69CSHC

2014, never in a serious accident...


2016, August, admiring the look with new rims.


2016, November, the day she got wrecked.


the cause


and effect


current condition...

Daiv8or

Great to see the come back! What a long process.

Olds64

Glad that she's put back together.

69CSHC

Thanks guys, the accident was Thanksgiving Day 2016,

A friend and neighbor called me to tell me she was hit. I had been taking a nap in anticipation of the family get together at my brothers home. So i wake up being told my car was hit while parked. When I asked my friend how bad he avoided telling. Then i said to him shes wrecked right, he said nothing. So i knew it was gonna be bad. Still I was devastated to see her so damaged.

Looked far worse in person, If you could imagine holding a toy car in your hands looking at its profile, left hand on front end, right hand on rear end. Fingers on hood and trunk, thumbs under engine and gas tank. Then turning your right hand up. The car looked like someone was starting to twist a pretzel.

The 69 was catapulted forward probably 30 feet, the transmissions parking pawl snapped on impact. The Cadillac you see parked in front of the Cutlass, stopped the cars forward motion. This of course smashed my cars nose in, buckled the fender, etc. So I couldn't open the hood, drivers door, trunk, or even gas cap.

It was still daylight and not raining when the accident happened street was bone dry. No skid marks... Looks like the Camry was moving along when someone then made a left turn in front, causing the driver of Camry to swerve. The rest is history. Thankfully nobody was physically hurt.

69CSHC

Guys you'll be happy to know that our Olds can take a helluva hit. No broken glass, no fluids leaked, started right up, and felt fine to drive. Even the drivers side taillight which was ground zero of impact still worked, the bulb just popped out of taillight housing. Insurance covered the accident, but I was unsure which direction to go with car. My initial feeling was take the drivetrain out, wheels off, etc, and call it a day.

From there it was weeks of indecision, she is not my daily driver so she sat for a while. Early 2017 the oldsguy in me won out. She was back to somewhat presentable by fall 2017. Now she is my toy, and being in rough shape has an odd way of letting you relax a little about using and parking a prized possession here and there.

She is an occasional driver whose mileage i would like to keep reasonable. My goal is base F85 in weight and traits but all supreme in drivetrain. Eventually as i get the kinks out and upgrade components i will improve body etc.

droldsmorland

Did the frame take a hit too? Someone did some pulling to get that back in alignment.
Looks similar to the hit my buddies Califonia clean 55 took to the rear. He was stopped for a school bus. BAM! Dumb kid texting while driving did that. No head rest in the 5. He got as hurt as the car did. Kids junk was totaled, good. JC Taylor covered all of it even the custom house of colors paint job. In fact, they had to repaint the whole car phantom flames and all.

I remember seeing a 69 Cutlass S in a demo derby as a kid at the county fair. It was in decent shape. The idiot (and another one that drove in a pristine 68-9 Chevelle) proceded to break out the glass right in the staging area. Too stupid to know no glass is allowed. Likely had to borrow a helmet too.

Anyhow the 69 battered the hell out of everything there wagons included. The frame in front of the rear wheels was dragging the ground. The bumper against the rear seat divider and the dam thing just kept going. It won the heat. Round 2 It took a hard hit to the front and popped the radiator and blew the driveshaft off. What carnage. Almost hurt to watch it. If I was a little older I would have bought both of them off the dumb asses prior to entry of course. I'm sure it's not the only time good stuff was trashed.

Daiv8or

I went to some demo derbies as a kid and I have always been torn about them. I loved the excitement and chaos as well as the competition. On the other hand I am one of those perhaps weak minded people that feels empathy for inanimate objects, particularly cars and vehicles. So seeing cars mangled literally to death, was always bothersome for me. They're always old cars and as the years go by, older and older vintage cars are now sought out for their robust nature. It makes the fun even tougher for me as I can see what they once were and the instinct is to help.

In this thread I am thrilled! One was saved when it easily could have gone the other way.

69CSHC

Definitely and definitely, my body guy used some sort of contraption I was not familiar with. Resembled an engine hoist but the lower beam where the rollers are, ran the length of the car. Looked ancient... He was not happy with results, said he needed a different one to get the car right. I was like good enough, just wanted to drive her without it looking like the accident just happened.

If she is parked level and you stand behind you can still see that the body sits higher on left. But she rolls straight. No "dog tracking"... never did as far as i could tell.

Terrible and sorry to hear that. I am grateful that I had not just parked the car and was still sitting in it.

I believe it and not at all surprised.

I'm with you, happy that i kept the car and put it back on the road to recovery. Hopefully one day she will look as good as she did when i first got her... at least externally.