D'oh..I feel sick and stupid!!!

[richscorvettes]

Barry,

Sorry to hear about the garage incident. Just look on the bright side and put this on the list of "might as wells" and take care of everything at once. The Winter is a good time to take care of things like this and you'll be all set for Spring.

Rich

 

[BarryK]

Barry,

Sorry to hear about the accident, but it sounds like you're taking it better than I would ! Anyway....I live in Newark, DE too; just curious what body shop are you thinking of using ? I'm not in a big rush (wish I could be, but $$$ holding me back), but I'm looking to have my '59 painted in a year or two and I'm looking for references.

Did you attend the cruise in Newark a couple of weekends ago ? Lots of nice cars from one end of Main St. to the other.

I'll see you around & wave !

Bernie O.

Hi Bernie

it's a matter of trying to stay calm or putting my fist and maybe my head through a few walls here at the house...
either that or crying like a little girl with a skinned knee.
LOL

Where in Newark are you? - I'm off Northstar Rd at the top of Papermill Rd.
Yes, I at the event in Newark last month. I think they could have done a much better job with it and it wasn't organized as well as it should have been but it was their first show so hopefully they will learn from the experience. There were a lot of nice cars there!
If you are not already, you should join our local Vette Club. There are a bunch of really good people involved in it and a few of them even participate in this forum also.
Check out the website at http://www.vetteclub.org/index.htm

I'm going to get the body/paint work done at a place called "Joe's Garage". He is tucked away in an industrial park in Newport and hard to find unless you know where he is. I'd never have found him if my friend hadn't taken me there the first time.
I know he doesn't sound like much but he specializes in Vettes and comes very highly recommended. When you walk into his shop it's like walking into the past - all you see are older Vettes in different stages of work. last time I was there about 3 weeks ago he had something like a '57, 2 59's, 2 61's, a '65, a '69, and a '72 all being worked one. The only non-Vette was a '55 T-bird being completely restored.
I figure if the DuPont family trust this guy well enough to have him do their restorations and paint work on their classic cars he must be good enough for the likes of me! A lot of the Vetrte Club members also use him and recommended him.
I understand that while his work is very top-nothch, his only downside is that he is very slow! He was suppose to actually get my car into his shop over 2 months (end of June - beginning of July) for the hood repaint and I've still been waiting. He is so booked with work and he is slow so it takes him a while to clear the cars out so he can get more jobs in. He is a perfectionist so he takes a long time so it backes up his work log. I need to get my car into him but once I do god only knows when i'll actually see it again!

Bernie, be sure to come to our Vette club Vette show we are holding on Sun Oct 3rd!. Benefits go to the Veterans hospital (Vettes for Vets) and it's a judged show.
It's at Kahunaville.

 

[BarryK]

Barry,

If we didn't have bad luck, we'd have no luck at all.

Hi Bob

with luck like this I'd rather have no luck at all
LOL

When I read your posts, it seems YOUR bad luck isn't usually your fault - it's your suppliers screwing you by sending wrong parts, or parts just not fitting because of such a costom job you are doing, etc.
MY bad luck I seem to create for myself!
:eyerole

oh well, I hope it gets better for BOTH of us!

 

[BarryK]

I just punched a hole in the floor with a poorly placed floor jack. ...............Having a corvette is a special thing, I now have come to understand this and any damage is close to heart. Good luck.

ouch!! a hole in the floor? I KNOW you felt mad at yourself on that one! If it was me I'd be yelling some very choice words! Probably the same ones I yelled yesterday
LOL

Yes, the people on here are great and very supportive. I almost didn't post this thread out of sheer embarrasement of my screw-up but than I realized that from my experiece so far everyone on here would be helpful and a lot of them have their own 'I screwed up" story.
No matter how much the damage is fixable (and does more damage to my wallet!), the damage IS close to heart. BABY is our baby and like any real child I feel bad for her when she gets hurt.

