trans to have even more fun. With careful selection of parts, he will not have to modify the body at all.

Or he could chop the rear off the wrecked car, chop the front off the OCC, and weld them together!

50/50!

Problem with going "interesting" is sometimes one gets in over their head. They can only spend so long trying to surface before saying screw this thing.

Some interesting creations out there. Sadly creating isn't for everyone. So I say build what YOU want not what folks on a message board want.

A 455 olds mounted in back on a toronado transaxle,. Now That would be cool,..

All solid suggestions. My buddy stopped by and saw the car after I pulled motor/trans and said “man you could easily make this into a trailer! It look great behind the OCC!”
But ‘95wagon’ gets what I’m tryin to do here. Do easy, cheap mods that dont decrease gas mileage much.
If I had common sense, I’d just by a minivan.
Totally off topic, but let me tell you about my experience buying a used ring & pinion off ‘95wagon (Gerry)
I post in the ‘parts wanted’ section,...

‘95wagon’ responds - I bet shipping will be high coming from Canada, I’ll stop by the post office tomorrow And get quote.

Yea shipping cost is $61

Me: would you accept $85? (That’s what I saw em going for on EBay. And I trust a forum member to sell me a functional used part over a complete stranger. Which is dumb theory, since you all are also strangers) I’m just thinking that he’s not gonna want to bother with this to pocket only $24.

95wagon: I reject your offer, I’ll sell it to you for cheaper. Give me a couple days.

Me: WTF? Um ok. Thanks man!



95wagon: Hey total stranger I’ll never meet, and don’t know whatsoever. I shaved the box down to reduce shipping to $51. I’ve already mailed it, here’s the tracking number Pay me whatever you feel like, whenever you get around to it.

So obviously I sent him $85, to conpensate him for his time. I was just pleasantly surprised that a total
Stranger would spend an hour or two (find part in stash , drive to post office. Go home, repackage, drive again to post office) , and pull $51 from his wallet, with zero guarantee that he would be made whole.
With apologies to honda’s marketing dept..

You meet the nicest people in a longroof

You meet the nicest people in a longroof...Thats been my experience as well.