another one bites the dust

[DeXteR]

here's the deal...

my wife and i were driving out to her parents' house this evening to help them move a few things. i had a long day and was tired, so i had the seat laid back. next thing i know...

SMASH!!! SCREEEEEECH!!! OH ****! oh no... NO!!!

deer ran across the road and tried to jump over the vert. here's what's left:















fortunately, the only serious injury was michelle's hand. had i been sitting up in my seat, i'd probably be in the hospital right now getting more stitches in my face than i'd like to imagine.



there's 2 ways to look at this: it could have been a lot worse or it could have not happened at all.

it's time's like these when you really start to think about things. this happened for a reason - it's obvious. had we left 3 seconds later or sooner, this wouldn't have happened. had we gone another way or made a stop along the way this wouldn't have happened. well it did happen. there's also a lot of other variables that could have made things a lot worse: if we were going faster, the deer might have come through the windshield, had we lost control, we could have went in the ditch. had i been sitting up, my face would be really cut up and bloody right now.

so why did this happen? i don't know. might be a while before we find out too. but i do know one thing, it's time to take a break from the vert.

oh, i know another thing too: i'm going to start deer hunting in cold blood.

[Ihiryu]

damn, sorry that it had to happen.....I hope Michelle is alright, and I'm definitely glad you were slouching, bad posture saved your face. You are right there are a lot of varibles, like when my s14 died, if my friend's CRX didn't hit mine, then he would have went to the other side of the HWY and probably would have died.

Do you think it's worth saving??

[xxxh28]

glad u guys are alright! even though the damage looks pretty bad, u can still make some money off the car. let us nico members know if you decide to part it out. again, glad u guys are alright and i hope something GREAT is waiting around the corner for you guys.

[nissanconvert]

Holy ****!Awesome that you guys are ok. I must know, tell me the deer didn't walk away from that!

[DeXteR]

Do you think it's worth saving??

at this point in time, no. however, i'm not sure what i'm looking at in repairs. the worst part is that i just swapped in that windshield for HUD last week. i was hoping to put the HUD dash, cluster, and projector in in the next few weeks... so much for that idea.

once i find out what kind of price i'm looking at, i'll make a decision. the wife wants another vert, period. so we might have to make a trip down south to pick up a cleaner one. this one was starting to rust.

... u can still make some money off the car. let us nico members know if you decide to part it out.

no plans to part it out. i've got a coupe that i could transplat everything to and make it a pretty sweet ride. i'm planning on pulling the ka and building it for boost. i've got a couple ca's laying around in my basement that i'd like to put in the coupe if i decide to go that route.

I must know, tell me the deer didn't walk away from that!

well, the only sign of the deer was a few (maybe 5) drops of blood on the hood. by inspection, it looked like the deer bounced off and landed in the ditch next to us and then took off. i don't think it made it very far though. i wasn't about to go track it down. had the deer been nearby, i would have beat the remainder of it's life from it's body, taken it home, and eaten it for dinner - starting with it's heart. we didn't even get a free meal out of this.

anyways, thanks for concern and kindness. i had big plans for restoring this vert... oh well. i'll be sure to keep everyone informed of what's going on with the car. there really isn't a whole lot of parts that would be useful to anyone as the top frame is twisted, the passenger side windows are messed up, and i don't have any of the parts for the automatic top anyway... oh, as for the boot, i'm going to keep that just in case the next vert doesn't have one.

the worst part about this whole ordeal is that we owe another grand on the car and we had PLPD - we just switched policies and were about to put the vert into storage, so we didn't bother with full coverage. i'm going to go talk to my insurance company tomorrow on my lunch break and see what kind of options we have. i don't think it's going to be pleasant.

[nissan_blood]

Thats sucks balls........Your right though coulda been worse still sucks you didnt get any deer jerky out of it......Man aint this some **** I just watched Tommy boy today to.................Anyways we all know what the last thing on that deers mind was......................That windshield Glad you guys are ok

[Ihiryu]

so you selling me the passenger side arm, and some of the interior is out of the question right?? Not trying to be rude or disrespectful, but I kinda need the top arm....

[DeXteR]

so you selling me the passenger side arm, and some of the interior is out of the question right?? Not trying to be rude or disrespectful, but I kinda need the top arm....

i might be able to do the top arm for you, but i'm not going to be wrenching on that car for a while... i'm going to take the wheels off, the flip-up monitor out, and then i might yank the engine and throw it on a stand - i wanted to rebuild it for boost anyway. that'll be about it. come spring time i'll start wrenching on it seriously to swap parts to my coupe.

anyways, can anyone give me a ball-park figure of what repair would cost? i don't need the top or the windshield or doors anything else i could pull from another car. i just want to know what the metal work and such would cost - whether it's beant/beat back out or chopped and welded. i'm going to try to get a few ideas on my lunch break and see if it's worth bringing back.

i'm also going to stop by my insurance company and see what kind of options i have.

PLPD FTL

[Hijacker]

sorry to hear all that dex

i've had 2 run ins with deer in my vert. One left a nice big broken pop up light (hooray for Z32 brakes) and the repaint of the bumper and healight cover cost $250.

The second completely cleared my car. I could barely hear his hoof graze the cloth of the top. Had the car not been lowered, he wouldn't have made the jump >.>

glad to see you're alright though

[madcowvert]

thats suck atleast you guys are ok

[Eikon]

Wow... My condolences Dex.. That sucks!

But, at least you guys came out relatively unscathed. Glad you weren't hurt!

I would guess you'd be able to get that top frame pulled back straight and the car would be ok.

Anything we can do to help, let us know.

