Death of the westy, long lived the westy

[levi]

Got hit AGAIN, and this time I fear it's a deadly blow.....

Parked on the street, jumped in was just about to crank it up and run, and a beautiful new marcedes slams my left rear.

Interesting timing as I was just about to start body work in prep for new paint.

The MARcedes snapped the right front and glanced my rear wheel:

Painted a couple stripes down the length of the van, (no pics), glanced the front wheel:

then hung up on my front bumper at the left and had enough momentum left to pull it away from the body maybe 6" or so. ( That gap is not supposed to be there, used to be right next to the body. )

I have to say some of my first thoughts were along the line of :
Wow, doesn't look too bad!

And after the cops were done, I was able to drive away, while the marcedes was wiped out front to back on his right side, both of the right wheels hangin kinda funny like.

BUT but but..... as I limped on home it felt funny, I knew it had problems.

All that energy, not absorbed by the bumper or body work, instead was transferred to the frame, which is now apparently twisted.

In this pic I have driven in a straight line, down several sets of lines, and the rear is tracking way off to the right.

It also might be that the front was twisted to the right in much the same way, but with a lesser force, than the rear was twisted.

Of course I'm making assumptions about all of this, but I'm Assuming that this spells out "death to the westy".
Is there any reason for me to think otherwise?
Bah, humbug.
_________________
One of these days I'm gonna settle down,
but till I do I won't be hangin round.
Going down that long lonesome highway,
gonna see life my way

https://youtu.be/cSrL0BXsO40

[photogdave]

I don't know anything about bent frames but damn! that sucks!
Sorry to see this. Are YOU okay?
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[presslab]

Ouch.

The rear toe might just have been knocked out. It's a slotted bolt hole on the inside of the trailing arm. Have a look, you should be able to tell if it's been moved.

Looks like that rear bumper took the brunt of the impact and kept the body damage to a minimum.
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1986 Vanagon Westfalia EJ25
1988 Subaru GL-10 EJ20G --- 2000 Honda XR650L
2010 Titus El Guapo --- 2011 On-One 456 Ti

[fredn]

sorry to hear
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1982 Air Cooled Vanagon Carat Weekender Interior

[carterzest]

Damn Levi. Sorry to hear about this. From experience, I know exactly what you are going through as I had something happen to my first 91 Westy when a tire blew at 80 mph. I could never get the van correct and eventually traded it in. The van had only 56k on it back in 97 and it was a one owner creampuff. It took me 12 years to get back into a westfalia....please don't take that long

Did the MBZ have insurance?

Good luck.

Oh, and, I may be interested in 1 or 2 of your CLK wheels if you end up letting the van go Passenger side of course

Gonna drink a whiskey on the rocks in your vans honor

Good luck!
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Happiness=Portland, Oregon in the rearview mirror!

[levi]

Thanks guys.
Yeah, I'm fine, coulda been other I spose, considering that NOBODY comes down this street at anything less than 40, most at 50.
Considering the damage to the Benz, he must've been moving.

I didn't see him coming so I couldn't guess at his speed, though it did toss me into the rear of the van. (I was leaning over into the other seat, so most of me was right between the 2 seats.)

Trying not to think about the insurance aspect right now.
BUT, the reg. owner was not in the car.
The driver, I honestly thought was drunk.
He was wobbling all over the place.
Cop tested him, and he coudn't get the first step done in the toe-to-toe.

Breath test came neg.

Cop said "He's got a medical condition that makes him act that way".
What... there's a condition that makes you look drunk? haha Damn.

He had no phone #
He had no address.
Kept asking the cop if he could just drive the benz away. (remember there's 2 wheels hanging off
Kept asking me, in front of the cop, if we could just work something out w/out insurance companies and such crap.
_________________
One of these days I'm gonna settle down,
but till I do I won't be hangin round.
Going down that long lonesome highway,
gonna see life my way

https://youtu.be/cSrL0BXsO40

[levi]

[levi]

[carterzest]

[Team WorldTour]

Dude, my Dad is a TV repairman. He's got a bunch of tools. We could totally fix this!

Sorry.

Seriously though, take it to a body shop. Get an estimate. Try to save your van. Do some awesome upgrades during the winter. It might not be as bad as you think.

It does suck though!
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[levi]

[r39o]

"That will buff out."

Those corners are tough. It may need frame rack time to pull the corners out. But the frame, per se, is not bent. You have flesh wounds.

I only get excited in the front because it takes skill (luck?) to get the seal to work right in the front doors so you have to be very picky there and test the wind noise before painting, if possible.

FYI: The wheels can, likely, be refinished and if not, I too will take some..... (you already know I like those....)

For now, call your insurance. It is a comprehensive claim as you were legally parked. Let the insurance deal with it. Sucks on a weekend. You gonna have to wait for the police report before too much happens.

It seems it is always the idiots that hit parked cars and I suspect there will be issues to handle. That is why I suggest let your agent help you here.
_________________
"Use the SEARCH, Luke" But first visit the Vanagon FAQ!

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[Zeitgeist 13]

[carterzest]

[levi]

[hiram6]

Bent frame is not a death sentence, modern frame rigs are amazingly good as getting things back into the right place.

Your real challenge is going to be the insurance companies, his or yours. You drive a decades old van that they will claim to have very little value. I betcha they try to total your van for some ridiculously low dollar value. You're going to have to prove value with receipts of work, comparable vans that are for sale or have sold that you can prove selling/asking price, etc.
_________________
1985 Westy, 1.9L automatic (Daisy)
1996 Mazda Miata
1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.9 Limited

You can't lie around on the beach and drink rum all day.................unless you start first thing in the morning.

[offroad.]

get a couple of honest opinions. preferably from someone who knows what these vehicles mean to their owners. "bent frame" it hasnt even split the seams and as has been said before i`d think bent rear arm at worst.

with modern insurance companies there`s far to many vans being burried alive.

good luck. lee.

[rubbachicken]

we're very sorry to see your bus in such a bad way
i know these bug bumpers are very very strong {i think too strong} as it transfers the impact to the body more than stock bumpers would,as they don't allow for deformation to take some of the force from the impact
i don't think they'd have made that much of a difference to an impact like that
i hope you can get her back on the road



the cop said the drive had a condition that made him look like he might be drunk, WTF, in that case, why did the guy have a driving license, sounds like a medical something that if someone has, they shouldn't be behind the wheel

in case they kill someone
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[DAIZEE]

That's why in Canada 2 charges are usually laid, DUI and IMPAIRED. Sometimes a medical report can get them off the DUI but it can also cement the IMPAIRED charge. They now take the latter charge more seriously as the first charge is usually related to alcohol only.

I hope you and your insurance do pursue it AND if you can get your Van to Rubba, he's an amazing fast, big time worker just kidding
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[JPrato]

Even if the frame needs a tweak that damage shouldn't total the Westy. It's almost "just a flesh wound".
_________________
Joe

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