 

[BarryK]

Barry,

Sorry to hear about the garage incident. Just look on the bright side and put this on the list of "might as wells" and take care of everything at once. The Winter is a good time to take care of things like this and you'll be all set for Spring.

Rich

Hi Rich

that list of "might as wells" is growing longer and longer!!!
so far the items on the list that involve the body/paint only could just about justify a complete repaint but not sure it's in the budget as much as I love the idea. I'm going to ask what the shop would charge me though.

As for the rest of the list, let's see, there is looking into the possible motor rebuild depending on how the compression/leakdown tests comes out, getting the seats redone because they didn't "pull" them tight enough last time, redoing the gaskets and trim pieces around both the rear window and the windshield, getting the rear exhaust fan to work, adding Vintage A/C, getting the stock radio fixed, getting the clock fixed, adding the repro bolt-on KO's with a bit of a wider tire ............
SHEESH!!
That list is getting AWFULLY expensive!!!

Yes, the joy of owning a classic old car just never ends

 

[Vette66AirCoupe]

Barry,


I used to back into the garage. There was something about that "ready to go" look the '66 had when backed in. Then I got the '60. Backed it in and when I next started it I blew carbon all over my freshly painted wall! Now that I have the Backyard Buddy I will never back in again. It makes me nervous going up the ramps frontwards and parking the second Vette underneath with the posts on each side is downright frightfully claustrophobic! If you pull them in nice and straight it avoids any jockeying on the way out so I always think about backing OUT while I'm pulling IN.
Now, about those shelves. Here's my genius story. I put cabinets in my garage so I wouldn't have anything falling off shelving onto my cars. So what did I do? Reached up to grab my jack stands which were on TOP of the cabinet and knocked a piece of angle iron that I did not see off. Luckily it only hit my air cleaner lid that was on the floor in a convenient spot. I banged it out and bought new 427/390 stickers so I could relocate them over the boo-boo. Got off easy but learned my lesson! Watch those shelves! If you have any spare lumber around cut some stips of wood to nail on the front edges of the shelves, it'll keep stuff from rolling onto BABY! Long strips of plywood are good for this.

 

[BarryK]

Barry,


I used to back into the garage. There was something about that "ready to go" look the '66 had when backed in. Then I got the '60. Backed it in and when I next started it I blew carbon all over my freshly painted wall! Now that I have the Backyard Buddy I will never back in again. It makes me nervous going up the ramps frontwards and parking the second Vette underneath with the posts on each side is downright frightfully claustrophobic! If you pull them in nice and straight it avoids any jockeying on the way out so I always think about backing OUT while I'm pulling IN.
Now, about those shelves. Here's my genius story. I put cabinets in my garage so I wouldn't have anything falling off shelving onto my cars. So what did I do? Reached up to grab my jack stands which were on TOP of the cabinet and knocked a piece of angle iron that I did not see off. Luckily it only hit my air cleaner lid that was on the floor in a convenient spot. I banged it out and bought new 427/390 stickers so I could relocate them over the boo-boo. Got off easy but learned my lesson! Watch those shelves! If you have any spare lumber around cut some stips of wood to nail on the front edges of the shelves, it'll keep stuff from rolling onto BABY! Long strips of plywood are good for this.

Hi Terry

What's a Backyard Buddy? Is that one of the car stacking lifts?
if so, what is the height of your garage ceiling?

Believe me, I won't be backing in again anymore after this! I also liked the look of the 'ready to go" when BABY was backed in but I had stopped because Linda would always complain about the exhaust fumes that would fill up the garage when I backed her in or started her up and let her sit to warm up. Driving it in straight allows the exhuast go outside the garage and as you mentioned backing out is now already easy if she is driven in straight.

