This Probably Won't Buff Out

[Too Stroked]

Well guys and girls, the Toaster came home from the collision shop this past Wednesday. I have to say that Austin-Spencer Collision here in Rochester has once again knocked one out of the park. The car looks drop dead gorgeous. They were all worried about the panel gap between the hood & left front fender due some simple looking but hard to get out damage in the used fender I got them. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I reluctantly - in the name of saving money - gave them permission to let is slide. Well, you'd never know there was an issue there. And the rest of the left side looks equally awesome. Even the door jambs are perfect. Unless somebody told me the car was in a wreck, I'd never believe it - and you know how picky I am!

They did run into a serious problem with the aftermarket front bumper cover the insurance company required them to use. After getting it all painted, they couldn't get it to fit for crap. So they went back to the insurance company and got them to OK a factory part which they then had to go all through painting and installing again. So in the end, I ended up with 100% OEM parts.

I still have some work I have to do to it. Again in the name of saving money, I agreed to reinstall the Fog Lights, Driving Lights, license plate bracket and left front tire & wheel. I should have that all done by later this week. Only then will I post up pics - and I will post them up!

[sscully]

Tom,

That is ( more ) great news that it turned out.

The small things you have to do to finish it are not that big of a deal, and you know how to do it in short order.

[Kitzy]

That's great, Tom!  Gotta love when a bar situation works itself out as good as it can.

[Too Stroked]

I’d promised to share some pics of my repaired Scion xB (aka “the Toaster”) a while back, but kind of got tied up on a number of other things. It came back from the collision shop over a month ago and I’ve been letting it sit so the paint had a chance to harden up and I could put something on to protect it. Today I gave it some love in the form of a little Menzerna SIP (just a couple spots) and Carpro Reflect (the whole side) followed by Menzerna Power Lock. (It just wasn’t warm enough to apply the C.A.R. Bullet Proof coating that’s on the rest of the car.)

Overall, I’d say the car is about 95% of what it was before the crash. The body panels all line up just about perfectly despite some concerns from the shop on the hood / front fender gap. The paint is pretty darn good, but has a few bits of dirt in it. The color is a very close, but not perfect match. (Hell, it is sliver after all!) In fact I almost like the metallic in the repaired panels better than the OEM paint because the flakes appear to be just a touch larger and it really makes the finish pop. I didn’t have the shop replace the black tape that covers the area around the windows in an attempt to save a few bucks and I’m regretting that a bit. I may have to buck up and spend the $45 for the kit and do it myself.

All in all, it’s a very good repair job and I’m very happy with the work Austin-Spencer Collision in Rochester, NY did on the car. My insurance company - Travelers – was great to work with too. Hopefully the next few hundred thousand miles on the car will be largely uneventful. See what you think:

[Blown F-150]

Looks really great Tom! I would be super happy with those results.

[Kitzy]

Take care of it.  Toyota just pulled the plug on the brand.

[Too Stroked]

Take fare of it.  Toyota just pulled the plug on the brand.

Yea, now that I own a "classic," I figure the value just doubled!   

[Blown F-150]

on another note, where is all the snow???

[Too Stroked]

on another note, where is all the snow???

I was wondering if anybody would notice that. Truth be told, it's all gone - even the piles from the snow plows. Not a good season for those of us who ski and plow. In fact this may be the first season in 55 years that I don't go skiing.

[Rollingrock]

looking good Tom....classic.

 

[sscully]

That turned out great, glad it worked out in the end.

The only reason we have any snow left are the piles where it was a rain to snow transition and the plows piled it up.  It went into the high teens in the same 36 hr span, so all the very wet snow turned into icebergs.

You guys have a crazier winter than us with the snow then 50* temps swings.  Look for the teens / single digits we are sending your way later in the week.

[Too Stroked]

Well boys and girls, this would be that crash that Brandon & happened upon moments after it happened last week. A guy driving this late model Chevy Cruze ran straight off the road (never lifted / no brakes according to the guy behind him) and straight into a bridge support at just over 60 MPH.







As you can see in the pictures, the bridge support was pretty much 100% unprotected. (This fact was not lost on the NYS Troopers on the scene.) As I mentioned in my shout, Brandon & I arrived moments after it had occurred. Two other motorists had stopped and were franticly trying to find out if the driver was still alive. I was about to send Brandon back to the truck for my glass breaking took when one of the other guys produced a shovel. Using the sharp corner of the shovel, the back window took one small hit to bust out. (There is a trick to this.) I then tried to open the driver’s door through that window, but couldn’t reach the handle, so we pried the back door open and I crawled in. I was able to get between the front seats and carefully reach under the driver’s upper body to pop the lock. Oddly enough, the door popped open. The one guy (a nurse) then held the guy’s head steady until help arrived a couple of minutes later.  The guy was clearly not in good shape because he wasn’t wearing a seat belt, but he was alive when they took him away.

Take aways from this one? Always wear your seat belt! And I have to give GM some props for building a car that would take a hit like this and allow an un-belted driver to survive. I couldn’t believe that the driver’s door actually opened without rescue tools.

[Kitzy]

I think its safe to say that won't buff out either.  My first thought after reading that was I was amazed the front door opened.  Impressive.  I'd be curious to know if he indeed survived after all of that.

[Too Stroked]

According to the local news, he's in rough shape, but will live. Amazing.

[Rollingrock]

Holy crap man.   What a story and scene.   Words escape me right now

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk