Code Brown Alert

"JGrabowMSt" (jgrabowmst) 02/20/2016 at 23:50 • Filed to: SL600 Sport, code brown

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Be super careful out there Oppo.

Washed the SL today, took it out for a drive, picked up dinner, and on the way back, someone left a dead deer in the middle of the road. I got enough adrenaline for the rest of the month.

Speed limit is 50 where that happened.

Urambo Tauro > JGrabowMSt 02/20/2016 at 23:56

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JGrabowMSt > Urambo Tauro 02/21/2016 at 00:00

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I’ve hit a deer before, and never want to again. It was stupid expensive, and I only had a Neon at the time.

Chariotoflove > Urambo Tauro 02/21/2016 at 00:09

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Nice! How long have you been holding that in your back pocket for just the right occasion?

facw > JGrabowMSt 02/21/2016 at 00:16

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I had this bumper sneak up on me going about 70 a couple weeks ago. It’s not exactly hidden, but I was coming from the left so traffic obscured it (being roughly in line with the sun probably didn’t help either. Definitely a bit of an “oh shit” moment, especially since I had a car to my left:

Urambo Tauro > Chariotoflove 02/21/2016 at 00:20

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A couple months. ;)

JGrabowMSt > facw 02/21/2016 at 00:20

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No doubt. I’m glad I was in the SL, as I’m sure doing any fancy swerving in the Magnum would have been a bit less forgiving (though it’s on coilovers and has been set up for being able to corner). Either way, I’m glad I could avoid it. I’ve seen bumpers on the highway like that before....blows me away that a trooper wouldn’t do something about it.

Last year I drove down to south jersey at 4am, and it was starting to get light out when I was nearly there. I’m obviously heading south, but I see a pile of two garbage bags and a whole wheel + tire in the northbound lanes, so I told a guy at the toll booth (about 1 mile away). I sure hope he was able to call someone about that and no one hit it.

Urambo Tauro > JGrabowMSt 02/21/2016 at 00:27

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I’ve hit a deer before, and never want to again. It was stupid expensive, and I only had a Neon at the time.

I’ve hit three. Never fully head-on, though.

Two of them were on the same car (1992 LeSabre) and smashed the same exact fender. I used rivets to patch it back together after the first hit, and when it happened a second time I replaced the fender.

The most recent one was two years ago in my ‘96 Thunderbird. I was less than a mile from home, and had recently rebuilt the transmission. I didn’t want to burn up the fresh rebuild, so instead of getting out to assess the damage, I rushed home to shut it off before too much fluid could escape. Fortunately, nothing was leaking.

JGrabowMSt > Urambo Tauro 02/21/2016 at 00:34

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Hood, grill, headlight, marker light, fender and door. My dad insisted on taking it to a body shop that basically ripped him off. Cost nearly what we paid for the car to fix it. I would have gone to the not very local U-Pull for most of it....

I can only hope I never have to deal with that again.

wafflesnfalafel > JGrabowMSt 02/21/2016 at 00:38

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yes... once to “build character” but that’s all I need. I had one jump out between oncoming vehicles, I got slowed down a bit but hit her full broadside across the grill of the little Nissan pickup I had at the time at about 35mph. She scrambled to her feet and ran off, though I’m sure she must have had a few broken ribs.. I ended up with a $2700 bill.

JGrabowMSt > wafflesnfalafel 02/21/2016 at 00:43

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I hit one at 45 going around a bend on a highway. Damn deer was running across right where a guardrail ended. I wish I hit straight in the grill, might have done less damage. Instead it pushed the fender back into the door. I was in college at the time, and it was my dad’s car, he was really thick headed about which body shop he took it to, and didn’t want to do anything here at home about it. We’ll just say it wasn’t too far off double what your bill was.

I would have just bought used parts and then gotten a “Good enough” job at MAACO to make it all almost the same color, but of course, I can’t be making any decisions....

Urambo Tauro > JGrabowMSt 02/21/2016 at 00:49

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Depends on the car, I guess.

My Thunderbird’s fender was smashed beyond hope. It had to be replaced, as did the header panel and corner light. But due to the way rust had started to eat at the rear quarters, I decided that the car was not in good enough shape to justify completely fixing the rest.

So I bent the hood close enough back into shape to make it function properly, and flexed the door dent back out. I drilled a hole at the end of a small crack in the plastic front bumper cover to stop it from spreading and had the alignment checked. I made that the end of my repairs, and chose to demote the car to “beater car” status.

smobgirl > JGrabowMSt 02/21/2016 at 01:28

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This was an elk at 70mph. I’m just glad I picked the middle ground between hitting her dead on and swerving off the embankment - caught her shoulder and chin, she walked away. $600 got it legal to drive again (and most of the dents hammered out a bit).