I like your idea of the lip in front of the shelves but it won't work on mine. I actually put up those vinyl coated wire metal shelves. See here; http://www.closetmaid.com/Look/Product_Catalog/product.cfm?item_number=4735
When I was looking for shelves they seems to be about the easiest to put up, look halfway decent, and are reasonably priced. they also have the advantage since they are wire shelves you can pretty much see everything sitting on the shelf even if it way at the back although mine are not so high that anything would really be out of sight for me anyway. I now have 6 of these shelves hung up and it really helped me clean up the mess in my garage and organize things. It's not a "dream garage" by ANY stretch of the imagination but even a little bit of organizing helps.
I now try to keep all the lawn/garden stuff on one side of the garage on the shelves on that side, and all car stuff like cleaners, waxes, rags, car parts, chairs for shows, car cover, etc, on the shelves on the other side of the garage (BABY's side)

 

[Tom65L76/96LT1]

Barry,Barry,Barry,Barry,Barry i am just shaking my head as i type this,you only have the car a few weeks and some "kucklehead" backs into you at a red light,back to the body shop,you get the car back show it for the first time and you end up blistering the paint on the hood,back to the body shop,now you tell us that your wife hits it with her car door and you scrape it against the garage door frame trying to back the car into the garage,let me guess once again back to the body shop,you and this really nice 65 coupe have not exactly had a very "friendly bonding" the car must be getting very nervous,it has survived 40yrs but may not last much longer in your clutches,body shop may have to add help and another paint booth. Just kidding Barry and i hope you take this post in the humorous spirt in which it was sent and as one who has committed his share of "screw-ups and blunders" in restoring my 65 i know just how you feel and i would think that just about all of us here at CAC have a story or incident similar to yours. Your luck with this 65 coupe has to change,the "law of average" has got to be swinging your way. Tom at Pologreen96vette@aol.com

 

[BarryK]

Barry,Barry,Barry,Barry,Barry i am just shaking my head as i type this,you only have the car a few weeks and some "kucklehead" backs into you at a red light,back to the body shop,you get the car back show it for the first time and you end up blistering the paint on the hood,back to the body shop,now you tell us that your wife hits it with her car door and you scrape it against the garage door frame trying to back the car into the garage,let me guess once again back to the body shop,you and this really nice 65 coupe have not exactly had a very "friendly bonding" the car must be getting very nervous,it has survived 40yrs but may not last much longer in your clutches,body shop may have to add help and another paint booth. Just kidding Barry and i hope you take this post in the humorous spirt in which it was sent and as one who has committed his share of "screw-ups and blunders" in restoring my 65 i know just how you feel and i would think that just about all of us here at CAC have a story or incident similar to yours. Your luck with this 65 coupe has to change,the "law of average" has got to be swinging your way. Tom at Pologreen96vette@aol.com

Gee Tom, thanks for summarizing all of my misfortunes with the car (thankfully even missing a few I won't mention) just so they are nice and fresh in my mind. you really know how to make someone feel better!
:eyerole

I'm actually lucky the car didn't get into the paint shop yet after the hood blistered since now they can just do both the hood and fender at the same time. maybe it will help so it matches better this way.

BABY and I really do need to get a better way of bonding together because so far this method of her getting damaged and my feeling bad for her isn't working too well for either of us.
I sure hope my luck with her changes but i also figure it has two ways to go, it can get better or it could get even worst! i'm hoping for the first option and it gets better. If it actually gets worst I don't think she will survive!

hmmmmm, taking no chances here. I need an old priest and a young priest........

 

[c5vetter]

meant if you were feeling TOO low, I would take Baby in as an orphan! (VBG)

 

[BarryK]

meant if you were feeling TOO low, I would take Baby in as an orphan! (VBG)

gee rick, BABY and I thank you for your kind offer but I think she and I prefer that she stays right here at home.


Besides, you wouldn't know what to do with a car that wasn't a Z06 would you?

 

[bluecoupe]

Barry,
Nobody died or got hurt. Enjoy your slice of humble pie. There is a good side. Statistically this puts you in a good place. The chances of you fudging up your Corvette anytime soon are very small now.

