greetings...

5 minutes before deer strike...

5 minutes after deer strike...

was inspected by 3 corvette folks... 1 says new front clip spray whole car... 1 says cut out damage and repair and spray front clip blended into doors... 1 says find used oem body parts sourced from donor car and spray whole car...

what say you...

johnny

I say, it's gonna be a long journey, and a big job. Have ta see it in person to make an evaluation,  but a complete respray is the way to go. If a "Top Notch" body man can match it, more power to him. What avenue you take is whether you want a clean car, or patched one. Parts are available, and can be matched with a lot of time and patience. 

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greetings...

i want a clean car... a summer driver here in cheezeconsin... not show car...

i gotts this 70 because it had been woman owned and driven since 1988... im the 3rd owner and the woman knew the original owner and history... and more importantly it was low miles mostly original except for tires shocks brakes water pump fan clutch...

it was a clean car and i want to keep it that way as much as possible...

one c1 c2 c3 only shop 40 years in business said cut and repair and blend into the doors... because new panels are not simply sand and spray... they said they are thin and have to be built up and will appear wavy... they claim nobody will detect the repairs because they are really good at fiberglass repairs... this shop has 1 old guy who does the fiberglass work... another old guy who sprays... two more old guys who wrench... 

they have about 15 vettes in there now... their finished work looks killer to my unskilled eyes... 

my insurance told me yesterday they will pay up to 30k for the deer damage... anything beyond that i have to pay...

without reference i thought it maybe 20k to repair and total respray...  have not got the estimates from the 3 shops yet... 

johnny

I agree on a clean car. It may be easier to totally strip the front clip, purchase the parts and reassemble. There are good O.E.M. parts available. If I were you, I'd find a well removed front clip and replace everything. Can you do the work? Paint is NOT cheap! Hope you have a comfortable place to work in the cold cheesaconsin weather. 

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OUCH...!!!  😲  Beautiful car and I sincerely hope it can be returned to beautiful again.  Critters are a constant worry driving up and down the valley from my place.  Have had several close encounters but so far (appendages crossed) no thumps.  GOOD LUCK...!!!

Jim Olson 

"The Toys"...!!!  Save the Wave!

Where I've been in a Corvette...!!!

My sincere condolences my friend. When I lived up in Whidbey Island, it was never about police radar, but rather all about the deer.

If you've been with your insurance company for a good long while, maybe it's time to take them up on that repair. If you aren't worried about being dropped by them come renewal time, why not? $30k and let them handle it, IF it's a reputable body shop. 

Again, I'm sorry for ya, and of course the car.

Steve

greetings...

spent 20 years traveling the west coast for work... deceptive pass is quite spectacular... absolutely love the blueberries and skagit speedway up there... 

20 something adjuster was here yesterday... only adjusted 1 corvette... a newer one... and only 1 classic car... a 69 road runner... both were deer strikes... he said the road runner was bumper and grill and was $20k...

he said if the estimate is more than $22k they will total the car at $30k and i would be 1st in line to buy it back...

the corvette connection in milwaukee will be doing the work either way... it was going there soon for suspension refresh anyway...

in the waiting mode now...

johnny

Wow Johnny, that IS an eye opener. 

A lot of damage to the beautiful Vette, so sorry.

I would guess better results if you do a front clip, maybe a bit more but it will be good again instead of patched up. 

Down the road I could see more cracks coming back in new places (?) on a patch up. 

I had someone hit me pretty slowly head on in the snow about 1977 and it was a patch up repair.  To this day it looks OK but you can see the repairs if you look close. 

Best of luck my friend.

Bruce
72 Coupe L48 4sp
Custom Blue/Silver/Pearl

(Click for a larger pic)

Disheartening! I'm in the process of restoring a 1970 Coupe, including replacing the front clip. It's a slow process!

Keith

greetings...

im driving it local... was gonna take it to indy last week and atlanta in a couple weeks... butts dont wanna with only one side headlights operational... and the patriot side pipes are as high as they will go butts still scrape... need to getts those off before next spring...

its interesting folks wanna know what happened... i show them the deer fur and being in cheezconsin they start talking about their deer strikes... a neighbor has 4 deer strikes since 2017... the roads are littered with blood spots and deer parts... kinda whack a f...

me and the adjuster have not come to terms yet... butts are close...

johnny 

greetings...

the 70 is back home... rain washed the salt away last week and it was 47 degrees yesterday so fetched it straightaway... yeeeehaaaa...

i can not tell it hit a deer... maybe after a few years the trained eye maybe able to tell...

swapped the patriot pipes with highflow chambered and 69 covers... suspension refresh and 4 corner alignment... 

it looks bad ass in the sun... was cloudy when i got home.... the best therapy is stingray therapy... 

johnny

Looks VERY nice. Hope it stays that way. So you did a cut and splice I'm guessing. 

