Our summer fun has been put on hold because:

[theDreamer]

“Excrement Doth Occur!”

We didn’t make it to the Stirling Car Show. Not four minutes from our home we were hit by a neighbour who cut the corner while making a left hand turn. He admitted it was his fault, not paying attention and turning directly into us in our lane. I saw the truck coming so stopped just back from the stop sign thinking he’s seen me and will change course. But no, with the wife and I both yelling and me trying to get into reverse and honk the horn at the same time it was over before we knew it.

The car is inside at the towing yard awaiting instructions from Hagerty. Hopefully things will move quickly but I'm not holding my breath. If I didn't have bad luck I'd have no luck at all.

Left front suspension is mucked up (tie rod bent back and everything is skewed) fender is toast and the body panel from front to the exhaust cutout is rippled with paint missing. I suspect more damage will be found like the suspension mounting points will be bent/broken.

[Kitcat]

So sorry! Having experienced a bent Caterham in the past, I know it’s painful.

Of course it’s great that you’re both ok. But it can  turn into such a large hassle to source the often hard-to-find parts, etc. 

 

The only upside is it’s an opportunity (excuse) to make some upgrades?

[32eachtime]

Sorry about your experience…DAMN!

[theDreamer]

Looking for an original "Imperial" drivers left front clam shell fender. I'd rather not have them patch the old one.The alloy skin can be brought back to as new. Suspension bits and the rack are a worry but we'll see once the shop as had a chance to really look at it. Still waiting for the insurance appraiser to see the car.

No mods, the car is staying as original as I can make it.

[jordway]

That is just heartbreaking.  Glad you're both okay.  Good luck with the repairs.  It doesn't look like you have any wheel damage.  But, if you do, I will have one of the same 16" Roadsport style wheels I could send you.  They are in good condition, I'm just switching to 13" Apollos in a week or so.  If you'd like it, it's yours for the cost of shipping.

[theDreamer]

Thanks for the offer but the rim looks untouched. It will have to be spin balanced once it gets a new tire and we’ll see if there are any problems then.

[CharlesG]

There does appear to be some damage to the wheel. In the last picture, just below the fender, the inner lip of the rim looks bent.

[theDreamer]

1 hour ago, CharlesG said:

There does appear to be some damage to the wheel. In the last picture, just below the fender, the inner lip of the rim looks bent.

DAMN! You are correct, I missed that.

We'll have to see what the insurance company says as it'll probably come down to cost.

[EdWills]

I'm probably preaching to the converted, but don't sign anything until you've thoroughly checked everything on the car, and you are satisfied that everything possible has been calculated regarding parts and labour to fully repair the car back to normal.   Not sure if Ontario has a no fault insurance arrangement, but where I live, this is happening.  You could replace the damaged panel with a new one that is re-riveted up to the first rear upright beside the cockpit rather than replacing the entire side panel (which would of course require a major strip-down).  As you know, the panels are not structural on the front of the car, and the old rivets can be removed with the car raised up so that you can drill them out easier.  The replacement panel can be Tig welded on to the original panel towards the rear.  Not sure if your car has a rear front wing stay, but if so, this would hide the join.  Or get the replacement panel sprayed the same colour to match the original paint on the car, attach it to the frame and use a sealant to join the new panel onto the original.  Again, the seam will not be too noticeable under the front wing even without the rear wing stay.  Check the rack inner ball joint on that side to see if it took a hit as often 'curbing' or a hit such as you have experienced, can easily bend the inner ball joint where it joins the rack (the 'neck' on the inner joint can be quite narrow on some racks and bends easily).  Caterham should be able to provide all the parts, or perhaps Arch if the car chassis was assembled by them?  Courier costs/duty/taxes should also be calculated of course (from the U.K.).  If this is all too obvious, my apologies, but after the stress of the incident has passed, figuring out what to do afterwards can be more stressful (I know as I went through it years ago).  Do you take a payout or get the car fixed (if insurance is willing to allow this)?  If the insurance company writes it off, do you buy it back and then try to fix it, or just take the money and buy a new one at a much higher cost?  If you have replacement cost insurance, so much the better, but some insurance companies may not offer this. Good luck, and really glad to hear that you and your wife were not injured. Best, W.

Edited May 7 by EdWills

[EdWills]

Error 

Edited May 7 by EdWills
Error

[theDreamer]

Oh the joys of dealing with insurance companies. Nobody told us that it was our responsibility to find a body shop, a mechanical repair shop and arrange towing. The adjuster should have explained all this to us during one of our numerous phone calls or sent an email. The insurance company wanted the car moved ASAP so as not to pay anymore storage fees then necessary. However, they can’t just give the towing company a credit card number over the phone. Oh no, they have to cut a check and it may take 7 – 10 days to arrive. Meanwhile the towing company isn’t going to release the car until the bill is paid. Catch 22 as the insurance company will not issue a check without knowing the exact amount and the towing company cannot give them an exact amount until they know when the check will arrive.

