I wrecked my Charger

[70charginglizard]

  Man that sucks but like most everyone else here is saying "at least you were not hurt" Things can be repaired and like you said. Its given you the inspiration to proceed forward with the restoration then there must have been a reason for it happening. Now you can go forward without any second thoughts.
Good luck and were all here for you if you need any advice.

[DodgeChargerNeeded]

Thats one thing that freaks me out about cars, especially old cars is having poor brakes or no brakes at all. Very scary because you have little to no control over a big car like a charger and on a slope it spells trouble but accidents do happen and you learn from them.

[Blakcharger440]

Yep, that sucks but live and learn and then move on. You will get it fixed and back on the road for some serious driving! 

[TheGhost]

Hell, some of us (definatly not me...) still make mistakes like that.


Don't be too hard on yourself.

[Steve P.]

Just be glad it didn't take off on you while you were IN the garage with the door open!!!!

What color will you be painting her??

[Zentelis]

Thanks for the well wishes, guys!
I'm waiting to hear from the body shop..it'll probably be next week 'till the estimator gets back to me. I asked them not to do anything until I talk to him personally. They're going to want to replace the bumper, tail lights, gas tank, etc, but I already have all those parts in my garage.

Mike, I did originally impress upon them that they should take their time and do it right, not fast. Thanks for the tip about the bondo, though, I'll be sure to tell them that!

Let me tell ya, it still hurts to look at those pictures.

Steve, I'll be painting her black at first..probably a single-stage paint until I get the hang of it. Then I'll try clear-coating with a QQ1 blue-pearl flake (to retain a "nostalgic" link to the original color )

Again, thanks alot for the support..I was terrified I'd be kicked out of the community!

[Brock Samson]

them are some nice GTs in the pic..
them yours?..

(again I'm sorry for your Chargers' accident.  )

[Zentelis]

yeah, the yellow Stealth is my mom's. The red Stealth TT and VR-4 Spyder are mine. My mom also owns a pearl yellow Spyder SL..only 5 in that color were ever produced..

what can i say, my family likes rare cars

[Zentelis]

Update:
The body shop called today:
"It's pretty bad"
and
"We can't get parts"

They want me to find the parts, then _maybe_ they can fix it.

I was looking for donor cars yesterday, or part-outs, but I didn't find any that weren't already sold..
where the heck do I find body parts for this car?

I've looked at Shermans...but are they going to have everything I need? The body shop didn't even tell me what I'd need..they just said "we can't save any of the metal". This was a phone message, so I'm going to have to wait all damn weekend until I can call them on monday..I feel sick enough..i don't want to wait 3 days to call them.

[blackcharger]

I wouldn't be so quick to buy the "can't save any of the metal" As others have said, at least the passenger 1/4 looks saveable. The trunk lis,tail light panel, etc, yeah they're done for.Definetly get a second, maybe a third opinion of your baby.Between year one, Paddock, Shermans, and used parts, there is none of that damage that can't be replaced. And it doesn't have to cost you your first born for the parts. Deals are out there. Shop around for them.

Dave

[dodge freak]

Find another shop ! Pay them for the tow and what they did and cut your lost before it keeps going. They might charge you for storing it over the weekend, so what, pull it out of there! A good shop would have at least call and spoke to you. They must just do insurance work on new cars. Find a shop that likes to work on old cars. They are just going to rip you off.

[dodge freak]

We took a 2000 Buick to a rad shop 2 years ago cause it was running hot sometimes. They call a hour later said the intake gasket was leaking and it cost $700 to fix it. I ran over there and paid them $65 for looking at it and took it home. I started looking at it myself, find out from the shop books the fan has a low speed and a high speed setting. I bought new Fan relays for it 3 @ $20 each and it was fine for 2 years till we sold it a few weeks ago. This shop was great 5 years ago now there was new guys in it and I would never go back.

[terrible one]

I also think that you should take it to a different shop, at least to get their opinion. If worse comes to worse, you still shouldn't have much problem finding metal between repro parts, this board, and Ebay. Deck lids come up on Ebay pretty frequently. The tail panel shouldn't be too hard to find either.

[89MOPAR]

   That sucks, probably anything you do bad to the car after this can't match the pain and embarrassment, so at least it's over with.

Bad for the loss of survivor also. I owned one, and the responsibility to keep it as pristine as possible is rough, no doubt.

That is why I would never buy, rent , or  live in a house with an angled driveway near the garage.

At least you did not hit either Stealth / 3000....

Was it insured ??

[Charger_Fan]

I agree with these guys, definitely get a second (or 3rd) opinion.

[chrisII]

ill add a bonehead move of my own. a few years ago i was unloading my race car from the trailer in my driveway. I had unchained it and for whatever reason wanted to just move it back a few inches.so i pop it out of park and give it a small push. the car gets onto the trailer ramp and i toss it back in park...too late its not guna stop! it did as it hit my neighbors fence and the corner of my faradge at the same time. messing up the fence pretty badly and really busting up the corner of my 2 year old (at the time) garadge. it didnt hurt the car, but did nothing to help the neighbors who already did not like the race car! i was able to fix the garadge (itll never be right but ooh well) and the fence but i can deffinately relate to fealing like a bonehead..ruins your whole day.

