A friend of mine just moved down to Baton Rouge, LA last month, and had his cars in storage as they were having a large garage built at their new home. Of course, they were involved in the flooding up to the top of the windows. Besides his 914 2.0 and his Porsche tractor, he last a Jaguar XKE, Jensen Healy, 67 Ford Mustand, and a 35 Ford Coupe. At least their home is on higher ground and didn't flood so they are OK!

Has anyone ever had any luck resurrecting a flood car? Since his was nice and straight, I wondered if it could be stripped to a bare chassis then rebuilt? Same ? about he Porsche tractor.

I would take the insurance money and move on. The car, especially a 914, will never be right again, no matter what you do to restore it.

I'd make an exception and do my best for a real GT. Less than that, forgetaboutit

The mechanicals of the car can be salvaged if they are dealt with quickly following the flooding. The issue with most cars is the wiring and the electronics. No way to really assure yourself that moisture hasn't done any damage to these items.

Since the 914 is much less complicated than other cars, it is possible that the car can be resurrected. I would be more concerned about the XKE and Jensen Healy since they are much more valuable cars,and parts are relatively harder to come by for them.

The Porsche tractor can be easily resurrected. I believe that you simply have to drain the water and then fill the block with oil to guard against corrosion.

I would be devastated if this happened to my cars. But, nothing that money can't fix. Hopefully, he had full insurance on the collection.

I just got my friends 2012 Camry back up and running from the flood and will start on his 993 next week. He only had about 18 inches though. He was smart enough to disconnect the battery on the 993 so I hope his computers will be ok. With the Camry the air bag module is in the center console and it was full of water but I was able to take it apart and let it dry fully and it is working good now. The key to a flood car is you must take it down completely to let everything dry out. If not the upholstery will stink. If not the electronics will continue to short out or corrode. You also must ensure you have all new fluids if water entered the sumps. We got lucky with the Camry as the water was not higher than any of the vents to the trans or engine. If I can be of any help let me know.

It's hard to find straight cars. Strip the 914 down to bare bones. Build it again.

it might be a good candidate for the e-coating process, the dipping is suppose to get everywhere. just need to remove air mufflers in the longs

this! I was thinking the same thing - dip strip & e-coat it!

Bows by could do a wiring harness, I think with the right amount of parts and a new engine it could be done, just money ....right?

Yo!

fresh water..ok salt water ..doitnow

Das Boot fllood 914
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...c=40075&hl=

save it. Every one of those cars should be stripped of their interiors as quickly as possible, fluids drained from the crankcases + transmissions, refilled and turned over by hand if nothing else. Get oil on all the internal surfaces as soon as possible, including in each cylinder. The next thing would be drying out the wiring looms, but not as time-sensitive as the upholstery and metal bits.

Yep. Since that flooding was freshwater they absolutely can be saved.

Anything that can hold water has to be taken out immediately

Anything that is metallic needs to be dried out. Anything that s mechanical needs to be oiled.

Take the insurance money and buy them back.

Fresh water, but muddy!

Click to view attachment

I live here in Louisiana and I feel for your friend. I was lucky and my car was at my house in New Orleans during this event. New Orleans is dry (never high and dry) for this disaster. I drive through Baton Rouge quite often on the way to my lease property in Lafayette.

My boss had his 1970 Mustang completely flooded (over the roof) in Hurricane Katrina. He stripped the car to bare metal and restored it. He sold it a few years later for $40K. Here is the kicker...he let the insurance company total the car, then he bought it back with a salvaged title. If the car would have had a clean title, he could have gotten about $60K for it. He recommends that unless the car is rare (914-6, LE, etc) then take the money and get another car with a clean title to restore.

I will PM you with my phone number to give your friend. I just finished restoring my car last year. If he needs parts, I have plenty. If he decides to part out the flood one, I am interested.

Looks savable, but with lots of cleaning. Again if you or he needs help with these let me know. The 997 and 991 Porsche is the only model I have not yet worked on so I know Porsches. I have also restored many other makes including British cars. Am currently restoring a 1951 Jaguar XK120.
Jim

If he can get those cars gone over soon it's always better than a flood car 8 months or a year after the fact.

I'd take a flood car project over a rust bucket any day.

I'd take Jim (zambezi) up on his offer to help. Jim is the first person I call whenever I have questions about anything related to any car. I've seen several cars he has restored in person, multiple old Porsches, Healeys, Jags, an old Corvette, etc.. He is a serious Porsche enthusiast who does really great work.

