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Subject: Wrecked my 7 this morning (or) ‘’how to flatbed an e38’’
Author: thesteve : member since December, 2003 : 3092 posts
Posted on: 2007-10-12 23:43:35




Well it's 10:30pm and I'm finally going to try to do this obligatory post. Happened this morning at around 8:15. Totally my fault. I wont go into why I was uncharacteristically less than circumspect at this particular intersection this particular morning...but I actually tried to be good by not blowing the stop sign. (I should have, my car would still be fine)* But no, I actually came to a complete stop at the stop sign and waited for a white Honda to go by. (he was to my left, on my side of the street) Well I guess the first time I checked traffic, the coast was very clear in the rightward direction and I guess I had that in mind, so when the white car went by, I must not have examined the goings on to my right as much as I should have. So I pulled out, and then saw a gray SUV coming right at me maybe 30 feet (?) away to my right. I couldn’t swerve because there was a minivan on the opposite side of the street at the stop sign. I guess that’s enough detail...(don’t really want to relive it any more...)
The interesting thing is how camouflaged the SUV was. It was a drizzly foggy morning, and you can see from this pic how the SUV is the exact same color of the road.



If she had had her lights on, I would have seen her. (I always drive with my fog lights on, on mornings like this.)
Well another interesting thing is how... (ok I mentioned she T-boned me on my right side, right?) well it’s interesting how my left rear wheel completely folded inward like 45 degrees. I can’t believe I didn’t take a picture. I’ve already fixed it. It was just the big control arm. It turns out they’re designed to bend like that I guess. Anyway, very surprising, especially since the road was wet. (I held onto my old control arms when I replaced them a year or so ago. I was very glad that I did. They were fine anyway...)
So here’s the damage.



I have no insurance and it seems the damage is pretty bad... Need both the outer and inner quarter panel, and the pillar in the middle has to be pulled out I think. Plus the bottom rail is... you can see its twisted a bit.
I can drive it now, with the ‘’new’’ control arm. It’s such a shame...it drives beautiful. But the right rear door now has a big gap at the top, so I’ll have to cover it up with some kind of plastic before it rains.

So I’m looking for maybe a truck, since I may be moving soon and for other similar practical reasons. I was looking to buy a house soon maybe, and I’m not rich. So I don’t really plan on dumping a lot of money into anything right now, -like most people probably would. ( bought the car used in 2000 for $24,000, since then put $6k into a new engine from the dealer 3 years ago plus a couple K for my AC Schnitzer suspension) Really would have been nice if I hadn’t ruined things like this. I’m still single, so my car has an added importance. I had the perfect car and it was all paid for and I ruined everything. I really don’t know what I’m going to do. At least I can get to work Monday. Although I’ll have to park in the far away lot, all the way in the back so no one can see my car. Well I guess that’s it.

Here's a pic I took of the control arm next to the old good one:



Not as dramatic as the sight of that wheel cocked 45 degrees, but better than nothing.




*I know this sounds horrible, and I’m sorry, I really usually am a much safer driver

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