[dodge freak]

I am sure my neighbors love my car also. Once my Holley's needle  clog up and my car stalled coming down the street. Was able to open the hood , take the needle and seat out and put in back in and push the secondary pump once to help start it. It fire back up but I felt like a idiot the whole time working on it. All my neighbors have 1-3 year old cars, that never do that. Cheer up, you will get it fix and move on. Still don't think it looks so bad.

[Mopar440+6]

Zentelis, I am so sorry to hear about your Charger. I also wrecked my car (not the Charger) this week. I sent you a PM about some of the parts. If you need any help let me know.

[70charginglizard]

http://www.chargerspecialties.com/

Should have some of the needed sheet metal...if you decide not to try to salvage the bent stuff.

[70charginglizard]

http://www.jimsautoparts.com/body.htm


These guys sell a lot of sheet metal as well for the charger.

Good luck and keep your chin up.

[4cruzin]

Thats a sad story . . .    Hopefully not too much to fix.   

[sixpack70]

I have three bonehead driveway stories. One I had my wifes 97 cobra in the driveway, I pulled the ebrake but didnt have it all the way up. My driveway is slanted and I needed to jack up one side to look at a suspension part and spin the tire to check for any issues. Well it was fine and I lowered it. It hit the ground and I took my hand off of the car, it started to roll. I said a cuss word or two and ran around the front of the car as it had too much momentum for my 220lbs to stop. I was able to get int othe drivers seat and slam the brake.

Other story was with my 69 mach 1. I had it in the driveway idling with the ebrake on. I went to run through my front door and open the garage so I could park the car. When I went into the garage I noticed I didnt hear the car outside anymore. I though oh no someone snagged it in the 10 seconds I was walking through the house. I open the garage door and hear the slight rumble of my car. I rolled down the driveway and down the street. It hit a curb and stopped in some rocks narrowly missing a palm tree. I felt so stupid! I was lucky there was no damage.

Now the third one is the charger. I was unloading it off of a trailer first day I had it. It had brakes when it was loaded on the trailer, but had st some point decided to fail along the trip. So we pushed the car off of the trailer and it didnt stop. It slammed into the carport support smashing the rear quarter in. Its not too bad and I can fix it with some patient bodywork. Oh and last thing, I drove this car around the block without brakes. A little exciting but I used the clutch and gear to slow down. Didnt move faster than idle.

Lesson I learned, wont do that crap anymore! I hope you can find a way to get your car fixed. I know how you feel when your car gets damaged. It really sucks and can get you down. Keep your head up and look for parts. You never know, you might find more than just sheetmetal when you look and shop around. Could end up to be a great experience.

[Zentelis]

lizard, thanks for those extra links!

I just got back from the body shop. Pretty much everything needs to be replaced except the passenger 1/4 panel. He's also going to put the patch panel on for me.
He may be able to save the valance corners, too.
He ballparked $4000..but that's before he's gotten underneath.

I asked him if it can be fixed and he said "absolutely. The only thing that would prevent it from being fixed is a rusted frame"..and as far as I know, the frame is _not_ rusted.
He also said I was kinda lucky that the rear valance was so rusted..it took alot of the impact and probably saved the car from even more damage.

I'm still worried sick, though..he's going to put it up in the air today and get a good look to give me a proper estimate. He said $4000, but I'm guessing he'll say $8000.

Here's a little peice of news that made me feel a whole lot better..the driver's side quarter may not be original..he saw a seam under the C-pillar that indicates a replacement weld. I know it sounds silly, but I felt alot of relief when I heard it may not be the original panel. The passenger panel is original, but can be saved.

Here's the catch..he wants me to put brakes on it before they repair anything. They have to drive it up onto the frame machine and won't do it without brakes. I asked if he could put them on for me and he said it'd be cheaper for me if I towed it home and did it myself..that seemed like a pretty upstanding thing to say.
So, I'm ordering the kit today..It's gonna cost me a little extra in interest (I was waiting for a 0% intro credit card), but I just want to get this whole repair finished ASAP.

Thanks again for the support, guys..your stories have reminded me that I'm not alone
I'll keep everyone updated.

[moparguy01]

You can fix a rusted frame. We do it all the time at work. just did it on a 67 Mustang. rear rails and front rail, did a set on a 67 camaro not long ago either. You just gotta find shops who do this stuff everyday. Collision shops dont do good restoration work. Not trying to dig you guys in a collision shop or anything, but usually they dont want to do old cars cause its too much work and they dont make as much money off it.

[dodge freak]

They want you to take it out of there to have the brakes fix, great. Then drive to another shop and let them look at it. $4,000 is alot of money to just get it back like it was. Thats no paint right ?

I have no idea if you live in a small or big city, but there must be at least one other shop near by. Where I live by the Detroit area you can find all types of shops and all types of prices. The best are not the highest price also. I drove my car in to Detroit to have it painted, came out great for half the price the shops right by my house wanted.