"Hood, bumper cover, headlight, grille, fans, radiator are gone for sure." add radiator support to the list, and we could knock that out in one saturday afternoon if we didn't totally slack. now if the engine/trans moved, that sounds like a bent crossmember perhaps? or could just be broken motor mount/s?

keep us posted on what happens!

You are making it sound plumb easy! I'll let you know what comes of it.

Tom

I agree that repairs don't look too bad on this. If you have any pickandpull lots near you, haunt them regularly. Just got a correct colot door for niece who wrapped her Sonata around a pole in the ice a few weeks back. Mostly she just caved in the door. Looks like heck but most damage was just the door.
Agree on the parts list too. Did you lose any antifreeze? If not you radiator may be ok (no fan cutting tubes). A/C condensor may or not be ok. If you still have presure in the system it is probably ok. Use a come-a-long to pull the radiator support back into shape. Things may not be like new, but should still make a safe first car for a new driver. Busted motor/transmission mounts are no big deal. Cheap and a bottle jack can put things back wher they belong.

Thanks, BobK.

Definitely lost antifreeze, so radiator needs to be on the list.

Thanks,
Tom

One again, pick-n-pull. Just look for one that was not hit in front end. Might need new fan/clutch if the rad pushed on it very hard. Just pull rad back and spin fan to see if it wobbles or such.
Oh and wehter we admit it or not, most of us follow too close at one time or another. I usually keep a big distance but I have been too close (for the size/weight of truck I was driving) and tagged someone else. Doesnt help when people dive in your lane in front of you and eat up your space.

Tom,

I'm off 620 in Brushy Creek. Let me know if you need a hand with anything.

-Andrew

Hey, neighbor!

Thanks for the offer!

Tom

Well:

The insurance company has been heard from. They consider it a total. I think what they said was they stopped adding when they got to $5600 worth of damage observed while standing next to it. I still don't have a good idea what all went on under the hood, so there could still be some unpleasant surprises. I'll try to post their list later.

I'm going to sleep on it, but so far I am leaning toward taking the money. I have enough other projects on my hands that I don't feel like I have the bandwidth for the full project cycle on the repair. I also don't have a good place for it to sit until I do have time.

If someone in central Texas is super-jazzed about fixing it up, send me a PM. Let's talk about how to get it into your hands.

I am so bummed. :(

Thank you to all for the helpful ideas and encouragement.

Tom

Sorry to hear -- good luck with what you decide to do.

I know of a place here that has a later model hood complete with grille, the engine crossmember being bent is pretty far fetched, Im thinking the engine is just shoved back - it can move quite a bit and if moved more the arms snap off.

but the car would become a salvage title in TX.

That's got to be a tough one to take. I've been hit twice, and the second time (kid in a Honda Civic running a stop sign at 20-25 MPH) I was afraid the Corolla would be totaled (it wasn't).

A big part of the reason that the price leaps up so fast is the cost of paint matching/new aftermarket parts -- repairing a parking-lot incident (guy backed up into me, never looked) was appraised at over $1300 for the Corolla. We will finish repairing it soon, and the grand total will come out to about $300 or less (my labor, junkyard parts). If you can let the car sit, I would buy the car back from the insurance company, wait for good parts to come around, then throw them on -- either that, or part it out.

You must feel awful. I don't like it when I get hit -- I can't imagine what I would feel like if actually hit/possibly injured someone else.

Thanks, Jooseppi.

I am grateful that no one was hurt. Low speed is definitely the way to crash, if you are going to crash.

If I had the room to let it sit, I would be very tempted. I just don;t have a place where I can leave it until I get to it.

Next house definitely needs to have acreage and a barn.

Tom

Friday was not a good day
 

Someone here will buy it. I would!

Well, if I had a flat bed trailer, I'm sure we could work a deal.

I would love for the car to stay on the road. I just don't have the time and space.

Tom

I recently repaired a totaled 95 E300.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/322612-just-picked-up-smacked-95-e300-diesel.html

Whilst it's a standing joke between my brother and I that our favorite car is "Our next one.", I really enjoy this car. Since I've repaired it, I've added 7,000 miles to the odometer, and each fill up has been over 30mpg. My average on a 1,000 mile roundtrip, including 140 miles driving around Charleston, SC, was 34.5mpg.

I love driving this car, I've owned a number of W124s, and this one is one of my favorite permutations. Our 87 300TD was nice, however the updates done by the end of the line make this car a much more pleasant car to drive.

The key is to find a donor car. If this is beyond what you want to tackle, try to find someone who would attempt it. When you settle with an insurance company, it's your option to retain the car and accept the settlement, less what they think they can get for the car when they sell it. This way, the title stays in your name, and the branding doesn't happen. The buyback for my car was $1,000 for example, and my title is still clean.

The body parts (except RF fender), radiator support, and trim are all common to the W124 94-95 range, not just diesel. You'll end up buying new the radiator, fan, etc, stuff that's OM606 specific.

Good luck,

Jim