umm sorry but i rally cant see anything that bad :S just my eyesss or the photos dont show the real damage?

hews right, thats not a lot of damage at all ant wouldn't cost much to get fixed, you supply the beater with the parts on the car they fix the rear and done spray time.

Write-off because of the labour costs to fix and bog the rear panel and re-paint half the car.

Just get the payout, buy back the wreck if its cheap enough, then spend the leftover cash on another cheap EF

thats why its good to know people... a beater and painter in this case

Damn right there FordMont old bean. Unfortunately that rear panel isn't plug and play. The filter up under the left wheel arch is trashed and making horrible petrol smells pretty consistently and car seems to be missfiring quite a bit now for some reason.

Like I said - Doors don't close as easily as they used to either, but rather than worry about bending chassis you could just re-align the doors.

Indicator - $100. Mirror $200. Fender $150. Doors, repairs, paint, labour... Charcoal filter, rear light, panel, repeater... And then --- There's two tyres ($250 fitted each) as front left goes down within two hours and rear has a buldge out the sidewall. Futurlane now has a horrid shake in the steering above 90km/h which could be caused by the little hunk of metal taken out the $500 mags and tyre by his stupid wheel nuts? Or could just be a bent rim, unlikely, or a bent something else (more likely), or maybe just the tyre has moved on the rim or something meaning the wheel is very unbalanced (very likely?)...


THose panels where the filler cap is are not a nice simple fix. I'd need a new one from something else stuck on and finished nicely with all the trouble and effort @ $55 an hour.

If I wanted to have it fixed it'd be well over $4000, and they'd have to give me a car for the duration of repair.... Simple economics dictates that FordMont brother is a wise man.

And if you are a panel beater and painter you should show the boss a nice looking wagon and tell him every single thing on the left side needs replacing and see what he'd tell an insurance company.... Would be interested to know, honestly...



Already going to look at another Futura S/W tomorrow. There's no way they'd spring for the Fairmont as it is only registered as a Futura after all. It's a gold EF2 with passenger airbag and all that EF2 but still 300,000 on it with 16mags etc.

this sucks. i was quite enjoying the build thread on this. car

i had a similar run in with an asian the other weekend but when im out there i trust no1. i was coming down the 70kmh section to the big roundabout on nicholson accross from the CV cop shop. i see a corolla sitting there in a side street. im approaching hes sitting there.. as i get within a few car lengths he drives up the kerb back off it and straight infront of me. i had to hit the brake and only just missed the back of his car.. i then kept going quite annoyed with this guy now. then he gets up to 40kmh and sits there. i flick on the lights and spotties and about 10 seconds later he slams his brakes and goes down to 20.. as we approach the 2 lane roundabout he goes to the right lane and im in the left thinking thank god. as im just about in the roundabout he flicks his indicator once and cuts me off. i then follow him 40kmh in the 70 onto the new dual carriageway. where i attempt a pass and he cut me off again. by the end of all this i swapped to the outside lane got up to 120 and passed him bashing the horn. was not impressed

dont get me wrong i know plenty of good asian drivers. but how do some of them get their licence. honostly?

Know that sort of feeling too. Never fear, at least with having no indicator in the left side I could poke a hose into the hole in the name of science...

http://www.fordmods.com/forums/post913037.html

Have got another insurance quote for under a bit shy of $3000 so that just may swing the insurance company into the "fix it" corner of the fight, rather than the "bury it"...

Would be nice to "fix it"... My cellphone number is 22FiXiT, so may as well at least try it on.

get a few more quotes to repair rear panel and check door struts,front end---i think repairable\but they want to write them off, its easier.think hard about it as any more damage can be expensive in n.z.,parts in auzzie are cheap.

Yeah, cheers Hansman. Would be real nice to get it fixed - I am going to have to go and see the Asian guys insurance company again next week. Will go along with open mind and no bottomline set in concrete.

Would even consider borrowing money to get the whole car painted once the repairs are done.... Still not sure about what has created that fuel smell in the cabin - but charcoal filter underneath the front left fender could be a good starting point. As well as that, since the fuel filler area got hit hard, guess a hose or something in that area could be source of fumes.... This car always did have a petrol smell when you stepped off the gas after flooring it - like the top of a hill... It seemed to go away when I swapped the charcoal filter and the lines from it to the manifold and where it goes to fuel line around the bellhousing tunnel.

It is now back and WORSE than ever. Like - I had a headache for the last two days as have been driving it regularly. Not good.


I may start looking for these parts that I have not told the panel people about.... I know it sounds silly to save the insurance people money by doing this sort of thing, but if the price is too high... Well, as above. ONE DEAD CAR IT WILL BE.