Took my 57 to one of my physical therapy (knees) appointments, at the request of the PT staff. Then went to lunch later down at the beach. When I was cleaning the car up for a show last Friday, I found some blue paint flecks on my wipe down cloth and discovered my 57 had been hit. When I got the car out into the sunlight I found the rear bumper on the right side had been banged and scraped hard enough to punch it into the right rear quarter panel and spring back out (but still bent in some). Bummer!
Insurance company has already seen the photos and approved the necessary work to repair the car, including r & r the right rear upholstery (to gain access to the bolted on right side stainless trim). Santini gets the car tomorrow, and it should be ready within two weeks. Insurance will pony up the $3,500 to fix the hit & run damage. Until this happened, I was pretty free with driving and taking the 57 where ever I felt like going. I guess now I'll be more protective. It sure does tick me off that the idiot who hit me didn't have the consideration to let me know they had hit me or to be careful near a classic.
Bob
57 AGIN
That is too bad! I always park as far away from the door of the establishment I am visiting just to avoid that kind of thing. Works for the most part, don't mind the walk....but....my new 2010 F150 (driven from the dealers to the Winn Dixie) in the middle of the furthest part of the lot was hit in the fender well. Left a big white mark on the tire and a small rub on the paint.
Have to wonder what the heck is going on in the pee brain of those folks?
Is there any security cameras that may have caught it?
That was a pretty good hit, must have rocked the car quite a bit in a parking lot.
Hate it when stuff like that happens.
The nerve of some peoples kids.Ya the ding is bad enough,but letting you know and giving an appology would sure nice.Glad to hear your insurance company is treating you right.
That really sucks. Unfortunately we have so many people who don't care, a younger generation with the attitude of the rest of the world is here for my benefit or are illegal with no license or insurance. Have you noticed that hit and runs seem to be on the rise lately or maybe the news is just covering more of them..
off my soapbox
Everything they said x2
Rich
That sucks Bob, nothing worse then someone violating your space and contaminating your life with their ignorance. HRD
Its not just kids that do this, lack of accountability knows no age boundaries.
Zap- :unitedstates:
Amen Zap!
Tim :unitedstates:
I hate seeing that. Lots of guys go on about daily drivers and drive the wheels off it but so many drivers out there are careless and don't care.
The trouble with doing a nice paint job is parking it by idiots who don't respect it.
I don't make a habit of parking my cars in places like that if I can help it.
Have you ever noticed that no matter how far we park away from other vehicles, and how far we walk, someone just has to park a piece of junk right next to our cars?
So sorry Bob.I have been in Home depot parking lots and seen so many clunk into a car,look around and simply drive off.Pisses me right off.
My black sedan got rear-ended in a drive thru saturday morning. The edlerly lady behind me wasn't paying attention and rammed me. It did bent the bumper a little and pushed it out of alignment. I got all here info, but I today I decided not to turn in a claim against her insurance. When I got out of my car after the hit, I realized that she looked like she has had a rough enough time in life and I would rather not hurt her insurance over something I can live with considering how blessed I am in comparison.
wife's car was tapped in the rear by a little old lady (many years ago) we wanted to just take care of it but her 60+ year old son came over and begged us to file and he would cover any out of pocket expenses we incurred. seems this was the 4th accident in the last year and they were trying to get her to stop driving. poor old gal could barely see and was really shook up at the scene, cops cited her there. wife's car was big and red and she didn't see it. to this day we think she blacked out and just drove into us.
Zap- :unitedstates:
Everyone:
Thank you for your thoughts and comments. Fortunately no one was hurt (except my feelings) and the damage is able to be repaired pretty quickly. Yesterday, I took the car to the upholstery shop that did the interior and had them remove the rear seat, the passenger side rear seat bolster, and the right side trunk upholstery. This was to gain access to my side trim, which is bolted on to the body. The car went into Santini's Paint & Body shop today and has been promised (?) to be done within two weeks. We'll see. Since this time it is an "Insurance job" and not a custom or restoration it will probably be done pretty quickly.
Oops, posted the same photo twice. Must have been a Senior Moment.
Update: Guess what??? I went to see the car today and found it wrapped in plastic to keep a lot of the sanding dust off other parts of the car and the dent already repaired. I'm not sure if it is ready for paint, but I was impressed by the speed with which Santini is working on the car. The bumper has been sent out for straightening and re-chroming. The car is well on its way to being whole again. Guess this is the difference between "insurance work" and a custom/restoration job.
