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Death of the Brat


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Well, My 1984 Brat is totaled. Someone pulled out infront of me on Hwy 2 Saturday afternoon and it was too late for me to stop in time. I managed to get spun into the shoulder and clipped him with the passenger side of my car, instead of hitting him head on. Heres the picture. I may be in the market for a replacement Brat pretty soon. I'm sure going to miss this one though.

normal_CRW_2973.jpg

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that is fixable.do not total it out.it does not look like you got into the framerail.if it did not you do not have to accept that offer.they are trying to say they will not pay to fix it.do not allow them to get away with it.you can find a shop that will work with you on getting parts.not like you do not have a resource right here.........cheers, brian

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I was actually heading to Reiter's when that happened.

 

Frame rail is not only bent, but it's completly broken. The guy did a good number to it. It was a 1988 Chevy Caprice.

 

But yeah, plans are to remove the tailgate, the engine, the seats and of course the A bar on the front. The Washington state patrol did write him a citation. I'm hoping his insurance company won't short me on what that car was really worth. It's very upsetting to see it go though, I loved that car. I figure I can always get another one some time down the road. I have an 86 XT I need to fix and sell before I can get another brat though.

 

Talk about a mood killer for the 3 day weekend though.:-\

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That just so totally SUCKS!!!!

 

 

Where did the framerail break? The pic makes it look like it could be fixed, but hard to say if the rail is broken.

 

If you do scrap it, I may be interested in a few items. Really hate to take advantage of anothers misery, but parts is parts.

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Im glad you're ok. Accidents really suck and take a while to work themselves out. My wife got clipped over a year ago and got hurt. We're still haggling with the cheap a$$ insurance company. Don't let them screw you on the value of the brat. Start collecting every brat for sale posting you can find because they are going to come up with a ridiculously low value for the car. Definitely argue up their low ball offer for the brat! Good luck and Im sorry this happend. The brat still looks good!

 

Daniel

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Glad to hear you're okay. Sorry to see the Brat die.

 

As to the insurance company, argue for replacement value if they total it (they will). Gen2 brats are becoming more rare every day and the cost to replace one will exceed the cost to repair yours. Good luck.

 

PS: Look in the ebay archives for old selling prices of Brats.

PPS: Check out my listing for my '84; I put it up at $4250.

PPPS: Sorry, just saw your post on my Brat's listing.

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Yep, the brat sure did it's job. I'm very glad I came out un-injured. I'm going to take more pictures today of the damage under the hood. I can tell you the radiator core support is folded up like an accordian. And the frame rail where the bumper is mounted is split wide open. I'm sure it can be fixed with a lot of pulling and a lot of welding. The hood hindges mounts have both been busted as well. The car took such a beeting that the fender on the un-hurt side is actually shoved to the left by about an inch. So the frame has difinataly been torqued a bit.

 

The thing that really amazes me the most though, is if it wasn't for an electrical short, It would have driven home! These are reasons why I want another one! :headbang:

 

If I jump start the car, it'll run just like it did before. The battery is a little too close to the power steering pump for comfort though. Anyway come Tuesday I am going to start getting into negotiations with insurance companys and find out if they're going to low ball me or not. If I manage to get the full value of the car's worth, I'm going Brat hunting. :grin:

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I got more pictures of the damage, looks like the frame rail it's self is ok. Bumper mounts are gone though. I think the A bar was the only thing that stopped the damage from being any worse, it may have even saved me from injury. Heres the link to the album with the photos to save thoes on slower connections.

http://www.eskimo.com/~carl/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=56

Final milliage of the car was 258,251 miles.

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Oh my goodness that sucks. I'd be literally sick if that happened to any of my Brats. I hope you can find a good replacement without too much hassle.

 

Hate to see your loss, but I'm another that could use parts from it.

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Dude, I feel your pain....

 

This was my Brat the Day after I had it shipped from Arizona ($600) where I had won it on Ebay ($3000)...

 

Before.jpg

 

 

..and this is the DAY after that following an incident where a dump truck pulled out on me...

 

After.jpg

 

 

(More shots here http://www.alonzostreet.com/steve/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=584)

 

The truck driver got a ticket which was little consolation....

 

I towed it to a number of body shops who wouldn't touch it.

 

I got about $2500 back from the insurance and bought it back off them.

 

With the help of my spare Brat and some friendly people on the board, I got it back up and running again (Still squished at front but drivable).

 

I even had an offer from Caboobaroo to send me a whole new front end (frame rails included) from a scrapped car of his. I will do that later when I have more time.

 

One thing I would recommend is that you watch for water leaks around the windshield - the force of the impact bent my passenger side front pillar which let water in... I ended up running a bead of strong black waterproof sealant each side of the windshield gasket and then covering that up with all-weather masking tape... Seems to work so far.....

 

Here is a shot in its current state, after a little help from my friends :)

 

Now.jpg

 

Steve

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that is fixable.do not total it out.it does not look like you got into the framerail.if it did not you do not have to accept that offer.they are trying to say they will not pay to fix it.do not allow them to get away with it.you can find a shop that will work with you on getting parts.not like you do not have a resource right here.........cheers, brian

 

just get a big buffer:lol:

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Yeah man glad you're OK!

 

And let me be the first to say, THAT'LL BUFF RIGHT OUT!

 

Really though, make it a trail buggy. A little tube here and there, and she'll be sturdy as all get out. It sure would be nice to see more Soobies on the trail. Jeeps get old after a while.

