I don't carry comp/collision on my Cobra, but I DO carry uninsured motorist coverage. I drive mine very carefully in order to make sure any accident is not my fault, so if I am ever in an accident it should be the other driver's insurance that pays. If the driver is uninsured (not at all an uncommon situation with all the illegal immigrants here in TX), at least my insurance will pay for the restoration.

Cheers!

Dugly :cool:

Make sure to tell Superformance your car number. Especially if you plan on changing out the whole body. The earlier cars like yours have a different body shape than later cars. The later cars I believe they increased the hood and trunk height.

....man, that reeely hurts. Up here in Bellingham, with all the crappy drivers, a person needs to have 3 eyes, two for front one for the back. We hold our breath every time we go out and give them lotsa room. Especially the oldsters in the nondescript brown buicks. Suggest you contact Hillbank in Irvine, if you havent already. I'll be watching this thread also...the're brown buicks all over this town...

Making a little progress.....

http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d...ered_small.jpg

http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d...small_hood.jpg

Fill us in....
 

I wondered what had happened to your accident and the repairs.

How was it, dealing with your insurance company?

How much damage was actually done to the car?

What all had to be done to repair it?

And the big question, are you still all right?

Doug,

I have nothing but high praise for my insurance co USAA. They have taken excellent care of me throughout the process. No hassles, or arguing over the estimate or the shop I chose and they paid the claim very quickly. I highly recommend USAA if you have the ability to use them.
Unfortunately, SPF does not offer fenders or ¼ bodies. You must buy a whole body at near $20k or a half at near $14k!!(I chose the half) when you add install and paint it is really expensive.
However, as a result of the ridiculous cost, we are discussing building a set of body molds. That would allow us to lay-up pieces locally. And only what people actually need (fenders, doors, hoods, trunk lids etc) and sell the parts thru Vinny’s shop (JV Enterprises - Auto Restoration and Custom Hotrods)
It sure would be nice to be able to buy just a corner!
The frame was fine, the RR suspension, wheel and tire were replaced.
As for me, My neck is still tight (read whiplash) and I have a pain in my right arm ( they say “lateral epicondyitis” tennis elbow)
Other than that I feel fine! Lol


Jason

Jason,

Glad to hear you are on the mend and so is the car. I was hit in the front end of my daytona coupe by a kid in a Honda several years ago. It was clearly his fault and he received a ticket for failure to yield. His insurance company, Progressive, first tried to say it was not his fault. When I told them I was just a bit stiff, but my wife was pretty shook up, they backed off knowing I had a witness. They then tried to reduce the estimate produced by my adjuster from USAA. Throughout the entire ordeal, USAA was fantastic. I had the coupe repaired by my friend Ron, owner of Metalmorphous in CT. He found more damage than originally discovered and they picked that up too, with no problems. I can't say enough about the service from USAA.

Congrats on bringing her back!

Looks like some serious changes to the hood!

I would remove the roll bar cross mount. I used to run one on my SPF - never whacked my head with it, but even with a helmet it can do a nasty job to your head. I now run the harness through the rear firewall.

It looks like there was significant damage to the right rear suspension. If you already haven't, I highly recommend upgrading the rear shock mount. If you have the AVO shocks, now would be a good time to upgrade those, also. Here is what I upgraded to (shocks, springs and mounts).

Upgraded shock mounts
Cobra Valley's SUPERFORMANCE Rear Suspension Mount UPGRADE

Shocks & Springs
Cobra Valley's SHOCK & SPRING Suspension UPGRADE

Hope this helps. Keep us posted as she comes back together again!
Jim Kellogg

Hey , Jason......Here is a personal contact at Superformance for you ,who will help with all your needs.
Dave Cope
Superformance, LLC.
Ph: (949) 900-1956
Fax: (949) 855-8311

Read your "uninsured motorist coverage" carefully. My understanding is that it has more to do with medical coverage for you and your car's occupants in the event you are hit by an uninsured than coverage for repairing your car. You are among many that don't understand that.

Jason,
I can feel some of your pain. Last January, while driving to work in my SPF (in about 2" of snow) I spun (lifted off the gas too fast while waving at a buddy plowing his driveway) and ended putting my SPF on it's side - drivers side down. The body shop was able to repair my car without replacing any panels, but you need to know that replacement body halves (front and rear) are in stock in the USA and available directly from Superformance.

Last I heard, Lance had his guys check, and here is the response:

"He has more than a half dozen MKIII Rear Body Sections already primed
at $6,975 ea., and 4 MKIII Front Nose Sections already primed at $6,975
ea.. And the FULL complete bodies that are referenced for $20k ALSO have
included with it, the hand fitted hood, the hand fitted trunk, and both
the hand fitted doors AND with all the inner panels, etc. However, they
ALSO sell just body shells with no hood or trunk or doors for less money."

It looks like your repair is beyond this point, but if anyone is concerned about collision replacement pieces for their SPF, rest assured that they are readily available at this time.

I used my collision repair as an opportunity to restore, overhaul and upgrade my 80,000+ mile SPF. It is sitting in my garage now, waiting for the NY State salt to be washed away in the spring.

Keep us posted on your repair progress!
Jim Kellogg

Jim,
Hood:
Yea we did a little surgery on the hood. It has always been harder to start when it’s hot and the hood is left closed. So I am gonna give this a try. If it helps, I may do the “D” shaped holes in the front too! Lol
Roll bar:
I’m fairly tall (almost 6’3”) so mounting them to the rear firewall put them far below my shoulders. The safest method is to have the straps 90 deg to the axis of the spine, no more than 10 deg below that axis. My welded in cross bar puts the belts in the right location for me.
I actually hit my head on the inner up-right of the roll bar during the crash. Even though I hate the look, I’m working snap on, padded head protector.
Rear Susp:
Ya know, I keep one of those sheared bolts right hear in my desk drawer at work! I did my own mount/bolt upgrade a year or so ago, so that is all handled. We are cutting-out and reshaping the inner fender well behind the seat for more tire clearance. I will post some pics of the before and after when its done.
Replacement parts:
When I first looked on the web site the cost of a half body was $3950, a shell was $9750ish and around $12k complete but unpainted, $17k complete, painted. A couple of weeks later I called back and was told “Oh that is the old price they are now $6975, $20k and $25 painted, we just haven’t updated the website yet…”
Price increase? Yea Id say so! That is B….S… right there!! I don’t like to feel like I’m being screwed…..and that is the reason for making a set of molds.

CHANMADD,
Thank you, I’ve talked to Dave several times….but that is for a different thread..

Jim, are you going to put some sort of louver(SP?) in the hood? If so, what?

Jason, I hate to trivialize your situation but that door ding from super car sunday doesn't matter much anymore. Glad hear your OK, relatively.

John

lovehamr,
No louvers, Im doing something different. I have to build them first. If I like the finished prod, Ill do a post and take some pics.

Hey John,
Long time no see. Lol dont worry, I remember the the supersized douche-bag with the Avanti convertible.... I havent forgotten....Karma is a *****....


JASON

Great looking hood, sorry to hear about the accident. I did something similar to my Tiger hood.

http://i41.tinypic.com/sfawpj.jpg

Cobrakidz,

That’s very cool. Looks like nice metal work.

A little closer for me…
http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d..._002_SMALL.jpg

JASON

Ohhh...my.

This is the one thing I dread.

:eek:

Pad your roll bar (even Jason's on board with this now), and consider additional rear brake lighting.

Almost there......
http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d..._003_small.jpg
http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d..._004_small.jpg
http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d..._005_small.jpg