I wrecked my Charger

[Zentelis]

I just finished putting the back end together today and wanted to back out of the garage to clean the floor.
The car has no brakes right now, but i've backed it out dozens of times using the e-brake and bump-stops in the driveway that i put down.

I started inching it backwards, but it started rolling quicker thann I felt comfortable with. I started to panic a little because my front yard (the direction i was backing) is a 40 degree drop into a large ditch that runs along the road.
I went to put my foot out the door hoping to slow me down..but the car was still in reverse..as soon as i dropped the clutch, the car jumped backwards..My brain froze and I panicked like no panic i ever felt..instinctively i mashed my right foot down but it was still on the gas.
It took off in reverse..in desperation, i swung the wheel over to run it into a tree in my front yard to stop it from going down the hill.

the rear end is destroyed. this car was almost perfect..as close to a survivor as I'd ever get. All the body panels were original..now the trunk, valance, and both quarter panels are destroyed.
To make it worse, the frame is bent on both sides..the quarter panels are pushed forward 1/2 inch so the doors won't shut..

When I bought this car, I was thrilled..this thing was in 10 times better shape than the seller let on. All the sheet metal was original and unrusted except for one part on the right rear quarter panel.
Now I've destroyed it because I panicked.
My next door neighbor is a mechanic and said he's done damage 10 times worse than what i did and it was fixed with no trouble..he said frames can be straighted and mine isn't that bad at all.

But the worst part of it is that this was my baby..I was absolutely paranoid about keeping this car in it's original condition..I was damn proud of her and proud of the work I was doing on her. Now i've ruined it.
Yes, it can be fixed..the panels can be replaced with repops, the frame can be straightened, but the point is it shouldn't have HAD to be fixed..it was fine until I messed it up. It WAS original..now it won't be. It will never be the same again and I'm having incredible difficulty dealing with that.

I know alot of the veterans don't like the idea of kids like me owning these cars and I feel I have just justified that mistrust.

To everyone in this community, I apologize. I don't know what else ic an say..i'm osrry. i am so sorry.

[CB]

man that sux!
I feel sorry for your accident, don't know what else to say...

[Silver R/T]

thats sounds like nightmare...but accidents happen

[Brock Samson]

very sorry to hear this but,..
we have all had some boneheaded moves to our credit..
maybe some others can share their exploits...
i remember backing my old GFs' brand new car up the hill to park with the door just slightly open, it went in reverse pretty good up the hill and quickly too, the door met a tree, and the door bent and didn't work too good after that, the window wouldn't roll up or down anymore either,..
I dont wana tell ya' what it cost to fix or how mad she was...
or how bad I felt,.
or how broke that made me...

Sorry you had that happen but the good news is noone was hurt! 

[Wakko]

   Sorry to hear that.  Is it going to be fixable?  The parts you listed are replacable.

[tan top]

   damn  , very  sorry to here that   ,accidents happen, true you have lost the original sheet metal , but it can be fixed , good thing no one was standing  be hind  & and got hurt . 
a bout 17 years a go i was backing the charger out of the garage    , for a late night run as i had done plenty of times before. don't know why i reversed to much & banged a wall with the rear bumper , luckily it was only at idle speed no damage , then putting the charger back in the garage , i parked it close to the back wall that time leaving about a 1 foot gap at the front, though i had put it in park but it was still in drive , took my foot of the brake , charger lept forward and hit the wall , i could not believe what i had done , luckily again hit the front  bumper no damage  as it was at idle speed . don't know where my brain was that night what a dummy .every one makes mistakes 

[Spike]

No one got hurt, that the most important thing. Yes it sucks but it sounds like it can be fixed.

[resq302]

I feel your pain as I was just through a recent similar situation.  I was working on my charger on my 4 post lift and was replacing the entire brake lines and front brakes and suspension.  Had the charger jacked up and was all completed with it, basically it was the last thing I had to do to the charger to make it factory correct.  As I jacked up the car on the k-frame, I used a bottle jack and the steel cross tray to get it high enough to get the front wheels back on.  The block of wood I had between the bottle jack and k-frame to prevent damaging the freshly painted k-frame split and the car shifted and fell partially off of the lift into the one post on the lift.  $1800 later, both fenders had to be repaired but luckily I was not under the car when it fell.  Two seconds later, my arms would have been under it as I was getting ready to remove the 6x6 blocks I was using to keep the car raised.

