I had hoped that my first post would be to show off the cool new sound system I hoped to put in, but life had other ideas.

As far as accidents go, it was good, everyone walked away okay.

Earlier, I had a case of food poisoning and was on the way home from the hospital (already a really fun Saturday), and didn't make it back... and because I was ill when I left for the hospital, I forgot my phone, so I can't post the grisly damage pics. I will update tomorrow with pics after I get a ride to the body shop where the car was towed after the accident.

I swerved to avoid deer around a corner on highway 9, instead, I hit a Jaguar parked on side of road. Almost no damage to the Jag, my front end is pretty well crumpled up. If the car isn't salvageable as a whole, I want to see that as much of it as possible can get put to use on other 914s.

The problem is that I am living in an apartment and don't have a place to store the car. If "totaled" I will need to sell it; if so, I really want to sell to someone with an interest in parting it out in the local to Santa Cruz/ San Francisco bay area.

If anyone local is interested, the car is a White '75, L-jet, 1.8 liter engine. I bought it from my brother (mechanical genius, he will be part of the team building the giant Tesla Coil at Burning Man in a month or so), who had updated to a stiffer suspension. I was not only upgrading the sound system, but was just starting to get after the always ready to attack rust monster, but I think the body parts not damaged in the accident are in fairly good shape. Doors, windows, rear trunk all fine. one of the rear Targa top latches snapped it's pin off, I think the right front fender is straight as well. The engine and tranny are well used, but serviceable. There are a lot of stock interior parts, some in better condition than others. Mostly in good shape except the seats and upper console, both of those are worn. I had been planning on getting replacements from 914 Rubber.

If anyone needs something from my car, you can email me. Once I have an idea of the damage, I can let you know if parts are available from the car. Also, anyone in the area that can help me make those decisions is welcome to contact me as well. I am out of my knowledge zone here, this was my first accident, and frankly, am not the best mechanic.

osyryousartis@me.com

Wish I had better news for my first post to the forum.

If my 914 is done, I will be looking for another one. I am very impressed by the way this one took the damage but kept me safe.

--Whitney Mic

Wow! At least all ok, sucks tho as far as the teener.

glad you're ok. take it one step at a time...maybe yours will be easily repaired..

What ever happens I hope you recover and figure out something for your Teener.

How bad is the chassis? I could use one.

Horrible! Sorry to hear about your wreck. Glad you are ok though! I'll be in SF next weekend. Looking for a few parts. Might have some to
E to meet up if you have the car available. I'll shoot you an email. Best of luck to you.

Thanks for all the sympathetic replies.

I haven't even had a chance to take a close look at the car, I don't know whether it can be repaired. If I can repair, I will.

It will be a few days before I know, I haven't had a chance to do more than report the accident to the insurance co. Hopefully AAA will be as good as their word, and all will be well.



When I have an idea what I will be doing with the car, I will post that here.

--Whitney Mic

I have one

Dang sorry to hear, but glad your ok! I live in Boulder Creek and have a red 914, I think I saw your car on 9 yesterday, is it white?

At least you have the impact bumpers. Maybe it will not be as bad as you think.

Sad day. I think you need to post some photos and let the members chime in on the best way to approach the next step. What's the status of your insurance coverage? The

Mine has the black and white stripe on the doors with the thin - thick - thin stripe pattern and Porsche lettering over the white paint job. So if you saw that, then yeah, it was me. Halfway between Felton and Ben Lomond.

You may actually be the guy who can take a look at the car and tell me if it's worth salvage. In fact, the guy in the car I hit said he knows someone in the that has had and worked on 914's in the area. He was going to look the guy with the interest in teeners up for me.

As I said clumsily above, if I can't repair it, I want to sell to someone in the area that has the place and time to part it out, recover and sell all the vintage and working parts.

If mine is toast, I will also be looking for a '74 in the best condition I can afford, but hoping still I can have this one repaired, hopefully by someone who shares the love of 914s

I will be going up tomorrow to Ladd's Body and Towing in Felton to document the damage on my car. If you are interested in anything to do with the car, you can email me, and maybe we can meet up some time. If you have no time tomorrow then some time in the near future, down in SC.

