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Tue Jul 10, 2012 7:37 pm

Hi Folks - Came home from work this morning to see that a palm tree had fallen on my '63 ragtop project. Sure, most of it can be buffed out... :cry: but am I safe to say that this goose is well and truely cooked? Fortunately there were no injuries involved so that's one positive, but that's where the happiness ends. As it's a project there's no insurance which makes this issue all the more special.

Appreciate any comments on whether this would be salvageable and what folks would do to get this puppy back on course.

Cheers,

Tue Jul 10, 2012 7:56 pm

If you are determined and have some money it looks like a new roof could be grafted onto the car. If you part it out you may be able to make some money. The chassis and running gear could also be used to build a beach buggy or other VW based kit car.

Sorry :(

Tue Jul 10, 2012 8:15 pm

That sucks!! I allways thought palm trees were kinda cool. What a way to mess up the day.

Tue Jul 10, 2012 8:40 pm

I'd keep it. Chop the roof off. Make it a vert, or a Volksrod!

Wed Jul 11, 2012 5:51 am

eggman95 wrote: I'd keep it. Chop the roof off. Make it a vert, or a Volksrod!

x2 :P

Wed Jul 11, 2012 5:58 am

Atleast your bus is safe. :shock:

Wed Jul 11, 2012 7:37 am

ouch. You might as well try pounding some of it out, you can't make it any worse. I'd graft in a new top rather than starting over with a new project. Depends on overall condition though. Good luck!

Wed Jul 11, 2012 8:12 am

You could sell the roof to me, and I'll hammer it out and use it on my ratty bug

Wed Jul 11, 2012 9:27 am

Thanks for the comments. I am going to do what dschup recommends. I know that I won't get it totally straight, but it still drives and who knows, will be a decent war wound story.

I was thinking of hacking it up, but that would be the easy way out. Annoyingly, if I'd have just parked 2 feet further back, I would have lucked out. Still, you play the 360 degree dice game and sometimes you lose hard.

So, after taking a chain saw to every tree within a 50 mile radius, I'll start on the hammering.

Wed Jul 11, 2012 9:39 am

I hate to be "that guy" but if you decide to chop it, I call the short rails :)

But for real, I'd probably cry if that happened to my 59 ragtop project!!

Wed Jul 11, 2012 9:50 am

Do you have homeowners/renters insurance? Might be a slim chance that they might cover such damage.

Wed Jul 11, 2012 9:55 am

I have homeowners and I'll give them a call. If anything, it will give them a giggle :wink: It's a bummer that the tree effected so much of the car. It really was the very worst place that it could have been hit... right in the nuts...

Wed Jul 11, 2012 10:25 am

Actually ... it is not that bad. A decent metal man could fix it fairly easy.

This is a OFF TOPIC 1940 Ford. I was rear ended by a GMC 1/2 ton pickup.

This is the same deck lid and fender. BLACK shows everything :) and now 9 years later, still no signs of a repair ever being done.

Wed Jul 11, 2012 6:12 pm

Deuce - so that I can gauge the cost, how much did that good metal man cost? Uplifting stuff. Thanks for sharing.

Wed Jul 11, 2012 7:44 pm

I would definitely try the home owners insurance. Most likely you have a cap on how much they cover for that type of damage. so they probably wouldn't cover the wole thing but still worth a shot!

Good luck and sorry that happened!

Yesterday my friend pulled into my shop with the whole front bumper of his CavFire dragging the ground! He had gone through some deep water in the streets around 10mph and took the bumper clean off along with crinkling both fenders and slightly tweaking the hood.

Wed Jul 11, 2012 10:05 pm

gondiwindi wrote: Deuce - so that I can gauge the cost, how much did that good metal man cost? Uplifting stuff. Thanks for sharing.

It was about 3 grand to fix the metal ... another 3 grand to paint the entire coupe.
But it was a VERY NICE paint job. :D

Thu Jul 12, 2012 9:36 am

It did not like being hidden and not driven!

Thu Jul 12, 2012 9:54 am

I hope your homeowners insurance helps you at on this. At least give it a try and bring it back to life.

Thu Jul 12, 2012 6:15 pm

Just reached out to the insurance company and they didn't laugh me off the phone. We will see what the insurance adjuster says, but it could be a liberal interpretation of the definition "personal property". I would like to continue my restoration of the car. Mechanically, it didn't lose anything, just its most redeeming feature.. :-({|=

Thu Jul 12, 2012 10:10 pm

Yeah, that's too bad about the tarp protecting it. :)