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We all love happy endings Johnny.

Very happy for ya.🙂

Steve

you are correct, shark... front clip or repair was the choice... front clip was beyond my means as im unable to do the work personally and i belived the senior man who did the work from early on that this was old hat...

Congratulations! Glad it was a success. I did a lot of my own work, but the painter did a hap hazzard job. Pretty thin in places. As you say, time will prove how well it holds up. Not a show car, but a driver. Still have a few things to button up. 

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Great looking car.  Thanks for sharing!

Really surprised at the quick turnaround. Your last post about the adjuster coming to terms was late September... and you have it back mid February? Wish we had resources down here that could move that quickly!!

Very happy for you, the work looks excellent. Enjoy!

Steve

I was glad to see that the car was back and looking so good1  I followed this thread because hitting a deer (or a wild boar) is one of our big fears since we moved here to France.    Plenty of woodland and plenty of wildlife - my wife now really dislikes driving at night!   

Certainly, you'd never know from the photos that your car was damaged, so you di well to find the shop that did the work.

Did the insurance pay all of the cost in the end?   I was interested that they would only go so far before writing the car off.  Here we can register cars over 30 years old as "collection vehicles" and in that case, if we take out "classic cars" insurance, it is not legal for insurance companies to write the car off, it has to be repaired as it is considered  as part of motoring heritage. 

greetings...

there are 4 corvette shops in my area so there is a lot of capacity for over the winter work... although they are quickly aging out... soon there will be 3 and perhaps only 2... 

my insurance covered everything no questions asked except the shop i wanted to do the work and their phone number... there was the initial base price and 2 supplements beyond the base which exceeded the totaled value...

the shop did all the talking with the insurance company... the shop would send me the estimate... the insurance company would send me a check... no two party checks... all checks were written to me and mailed to me... 

my experience with the shop and the insurance company has been 100% pro...

johnny

Great! Sounds like you got first rate treatment, and exelant coverage. Not a perk many of us get in this day and age. 

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Since you are in Wisconsin I will mention a shop in Cameron Wi that does amazing work. The name of the shop is L'Cars and their website is www.lcars.com  (Tx. 715-458-2277).Take a look at the awards and work they do. They are like one of the shops that you see on TV. They have received top awards at Pebble Beach and other top shows. It's the kind of place that if you bring them a spare tire they will create a car around it. The Shop Manager is Wayne Reeves and he is wonderful to work with. I've had them work on damage on both my 1990 ZR-1 and my current 1974 L82 coupe. They have repaired damage areas on both of them and the match is flawless. If you talk to Wayne feel free to mention my name, Greg with the Brown 1974 Coupe. It is an amazing place in a little town in Northern Wisconsin.

You may consider looking into an agreed  value (not stated value) insurance policy like the one offered at the National Corvette museum insurance agency. I'm not sure but I think if they had a totaled it and given you the right to buy it back, that would put it into a salvage title which would severely hurt the value once it was repaired. 

You may have said and I missed it but did they paint the whole car or just the front clip? It sure looks good no matter what they did.  🙂

1973 L-82 4 spd

greetings...

i have auto-owners for 3 cars 1 motorcycle and my house... when i added the 70 for $120 per year they asked me to state its value... i said 30k and that is what we went with...  im gonna change that to 50k because now i see how much it costs to fix these things correctly...

the reason for supplements was to cover the whole car spray... the shop played it perfectly from start to finish and eventually got whole car spray as part of the deer strike claim... 

the mechanicals and side exhaust was all on me so there was no shenanigans going on with insurance... i would rather have survivor paint with zero deer fur but am tickled that it looks really good... 

johnny

greetings...

rain warshed the salt away... got a closer look in the sun... that 993 corvette bronze metallic is looking amazing... 

Looks good.

1973 L-82 4 spd

Greetings,  Is the respray considered "Firemist"? Several years had that base.

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The car looks great, glad that it came out so nicely and a grim situation turned out OK in the end.

greetings...

my understanding is 992 is corvette bronze and 993 is corvette bronze metallic... i know some codes say firemist... this one does not... i tried to capture the flake in the 1st photo... not a good photog... it is metallic like a moe...

johnny

Wow - it looks fantastic. It's nice to know someone can still do great work these days.

I'm praying I can find someone to do a job like that anywhere near that professional on my 72.

I upped the agreed value on my car last Insurance cycle - even though it is not been painted etc.

Weather is finally warming up here in MD, time to get out in the garage and get the interior back together. 

Your ride has encouraged me to get a move on. 🙂

Bruce
72 Coupe L48 4sp
Custom Blue/Silver/Pearl

(Click for a larger pic)