I am still processing what all happened yesterday, and have no idea when I will know the extent of the damages. I don't want to leave that up to the insurance adjuster, either, I want the eyes of someone with knowledge of my type of car to help make a decision.

I'd be willing to pay something for that kind of help, you know?

-- Whit

I think I will be okay:

I am paid up with AAA through March 17, 2017. My first accident at fault in 40+ years of driving, the only other accident I've been involved with was a bookend to this one, about six years ago I had a '93 Honda Civic get creamed while parked in the public parking garage by my place. I wasn't in the car at the time, so AAA wasn't even involved in that settlement (I have a few words I could use to describe the experience I had with Farmers Insurance Company, but I don't want to get banned on my first day at the forum).

Once I get up to the body shop, I will post some pics. It's pretty bad, though.

Once again, thanks to everyone for the kind words and sympathy. Been kind of depressed today, and you all have helped a lot.

Cheers! , and well met!

-- Whit

sorry man! but you swerved to miss a deer and hit a parked car glad your ok but god damn....thats almost as bad as hitting the brakes for a duck ROB .no wait its worse you actually crashed...glad your ok hope you learned something from it
Mike

I could have been a lot worse off if the deer decided to jump in front of the car as I passed. I've seen pics of moose through windshields in accidents that killed the driver; maybe over cautious, but I figure the mass of my car is enough smaller that if I hit the deer, I could end up the same way.

Safer to bang a nice wide bumper with mine than risk a skittish deer jumping the wrong way at the right moment...

But yeah, I can see your point...

I would much rather have hit a duck, and I like ducks...

--Whit

Glad you are okay ...

Hi, time to update, I guess.

Dealing with the insurance company is as much fun as you'd imagine...won't go into all the details, but missed the first call from the adjuster, and left several messages that were not returned.

Finally called and talked to another agent, and was able to rent a car at about 5:45 this afternoon, minutes before the rental place closed.

The body shop yard closed at 5:00, so I have to wait until tomorrow to get pics of the damage and recover the tools and stuff I don't want to leave in the car.

The good news is that the tow company is also a body shop bonded by AAA, so if the car can be repaired there, I will have a lifetime guarantee on the work. I just want to be sure the guy looking it over realizes I know there are some nice parts on the beast.

I will have to check with my brother, but I think the set of rims alone are worth $1,000 to $2,000.

I will be sure to get pics of those for identification as I don't know what they are, but know he spent some good money on them. At least three of them should be fine; fingers crossed on the driver side front wheel...

Stay tuned campers, my triage pics will be up tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks again for all the kind words and for the hearty welcome.



-- Whit

I can see your point as well! scary either way,,,but you dont have to pay for the deer...good luck
MikeC

Had one a few years ago where when the car hit the deer it flipped the animal and sent it feet first through the front windscreen.

This severely injured the deer but did not kill it, so it layed there on the hood and dashboard flailing and kicking the driver and passenger in their faces with its hoves.

Life is dangerous.

Glad your Ok.

Well, I went up and took a look at the car this afternoon.

Thanks to Shrek for coming down from Boulder Creek to confirm my suspicions. In my situation, I will not be able to repair the car. I live in an apartment, and parked the Teener in the public garage next door. The body inside the fender was heavily impacted. The body shop expert said he could see $10,000 cost in parts, and it would need a donor car for the replacement metal. He doesn't work on or even try to assess vintage cars; he said he would tell AAA "the right things" to help me out and get a good evaluation by experts.

I only took a couple of pics, the car was already parked in tight at the back of the yard. I will have to figure out how to post them, I haven't opened a flickr account or anything. Thought I could just upload from the phone...

So the rest of the car is something nice. Shrek identified the rims as Fuch 2.0's. The interior is well worn -- roll bar vinyl was cracked -- the stock Blaupunkt is missing one knob and the chrome outer ring but is there. All very stock and not messed with except the face of the center console unit, which has a couple of extra holes drilled for switches.