Sorry to hear of your friends collection.
Regarding rebuilding these cars, as suggested its best to focus on the more valuable ones.
To completely rebuild these back properly.....you just need buckets of $$$$

It's not water alone that's the problem, it's water + time. I'd keep the cars(s) I wanted to spend immediate time on, and get the others to people who had immediate time to rescue them. Best of a bad situation, rescue the cars, make some friends in the process. Cash that chip in on another day when you can build your collection up again.

i agree with take the money and run but onyour way out of the insurance settlement office, offer to buy bak the salvage for a few hundre dollars / you then will have a decent check, and some additional cash flow from the bits and pieces.

i did this with my 82 SC Targa when my girlfriend was broadsided (no pun intended) and the car was totaled. They sold the salvage for 1200 bucks. I then sold the engine for 5K, seats for hundreds, and interior parts, etc.

strip it and redo it.
The inner heater baffles are wrecked, so open up the longs and remove those, then dip the car and start again..

rich

So let's think about this is purely economic terms. Let's say the car is a primo 2L and worth $15k, and is insured for $15k. Ins co pays out $14k after deductible, you're down $1k. Let's say you can buy it back for $1k, now you're down $2k.

How much work, time, money, parts, effort, repairs are you going to have to do to that thing to get it back to a $15k level? Can you completely strip and restore a 914 2L for $13k just to break even?

Maybe you're bored, maybe you look forward to doing that and it's a hobby, but how much in repairs and parts are you going to spend out of pocket? I mean you're talking major disassembly here, maybe even an engine overhaul, just to get it back to a level of what you could buy if you took that $14k and bought another one. And then you have a car on a salvage title.

I cannot even imagine the value of taking on such a project, unless it's just something you want to do.

Just jet it go. Put the VIN in the database with that photo and walk away from it. There's another one just like it around the corner.

Since when does logic weigh into these decisions?
I missed that memo.

Sorry Guys, but as an insurance adjuster I disagree. If the owner wants to get another car of the same make and model and the insurance company will allow the owner to keep the car based on state laws. It all depends as well on the salvage value that the insurance company has determined for the car. In his case, the salvage lots most likely are flooded as well, and it will be 6 months before the salvage yards are anywhere close to handling business normally. This affects directly how the insurance companies are able to handle these vehicles when it comes to flood losses. If the new/used replacement car needs parts, the owner already has a resource. Of course, this is also implying that the owner has properly gotten the flooded car dried out in short time frame. In my experience, there are several factors to be considered...

Take lots of pictures of the car before doing anything! Document the water line, and how high the water was on the car. Use a tape measure, and show the tape measure in the photographs. Make sure the photographs are well lite, and sharp (in focus). Provide the adjuster photos of the car prior to the damage, otherwise the adjuster will use average values unless you have an agreed value policy. Stated value policies are useless. The adjuster most likely will use a evaluation from Mitchell, or one of the other valuation providers. If you don't agree on the evaluation amount, request a copy of the evaluation, and ask them to provide photographs of all the comparibles that they use. Most likely they can't, and you will be able to use that fact to your advantadge when negiotiating a settlement.

Fresh water and limited electrical. Piece of cake. With all the repop parts available now I would save it. I will be sending a 914-6 to the e-coater soon. I will document the prep on the site. If it was a solid car save it.

Mr. insurance man, can I have $50K to restore my $20K car.
Well, that's how much it will cost if you hand it over to a shop for a restoration. Do the restoration yourself? Why shouldn't insurance pay for a complete repair? Did you pay for DIY insurance? Like I said, my vote is to take the money and use it to buy a comparable car to what you had.

Nothing is impossible. Just don't roll it outside and let it sit for 5 years.

You can have $50k minus your deductible if you have an agreed value policy for $50K. Otherwise, you would be lucky to get your $20K.
The point was, long term, you might be financially better off buying the car back for salvage value. That does not mean you are required to repair the car -

Greg, that's awful advice for folks trying to actually save these cars. Some of you folks with more seniority in life seem to still see them as disposable, but a lot of us from my generation want to save them (we just dont have the money to buy them all up right now). This car is salvageable without ridiculous work/money. Save it, and those if us buying them later on thank you for it.

It's not "awful" advice, it's practical advice from someone who understands the time, effort, and money it would take to "salvage" this car back to its original condition; time, effort, and money that needs to be done immediately to at least stop any further damage from water intrusion and subsequent corrosion (the clock is already ticking...I can hear the rust creeping from way up here...) Water can siphon and wend its way into some strange places...40-yr-old electrics, gauges, motors that were already on the edge now have to be replaced. The interior will mostly have to be replaced. The chassis will need to be completed stripped, drained, and flipped 7 ways to Sunday to ensure all water is clear from all little crevices, and all of those areas cleaned, stripped, repainted or coated. The engine will have to be rebuilt (you want to tell a potential buyer the engine was flooded and all you did was popped the plugs and changed the oil?) New clutch and axles. All bearings and seals replaced.