Bob
57 AGIN
Bob,I s your car being repaired at Pete Santini's shop?If so,Please say hi to Steve Stanford,If you see him,All time Hero to me!
You're a good man, Pat. Hate to hear about your car getting tweaked Bob, and yours to Pat. At least it wasn't something major.
Bob, hate to hear about your car. I probably would have went ballistic, especially since my painter died of a heart attack. I've been extremely lucky as I've found myself surrounded by cars all the time, especially when parking at Wal Mart. Don't let it deter you from driving it though.
Jeff:
Yes, Steve Sanford is still at Santini's. In fact he actually lives there and keeps an eye on the place nights and weekends. Occasionally I will see him doing some striping or lettering on a car and he's shown me a number of his renderings. Originally Pete and I were going to have Steve do some striping on my 57, but we never did finalize that. I may still end up having him do something subtle on the 57 though. And Yes I will say hello to him for you, both of you have great talents.
Bob
57 AGIN
That's very very cool Bob.I finally met Steve at the last GNRS(albeit very briefly) he had just finished a rendering of my blown 32 coupe.I plan on getting some more renderings done of my other cars.Pete Santini is one of there best painters.Dang, your in very good company.
Thank you for the compliment,But My talent pails compared to Steve.I am a mere grain of sand and he is a Mountain.
Anyhow,Your 57 is gonna be just fine.
Jeff
I hated seeing the initial post.
I love reading about how it is coming together!
What insurance company are you using, Bob?
Best...
Rob
robhaerr:
Rob, I'm using Infinity Insurance Company's Classic Collectors. My broker was having some difficulties with Grundy, my former carrier. He then shifted me to Infinity's Classic Collectors. So far everything has gone very smoothly with Infinity.
Funny that you should ask today, I just went out to the mailbox and lo & behold guess what was waiting for me. A check for the entire cost of the estimates I submitted a week ago. From the date I reported the claim to Infinity it took only 11 days to receive the check. If that isn't what you would call service, I do know that's what I call it. I hope I'll never have to contact them again, but I'm certainly impressed and would recommend them to any car enthusiast that has a high value car. My Insurance Broker is Ron Erskine Insurance Agency, he is located in Long Beach, CA and I see him with one of his classics at a few shows during the year, a good guy. His number is, 1 (800) 348-4269.
Bob
57 AGIN
Guys:
I went to see what progress had been made on the car last Friday. The dent was pounded out using the hammer from the outside method (weld small stick like pieces to the outside then use a pull hammer device to work the metal outward, as there wasn't much room to hammer & dolly the dent). it had been skim coated, sanded and primed. He did the entire rear quarter panel below the stainless trim from the rear of the car forward to the door and also the rocker panel below the door to the front fender. I was pleased and impressed by the speed with which the repair is progressing.
Bob
57 AGIN
Hi Again:
Went to Santini's this afternoon and found the car sitting out in the sun drying. New base coat, followed by clear coat waiting to dry before being buffed out. I took a photo of the repair section and found a bowling ball shaped head sitting on the side of my car, I wonder how Santini was able to do a head shot of me when I wasn't even there. LOL
Bob
57 AGIN
Some people will do anything to get in front of a camera :003: The repair looks excellent..
top shelf as always. That was really quick too. Did your bumper come back from the plater's yet?
Rich:
Yes, it was in yesterday, but it wasn't mounted yet so I don't know how straightened it got. It will probably be on today when I go over to the shop.
Bob
57 AGIN
Guys:
I went to Santini's today and found the car nearly ready. The bumper was being installed. I couldn't tell where the car had been hit or the bumper straightened. I'm pleased. I'll pick it up tomorrow morning and take it to get the upholstery reinstalled and then to a Friday night car show. Back to normal at last. Thanks for all your expressions of support during the past few weeks.
Bob
57 AGIN
Its crazy how we are about our cars Bob, reading and sending you posts you'd swear it was our kid having an operation in the hospital. PS glad she's comin home soon and that the operation went well. :001: HRD
Looking really good. Glad to know the bumper did it's job and kept the damage to a minimum.
Bob
Your car looks great. They did a good job and were fast. You must be looking forward to getting it back again.
Jay
A very happy ending to a ugly story.Gotta be happy Bob.
Jeff:
Yes, I'm glad to not be morning my broken 57. In fact I'm so thankful for the quick rehabilitation of the car that I sent an email to the Infinity Insurance Company's Classic Collectors representative James Brown, who handled my claim to have him take a look at our web site and this thread. I think he will be pleased.
Bob
57 AGIN