So I have no idea when the experts will be out to look at the car. I don't even have all of my stuff out, as I couldn't get the doors open as parked. I can't even post pics here, and need to get better ones of the parts I know people want to have.

What I can do is send my pics by email to anyone intersted who has the ability to move the car and wants to make some profit from parting out the car. You would have to be ready to transport the car on fairly short notice once the insurance company decides it has been totaled.

If someone wants to buy the car at that point, I would have to buy back the car from AAA and then be liable for storage until it has been moved.

I hate to admit this, but I would have to sell for salvage if I can't find someone to buy.

I also probably shouldn't say this to potential buyers, but I would take a loss on the car to see the parts in good hands again...

So let me know if any of you folks can take advantage of my crisis to make something good happen here.

-- Whit

Where are the pics?

I didn't post them because I don't have anything set up on line with an online pic sharing service, and the forum wants a URL.

My email is in the first post, I will send pics to you if you email me directly.

Tomorrow I will look in to uploading the pics somewhere on line so I can post them here. Too late to do that now.

No really good shots of the damage or parts anyway. Car was parked in too tight at the lot to get a decent picture.


-- Whit

Yep my thoughts too???

I'm not sure why you don't load the pics up here like everyone else does? I can take pics right from my phone (connected to my PC via USB) and dump them on this site.

Would like to see your car to assess damage. 2 pages w/o a pic; gotta hit you with:

email me your pictures 914eco@gmail.com and I will post them here for you if you can't get to load.

Okay guys, sorry for the lack of pics, I couldn't find a way to upload them in the thread from my phone. I tried to send the few I have to Garold (thanks!) but the email server currently has issues. If it gets sorted out and sent, I'm sure he will post them for us all.

SHREK914 confirmed what I knew, I don't have the place, or the expertise to fix this myself. The body shop guy says he sees $10K in retail parts, and the need for a donor and major surgery. Even if I wanted to afford that, there would be no way I could take on the labor cost involved in repairing the damage.

I am hoping to get a decent settlement from AAA, then if I can arrange it, buy back the car and sell it to a local 914World member who is interested in some of the parts on the car. He said he'll take what he can use and pass the rest on to others. If we can work out the logistics; I don't know if the insurance company will get things finished soon enough to make this deal happen. I can find a way to store it for a very short time if anyone is interested in the whole thing after seeing the pics (if technology will bless us and work), but will make the deal already I'm working on now, if we can do it in time.

I am sure that the parts will be available in one way or another if the deal goes through anyway. I think both the buyer and I share the goal of getting as much of that car back on the road as is possible.

--Whit

Just a quick note: I finally did manage to get that email out to Garold.

Hopefully he can satisfy your collective curiosity soon. I will be heading up after work to take some better pics, and will figure out how to upload them tonight when I get back.

-- Whit

Here are some pics emailed to me.

Thanks Garold, that's my baby

--Whit

Good luck with the insurance co.

Click to view attachment

Hope that works, I have to figure out how to resize the pic file. That is a better shot of the car at the yard, I guess.

I will post a pic of the interior, then will see if I can figure out how to resize the images.

I feel old.

-- Whit

Click to view attachment

The car has all the VDO gauges, I was going to do an upgrade to the sound system and add a stereo head in the console area. Had great plans to build the system so it would be hidden when not in use, and wanted to keep the OEM Blaupunkt in the dashboard.

I was just getting to the point where I had the money and time (but no place) to get thinking about restoring it. I have the Ospho and primer to go after the surface rust, and yesterday I received the four jack stands I ordered so I could get it off the ground and work on it.

Timing is everything...

--Whit

Oh s#ht not good ,feel for you looked like a pretty good car,I have seen the old crash tests on these cars they are pretty safe,try that in a mid seventies Toyota....
Hope you get a good buy back from the insurance company,good luck

Yeah, it was a great car. My brother had the suspension and everything just right.

I think things will go okay. The man at the body shop said he doesn't work on them and wouldn't even try to estimate the job for AAA if they asked, but would say the "right things" to get the proper people down to appraise the car.