So, I had to pay the bill including the added charges to move the car 4.8 kilometers to the collision centre that will be doing the repairs. Now I get to wait the 7-10 days!

The car arrived at the body shop where Earl (the shop owner) and I went over it. WOW, worse than I thought and we did not do a complete investigation. Things like the wheel bearing, tie rod, steering rack, main frame rails etc. all still have to be evaluated.

I understood that the rim and tire would be toast. Same for the upper wish bone rod end. What I didn’t see was how bent the upper wish bone and upper suspension pickup points were. You can see in the image how far back the rubber boot on the sway bar has been moved by the amount of exposed bar. The upper shock mount is about ½” back and the upper wish bone shows cracked and flaking paint both on the bars and the welds. The lower wish bone mounting bolt is bent revealing a gap between the washers and the pivot mount.

The diagonal bar running past the headers is warped about 3/8” as is the brace running from the top left to bottom right near the steering rack.

Now we wait for the appraiser to make his appearance and then hammer out a dollar amount.

[mrmustang]

In addition to the above pictures, based on what I see, your body shop will need to get the chassis up on their frame rack and take cross measurements. Expect the chassis to have a torsional twist to it that may require additional work to straighten out. I'm not throwing this out there to worry you, but as the retired body shop owner, yours will not be the first one I've laid eyes on in similar situations.

 

 

Bill

[EdWills]

Hi Dreamer.  If you can, try scraping the paint away from a couple of the welds to see if it is an Arch gas flux bronze welded chassis, or perhaps a mig welded chassis from Caterham (Cages or Caterham factory?).  If it is gas flux braze welded, no tig or mig should be allowed near the bronze welded joints if possible.  Heat can be applied carefully with an oxy/acetylene torch to straighten tubes as necessary, but the body shop tech should be advised regarding the chassis tube joining method.  I have seen a couple of good body shop videos (one from a Nissan tech in Japan) who did wonders with a damaged Nissan car.  It is amazing how body shops can restore bent metal back to shape and make it as good or stronger than the car came from the factory.  If the car needs to be stripped, can you store the engine, transmission, fuel tank etc. at your place to save on any storage charges and prevent possible theft?  Good luck. W

[IamScotticus]

Crap.  These are small cars.  Being below most windows you are less visible than a motorcycle, it seems.

[IamScotticus]

See:

These guys moulds may be for narrow width.  Have to ask.   Best bet is get everything from redline in one crate.

Edited May 7 by IamScotticus

[theDreamer]

5 hours ago, EdWills said:

Hi Dreamer.  If you can, try scraping the paint away from a couple of the welds to see if it is an Arch gas flux bronze welded chassis, or perhaps a mig welded chassis from Caterham (Cages or Caterham factory?).  If it is gas flux braze welded, no tig or mig should be allowed near the bronze welded joints if possible.  Heat can be applied carefully with an oxy/acetylene torch to straighten tubes as necessary, but the body shop tech should be advised regarding the chassis tube joining method.  I have seen a couple of good body shop videos (one from a Nissan tech in Japan) who did wonders with a damaged Nissan car.  It is amazing how body shops can restore bent metal back to shape and make it as good or stronger than the car came from the factory.  If the car needs to be stripped, can you store the engine, transmission, fuel tank etc. at your place to save on any storage charges and prevent possible theft?  Good luck. W

EdWills, you must have missed all the posts about my Purple Reign. It is definitely an Arch Motors chassis (see image).

Earl is confident that any frame tubes can be brought back into alignment and that no chassis welds will be affected. The upper wish bone will be replaced, lower too if need be.

There should be no need to strip the car. The damage appears mostly contained to the left front corner with some force being sent further as I indicated. Earl was quite sure that he would not need to remove anything more than the damaged parts.

[EdWills]

Hi Dreamer.  Very good news about the repairs.  Earl really sounds as if he has a handle on your Caterham repair.  Sorry, but I haven't seen the article on your car.  I tend to lean more towards Lotus Seven information in order to learn more about the owners and repairs/parts to these cars.  There is another Lotus Seven forum that I belong to, but you cannot post photos or diagrams on the site unfortunately.  Also Simple Sevens has been a great resource for me, along with all of the information provided by John Watson in the U.K. on the Seven.

The Caterham cars have seen so many changes to their frame construction plus engine/transmission/suspension arrangements, that it makes a Lotus designed Seven (any of the Series), seem so much simpler and much more basic, which of course, it is.  Parts for the Lotus Sevens are also becoming harder to find these days. Cheers for the updates. W.