I hate deer

"atfsgeoff" (atfsgeoff) 12/14/2018 at 18:37 • Filed to: None

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Last night around 7pm, I hit a deer in the Volvo. Stupid thing was just chilling in the road right behind a hill crest, completely hidden from view. This road is a 45mph zone but I was only doing 35 because genre savvy. Yet I STILL hit the bastard, probably around 25 after I slammed on the brakes a moment before impact. There was no good place to pull over to gather the carcass OR inspect the damage nearby, so I drove into the next town a few miles away.

Damage looked pretty bad, hood was crumpled up to the point where it partially obstructed my view of the road. Driver side headlamp assembly was shattered, the turn signal/marker light was just completely GONE on that side. Grill completely missing, aux hood catch release puller was gone, driver side primary hood latch was cracked and nonfunctional, one of the horn assemblies got a chunk taken off it (but still functional ), and the passenger side turn signal/marker light got one of its mounting tabs broken off. I didn’t get a real good look at the damage until the morning though:

This was after I stood on the crumpled part of the hood in an attempt to reduce its effect on my field of vision for the rest of the drive home last night. Well, I shouldn’t really drive the car like that, so...

Off to the boneyard!

Scored all the lights, grille, hood release and hoot latch off a silver ‘98 S70. And the best part, a fully-intact, nearly-perfect condition hood in matching blue off a poor 2000 V70. Removing a nearly-100lb Volvo hood and taking it off a car alone is not easy. And I had to do it twice .

Upon closer inspection, the radiator support (big black plastic piece framing the lights and radiator) was cracked with a few pieces missing, but still in the correct place/shape, so I left that in until I have the time to get a good replacement unit and install it. Requires taking the lights, front fascia, and bumper off to remove, so that’s a project for another day.

After struggling to get the new hood on by myself, then j ust a bit of tweaking the very front edge of the driver side fender where it meets the turn signal, everything lines up pretty well for a rush job.

From wrecked to mostly-restored in just under 17 hours. $100 in junkyard parts, and about 90 minutes of labor to install everything and adjust so the hood closes and latches correctly.

This is my answer to !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

Then I drove it to work and back ( about 100 miles) , no further issues to report.

pip bip - choose Corrour > atfsgeoff 12/14/2018 at 19:07

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well done.

still sucks that you had to spend the money and time though

atfsgeoff > pip bip - choose Corrour 12/14/2018 at 19:12

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T he way I see it, that’s the price of a single new tire. I got off really cheap. I’ve seen the same amount of damage total much newer cars than this.

facw > atfsgeoff 12/14/2018 at 19:22

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That’s quality work! Finding a good hood in the right color is a very nice score indeed.

RacinBob > atfsgeoff 12/14/2018 at 19:23

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Yea, Bravo, High Five. There are so many examples of people scrapping cars when you or your bodyshop could literally bolt on 90% of the repair. People; It ain’ t a sin to put used body parts on a used car.

vicali > atfsgeoff 12/14/2018 at 19:25

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Take that mother nature.

Good job, nice save!

atfsgeoff > facw 12/14/2018 at 19:27

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Yeah, I had actually pulled parts off the same blue V70 a few weeks ago so I knew the car was there. I was getting really anxious on the way there, hoping the hood was still on it !

atfsgeoff > RacinBob 12/14/2018 at 19:29

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Absolutely. Simple collision repair isn’t that difficult, and very cheap if you have a 10-20 year old popular car.

facw > atfsgeoff 12/14/2018 at 19:30

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I went back to the same silver S60 three times to get stuff for mine (and there were several more things I should have taken), so I know that feeling of worrying about whether someone else will have stripped it in the interim.

RacinBob > atfsgeoff 12/14/2018 at 19:35

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Yes. What gets me is people get obsessed about making it perfect. Unless you are trading the car off, as long as the result is straight on the outside who cares if the radiator support is tweaked....  

smobgirl > atfsgeoff 12/14/2018 at 19:44

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You did a fantastic job! I replaced the headlight, mirror, and windshield when I hit an elk i n the Civic but didn’t bother with the fender or door. It’s still on the road 5 years later with a few more dents so it’s alright.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > atfsgeoff 12/14/2018 at 20:03

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Kudos man! Sucks about the deer and the damage, but I am impressed by your tenacity! :P

atfsgeoff > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 12/14/2018 at 20:06

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Thanks!

ranwhenparked > atfsgeoff 12/14/2018 at 21:11

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Deer suck. I’ve hit three of the damn things, two with the same car. Think they might actually be suicidal. 

atfsgeoff > ranwhenparked 12/14/2018 at 21:36

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this latest one brings my body count to seven

BaconSandwich is tasty. > atfsgeoff 12/14/2018 at 21:49

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I was worried it was going to be written off! Nice repair work!

atfsgeoff > smobgirl 12/16/2018 at 18:14

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Yeah I’ve driven cars for years with lingering front-end damage. It really doesn’t bother me.

atfsgeoff > BaconSandwich is tasty. 12/16/2018 at 18:14

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No write-off for this old girl! She’s got years left in her.

smobgirl > atfsgeoff 12/16/2018 at 18:18

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My neighbor has it now and has a very accident-prone child...their other Civic is white with a black fender and someone doored their Infiniti. I think it fits in pretty well. :)