I *hope* that I have something worked out to get the car taken care of by someone here, who will grab some stuff from the car and pass the rest on. That would be some comfort to me, and what I want to happen with the car. My other options are to take the insurance deal and sell it to the body shop guy, who will $ell the parts for as much as he can get, or let it go to salvage and know it will probably be crushed.

You can bet I will do my best to sell it here if I can. My offer for the price is that the buyer covers the cost of the buy-back from AAA, and maybe the MOMO steering wheel.

The big question for the sale I hope to make is timing. I have no good place to store it, and don't want to pay salvage yard fees for long.

I don't think renting a storage space would be practical. With the front wheels cocked to the left and caught against the body, it would be too hard to get the car in and out of a narrow space safely.

--Whit

Is the suspension messed up or is just the sheet metal around the front R wheel pressed against the wheel keeping it from steering? If the latter a few minutes with a sawzall would free the wheel up and the car could be rolled around and even driven.

Hi Jeff, thanks for the advice.

I'm not sure how bad it is down underneath. I think the strut may be sprung. If I could do that it would be really good news though. I will see if I can find out today.

By the way, I had planned to email you soon; I was wiring the car for sound, and would have been asking you about what would be involved in moving the fuse box and battery to the front trunk, and to see about a harness or extension that would do that for me. Probably would have been out of my price range, at least until I dealt with the rust monster.

I really wish we could have met under better circumstances...

--Whit

That would be as simple as relocating your heart and stomach to your backpack. Don't even think about such a thing.

Do both doors open and close OK? How does the top fit?

About what my brother said when I told him I wanted to do that... it was just an idea I was exploring.

I would probably tried to do nothing more than move the fuse panel to the other side of the steering column anyway, after I looked at the huge pile of electrical spaghetti attached in that area.

I did have a very organized plan to add jumper wires in to the harness so that I would have enough free play to put the fuse box elsewhere in the cabin. I have a little more experience in wiring than mechanics, so I am pretty sure I would have been okay doing just that much.

Moot now, though.

My brother feels my pain and says if I can find another one, he will help me set it up right. He thought I would like a powder blue '74, if I could find one.

I think he has a huge guilt trip going because he kept putting off helping me with the car for his other (and more important) projects. Anyway, when I found the skin style option on the forum three weeks ago, I chose the L51P style because I liked that color best of the options. Funny how that works...

Not sure when I can do it, but if anyone has word on that powder blue '74, please contact me, I hope to be in the market for one soon.

I think I will call the new one Waldo, as I expect it will be very hard to find...

--Whit

The right door seems okay, the left seems to have dropped about a quarter inch in the back for some reason. There are small spots of surface rust just starting to show, but I see no bubbles or other sign of serious problems.

The Targa top is in fairly good shape, but the driver side rear lock lever snapped the holding pin in the accident, which also tore up one of the new, expensive rubber replacement Targa top window seals I bought from Bontempi a couple of months ago.

The chrome around the engine bay and windows is in very good shape as well, just putting it out for all to see... The windshield has wiper scrape marks, I think they are just from years of rubber wearing on the glass. I don't know if that can be polished out.

About ten years ago some idiot my mom was with saw the *original* under door trim panels off the car because my brother was working on the Teener, and during a yard clean up the boy friend helpfully took the panels from beside the house and put them in the dumpster. They were gone before my brother came home from his gig at the Tech Shop.

I am still hoping to hear back from the prospective buyer I have been talking to on the forum, and I promised him first refusal if he wants to buy the car. IF I make that deal (and I will do whatever I can to make it happen), I will let him know if you are interested, and you can work it out with him. I don't want to profit from the sale, in the hope that the parts that are usable from the car go to people who need them for their restoration projects at a fair price from the person that does buy the car. The buyer has said he wants to take a few parts and pass the car on to another owner with the same mind set, to let them can get what they *need* and sell to the next owner, cycle to repeat until as much of the car as possible is back on the road, making the recipient cars that much more beautiful, more loved, and more fun to drive.

I don't want to disappoint you, but I know that I can't deal with parting the car out without any storage available.

I don't want to take anything from the car as a whole that will make the car less attractive to someone who wants to buy the corpse whole.

