Wow. a USPS truck drove up my backside while I was peacefully driving at 35 mph!

Luckily, I looked up in time to dis-engage to clutch and absorb the momentum of the impact

Much less damage compared to what could have been.

I'm pulling the back side out and, now I must decide what to do about the rear truck lid.

Should I try to hammer out my old lid and refit fit to the car?

Or, try to find one for sale? How much does a rear truck lid cost?

I've looked but haven't seen any for sale...

Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated.

You should post this and pics in the garage. You'll get much better response and it is on topic for the garage. Hard to say without seeing pics.

IMHO, I wouldn't do anything until you get a check from their insurance!!
just my two cents......

police report and lots of pics

" Hidden damage " is likely so good advice to go slow......Hard to take much of a hit without collateral damage. Get someone with expertise to check it out.
Deck lids are reasonably plentiful but hard to ship so local is good.
GL

And your neck!

+1 Wait for the report and the check will follow.

USPS is a federal agency. They have no insurance. I must submit two bids for the repair and then they take 4-6 months to decide how much they will pay.

This is where I am having problems. I've taken it to numerous body shops / restoration shops they are scared to give a bid.

But, I will repost in the garage section.

Thanks to all.

Let your insurance co handle it. The $ to ship a rear deck lid would be cost prohibitive if you had to pay for it. But ultimately the USPS will be on the hook for that. Get recommendations from members local to you for a shop to have a look at the car.

On a similar note, we had a guy breaking a horse for us years ago. He was riding it down a gravel road and the mailman (drunk) topped a hill at a high rate of speed and ran over them, killing the horse. They paid us fairly well for that horse. Moral of the story is to stay on them. They are a large organization with lots of money to pay for their employees' mistakes.

Definitely get lots of pics and a few estimates before you do ANY work. It's up to you to prove to them that there is damage. A friend was hit and went home to make it "roadworthy" by fixing a few items, they did not believe all the damage since he replaced some of the parts without getting pics.

Chris (SUNAB914) got hit by a government employee a few years in his super nice '74 (IIRC). Took a long time for him to get paid!

Good advice - let your insurance company deal with the gvmt. That why you pay from insurance.