New car! one owner LDM Roadie wagon crashed! Totalled? I think not...

Hello all! New to the forum!
I recently got in a wreck on I-45 near I-610 near downtown Houston. But...
Let me preface how I got into B-bodies:
When I was about 14 years old, I had a jeep that did not run, which got me into cars. I was also interested in all kinds of old cars and things that were made in the USA. In the search of a fast and cool older but later model domestic car, I ran across the Impala ss (naturally). I started reading about it and realized it was on the B platform from GM, which led me to the fact that it was pretty much a high end caprice (please don't get mad at me, at least I'm not on the ss forums! ). I hadn't had my jeep running good by the time I was 17 and needed a car for highschool, so I went looking for a B-body. Well, I also needed a large car with a lot of trunk space for hauling parts and things (like having fun with the ladies ), so I found a posting for a 295k mile caprice wagon. I drove 2 hours to go get it but the guy totally wigged out on me, I think it was stolen, so the search continued. (I ended up buying a 1999 Yukon instead, which I totalled during a rainstorm). At the end of highschool, my older brother needed a car, so we went to go look at a pretty low miles 92 TBI roadmaster sedan. It looked also, like it was stolen (the ignition switch was hanging under the dash, it had 4 different keys, and the title was in the wrong name). It was beat to hell on the inside and my brother didn't want it, but I did. It was listed for 1200 on craigslist and I stole it for 660. It ran extremely well but the interior was trash. The exterior was very straight with minimal rust for being a northern car for 6 years.

My family was moving from SC to TX so I had an ultimatum to keep the jeep or the sedan and I chose the jeep. I had that car for 2 weeks and in that time me my friends put 7 tanks of gas in it and 3 different tires on (we used it to wreck the high school parking lot after graduation with drifts and burnouts).
I sold it for 800 and drove the Jeep for about 2 years.
When I got to college last August right after hurricane Harvey, the jeep was showing signs of trouble, it was losing oil pressure and I needed a new car which is when the Big Lady boat "Big Bertha" came into my life. I purchased this car with help from my dad which kind of makes it a birthday gift from him to me.









This was a one owner car with zero rust from Louisiana, originally purchased in Arlington from a factory refurbish in Arlington after a 2 year lease from Illinois. It was owned by older man and woman who would be 89 and 90 (may god rest their souls). It's a factory towing package car with almost all the goodies. I still have the original window sticker. It wasn't well maintained but I think it was a sunday driver later on in life, It had 193k when I bought it.
The very first day I drove it more than 2 miles, I brought it to The Texas A & M Galveston campus, and then this happened:


Needless to say, I was very sad about it. My floormat had pinned the gas pedal coming out of a parking space. I cried a little that day, as this had been my 6 year dream car.
I took a few trips in it, the family loves it. It has been very useful in the short time we have had it. Here's a trip we took to Austin, TX

On my way home for Easter weekend, the Thursday before Good Friday, is when it happened.




I was devastated to say the least but no tears were shed this time, there was work to be done. These pictures are from the impound lot, I drove it (yup, drove, not towed) out of the lot and onto a Uhaul trailer. The impound lady was yelling at me that I couldn't work on it but I just had to reconnect a battery cable, $50 fell right off her face as I drove it out and bypassed her towing charge. The very next day I had it fully stripped and ready to reassemble. (2 days after the wreck   )

Nice cliff hanger...Tune in next week to see the conclusion?

Andebe wrote:

Nice cliff hanger...Tune in next week to see the conclusion?

Well, I need the panel and wheelhouse from sprocket! Just waiting till he gets back on. I hope it's soon!

Update:
I found some frame damage the that I fixed. The body mount at the core support got ripped out









I also grabbed several parts new and at wrecking yards

GOOD FOR YOU for saving it! Will be following along here in Austin!

Oh, and if you need it, I "might" have a line on a good grill.

-Mike

81X11 wrote:

GOOD FOR YOU for saving it!    Will be following along here in Austin!

Oh, and if you need it, I "might" have a line on a good grill.  

-Mike

Oh, my cars rarely die off completely. They just get Frankensteined back together . I got a hold of a MINT grille down here that I payed way too much for, but it was worth it. Thanks though!

No one has asked yet, but I built that cold air intake in my garage with some sheet metal and tin snips. I've fooled quite a few people into thinking it was store bought! I was pretty proud of it, it seals against the hood perfectly.

It took a full 7 hours to fab and pulls air from behind the headlight and where the horns are mounted. I'm not sure if I added any power though.

Nice work on the intake!

81X11 wrote:

Nice work on the intake!

Thanks! I might make a build topic on it after iv'e sorted through this mess

I just had the whole left side of my OCC wiped out (https://gmlongroof.4umer.com/t14035-got-hit-by-a-dump-truck), and it is getting every panel and light on that side replaced. After some "body work" I drove it to the repair shop, and then home again. It is going to the body shop today, to start the restoration process. I got $5500 from the insurance company to fix it.

Other than the body mount area, everything is bolt on, and that part is not a difficult fix. Even your antenna should still be good. Have John/Sprocket ship the fender and wheelhouse by Greyhound to save you some money. He only needs to wrap it in shrinkwrap, tape any sharp corners, and take it to the nearest Greyhound depot.

Sent you a PM.

Check with a paintless dent removal guy about getting your rear quarter pushed out. They do amazing things.

Hey everyone, I made a lot of progress over the last 2 weeks. I should have an update by the end of the week!

My eyes arent so good,do you have a Travelocity Gnome on your Hockey puck?

Sorry about the late post guys, I've been very busy with the move to SC and the drive. I made it successfully. Here are some pictures to conclude this intro!

The day I had glass put in.


The last piece of the puzzle from Jason's (red280) parts car. We got some very fun pictures that day!


The car is done and roadtrip ready.


Packed and loaded on my way to SC!

Made it to SC to hoon around and hot rod with friends!

Ramrod: Wondering about the passenger side windshield damage during the front end collision. Care to elaborate?

Yeahoo Whoyah wrote:

Ramrod:  Wondering about the passenger side windshield damage during the front end collision.  Care to elaborate?

Its pretty obvious that the air bag went off.......

Passenger side airbag goes into the windshield when it deploys.

Awesome that you got her back together! Hope the trip to SC went well.

Having a parts car is fabulous. Big thanks to Dragonwagon for making the car available to me.
It's helped saved 2 other RMWs.

red280 wrote:

Awesome that you got her back together! Hope the trip to SC went well.

Having a parts car is fabulous. Big thanks to Dragonwagon for making the car available to me.
It's helped saved 2 other RMWs.

I was very heartbroken to have to let it go, but as you know, I tried very hard to keep it from going to the crusher. I'm glad I was able to connect with two people with needs for such vastly different parts of it.

In related news, something recently took its place in the driveway...and it's very appropriate for this forum...

You tease...

nice work

In related news, something recently took its place in the driveway...and it's very appropriate for this forum...

Dragonwagon - do tell...

red280 wrote:

In related news, something recently took its place in the driveway...and it's very appropriate for this forum...

Dragonwagon - do tell...

I started a new post to avoid threadjacking this one.