Well I had a wreck today. It was my fault, I hydroplaned on a sharp curve into the rear of a dualie dodge. In my defense I wasn't speeding, but I was at fault and should've been more careful when it rains. I was going around 35mph (the road's limit is 45...) That all being said see below.

It's not bragging now, since it's no longer in this condition, but my car was one of the best condition thirdgens in my area.





However, after the accident this is what resulted.



Trust me it is a sad day for me, I did my best to keep this car in as best condition as possible, and for me not messing around or doing anything stupid to wreck.. well it kinda bugs me that this would happen.

My question is, should I even attempt to have my car fixed? Obviously the hood, left fender, front bumper/grille and headlights are shot. (possibly right fender) I didn't get much of a chance to check under the hood but I think the frame is ok.. but the radiator is busted. The driver side door was hard to shut, but I think that was because the fender was jamming it. The car is a 1991 RS 5-speed L03 t-tops i know it's not the greatest but it was a fun little car. how much would you estimate it costing to fix all of this? My heart is broken.

 

I cant answer all your questions. But i still thinks its worth fixin! Thats a beautiful 3rd gen! Man im so sorry that happen

 

a few more




First wreck ever, never thought i'd be in one. i try to be a safe driver.. guess it happens to everyone sometime

 

ok here is my opinion and it may differ a lil for ur area. i work at a colision repair shop and we do a lot of thirdgen and 4th gens. any way from the looks of it im sad to say it would prolly be a total. it doesnt take much for insurance to total a car out however it all depends on ur insurance. all is not lost tho you could not make a ckaim and fix it or buy it back with a salvage title. looks like a hard and the way the front left points up leads to frame damge which means ur car has to go on a rack to fix. also u prolly need a rad support and to have the left front section straightened(part under fender that fender mounts to) it being such a clean car id prolly try to fix it altho it could get pricy.2-5k atleast. good luck and at least u werent hurt.

 

same thing happened to Shifty, except he hit a guardrail

 

I'd let her go and take the insurance money and buy some new pants!
Nah, just messing with ya

In all seriousness, that car is more than likely going to be totaled. Sadly with the demise of the thirdgen value, and huge prices of body shop repairs, the cost to repair usually exceeds the cost of the actual car....or so I was told when my 89 was totalled out. I would fix it though if I were you. But take a good look at all the damage and see how much you think it would cost you first. Parts will be nothing and as long as you do the labor yourself, you might be able to pocket some money after it is all said and done. However, if the frame is messed up, I think I'd let it go. Something like that might be a little more to work out without getting expensive. Hope it all works out for ya.

edit: I've gotta say I love that color blue. Is that a factory color or did you have it painted? If so, what color code is that?

 

Thanks for the responses everyone. I'll update you with the full extent of the damage on monday. As for the color, 85% of it is factory. In 1991 GM did a poor clear job, so about a year and half ago the clear started to bubble and crack. I all of the flat surfaces redone.. so hood, roof and top of the hatch. It was color matched to 'ultra metallic blue' that's what it says on my window sticker that I still have

 

man!! i think im going to cry.....i hope you get everything ok bro. try to keep it alive. dont give up till you know that there is no hope. good luck and BE CAREFULL!!!!!!

 

sorry to see that man good luck ....BTW my 91 is almost the same as yours except my color was changed slightly from our original blue

 

thats really a shame, i love the coliur though.

insurance is gonna total it out

 

It was a good looking car, but there is no question that now its totalled. What you see is bent hood, fender, front fascia, air bag, etc... What you don't see, but can assume damaged due to the buckling is the radiator support, upper tie bar, left lower rail, upper left rail, inner wheelhouse, and much more.

Just a quick guess, but repairs would probably exceed $6K, which is probably double what the insurance would pay to fix.

It sucks to see it end up that way. I wish the best for you.

 

I'm pretty sure they'll total it... but if you were really motivated, you could buy it back w/a salvage title, pick up a straight donor car, and talk with a good bodyshop. looks like it'll need time on the frame puller, and will need the majority of the front end parts from another car...

I would most likely go that direction. best of luck to ya, and hope everything comes out ok.

 

Yea let insurance take it and then buy it back at auction. Get another with a straight front and get it fixed. I wrecked a mint 50K mi RS about 3 years ago and decided to get another instead of fixing it.. finally found one but it would have been easier to just fix it, and it took me about 8 months to find a nice one

 

Damn dude im so so so sorry for your loss but dont worry your nto alone i wrecked my 91 RS when i was 16 (few months ago) and it broke my heart! But dont worry atleast you ahve full coverage i had to pay outa my pocket for a new car and i tell you what i miss that camaro and i loved it 40 times more than my Monte but you jsut need to let it pass mabey it iwll reincarnate itself under a new owner mabey it will rot but what ever you do dont forget it heres a pic so you can see it hapens to us all (what happend to you is what happend to me execpt i hit a pole

 

Man, I feel bad for ya, that is a clean car. How many miles does it have? I would do what most others are saying. Get the insurance money and buy it back. Take her to a collision shop and get the frame straightened, then bring her home and go to town, I'm sure she can live again. That car is way too nice to let go, in my opinoin.

In my opinoin for what the insurance will give you, you'll never be able to find one as nice as that one. The nice ones are kinda hard to come buy these days, they have all been beat to hell by now

Good Luck!!!! .

 

Buy her back part her out and buy yourself another car. I parted out my 85 Iroc and made 11 grand off the parts.

 

Yeah there right get some sort of reimbursement. i sold my camaro and all its stuf for a brandnew front cap with all the goodies for my 72 Nova

 

Thanks. Well, the car was all original. I have the window sticker, manuals and casette tape. So, although it's an RS, it probably would have been priced decently for a third gen. The mileage is a little over 110,000 right now. I guess if it is totalled, i can turn it into a restoration/project car. Maybe ditch the l03 and drop a carbed 350 in it. Basically no reason to keep it original now..

