Well I’m pissed. The Z is down but not dead. Yesterday I had a little fender bender. Rear-ended a woman when some jackass working on the road on the exit ramp stepped into the road. The traffic investigator said they were directly at fault because they had no warning signs and no flagman. After the officer was done with the accident, he ran the road crew off and told them not to come back without legal safety devices. Well now, the Z as you well know is 16 years old and not worth more than $2500.00. It is still drivable but the choice is to let the insurance company total it or to try to talk them into settling for something less than total loss and not force me to get a salvage title and fix it myself.

Any ideas from the gear heads here would be a help. Oh and the damages to my Z are the front tires (only 10,000 miles on them I might add) are terribly flat spotted. The hood is delaminated from the framework, the bumper cover has gouges across it and creases on the outside edges, the headlight support is Broken in several places, the core support is pushed in the center, but the fans did not get into the engine. I actually drove the car home last night although it was uncomfortably vibrating because of the tires and until I completely inspect it did not want to drive over about 50 mph. The air even still works and radiator does not leak. So what do you think?

 

I'd see if a body shop would give you a free estimate on repairs. That way, you get an idea on how much it'd cost, and maybe they could give you a better idea of what may be damaged. Then figure out if what you'd have to spend to get it back on the road is worth it.

 

Well you know how we third gen guys are. We are pretty rabid when it comes to our rides. I will probably fix it. If the ins co wants to total it I'll say screw that and do what ever it takes to fix it without doing the salvage title BS. It may take time though.

 

Went to the body shop today the appraiser said we should fix it. He said the damages are $2,800.00 against a $4,000.00 value. He said even though the car needs a little paint it is still a good car. I just hope State Farm is in agreement. Even if State Farm wants to total it I can refuse it and come to an agreement from what he said. I guess I know where my tax rebate is going huh. We will see.

 

I'd say that isn't too bad if you can buy used parts and do some of it yourself. Even if you need the body shop to do the painting and probably put it on a frame machine, you might be able to get yourself a new nose and hood for cheap and put that stuff back together yourself.

 

If push comes to shove and they want to total it for one reason or another, have them try find you a comparable car in compable condition as a replacement. Being that you have the L98 it might make it a hard find. These things are increasing in value so a little searching might be worth the hassle of saving your car...

John

 

The insurance company (State Farm) wants to repair the car said it was borderline on total loss and my deductable (yes I still carry collision on it, it's cheap) of $250.00 helps. I talked to the body shop appraiser today and told him to do the work as authorized by State Farm then repaint the whole car. That old factory paint has seen its better days. I can't wait to see what it will look like. I guess now I need to consider some new 17" wheels and rubber.

 

Sometimes those repairs are forced on us...you may come out ahead once all of the work is done...just sucks that it is at the start of the spring driving season...don't let them take forever to fix your car.

 

The body shop said two weeks. This shop is pretty good on their estimates

 

Picked up my Z today. Man is it awesome. The new hood (Goodmark 4") looks really good. The fit and finish beats the Harwood hood hands down, but then Harwood caters to hot roders and the racing industry not resto so perfection is not their forte. The new paint looks so good. As soon as I finish some of the emblems (I told the shop not to try to worry about them since they were having trouble finding original stuff, I may try to pick up some of the CNC stuff I've seen on the site here) I will post pics.

One more thing as you know the Z28s had black satin painted headlight pockets well the shop painted mine with the same base/clear coat as the rest of the body. It looks good but it's not factory. What do you guys think? Should I redo it or no? Opinions?

 

You're talking about a 4" Goodmark hood and 17" rims, why worry about the originality at this point. If you like the look of the painted headlight buckets, stick with 'em. If you don't, take it to the shop and ask them about it. If they do get it right, find out what paint they used as that is the same paint for the trim, door handles and locks.

 

All of this and no pictures????

 

I've been so busy this weekend I have not had the time. They are coming, this weekend has not gone at all the way I wanted. The wife had a few honeydos. Cut the grass, clean the pool, grocery shopping. You know the routine.

Yeah, scottmoyer the originality thing was gone a long time ago. I'm just looking for opinions. The lock cylinders had already been worn down to the metal finish so they brushed off the rest of the paint and the painter painted the door handles but they look pretty good we'll see how they wear.

 

Here is a teaser my son took at the body shop. More to come.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/atta...dmark-hood.jpg

It was starting to rain when I picked it up.

 

OK here it is fresh from the body shop. I decided I've spent so much on it at this time the 17" wheels will have to wait for another day.

 

More. The fit and finish of the Goodmark hood is so superior to the old Harwood hood I wish a long time ago I had bought from them. The fly in the ointment is the Goodmark is about 4-5 times the weight of the Harwood.

 

Awesome, glad everything worked out.

 

Dang.... that looks really good!!!! Congrats!!! I wish my black car looked that nice

By the way, any chance on getting a pic from the drivers seat? I been thinking about getting the goodmark hood, but I am a little concerned about how visibility will be (my RS is a DD)

Thanks!!

 

Sure I'll post one later, going to work. Thanks for the complements.

 

she looks awesome! glad to see things turned out better than you thought they would!

I have the goodmark 2" cowl and love it as well!

 

Looks good. I like the cowl hoods, but the 4-5" is just too much for me, IMO. They did a real nice job on the work. I would leave the headlight buckets. No sense and going through the hassle to repaint it unless you just didn't like it.

 

Yeah I always thought the 4" hood was kind of high but it is really growing on me. Especially the fit is so good. I'm also going to leave the headlight buckets alone I do like them the way they are. I'm real proud of the way it came out. I now need to work on the interior, the drivers seat and headliner has the typical GM headliner disease. The plastic light lenses need polishing. The engine compartment needs to be detailed.