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glad to hear your ok, its a bummer for sure, but appears repairable from the photo. With so many of these in wrecking yards parts are reasonably priced, l have in the past cut and shut new fronts on to these, yes its a bit of work but you only replace the bent side and front, then check the lot for square, (measure diag across engine bay from corner to corner on both sides), this can be done if the A frame is undamaged on this side otherwise junk it, its not worth the trouble.

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Dude, I feel your pain....

 

This was my Brat the Day after I had it shipped from Arizona ($600) where I had won it on Ebay ($3000)...

 

Before.jpg

 

 

..and this is the DAY after that following an incident where a dump truck pulled out on me...

 

After.jpg

 

 

(More shots here http://www.alonzostreet.com/steve/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=584)

 

The truck driver got a ticket which was little consolation....

 

I towed it to a number of body shops who wouldn't touch it.

 

I got about $2500 back from the insurance and bought it back off them.

 

With the help of my spare Brat and some friendly people on the board, I got it back up and running again (Still squished at front but drivable).

 

I even had an offer from Caboobaroo to send me a whole new front end (frame rails included) from a scrapped car of his. I will do that later when I have more time.

 

One thing I would recommend is that you watch for water leaks around the windshield - the force of the impact bent my passenger side front pillar which let water in... I ended up running a bead of strong black waterproof sealant each side of the windshield gasket and then covering that up with all-weather masking tape... Seems to work so far.....

 

Here is a shot in its current state, after a little help from my friends :)

 

Now.jpg

 

Steve

 

Wow, that is a very fimular site...

 

I wonder if I can pull it streight by tieing a cable to my old Chrysler and pulling. The real problem with this front end damage to the brat, is if I fix it this time, it'll be the 3rd time in this car's known history to have the front end re-streightened. Oh Well, still waiting on insurance companys to battle it out.

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Wow, that is a very fimular site...

 

I wonder if I can pull it streight by tieing a cable to my old Chrysler and pulling. The real problem with this front end damage to the brat, is if I fix it this time, it'll be the 3rd time in this car's known history to have the front end re-streightened. Oh Well, still waiting on insurance companys to battle it out.

 

What I learned after my wreck is as follows:

 

Ultimately, the frame needs pulling back into shape on a rig at a shop. This would (hopefully) get the kink out of the passenger pillar. Unfortunately, my accident happened right after Katrina, the city was still in chaos and all the body shops were backed up with smashed cars from all the wrecks caused by the city's general upheaval. No-one was willing to spend the time just straightening the frame so I could get replacement panels and fix it up in my own time.

 

If you can find or know someone who can do this cheap, this is your primary option. Get the frame straightened to spec, then find replacement panels and parts from either junkyards or peeps on this board.

 

If you feel the car will be too weak, or if option 1 isn't available, option 2 would be to strip the front end of the car (engine, tranny out etc), panels off and then cut off the frame rails. Obtain new ones from a donar car (maybe someone kind enough on the board) and weld (or have welded) new rails on and finish the repair as per option 1.

 

Option 3 - (My route) was to just pull the impacted pieces back roughly into shape using whatever safe method you can adopt and then have it fixed properly at a later date.

 

I spent a bunch of time trying to press the body back into shape with no success (the only piece that DID work was the frame rail that was kinked - it's now mostly straight after I had pressed the front end of it down with a jack under the kinked piece).

 

You will probably have some suspension pieces to replace.

 

I ended up changing the control arm and even the crossmember as the control arm mounting had twisted.

 

These mechanical jobs are relatively easy and parts are available from friendly people on the board (luckily I have a spare non-running Brat that I took a lot of stuff off (the bumper etc)).

 

I hope this helps - I know it sucks to be in this situation because you are thrown into it with no way of controlling how it came to be. I've added more pics of the repairs I made to my website...

 

http://www.alonzostreet.com/steve/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=620

 

Good Luck!

 

Steve

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The latest news...

 

State Farm sent someone out today to look at the damage to the Brat. Looks like they're deeming it un-repairable. The guy I hit was determand at fault. So they are paying for all the damages. The guy said its looking like it'll cost more than a replacement will. He took a bunch of pictures, and notes, specifically noted the jump seats and t-tops were all there and still in tack, which he noted as very rare. He told me he knows a lot about old subarus and Brats.

 

Anyway after all his inspecting, he told me State Farm will get back to me within a few days, depending on how many '84 Subaru GL Brat adds they can find and decide how much money they will give me for the car, and additionally they will pay for towing costs to have it taken to the junkyard, and the towing cost I had to pay to have it towed home. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

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The latest news...

 

State Farm sent someone out today to look at the damage to the Brat. Looks like they're deeming it un-repairable. The guy I hit was determand at fault. So they are paying for all the damages. The guy said its looking like it'll cost more than a replacement will. He took a bunch of pictures, and notes, specifically noted the jump seats and t-tops were all there and still in tack, which he noted as very rare. He told me he knows a lot about old subarus and Brats.

 

Anyway after all his inspecting, he told me State Farm will get back to me within a few days, depending on how many '84 Subaru GL Brat adds they can find and decide how much money they will give me for the car, and additionally they will pay for towing costs to have it taken to the junkyard, and the towing cost I had to pay to have it towed home. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

 

Good Luck!

 

Are you planing on doing a repair?

 

Steve

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It doesnt matter how much he knows about the older Subaru's, he still works for the insurance company. And they dont want to fork out any more money than they have to.

Get your ducks in a row. Go out and find your own Brat ads. Look on CL and Ebay I knows theres some on there now. At least have something to fall back on when they try and low ball you.

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