Not good at all...

I didn't know this car had so much Bondo in it, and this is really not the way I wanted to find out.

I backed into an invisible guard pole beside a gas pump. I wasn't even moving fast, it looks like such a hell of a hit. It IS a hell of a hit, and in the worst #$%ing place you could ask for. It's disgusting. I'm at a crossroads here, people... I did this in Memphis, fueling up to go to Jackson, MS to spend the week installing AC in the car, and in less than a second I don't even know if I'm gonna keep it, let alone go through with my plan. I'm here, the car's here, my tools are here, but now I don't know what I'm going to do.

It was a long, silent drive. I had three hours to think about it. This is one of a few things that can go wrong with my car that is beyond my ability to fix. Monday I will get an estimate from a body shop, maybe a few body shops. I'll ask them how much if I bring them a quarter panel, and also how much for them to just pull it out and fill it like it already was. How much those estimates are will determine the fate of my Maverick.

If it's low enough, I may go ahead and get it fixed. I have little hope though. This is gonna be expensive. If I can't afford it, I will probably be forced to do something more drastic... This car has a rather unprofessional rust repair in the rear floorboard. It has VIN issues. And now I find out it's a Bondo bomb and it needs a quarter panel. A couple of those things I could deal with, but all of them together are starting to make a case for getting another body. If the cost of fixing this is higher than the cost of a rust free body, I may do it.

I just don't know what I'm going to do. I can't drive it around like this. No, it's not because I'm too good to be seen driving in a damaged car... I don't have a problem with that. It's just I can't look at that every day. Every single day I have to look at that will be a bad day, knowing what I've put into this car. I will sell it in whole or in parts before I do that.

I need advice from my friends.

 

OUCH! Thats gotta hurt,

 

cant it be april fools day and you got crazy with photoshop!

 

That is a bummer.... I hope you can fix it without too much of a hassle.....

 

Maybe you need to hook up with MarulMav and buy his car.

 

Oh come on... Is not that bad! We've seen worse and you know that!

 

I can imagine how you must feel. Its definitely repairable if the rest of the shell is worth it. That repair isnt as bad as it looks. I am amazed at what our collision tech can pull and straighten out. Doesnt take them long to splice in a quarter panel. If you find a rust free shell its likely still going to need thousands in body and paint. I cant see it being cheaper than fixing this one.
Hope it all works out.

 

i feel for ya

 

My guess is they would find another quarter panel from another 2 door , and cut it all out... it can be repaired i would just drive it as is until you save enough money to fix it. While your waiting to get it fixed , find a nice 2 door maverick that u can cut a quarter panel from..... although its stressful things can alaways be worse.

 

This can be fixed relatively easily by experinced bodyman. A little filler isnt a sin. These cars were not that straight from the factory.

 

Damn, that really sucks.

 

Yeah, I wouldn't get too discouraged by that damage, even with the body filler that's in it. You can always do the magnet test on the rest of the car to determine how much filler is in the remainder of the body. Even thought there is a lot of filler in that panel, a good body man can still repair what you have and likely end up with less filler this time. I've seen lots of cars repaired with way more filler than necessary because the body man lacked the skills tp properly repair the panel the 1st time before he put filler in it. Still, a 1/4" of filler is not that bad. When you start getting over 1/4, then that's where I draw the line. Repro qtrs are available for these cars too so keep that in mind. Here's the one listed on eBay as we speak. Oh, you mentioned getting a/c put in. Mind telling me how much they are gonna charge? I may be getting my Stallion done.
Good luck on the car.

 

Sorry to see that but it really doesn't look that bad. I'm sure a good bodyman can fix it up.

 

Ray, the AC is actually gonna be done by me, (assuming I still do it) info is here.

So guys... You seem to think this is less of a big deal than I do. That is encouraging. When I go out for estimates, what should I expect to hear? I know prices will probably vary wildly, but for those who have experience with this, what general range would you think is normal?

 

Holy #$%^ you sure you were going slow. I hope you can fix it, its a shame to see cars like this when people put lots of man hours into there cars and then this to happen it sucks.