A Telephone Pole and a Cavalier…

**95_GTO** · 02-16-2011, 03:08 AM

Sometimes they can be a good thing, depending on the perspective they are looked at. I’ve never been good at long posts, so here’s my attempt at trying to tell what’s happening with my car.

Back in November 2010, as I tried turning into the back alley behind my house, the car decided that it wanted to say hello to the telephone pole at the start of the alley instead. I slid into the pole decelerating from 15mph. After getting into my driveway and surveying the damage, it looked like I had dented the driver side fender, busted the turn signal, and put a tear into the front bumper cover. I wasn’t too happy considering I had just finished paying a friend to remove and replace the rust on the bottom of my driver side fender. Being that it was Thanksgiving and all, I decided to wait until the following week to get things figured out with insurance.

The following week, I took it to 2 body shops, one wanted to replace the fender and turn signal, fix the tear in the bumper cover, and paint the hood, fender, and bumper. I wasn’t too happy considering my bumper had become distorted on the bottom over the years and there was a big splotch of paint missing in the front. The shop said they would fix all that too, but only if I paid out of my pocket for it.

So I decided to take it to another shop. They looked at it and said that they would replace the bumper cover, fender, and turn signal. They would also paint both fenders, front bumper cover, hood and drivers side door. This made me happy, I was getting the front bumper cover replaced and getting the chips in the hood fixed.

So I submitted the estimate to insurance and after sending their own estimator out to look at the car, the body shop received a check from them, and I was able to get my car fixed. However I decided to wait until mid-January to get the car fixed, because I wanted the majority of major snow falls to be done with before I got my car fixed, in case anything else happened.

I couldnt stand to see the damage, so I had to make fun of the situation somehow:

What a great thing it was to wait, 2 days before heading to the shop, my car slid again, this time into the side of a Cavalier. Surprisingly, there was no damage to my car, except for some missing and added paint to the front bumper cover, which was going to be replaced anyway. Found out later there was a small dent in the crash bar.

When I took it to the shop, I asked them to remove the rust on the rear quarter panels as well, and repaint the roof and rear bumper cover as well, which had some scratches and missed matched paint on them. This left the trunk, wing, side skirts, and mirrors they only thing left with original paint. Everything else was getting covered in a new coat of white and six layers of pearl, so that when I get my car back, it will be like brand new. The best part of all this, besides getting my car fixed, is that my out of pocket cost for all this will be around $800

Unto pictures, with more stories to tell….
Dis-assembly and sanding down the rear quarters:

In the back, they found the quarter panel shoved in about an inch and filled with bondo then painted over, so they removed all the bondo, straightened the metal, and smoothed it with a little filler.

I also had them shave the antenna for a cleaner look

**95_GTO** · 02-16-2011, 03:09 AM

They also found the rear bumper cover cracked and held together with filler, which was promptly removed and plastic welded together.

Masked and primed:

Block Sanded and ready for paint:

No more badging on the back.

**95_GTO** · 02-16-2011, 03:09 AM

Sneak Peek, still waiting to be sanded, buffed and re-assembled:

**IPD** · 02-16-2011, 04:23 AM

nice. should have had them slide the spoiler a couple inches back while you're at it....oh, and fill in the lines on the rear bumper. and pull the rear crash bar & swap it for an aluminum one while the bumper is off.

i love urethane. i gotta find me a reputable shop to do some plastic welding for me.

**Ninja Performance** · 02-16-2011, 09:06 AM

Looking Good! In for final pix.

-Chris

**CoreyB** · 02-16-2011, 09:34 AM

Going to be way nicer.

**97Pearl3KGT** · 02-16-2011, 09:55 AM

I'd love to have my Pearl redone, in for finished pictures.

**95_GTO** · 02-16-2011, 11:06 AM

Originally Posted by inperfectdarkness

nice. should have had them slide the spoiler a couple inches back while you're at it....oh, and fill in the lines on the rear bumper. and pull the rear crash bar & swap it for an aluminum one while the bumper is off.

i love urethane. i gotta find me a reputable shop to do some plastic welding for me.

Well the trunk is not getting done at all, so that stays factory. I do think if i were to get rid of the body lines on the rear bumper, I would have to do it all over the car as well.

Originally Posted by CoreyB

Going to be way nicer.

Yes, yes it will. When I bought the car there was some mismatched paint and dents and some rust. The front bumper was distorted on the bottom and the under trays were all messed up. But thats not the case anymore.