 

I know what you mean about liking to keep it original, and that's great.... for so long. There's a guy on these boards with a 14,000mile Camaro, and he doesnt get to enjoy the car, or drive it daily, just to car shows basically it sounds like.

Personally, I have an '86 Berlinetta that's in pretty good condition for it's mileage.... but I just spun a couple bearings, and so I'm contemplating dropping a 350 block and bottom end in there... and if I go and do that then it's not all original anymore, so I might as well put in some 4th gen cloth seats, and if i do that i might as well put a 4th gen center console, and back seats, and then put in a CD Player (ever seen a berlinetta radio pod? no place to put a CD Player really lol)... so you get the idea, once you get past the realization that once you modify one thing that it's not all original anymore, it just sort of escalates to wanting the new and better things

This could turn out for the better for you man.... it was a truely beautiful RS too, I'm sure it'll get back to that soon enough

 

I do the same with my 4th gen, I really enjoy keeping cars 100% original. It can be fun just like modding a car can be fun.

My blue LU5 '83 is going to be a 100% original restoration.

My silver '83 is going to be differant. It is the car I'm going to have fun with and really enjoy modding to my tastes.

I know what it is like to be in a wreck, I got rearended in my '82 T/A. I loved that thing and I really did not want to let go of that car after all the work I had put into it, but it was just much easier to move on to another project.

If you are really determened you can fix it but it might cost you less to get another car, less headache also. I'd get a car with a straight body and transfer your interior and other good parts to it

Best of luck

 

i have seen worse.. matter of fact, my car was worse back when i was... 16 i think... i had to replace: both front fenders, hood, front bumper, fix driver's door, replace all front and left side ground effects, radiator and all of its frame, it was a mess. trust me dude i was in much worse shape, i dont have any pictures of it back then but i have the ones of it now:

http://www.virtual-underground.com/picz/ta/DSC05366.JPG

and it used to look 2 times as bad as yours, i would say as long as there isnt serious frame damage try to fix it...

EDIT: actually my car looked a lot like Teal91rs' blue camaro up there... also, you can see that i am still not done since i still gotta align the headlights with the hood but i am really close. also, from what i remember i paid (from junkyard) about 140 for the hood, 65 for each fender, 80 for radiator, all and all the total repaid ran me about 400-500 bucks including tools and all of the other crap... best of luck bro!

 

sorry to see that man. the only thing that worries me is how much everything went up and back. it might have moved the k-member up and back also. this may sound crazy, but i would keep it and re-clip it from the firewall forward. i know some of you guys work in shops, re-clipping the whole front nose isn't super tough, just time consuming and a lot of measuring. i think that car is way too nice to total out. good luck with everything and i hope all turns out well as it can be.

 

well rather then put you down or say anything stupid..just live and learn, it's unfortunate because your car looked like it was in nice shape which is hard to accept when your young but something bigger and better will come along eventually if you want it to. just be glad you didn't hurt anyone else or yourself.

nice pictures.

 

MAN, HIT UP CLASSIC INDUSTRIES.COM AND YEARONE.COM AND FIX IT BK UP..........

 

Ive seen several third gens wrecked like that and have a few we have purchased in salvage auctions. Your frame is more than likely bent all to hell on that side. Air Bags is a major expense which causes insurance companies to total it out because they go to a dealer for prices on stuff like that and air bags can total a brand new car because they can be thousands of dollars just for air bags.

Parting a car like yours out may not bring the amount you buy it back for at a salvage auction. Even if it is in great condition RS parts arent really in demand.

 

Wow seems to be something with 91 rs's

Ok i have had a 91 RS and it was my first car and i wrecked it when i was 16. The story is in this subject, titled, "Im new and i want to introduce myself......." check it out and see what i did.

 

Dude, I cringed when I saw the pictures of your car. I really hope that it can be saved, but I can tell you right now.....since the airbag deployed, it will more than likely be totalled, because the airbag is pretty much a controlled bomb, and are expensive to replace. I hope ypu can bring her back! Good luck!

 

here is a suggestions regarding airbags, due to the fact that from what ive heard and read you have to replace every air bag sensor/module you could just do it cheaply and get a non airbag wheel and column out of an older pre-airbag car (easy to do with thirdgens (get a nice iroc wheel) And just rip out the airbag wiring and modules. And pull all the fuses and relays regarding airbags and take out the cluster bulb for the airbag light. Cheaper/easier fix i think.

Then you just have to worry about straigtening the frame a bit and finding a few near front end parts.

 

well guys, I didn't have collision on the car, as I never dreamed of being 'the cause' of the wreck. Thinking back on it now, there was no shoulder, nor a line on the road, and he had a dualie truck.. so it's very possible that he was on my side of the road. It all happened fast, and I assumed that since my tire skidded that I was at fault.. We'll never know.

I've decided to keep the car in my garage and slowly restore it. The frame isn't bent.. but it still needs some major work. I'll update you all more once I get the car at the house.. (pics too) thanks for all the positive feedback. I will have my beauty back to her luster eventually

 

i lost my IROC in a rearend wreck back in May. it wasnt my fault luckily (i didnt carry collision on the car) so I got money from their insurance. my car looked like crap (the paint was gone in many spots) and I got 4200 for it. I just took the money. now im starting to get rid of parts . I have an l98 on ebay right now lol. shameless plug, i know. trust me id much rather that engine in my car out in front of my house. but sometimes things just happen. good luck on the resto!

 

Glad to hear your gonna fix her up!! Good Luck with it! You'll have to take tons-o-pics so we can see how she's coming along!!

later, matt