If I can sell the car here in the communal garage, I'm sure you can work a deal with the new owner to get what you want.

--Whit

Hi everybody,

Time for an update:

I have been told by my prospective buyer that he won't be able to get back to my area for two weeks. He was in the area last Wednesday and Thursday, the insurance company called Thursday at noon to say that they don't want to pay $80.00 daily storage fees, and I need to move the car by Monday.

This was too late for the transfer to be arranged with the buyer. If I can arrange storage for the car, he might still want it, but suggested that I put the word out again on the forum to say that if anyone can get the car before he gets back to buy it, that they should make me an offer.

I know that there is some really nice equipment on the car, and have asked my brother for a list of the extras he installed when he owned it. I do know there are at least *three* good Fuchs 2.0 four spoke rims on the car. I suspect the fourth is probably okay as well, if it can be removed from the car without damage. I think that's around $1,500-$2,000 value alone. There are also Koni adjustable struts in the back that should be fine. Transmission is good, it was time to adjust the clutch, other than that it shifted well. Lots of fair to good quality vintage body dashboard and cabin parts.

The other side: Paint is oxidized, some surface rust, but nothing I can see as far as deep corrosion. You would probably be refinishing and repainting body parts anyway, so not too much a loss there. The engine is closer to overhaul than rebuilt condition. Not sure of the hell-hole's condition, but I don't think it is too bad. The car has been in Santa Cruz for a few years, and has been exposed to some salt air, but is really in pretty good shape except for what I did to the driver front end.

I know I lose a lot for that damage, but from what I have been seeing on the Craigslist ads, I think this would have been snapped up fast at $5,000-$8,000 as a running restorable project car (I would have put some effort to make it look better before I put in on the block, of course). I might have put it on at a slightly higher price, just to bring it down to where it would sell. If I had ever wanted to sell it, that is...

SHREK914 could give a better perspective on the value as someone who knows Teeners. He has actually seen my car on the wrecker's lot.

While I am willing to take a loss in the pocketbook to get this car recycled and reused by the right people, I can't afford to hold it forever. Please contact me if you think you can help.

I still don't know what the buy back price will be on the car, but will negotiate a fair price from that number once they give it to me.

I know there must be someone out there who can help me turn my personal nightmare into someone else's good dream. Let's make it happen.

-- Whit

Thought I should post a pic of one of the Fuchs rims.

They will need media blasting:

Click to view attachment

Message or email if interested.

-- Whit

Hi again,

Garold was considerate of my situation, and sent a PM to reconsider the value of the car as it appears on the board. I will post a slightly edited version of my reply to him, as I think I was unclear in the message I left earlier:

"Thanks for the message. From your post, it is clear that I did not communicate my thoughts well...

I was trying to say that I thought I could get that value if I sold before I killed the car, I don't expect to get that now.

The price I put up for the rims may be high, I didn't see any for sale when I was looking on line, and had been given the $500 as an approximate value to the buyer, not the price I expect to get in a sale for parts.

At this point, all I am trying to do is make this car attractive to all comers, $3,000 is as much as I would expect to get on it. Fair value, or a loss to a point, is fine with me.

I want it in the hands of someone that will get the value, or share the parts at a lower profit, by putting the pieces of my car onto the cars of others that love the model as I do."


Let me add to that: the list of parts I am asking for from my brother is not an attempt to justify raising my price, but is to be informational to any interested party as to what is on the car at the $3,000 (or less!) level. (update) Just heard from my brother, other than the rims and upgraded suspension, the rest of the car is stock, he just kept it well tuned. Take that into consideration if you are in a position to help me out. (end update)

I am not trying to profit, I am trying to keep vintage parts in circulation and doing so in time pressured situation. The last thing I expect to do is make a buck on the car, that is not my goal. I feel bad enough already because I killed it...


(second update) Further advice from Jeff Bowlsby leads me to think I should just say straight out to people that if you are interested, make me any offer. I don't know what the buy back will be for the car, but if I get any offer that can get me near that price, I will consider your bid seriously. (end second update)

--Whit

Well, yesterday was the day.

