My Teenage son's Pro Touring machine got hammered by bad driver...
 

Hey all, my family had a rough day yesterday, my teenage son Roman was driving Coppertop, his Pro Touring 78 Cutlass wagon, on his way to work and a very negligent driver pulled right out in front of him while he was going about 40 mph. He tried to autocross around her but she never stopped and smashed into him as he was about to go by. The impact destroyed the front right of his car and it spun her around causing her rear bumper to crumple his rear 1/4 and blow out the rear window. His momentum caused him to cross over 2 lanes of traffic and jump a curb, ruining his brand new 18" wheels and Nitto tires. What a bummer. On mostly a Wendy's fast food paycheck budget he's been slowly fixing up this car for about 2 years and has recently collected a bunch of parts including Cipher seats, Speedtech suspension parts, and a Texas Speed cammed 6.0LS. He has some bruising from the seat belt and generally otherwise is ok, but he's real torn up about the whole thing, feeling the loss of his first car, which he's put so much into.

We'll now have to put the performance upgrades on hold and direct efforts to try to save the car, and could use everyone's help. Parts chasing will be a challenge, the front clip is unique to 78-79 Cutlass wagons and Salons and is different than the 2 and 4 door cars. We're not interested in swapping to a different year or make clip (such as Malibu), our cars match each other and that makes it that much more unique and fun for us. If anyone hears of parts for sale that will match up PLEASE get in contact with me. We're anticipating the insurance company will low ball us so hopefully we can find parts that fit his budget. We're not needing perfect show quality, just something that is in decent shape and will take only minor massaging to put to use. I have a spare bumper he can have and we'll likely get a fiberglass hood, so we need to round up a radiator support, front nose, fenders, and a right rear 1/4 panel. Thanks in advance for any help with this.

Here's a link to the accident news report, Click for Accident News

Glad to hear he is doing o.k. after the crash. Best of luck fixing it up. Stories like this are just another reason I am pushing to run my car at track days and events more than the street. I feel for him because I was only 20 years old when I bought my car and I would be nuts right now.

Glad he's initially ok. I remember my step-daughters first couple of crashes. Scary isn't a strong enough description.

As far as parts..... Start looking now for replacement wagons that have what you need. You'll possibly wind up having to buy an entire vehicle to get your wagon specific clip/parts.

Good he's OK. I remember my stepdaughters first crash, the day she got her license! Off road into woods, stone wall. Bought another car like it the same color and used the best of both to make one car.

Glad he's OK, cars can be fixed! Insurance Situation?

Ben, first as I said on facebook...I'm very happy that Roman wasn't injured in this accident. And hopefully he has now learned just how fast these things can happen and it will make him an ever better driver in the future. It sounds like he did his best to keep the accident from happening.

Did you see the friend of my friend that posted the header panel for sale? He's in Ohio but at least it looks like part of what you need.

Good luck on the parts search and don't let the other driver's insurance company off the hook. They need to put his car back to how it was pre-accident....period...

That's terrible. So sorry to see that. As mentioned, glad he is not hurt.

Are you able to share who is the insurance carrier on the car and what type of policy?

Glad to hear he's ok, Ben. Best luck getting the wagon fixed.

Glad your kid is okay. It's nice that the news pointed out how the wounded Olds is his dream car.

Read the article on FB this morning Ben.....that really sucks! Thankfully it wasn't a serious injury learning experience, but a good learning experience for a young driver that will most likely benefit him 10-fold going foward in life. :thumbsup:

I saw the article right after it posted on Facebook. Sorry that happened. Since the lady was at fault and you did not sign a contract with them as she did, you probably have a much stronger case for having a qualified shop repair the car. Consult an attorney if they give you any flak.

Thanks for all the kind words everyone. Still waiting on hearing back on when an adjuster will go look at it. Been raining here since so now the rear half is wet inside too. :(

Here's some more pics, Pumkinator and Coppertop racing together in 2015. It was a real hoot for us as father and son to show up at SCCA events together, there aren't many local CAM cars so it was usually us and a couple other late models in CAM. All the little import guys loved the cars and respected their capabilities.

More pics of the damage. He had just added 275-35-18 Nitto NT555s and the 18x9 rims 2 months ago, all 4 got pinched and broken when he went over the curb. Not sure if the insurance covers them? He was tight on cash at the time so he unfortunately opted out on the road hazard warranty. :/ Next set will have it, you never know right?

http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/...pskbgi7njl.jpg

http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/...pskkmlepkq.jpg

http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/...psqxvekna9.jpg

http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/...psgf2kepig.jpg

http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/...psf8z9po10.jpg

http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/...pslsabb3xc.jpg

Hate to hear that, Ben. Glad he's alright though! Hopefully he can get back into a build quickly.

Thanks Josh. We're planning a full rebuild as soon as we can get the insurance settlement.

So far the other driver's insurance company is showing they clearly have their heads buried in the sand, at this point they're still confused at what accident was ours, which claim number belongs to us and keep trying to talk to us about an accident in a parking lot that happened two weeks prior. :wacko:

Ben, glad to hear your son is OK. It sounds like you have a son to be proud of, hard worker, mature, willing to do what it takes.

I wish the best for him and hope the insurance gets him back up and running. Hold out for what is right:military:

Glad he is OK, that is the most important thing.

Joe

You're blessed he's okay! We are glad for that

insurance companies are in the business of playing games and act dumb so they frustrate people and pay the least possible

Glad your son is ok and the car will get rebuilt I'm sure. Just make sure to repeatedly check with the insurance company and make sure you get what they owe you.