Yeah, it's official, my car has been written off.
I was driving home one night and literally one second of inattention cost me my baby. Approaching a roundabout, there was one car in front of me slowing down, as was I. I swear to everything I saw her brake lights go off and her car squat down like she was going to continue through, so I looked right (I'm in the UK = opposite side of road) to see if I was clear then *BAM*. She ended up stopping. There was no traffic in the way so I'm still befuddled why she stopped! BUT as it is, I hit her, my fault.
That's the extent of the damage, I thought no way it would be THAT expensive to fix...then again I am in the UK...£ are worse than $. Wasn't going that fast since we were slowing at an intersection, but it is what it is.
After a couple of weeks doing my due diligence in finding alternative garages, parts, etc. the chassis ended up being twisted enough that it was deemed unsafe. So here I am ///M-less. Bumper, fascia, passenger headlight, oil/AC radiators, new windshield and labor (plus other minor parts to fix all the big parts obviously) and VAT (20%). Windshield got cracked from the passenger airbag going off and the part of the dash that comes open smacked the window.
I made sure they did whatever geometric tests to see exactly how bad the chassis was because I thought there was absolutely no way it twisted at that speed. Had to be no more than 20. After looking at all these pics for so long I think it might have been that Go Mini Go plate holder that screws into the tow hook. Since that's where the impact happened and it's directly connected to chassis, this is the only way I can think it happened. Sucks.
The garage was nice though and took my exhaust off for me and put the OEM stuff back on, but I still have the brand friggin new Evolve tune on there, plus engine and tranny mounts, VMR wheels with tires that are like 3 weeks old, the list goes on. I'm going to see where the car gets stuck at for salvage and get whats bits I can off the car while I can.
The insurance gave me $25K for write off, so I guess it's not all bad; in the end it is just a car, but to me it was so much more. So yes, I WILL be back in an M Coupe soon, but gotta find the right one. I'll still check in on the forums and say hi and chip in where I can, but yeah...she's gone. One more to add to the list making your car that much more rare. Anyone know how much it costs to ship a vehicle overseas? lol
Other than the aftermarket parts I plan on taking off, if possible, what OEM stuff should I look at removing, maybe for resale? Seats? Where's the DME so I can remove that and keep the computer that has the tune on it?? I want the engine out, but that's wishful thinking lol. I've got dreams of taking it out, stripping it down and learning all the intricacies of all that is the S54 and maybe one day rebuild a full-on race engine.
One day at a time though I guess...