Well, after 18+ years driving up Hiway 1 to Hearst Castle at night to go to work, it finally happened. The deer came out of nowhere & jumped at the car. I hit it with the right front fender. Gotta feel bad for the deer, it didn't make it. It was gone by the time I got off work in the morning. CHP pobably had Animal Regulation come out & deal with it. Didn't do anything to me except rattle me a bit. So far it looks like the fender took the most damage, but I'm worrying about frame tweak. I'm heading down to the shop now to take a better look. All I had to do was pull the fender out a bit & the car is perfectly (?) driveable. Thank goodness for parts cars, cause I wasn't insured for comp (too damn many cars, gotta dump a few) to afford more tha basic. I've got everything to fix it except the body shop, so I'll be doing some wheeling-dealing here with some of the local shops to pull the frame. Pics (if you want 'em) later. Mark

Pic's Please!
Eric

if the car still goes straight, and the steering wheel is still straight (where 'straight' means no worse than before) you're probably okay. if something hurts the alignment it'll almost always show up in one of those areas right away.

yeah - it's -possible- to have an impact in such a way that the samber, caster, and toe are all whacked in compensating amounts and directions, but it's really unusual. check the tie rod and A-Arm for bending.

glad you're okay.

good thing it was only one of them little bitty California black tail. If it were a texas or maybe a wisconsin White tail you would have really screwed the car up. Not to mention maybe had the animal in your lap. People die that way every year.

So are you gong to get brighter lights now? 100w H-3's and Euro H-4 at least 55/60.

Glad your OK, In Northern Jersey we have black bear to deal with. This fall some riceburner hit a bear and the car was totaled, the bear got up and walked away.

Yep, very lucky. Last fall my little brother hit a buck with his Toyota Tundra. Took out part of the grill, bent the bumper, THEN spun against the side, smashing the front fender, went under the front wheel, came out from under front wheel & caved in drivers door, went under rear wheel (and now it get's really interesting) where it was lifted into the rear wheelwell. This had a similar effect as using a baseball bat to roll the fenders on a 914 for more tire clearance, except instead of a bat it was a deer. He's got about an additional 10" of tire clearance now I'd say. Ugly. Very ugly.

-Ben M.

My wife just missed one last year.

Try hitting a moose! A least in a teen you would go under it!

You don't want a Moose. or a horse. Your bumper takes out their legs, and the body goes through the windshield and kills you.

Better a cow, or a Deer.

Depends how fast you're going!

Worst animal to hit is a hog or a pig. Their low to the ground and give slightly, launching you airborne. Like hitting a log of the same size.

Sorry to hear about your "Bambi" run in.

Yeah, I'm really glad it wasn't one of our local sambar deer. More of an elk than a deer. Big suckers
I just spent a couple hours at the shop & pulled out the fender, replaced the housings and lights, and drove her home. Steerring & suspension seem the same as it was. A dent in the inner fender, the bodyshop may be able to fix that when I get the cash to spend on paint & bodywork. Gotta pay for our cruise first. Marcie has her prioraties. At least it's on the road. Local weather is for high 70's, so it's gonna get driven.
One of my firefighters took pics this morning at work, but hasn't emailed them to me yet. I'll post when I've got them. I'll also take pics of the "repairs" tomorrow.

Worse yet is hitting a dog.....with a bus on the side of it.

Finally got some pics for those who are still interested.

Not lookin pretty

The one eyed 914.

I'm impressed at how strong these little cars are. A couple hours at the shop put all the lights back in place.

This was what concerned me most. Structural damage?

After 2 hours at the shop.... lights are back, but it still needs a bath.

It looks much better from this side.

Any damage under the carpet to the floor pan?

I haven't gotten that far yet. Had to interview for a Guide position at the Castle yesterday, then work a graveyard last night. I was lucky to catch a nap & wash the car today. I'll take it to the shop tomorrow & give it a good looking over.

Deer and bear can do damage... How about this one... driving with my friend in his Dodge Cummins turbo diesel mammoth truck...

a flock of geese are taking off .... right in our path.. We collect one of the geese right in the middle of the grill....

It cost $9000 to get the truck back to working order.... radiator was lunch, intercooler trashed... new grill.. new hoses...

amazing that hitting a bird while travelling 65 mph can do that kind of damage..

I nailed a big seagull with the grill of my Dodge Ram on the way home one day on I-75. The damn thing stuck to the grill than rolled up and slid up the hood to the windshield and than rolled off the side. Swear it was looking at me as it slid up the hood. Freaked me out.

Paul

Hit a blackbird with the antenna on a work truck years ago....bent the hell out of the antenna. Funny as hell though.

i presume that was an avian-type blackbird, and not an SR-71 aircraft-type BlackBird...
birdstrikes in aircraft are no fun - a lone turkey buzzard brought down a B1-A during development flights...

You presume correctly. As a general rule, I like to give SR-71's plenty of space.

When I was on the flightline at a base here in CA we had an A7 suck in a rather large bird. The plane barely made it back in, and there was blood everywhere. Couldn't find a single mech on base who'd work on it. It sat in a hanger for at least as long as I was stationed there. What a mess.

ran into the Soprano's backyard last nite?????


WOW!