Took the midget for a drive this afternoon and it was crunch time. I was stopped at a convenience store and some guy in a pickup truck backed into the midget because he couldn't see it. He wasn't a bad fellow and when the cops came he agreed to pay for the damage.
I was behind him at an angle ready to pull out. Since the midget is less than 48" high the truck with the tailgate up could not see it. F150 4wd type. Yes its nuclear yellow and matching that paint up is going to be a bitch. I am not out to make any money off the guy. I figure a days work and I have to buy some more clear coat so $300 and we are even and it doesn't go on his insurance. No body shop would do it for that and I know that no body shop has that color.
At least it wasn't done by a fucking yankee from new jersey like my truck the last two times. Mewa, excluded of course.
He was blocked in, that could not have happened, besides no 4wd is going to outrun my MG on curvy mountain roads. The cops took a picture of the car, not because of the wreck, but because they have an officer who is 7'2" and they wanted to show him his new car Cops were cool to me and everything went ok, now as long as the guy pays up it will be OK. Makes me sick to look at it though. Lots of time in that. Maud seen it. Not perfect but decent for a home job. I will make it decent again. No hands on it but mine.
That shit will buff right out! If he was cool about it, I guess it would be just one of things. Shit happens. If it was one of these goddamn stupid rednecks around here with the balls hanging off the trailer hitch in a truck that you need a ladder to get into, I would have beat him to goddamn death with a stick on general principle.
Thing about those rednecks is that they always act like they don't see my car but their girlfriends always look and I always wink and they always smile real big back at me.
Man, I'm sorry for that EP. That's a nice classic car you have. At least the guy is working with you! The only thing that sucks is you have 3 body panels affected. :/
Somewhere around $500-700 I'd guess. Just enough to be covered, but probably be the price of the deductable. OOPS - sorry probably 3 times that much then
Next time them for sure. You was with the wife and little 'uns. I neve thought about it. You got some narrow shoes because the pedals are close together.
I am going to fix it myself and give the guy a break for $300. Matching that metallic back up will be a bitch.
Pro-tip on custom paint: If you need 1 quart, buy 2. A good quality base from Sherwin Williams or Dupont will sit on the shelf for near a decade before becoming unusable. The clear is what goes bad quickly when exposed to oxygen. Just put it on a shaker for a few minutes before pouring it into the gun and you're good to go. Edit: Is this a real "custom" shade or did you simply pick it out of a book? If it came out of book, take a small painted portion (gascap?) down to the parts house and have the finishes guy match it up. The parts house I frequent and used to work at (I was the finishes guy) had books going back to the 50's. If given enough time, a good finishes guy should be able to surprise you.
Now that's a car! Made when a car from one company didn't look exactly like the thirty five other competing brands on the road.
ep I know you built the car yourself, but do you have the body tools on hand to repair it or do you have to rely on a shop for this one?
Nobody touches that car but me. I will have to mask it off and take that area down to the metal and then use a good quality filler to bring it back out. That cowling area is not easy to get to and there is no way to get that bent back out. The problem will be getting that metallic paint matched up. No body shop is going to have that paint. Its a custom paint I ordered from California called Nuclear yellow. I still have some left that I can use.
Well, the silver lining in all of this is that at least the paint on the car is fresh enough that you don't have to worry about fade and the paint will still match perfectly, and you'll get a few bucks from his insurance ya?
No the guy is supposed to pay me in cash to keep it from going on his insurance. If it was a solid base coat then you would be correct but metallic is different, very hard to blend and get right. I should have just painted it red like my dad said.