[KA-Te]

Wow! I'm so glad you guys are okay! I can't even imagine if the top was down, or if the deer had landed on the soft top!

I'm sorry for the vert' though.

[Sil40_Mayhem]

Car = teh suck.

You and yours safe = teh awesome.

Iife and well-being are far more precious than any concoction of steel, glass, iron, and plastic, though I know you're well aware of that. Best wishes for your lady for the healing of her hand.

[nissan_blood]

Looks like its just that metal rim that goes around the windshield. A buddy of mine works at a body shop ill stop by there when I go cash my check here in like 45 minutes and have him look at it and give me a lowest price and most expensive so you can have a rough estimate

[DeXteR]

i appreciate all the kinds words, and thanks for checking that for me nissan_blood. i just got back to work from my lunch break during which i stopped at a nearby body shop. they're always reluctant to give you a quote without seeing it firsthand, but here's what they told me:

if i brought it in, they could work it for a few hours and get a better idea of how much it would take to straighten it out. [note: the center part can be purchased for around $170 and replaced] or if i could get the windshield loop from another car, they could probably splice it in with a full days work ~$500.

so i'm going to ask here and see if anyone knows how much it would cost for the windshield frame from a junkyard or something. i'm sure shipping would be expensive. like i said before, i'm just trying to see what it might take to put her back on the road.

[nissan_blood]

My friend and I were looking at it at the shop and he said if I was to go cut it off another car and take it up there he would charge $250 plus what ever the windshield would cost. He said if it was sombody else depending on how bad it was he could probably just bend it back and do it that way for cheaper. He estimated around $1200 or less all together just depends what you can get parts for and if you know sombody to do the work Witch seemed about right

[GoinTopless240]

Sorry to hear about your accident. Good thing the injuries were kept to a minimum. Hope the healing process goes ok for your wife's hand. I have to ask.... how big was the deer (if you have an idea)? The reason I ask is just to get an idea of just how strong that windshield frame is. As for the what if's, you could go crazy thinking about that. I was involved in a rollover accident when I was younger (rolled 8 times in a 72' K5 Blazer). Roof collapsed completely to tops of seats and I walked away with a bump on my head - .. hmm my wife would say that explains alot about me. You may have just been involved with an attemped deer suicide... he may have been the stupid one that didn't know how to jump right..... good thing for you... ... Great to hear you both are ok... Hope to see you back in a Vert.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

Damn that sucks indeed...glad you and yours are safe.

Damn deers!

Before I read what happened (I tend to look at pics first then read)...I thought something fell on top your car...but yea...there's a vert out there waiting to be sold so no worries man

[94_240sx]

Read the post and slowly scrolled down for pics and... HOLY ****!!!

No matter what, people come first, so good thing that you and your wife are okay. Cars can be repaired or sell and buy new one later. I hope you fix your car soon.

[slownslurious]

now is a chance to chop the top.

[DeXteR]

i still haven't had a chance to have a professional come out and look at the car - i'm sure as hell not going to drive it anywhere with the top down and no windshield as it's getting pretty cold up here in michigan. when i do get around to getting a real estimate, i'll make a final decision. right now though, i'm thinking this is going to be the donor car for my coupe.

with that idea in mind, my wife and i started combing the internet for a new vert. all i have to say is damn you california, florida, and texas! there seemed to be a lot of verts for sale in those states. i could only find a handful of verts for sale that are less than 1000 miles away. it's also looking like it's going to be between 3-5 grand too.

we did see one in san diego and the guy was only asking 1300 for it. so we started making plans for a road trip... our total cost was going to come to under 3 grand, but we'd have to take a bunch of time off work and then we have to worry about making a nearly 2000 mile cross-country trip in the middle of winter. i think we'll just wait until spring and see what we can find. in the mean time, we're just saving for a new vert.

oh yeah, michelle's hand is doing ok. she has her full range of motion again, but it's going to leave an ugly scar on her knuckle. it's too bad she wasn't a hand model and had a 10-million dollar insurance policy on her hands...

[Florida240sx]

If you find any vert's in Florida, I can go inspect it for you. I'm in Central Florida north of Orlando. If you want to pay for a plane ticket and gas I could drive up to you maybe, I like road [email protected] Justin

[slownslurious]

there was a guy with a white vert here in TX for sale with a blown ka otherwise good shape he wanted $1200 for it I dunno if he still has it or not or what became of it. I wanted it but he wouldn't take what I was offering.

[DeXteR]

If you find any vert's in Florida, I can go inspect it for you. I'm in Central Florida north of Orlando. If you want to pay for a plane ticket and gas I could drive up to you maybe, I like road [email protected] Justin

i really appreciate the offer and may very well take you up on that. from what i hear the drive from florida through georgia is pretty boring, but then between there and mid ohio it's pretty sweet because of the mountain drive. but from mid ohio to central michigan, it's boring again. all in all, it'd i think it'd be a nice trip.

i'll hit you up in the spring - unless i come across a deal i can't refuse.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

from what i hear the drive from florida through georgia is pretty boring

Well from Florida through Georgia it's really pretty much open roads so if you have a fast car...

I'm not saying speed btw...I mean it'll be more enjoyable.

[94_240sx]

the drive from florida through georgia is pretty boring

Drove from Atlanta to Key West before. Yup, it's boring... But once you get to FL, gets better.

[slownslurious]

georgia is boring but traffic seems to move 90 mph on the major highways and police seem largely apathetic. so its got that going for it. if you find one here in TX I'll run it out your way as well for the same deal, gas + plane tickets.

it just needs to have a working radio.