Again, the car can be fixed.  The emotional grief and pain will go away.  As much of a heartbreak it is to see it happen or have happen, thethe main thing is that you were not hurt and you are still around to enjoy the hobby (no matter what kind of punches it throws at you)

[1972Rallye]

...I know alot of the veterans don't like the idea of kids like me owning these cars and I feel I have just justified that mistrust.

To everyone in this community, I apologize. I don't know what else ic an say..i'm osrry. i am so sorry.

Zentelis, I'm real sorry to hear about this...  You need to keep things in proper perspective here.  Nobody was hurt and the damage is repairable.  I understand you feel you may have let some people down with this mishap - don't.  You weren't being an idiot who didn't respect what you had.  Mistakes happen, accidents happen.  You were doing your part to preserve another Mopar and keep her on the road where she belongs.  Hold your head up and get her fixed, but uhhh... start with the brakes!

[resq302]

Yes.... brakes are a good thing.  Next to going fast.

[PocketThunder]

 

[Drache]

About 3 years ago I was taking my girlfriend to grad. It was after the grad cermonies and we were headed to the dance. It was about 1:30am and pissing down rain. We have both ran back to my place to change out of tux and gown and into normal clothes and we were running behind schedule. About 100 feet from my house I realized I forgot my wallet. As I was backing out of our neighbors driveway I went to far back. The wet ground on the side of the rode caved away and my pickup ended up 10 feet down an embankment backwards. To make matters worse I had no cash on me to pay the tow truck driver when he arrived and had to borrow it off my girlfriend lol. Dumb things happen, just be lucky you weren't hurt.

[Zentelis]

Thanks, guys..I still feel horrible about what happened..like there's a hole in my stomach.

I called my body shop today and the tow truck's on its way to pick her up. One day I hope to learn how to do body work (sheet metal, etc), but this is just too much. I don't even have a teacher. I still plan on prepping/painting her myself, but this body work is too much.

I'm guessing it's going to be about $15,000 to fix it..maybe I'm over-estimating so I won't be shocked when I see the bill..


Figures, the panel that could be saved is the one that needs the patch panel.


Yes, that's tree bark.


The worst of the damage..even the C-pillar right at the corner of the glass is pushed in.

As horrible as this is, I think this may be the kick-start I need to get enthused again..I'd been so paranoid about this car that I was probably too afraid to get it back on the road for fear that something would happen to it..but now? I am more determine than ever to get her driving. As soon as she's back from the shop, I'll install the new brakes, the wiring, lighting, new gas tank and get her inspected. I am going to be proud of this car!

[4402tuff4u]

Man that's awful!! Zentelis don't be to hard on yourself. As stated before, thank God you did'nt hit a kid ridding his bike or someone else for that matter. I've been pulling my Charger out of my garage without starting the engine and you know how hard the power brakes are without vacuum? I can't start the engine yet until it gets the cam broken in. I also put wood blocks in the drive way to catch the tire for a full stop. Then when I'm done working on the car, I have to push the Charger back inside with 3 - 4 helpers! I have a good pitch/slope (30*) driveway too!!  You don't need to hear Monday morning quarterbacking - find a better way of moving that Charger and just move on and get it fixed!! Is not the end of the world bud.
One suggestion I'll make is try to back her in the garage - nose of car should be facing downhill, this way if you have an emergency, at least you have half a chance to maneuver her out of harms way. That was my first thought when I knew I was not going to have a running engine while I was working on the Charger. Second get some kind of brake system working, if not, anchor a steel pad eye on the floor and lower her with a come-along (I have this set up too for when my brake lines were off)!   

[THE CHARGER PUNK]

dude thats gotta be the worst, just looking at those pics makes my stomache cringe,(i see how you were right on originality,(whitewalls), at least you can get her fixed a car that rare of 1 of 259, it coulda been alot worse-MATT

[Charger_Fan]

Damn, that sucks. At least nobody was injured, it's a fixable boo-boo & the car wasn't completely destroyed.
Like Brock said, we've all had dumb things we've done in the past...probably plenty more in the future, the thing to do is use it as a learning experience.

[JMF]

Gutted to hear that Zentelis, on the positive side before you posted the pictures I was expecting much worse so in the pictures it looks repairable, I know that won't cheer you up though, think of some of the ones found in fields that have been brought back to show quality, good luck

[dodge freak]

Yes its not too bad, did you say $15,000 or mean to say $1500 ? Those QP can be save, in fact just the deck lid and maybe a few other parts might need to be change. I work at a body shop one summer a long time ago, you be surprise what a good body man can do. Good Luck and when you get it back Do Not run the motor until you have brakes !

[Mefirst]

Damn, that suck... I am sorry about your bad luck... I hope youll get the girl back on the road again...

/Tom

[Highbanked Hauler]

It'll need a few hours on the frame machine and some sheet metal work and you will be OK.I hit a guardrail square on with my Charger and tried to climb over it a few years ago so I know where you are comming from.  Accidents do happen thats why they are called accidents

[blackcharger]

I was moving a '67 Charger I was fixing up without brakes. Just a short distance w/o brakes. Did it several times with no trouble.Did it one time too often and bashed into the side of the trailer I was living in. Put a hole in the tailer, and mashed a fender, but it was junk anyway. Just looking at your pics, the passenger 1/4 looks OK. Trunk lis, tail light panel, priobably trunk floor need replaced. The frame shouldn't tkae much to pull. I worked in a tractor trailer body shop for a while. had big truck come in with really bad frame twists and bends. Put it on a puller and straiget as an arrow.
If you learn one thing from this, don't move the car with out service brakes. even if you han't panicked, the emergency brake won't always stop the car in reverse. Keep us updated.

[Danny Gutierrez]

Ouch that stings!!!  Don't be so hard on yourself.  Stuff happens and nobody was hurt.  Just a few months ago I lost a front wheel becuase I forgot to to tighten the lug nuts after a brake job!!!!!  Sure it's gonna take $$$$ and time but it can be fixed.  When I posted a thread about losing my wheel one of the responses that really got my attention was from Bull, and he stated that nobody is perfect and we all screw up on occasion.  Just be sure to post some pics of the repair so we can all follow along in your Charger's progress.  She's gonna be nice when you're done.

[rt green]

ouch!!! well, all i can say to try and cheer you up is you have a charger and it runs!  some menbers on this board cant say that.    best of luck to ya. i know it'll be sharp when your done

[Shakey]

It don't look too bad.

[Mike DC]

 
I also think it's not TOO bad.  Enough to ruin your month for sure, but not to ruin your whole project.

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Get it professionally pulled on a frame machine.  They can probably get it straight enough to save the original quarters.  You should be able to get this done for less trouble than most of us, since you've got such a low-rust car to work with.  Professional shops will actually want to work on it and actually want to do a good job (unlike when you bring them a rustbucket). 

Just make it clear to the shop, as politely as possible, that you ARE NOT working under any time or money constraints on this job, you just want it fixed as PERFECTLY as possble.  (If you're a young kid, the last thing you want them thinking is that you just wanna get it back on the road as fast as possible.)  Talk to them casually about the amount of resto work you've been doing/planning, and all the detail-oriented resto parts you've been ordering, etc.  Say things like "Man, this thing has already been so much money and so much time . . . at this point I just wanna end up with everything done RIGHT, no matter how much more it costs."


Remember, having a little body filler on the quarters or rear panels isn't inherently evil when it's used for SMOOTHING purposes like it was originally intended for.  Heck, plenty of us are buying used front fenders these days that need just as much straightening as those quarters, and we're happy to get "decent, workable" ones.