Thanks for sharing. It may keep help make some of us pay more attention.
Frank

 

[BarryK]

Barry,
Nobody died or got hurt. Enjoy your slice of humble pie. There is a good side. Statistically this puts you in a good place. The chances of you fudging up your Corvette anytime soon are very small now.

Thanks for sharing. It may keep help make some of us pay more attention.
Frank

Hi blue

yeah, you may be right. Maybe after this I can at least go a little while before something else happens!
LOL

I seems to be the one on here that makes a lot of mistakes that others tend to learn from - at my expense though.
Back in the spring my hood blistered at a show from reflections from the sun off the chrome air cleaner. When I posted about it on here a lot of people weren't aware of the issue and said they would be careful from now on. i'm glad THEY would not have the problem in the future now but it would be nice to learn some lessons sometimes without it always costing me a small fortune!

 

[bluecoupe]

It sounds like one of you affects many of us. I think that is call leading by example. The difference between a success and a failure is not that a success doesn't make mistakes it is that they keep trying. Yours sounds like a life well lived to me. Don't worry about the small fortune. It will come back to you in time. Honesty is always rewarded.

Frank

 

[BarryK]

Blue

by the time I have learned what I need to know i'll be too poor to be able to enjoy the wisdom!
LOL

 

[65vettish]

Barry - unless I missed it, I didn't see any reference in this thread to turning this latest mishap into your insurance company. The damage to your fender would be covered under the collision portion of your insurance policy. If you've got a classic car policy you may not have a deductible. The insurance payment will at least cover some of the cost of repainting the entire car if you choose to do so. At the very least, it will cover the damaged fender. Just a thought.

 

[BarryK]

Barry - unless I missed it, I didn't see any reference in this thread to turning this latest mishap into your insurance company. The damage to your fender would be covered under the collision portion of your insurance policy. If you've got a classic car policy you may not have a deductible. The insurance payment will at least cover some of the cost of repainting the entire car if you choose to do so. At the very least, it will cover the damaged fender. Just a thought.

yes, I thought about putting a claim into the insurance - for about 3 seconds before I dismissed that idea!
I already put a claim in on my insurance back in the spring to cover my blistered paint on the hood that happened at a car show and since than I've already seen a rate increase when my renewal bill came last month. i'd rather not put in another claim into the insurance at this time for two reasons. first, they may increase my rates even more or even choose to drop me. Second, i plan on changing my insurance company on this particular car in the next month or so and while checking around having one claim recently isn't a big deal, but a lot of the companies won't accept me if they see two or more claims submitted within the last 3 years or so - let alone within the last 3 months!
Based on that, it looks like I screwed up so I have to pay for my screw up on my own.

 

[skids]

The ins. issue ia a good point. I had my rear glass replaced, no cost, with a guarantee of no effect on my policy, through J.C. Taylor ins. Just thought I would say this. Wouldn't think a call to your ins. co. would hurt.

 

[BarryK]

The ins. issue ia a good point. I had my rear glass replaced, no cost, with a guarantee of no effect on my policy, through J.C. Taylor ins. Just thought I would say this. Wouldn't think a call to your ins. co. would hurt.

when I put in the claim on my hood in May, I was told by BOTH my agent and the insurance rep that it wouldn't affect my rates and I wouldn't see an increase from it but when the next bill came in Aug the rates were significantly higher than the previous bill! So much for their guarantee!
Believe me, i'd put this through on the insurance since I plan on changing companies anyway since I wouldn't see a futire rate hike again from them if i did, but i'm afraid of screwing up my being able to get accepted at the company i plan on going to. they already told me that if they saw one claim on my record it wouldn't be bad, but two or more claims and they wouldn't accept me.

 

[Vette66AirCoupe]

Barry,

Do you indeed have "collector" car insurance? What company are you covered by?