Wrecked. What to do? Options

[abbott295]

My son just wrecked our '73 2.0 carbureted yesterday. Flipped it on its top, roll bar/rear window frame did its job, protected him, except for his arm getting caught under it. Arm not broken, landed in the dirt. But what do I do with the car? The owner of the tow service/salvage yard will be giving me a bid on it Monday. There is already a $125 towing charge for picking it up. $75 would get it delivered home. All the sheet metal is damaged, except maybe the rear trunk lid, car had rust issues before and engine had oil consumption issues also. But it was fun to drive. Anyone got any advice? What do I hope for from him, what could I hope for parting it out, any other options?

Edit: I have plenty of pictures, but they are too large to post. How can I make them smaller?

[VaccaRabite]

if it is that bad, get alot of info together top give to your insurance. Have the car totalled for as much as you can, and get a new one.

If you want to re-build, buythe car back (pennies on the dollar) and put the good stuff on a rust free tub imported from CA ro somehting.

Zach

[scotty b]

Contact Barry Fuller (grasshopper) he is in your area and maybe interested in it for parts.

[Johny Blackstain]

Glad to hear the boy is OK. You need to assess the mechanicals of the car, as well as the body. Probably would help if you posted pics. Anyway, if your mechanicals are all sound & the body is gone, find another 914 & start swapping. If you're not up for it you can always sell her as a unit or part her out. All depends on your budget, desire, ability, location, etc. Good luck.


(IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool_shades.gif)

[Bleyseng]

How in the world did he get it upside down????? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/huh.gif)

[sww914]

Pound it out, strip the comfortable stuff out of it and turn it into a racecar.

[rick 918-S]

First, Glad the boy is ok. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) Second, How did he get it up side down?? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/WTF.gif) and third, get some picks. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/thisthreadisworthlesswithoutpics.gif) And oh ya, (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welcome.png)

[GWN7]

Good to hear your son is ok.....

Insurance?

Most 914's have $600+ worth of parts on them. Depending on their shape condishion. Saying that you have to be prepared to take the parts off and sell/ship them. That in itself can be a chore.

Depending on the amount of damage you might be able to repair it.

If that is not a option (too far damaged/rust issues) then you might want the car brought home and use it as a leaning curve project for yourself & your son. Your into it for $200 brought home. So if you end up parting it out you will be ahead of the game by selling the parts to offset the replacement cost of another car.

Here I have a rule. If your driving it and it breaks, your responcible for repairing it. This applys to things that are borrowed/lent. In this case replaceing it would be applicable.

The tow guy will prob offer you $200 for the car & the tow bill.

My advise is have it brought home and you & your son work on it to take it apart (if it's not repairable). This way you both will learn how they are put together. The money generated from the sale of the parts can be put towards the replacement cost of the car that replaces it.

[abbott295]

To turn a 914 upside down, first you give the keys to a 20 year old and always tell him to drive carefully.

He was coming home from college, about an hour away, by the back roads and entered a curve too fast, braked late into the curve. There is a side road that goes off the outside of the curve and slopes down. He probably got a little over the edge into the negative bank of the curve and started to slide, tried to correct, fishtailed apparently, slid somewhat sideways off the road after the intersection where there was a steep ditch, though not deep, but that probably stopped the tires from sliding sideways, but the momentum carried the car on over. It's really not that hard.

No we don't have collision coverage on this, no one else involved, no witnesses, but very helpful passers-by got him out and notified me. I paid $1500 for it about 3 years ago, so the loss is not great, but I would like to minimize it if possible.

In this picture, the 914 ended up just beyond the little car there (Nissan NX) under the trees. You may be able to make out some skid marks as it was getting sidways the last time and heading for the trees.

Not real keen on having another project, I have plenty of projects and he is a college student who spends his summer doing drum and bugle corps.

Thanks for all the responses.

[So.Cal.914]

I am a little confused on the story( how in the hell) but what is important is your

boy is OK. I've only seen a few that had been all the way over. If your not into

swapping out tubs then I (as mentioned above) would sell off the parts on evilbay

and here (give us the first crack) and buy another one. And this time do like alot

of us do, get one that 'Sits' but dosen't know 'Rollover'.

[Brando]

If nothing under the car is destroyed (suspension wise) cut the windshield frame off and the rollbar, weld in a cage and race it, strip the interior.

[rmital]

he is a college student who spends his summer doing drum and bugle corps.

....just curious, which corp?

[alpha434]

That car looks fine. Just a weekend driver, yeah?

I'm with Brando. The windshield is (mostly) cut off for you. Same with the targa. Piu l'una rollcage e finito! Replace the windshield with a minimalist lexan piece. Replace all the quarters with fiberglass. Quarters are readily available in either slopenose W/O flares or with the frogeyes AND flares. Or slopenose with flares. BUT NOT frogeye w/o flares. But that's what the club is for. Who's got quarters? Same with hoods, and all. You can really race the thing up. Make it REALLY fun on the weekends. And for not a huge amount of money.

It's not a loss at all. It's an oppurtunity.

P.S. Dibs on the engine. What's shipping to 80209?

[alpha434]

Also, did he flip coming over that hill, towards the cameraman, or going away from him?

Much respect for any 20 year old with enough balls to go THAT fast. Yeeouzaaa!!!!

[Mid_Engine_914]

Edit: I have plenty of pictures, but they are too large to post. How can I make them smaller?

I think your son was very lucky. From the damage to the car it looks like he could have been seriously hurt. I'd love to see some more pictures of the car from various angles. You can download Irfanview for free and it's really easy to resize pics by just clicking on >Image >Resize on the toolbar.

[BMXerror]

Also, did he flip coming over that hill, towards the cameraman, or going away from him?

Much respect for any 20 year old with enough balls to go THAT fast. Yeeouzaaa!!!!

Plenty of people have the balls to go that fast... but very few have the brains to know what to do with all that speed, and when not to use it. It's still a public street.
Glad your boy is alright.
Mark D.

[GWN7]

There is also http://www.faststone.org/ to use for resizing pictures.

[TimT]

This one is an add on for windows.. All you do is right click on an image, and the menu will open and there is an option to resize pictures..

Seanery posted this awhile back.. and I just found it and added it to one of my laptops.

scroll down and install Image Resizer...

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloa...ppowertoys.mspx

[VaccaRabite]

There are easily $1500 worth of parts on that car, if you part it.

Sell them here or on Ebay. There are several vultures here (like myself) restoring these cars that can make use of the deceased.

Zach

[Andyrew]

I would not repair the chassis. I would part it out like said above and either get another chassis to transfer the parts over to, or get another running car and sell the parts.

Andrew