In the end, I was unable to get anyone here to offer on the car. I'm not surprised, it looked worn. If I'd had about two more weeks, I would have had a chance to get after the rust monsters.

I had a handshake deal with the body shop man, but the insurance company set the buy back price too high.

Mixed news that, as I received more than I expected for the car, but had to sell it to be auctioned by the insurance company.

I did okay though, as my brother sold it to me on the cheap side, I guess I profited, money wise. Probably get almost twice what I paid.

Since all I am left to do for my lost and lamented '75 is to wait for a couple of checks from the insurance company, I thought I'd put this out here (I know there's a better place in the forum, but I'm updating/ending this thread).



I have been looking at the "914s for sale" forum and looking at the Craigslist ads. I have seen the one I *really* want , and it's one that with the insurance settlement, I can afford, I hope.

There are a couple of cars I'd love to have but are too expensive for my wallet, and there are a few others I've seen I would love to have, if the dream car I want won't be coming my way...

As I don't have a place to work on a car, I'm hoping to buy something in good enough trim that won't need a lot of work to get and keep it running. I have a garage where I kept the old car (yeah, I did. The paint on my car was so badly oxidized in places, when I washed the car I used just a bit of diluted cleaning solution on soft towels. I was hoping to keep as much paint on her as I could until I could afford the real rust repair and re-spray)

I am now looking for a '74 with a straight body and light color paint (Olympic Blue a plus), and in as good condition as I can afford to buy. I am looking to spend around $10,000, and will go higher to buy the car I want.

I like the stock look outside, the interior doesn't have to be stock, but the closer it is, the better.

No wheel flares, no 914-6 conversions, no weird body mods or race mods. Clean.

I bought the '75 *with* the oxidized paint job on the promise that as soon as I could afford it, I would get the car painted. I came pretty close to doing that, but things didn't work out the way I had hoped. I am able to keep a good paint job from getting as bad as the one on my car.

I want to be clear about that, because the car I really like is a special beast, and I don't want the current owner thinking that I was responsible for all of the neglect you can see in my old car. I hope to convince him that I can take care of the treasure that he wants to sell *to the right person,* and he's probably seen this thread... so he's seen my car



I may not be able to convince him I am worthy of his car now.

but I hope I can

-- Whit



PS: Thanks to everyone who chimed in on the thread, both PM and open posts. You all have helped through a bad and stressful week for me. I hope you will wish me luck in purchasing the perfect car...

-- Whit

Bummer but not so bummer I suppose.

I think you pushed people away with your values, a set of bare unrestored 4 lug Fuchs goes for $500. Parters want to pay half of retail to cover labor & make a paycheck.

Out of curiosity, what was the Body shop offer and Ins buy back price?

Yeah, I sure didn't mean to drive people off, and I know now that I should have reposted instead of editing when I realized that people thought my prices were high. I was going by what I had heard for values, and had a couple of PMs letting me know what you said above.

Once I realized that, I tried to make it clear all I wanted was an offer, any offer, to try and keep it from auction, but I didn't bump the thread, I just edited my previous post. That was a mistake.

So yeah, I could have done a better job at this. Considering the buyback, I don't think the car would have sold though.

The settlement on the car was $4,350, the buyback was $2,850. The body shop guy didn't want it at that price. I am supposed to be getting another check from the insurance company for $1,910 for tow, storage, etc, I settled with the body shop/tow for $990.

I did okay on the deal, much better than I expected. I have enough money on the side to afford a much better car to replace the one I smacked. I was going to put that money into having the rust scraped and repainting the car, now I can put that money towards getting a car that doesn't need that kind of work to make it nice.

I can even afford to ship the 914 that I really like across the country, if I can work a deal for it...

I'd rather drive it back, but with a car that nice, I'd only want to put miles on when I could take it on the most perfect drives, such as down Highway One through Big Sur to San Luis Obispo, or up the same road to San Francisco, Marin and the Redwood coast. I would want to get some glamour shots of the car up in Yosemite National Park, as the roads up to and through the Sierras are a great drive.

You know, the kind of roads advertising companies use to shoot the commercials that make you want to buy luxury cars.

-- Whit