And then, as noted, you have a formerly-flooded car on a salvage title, which will never be worth as much as it was before.

Is it possible to restore this car? Of course it is! Anything is possible with enough time and money. But is it practical? I don't think so. No matter how nice this car may have been, a 2L 914 is not as rare as hen's teeth.

Hey, maybe this car had a special place in this guy's heart; honeymoon car, daughter learned to drive stick in it, whatever. His collection indicates he may have the cash flow and money is less important to him. In that case, good for him I hope he saves it. But do you have $30k to toss into a $15k car? Not me, brother.

This car does not have to be crushed; if disassembled immediately it could be a good source of parts for the rest of the fleet. Or, maybe a good candidate for a stripped out race car project (Prod?). If it were me I'd not let it get crushed; I'd buy back the salvage, park it on my lift, and open a 914 used parts eBay store...

So your telling me no 914 even drove down a dirt road in a rain storm with the targa top off? Interior soaked silt and mud every place then had to have the interior pulled, pressure washed and steam cleaned? There may not even be any water in the engine. And ya, it's a hobby. How many rusted hulks have you seen pulled down to the shell and brought back to life on this forum? And were talking about a little dirty water

Are you really comparing the extent of damage of this totally-submerged, flood-damaged Porsche 914 to that of driving down a dirt road in the rain with the top off...?

I think you know better.

If you would buy a flood-damaged 914 for a grand and spend the money and time to completely restore it to its prior condition...more power and best of luck to you. And I truly mean that, because someone has to do it or they're all gone.

But not me, brother, there's other fish in the...er uh, well on dry land.

- GA

keep the Porsche tractor

the one thing I forgot to consider is the reduction in value if the car has a salvage title (in IL anyway), but if you are building for yourself to keep it wouldn't matter.

Should the car be restored - yes!
Should the current owner be the one to go through the restoration or take the insurance money and buy another one - you already know my answer.

But yes, i do hope someone will save it.

There's another odd option here nobody has mentioned: Work with the adjuster and agree to a "repair value" $100 less than total. It keeps the title clean, the car on the scene, and allows the owner to sell it cheap to someone who wants to repair it.

My experience is that is not legal when it comes to flood cars...
(It does happen occasionally on near total losses when the vehicle has been in an accident.)
Each state has it own criteria. If water is over the engine, and into the electrics,
the adjuster is legally required to deem the vehicle a flood total and brand the title as such in most states. Additionally, under your suggestion, the insured could come back to the insurance carrier and state that the car is not completely repaired after they have spent the initial sum on repairs. The carrier would be required to total the car, and the insured can still owner retain the vehicle for the salvage value. In this scenario, the insurance company has paid to repair the car, and the insured gets a check for the vehicle minus the salvage value.

This happens in extremely rare cases, but the carriers are very unhappy about it, and the adjuster might be looking for a new employer.

With rising values in the 914 market I don't agree there is a reduction in value factor. Anyone ever own a 914 10-15 years ago and have it totaled out because of a dented fender with a repair cost around $3500.00? Should a rusted out 914 needing structural repairs be salvage stamped?

Hagerty was great with the valuation of all his cars and paid him. He kept the tractor but 1000 cars were towed from the flooded area. No info on what the insurance company does with the hulks, but I assume a lot of crushing with the numbers of cars.

Yes its a shame. That 993 I resurrected after the flood was also totaled regardless of its condition. The camry too! The insurance companies are totaling the cars sight unseen.

These cars?

This is what they saw when the water receded!Click to view attachment

The 993 I was trying to save for the guy was only in 18 inches of water. He removed the battery terminals when he saw the water was coming up. The water was below the taillights by about an inch. I removed all the interior and all the "computers" under the seats. I dried them all out and reinstalled them. The car is mechanically fine. Water did not get high enough to enter any of the vents in the trans or engine. The car is completely drive-able, just needs complete cleaning of the carpets and seats to be complete. If it were mine I would just find another set of good used seats because these have a good amount of wear and one rip anyways. The carpet kit is not that much either to just replace. Then the car would be 100%. My friend had planned a few times to sell the car anyways, so when the told him they would just total it and give him his agreed value for the car, he did not hesitate. It is a shame because it is a good car otherwise. It is still here at my house waiting on the check to arrive and then we will arrange for it to be picked up. His wife's camry was the same way. She was actually using it but her drivers door lock was giving her some trouble (2012 camry) so the insurance company said if the seats had got wet then they were totaling it.

George,

Tell your friend to get a couple of good dehumidifiers in that garage if he has not already done so- It will significantly help dry things out, and help keep the mold under control - regardless of what he does with the cars -

TE