We finally took my garage queen out for a road trip this last June to Buffalo NY. It was to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the commissioning of my old ship, the USS Little Rock, and the 50th anniversary of us reopening the Suez Canal. From there, we were going down to Raleigh NC to visit a fellow shipmate and then swing back home to western Wisconsin.
The festivities in Buffalo went great. Got to tour my old ship and reminisce of things we did 50 years ago.
Then started the jaunt for Raleigh. At around 10:30am, just as we were entering Salmanca, NY, doing around 40 mph while following a straight truck, I swear, a damn deer fell out of a tree and I nailed it with my right front corner. All I saw was the deer body coming down, which looked like from my left, then bang and heard pieces of car going over the roof. I didn't even get a chance to hit the brake. I then calmly said, dang....... (NOT!) Stopped and got out to look at the damage. I was surprised it wasn't worse than it was. It took out the right headlight, cracked the upper chrome grill surround, rolled the front of the hood in a small amount and pushed the fender back a bit causing it to rub against the right front door.
I guess I should say I was extremely lucky. It could have been far worse. It could have came in through the windshield or have caused the airbags to deploy, or took out the radiator, any of which would have left us stranded there. I pulled in to the next gas station a short distance up the road and called the local police. When the officer showed up, he looked at my car and said, "You want and accident report for that?" I said, "YES, getting that fixed isn't going to be cheap or easy." He had no clue what he was looking at, but he didn't think fixing a fender, hood, headlight and grill would be much, after all, it's just a Chevy. I just said, "Could I please just have an accident report?" He was a young cop with an attitude that I was wasting his time. I should have asked him what kind of deer do you have around here that are roaming your roads at 10:30 in the morning? Ours usually sleep in and come out in the evening and at night.
So, we continued our trip to Raleigh and then back home putting on another 1,800 miles before taking it to my friendly body shop for an estimate and time for repair. I then put the car back in the barn and haven't looked at it since. I haven't had any desire to drive my wounded SS. I was shocked when the estimate came back at just under $11,000! The insurance adjuster looked at the estimate and okay'd the amount, minus my $100 deductible. Then they mailed me the check!
Now for the fun. My body shop called saying he's ready to work on my car and is able to get a fender, hood, and headlight. However, the grill and surround are "discontinued" items which we'll need to find alternatives for. From the looks of things, I might be able to salvage the upper and lower grill themselves. But the upper chrome surround is busted and I'm trying to find a way to either repair it or replace it.
Has anybody done any fixing of plastic chrome covered parts. Here's what I'm trying to fix on my upper surround.
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The festivities in Buffalo went great. Got to tour my old ship and reminisce of things we did 50 years ago.
Then started the jaunt for Raleigh. At around 10:30am, just as we were entering Salmanca, NY, doing around 40 mph while following a straight truck, I swear, a damn deer fell out of a tree and I nailed it with my right front corner. All I saw was the deer body coming down, which looked like from my left, then bang and heard pieces of car going over the roof. I didn't even get a chance to hit the brake. I then calmly said, dang....... (NOT!) Stopped and got out to look at the damage. I was surprised it wasn't worse than it was. It took out the right headlight, cracked the upper chrome grill surround, rolled the front of the hood in a small amount and pushed the fender back a bit causing it to rub against the right front door.
I guess I should say I was extremely lucky. It could have been far worse. It could have came in through the windshield or have caused the airbags to deploy, or took out the radiator, any of which would have left us stranded there. I pulled in to the next gas station a short distance up the road and called the local police. When the officer showed up, he looked at my car and said, "You want and accident report for that?" I said, "YES, getting that fixed isn't going to be cheap or easy." He had no clue what he was looking at, but he didn't think fixing a fender, hood, headlight and grill would be much, after all, it's just a Chevy. I just said, "Could I please just have an accident report?" He was a young cop with an attitude that I was wasting his time. I should have asked him what kind of deer do you have around here that are roaming your roads at 10:30 in the morning? Ours usually sleep in and come out in the evening and at night.
So, we continued our trip to Raleigh and then back home putting on another 1,800 miles before taking it to my friendly body shop for an estimate and time for repair. I then put the car back in the barn and haven't looked at it since. I haven't had any desire to drive my wounded SS. I was shocked when the estimate came back at just under $11,000! The insurance adjuster looked at the estimate and okay'd the amount, minus my $100 deductible. Then they mailed me the check!
Now for the fun. My body shop called saying he's ready to work on my car and is able to get a fender, hood, and headlight. However, the grill and surround are "discontinued" items which we'll need to find alternatives for. From the looks of things, I might be able to salvage the upper and lower grill themselves. But the upper chrome surround is busted and I'm trying to find a way to either repair it or replace it.
Has anybody done any fixing of plastic chrome covered parts. Here's what I'm trying to fix on my upper surround.
