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May they sing your name with love and fury, so that we may hear it rise up from the depths of Valhalla, and know that you've taken your rightful place at the table of kings.
For a great car has fallen.
This happened two hours ago. The other driver wasn't paying attention and made a left turn about ten feet in front of me. We're both ok (relatively; I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if the pain in my neck gets worse), but I am internally seething with rage and loss. My baby is a 2009 V8 coupe with a 6-speed manual, and a one-of-one spec. She will be literally impossible to replace. I have a Hagerty guaranteed value policy, but it's not like I'll ever find another one of these. And I have to wait until Tuesday to get the police report that states the other driver (who absolutely reeks of marijuana) is at fault.
Good to hear you are mostly OK, damn shame about your beautiful Vantage. I had the same idiot-move done to me thirty years ago (my idiot reeked of alcohol).....still the closest near-death experience I have had.
Hopefully things work out and you’re back in the Aston saddle soon.
Maybe there is hope for someone handy to have a cool looking yellow Vantage? There is a yellow Vantage roadster around my parents' house in the summer.
Maybe there is hope for someone handy to have a cool looking yellow Vantage? There is a yellow Vantage roadster around my parents' house in the summer.
Thanks for the encouragement, folks. I went and looked at it in the tow yard this morning. It hit hard enough to lock up the seatbelts, but the airbags didn't deploy for some reason.
At a minimum, it needs a headlight, fender, hood, front crash structure, radiator, entire right front suspension, tie rod, underbody panel, slam panel, fender liner, coolant hoses, headlight washer pump and hoses, washer fluid reservoir, brake caliper, dust shield, probably a rotor, maybe a wheel, and a repaint. Knowing what parts and labor cost, I'm estimating about 20-30k. I'll also need to drain the fluids, and check the engine oil for metal shavings, fuel, and coolant. If there's metal shavings, that'll be a new engine, which is about 30k by itself. Then there's diminished value to consider, which the other guy's insurance company is going to fight.
I bought my 2009 Roadster in a similar condition to yours today, except the airbags were blown and the windshield was destroyed. If you go down the road of rebuilding it, I'm sure it'll end up in better condition than it is today. I found and fixed a number of small leaks and issues that I wouldn't have found if it weren't for having to take everything apart.
As for your engine, I'd be surprised if there were damage beyond a bent aircon compressor pulley. Pull samples from the oil and send it off to Blackstone to get tested. But with the engine being mounted so far back, I would expect it to be fairly protected and not see any damage. Fingers are crossed for you.
Update to the situation: after almost a month of waiting, and emailing, and waiting, and calling, and waiting, and pulling my hair out, and waiting, and screaming at the cruel gods of vehicular indemnity, and waiting some more, Hagerty finally made a determination. There's frame damage, and the grand total they estimate to repair it is $68k. So they totaled the car.
As sad as I am to lose it, I chose not to keep it and attempt the repair, and I don't have the garage space or time to part it out. I'm going to move on, hopefully into a Vanquish.
So, anyone who has time, access to a bunch of parts, and some patience will be able to pick up the car from the Copart nearest to the Savannah, GA area (I don't know which one they're going to send it to, probably Jacksonville, FL) in a couple weeks. The giant forklifts they use to move cars will definitely damage the undercarriage even more than it already is, but if one of you picks it up I hope you get it back on the road.
Bonus: It has a VelocityAP twin-disc clutch and lightweight flywheel that I had installed at Steel Wings about 9,000 miles ago, and a VAP ECU tune that I put in last year.
Forgot to mention: the towing company did additional damage to the car while it was in their yard. They backed it into another car, so there's paint damage on the right rear end now, and they pushed the hood with some large piece of machinery, so it has a big creased dent in the radius of the front, and it's bowed so badly it won't open without two people. They also don't know how the key works, so they left it in the ignition, in the on position, for a couple days, so the battery is super ultra dead.
Fun stuff.
I'm sure it'll get even more wrecked before it gets to Copart.
sorry to hear that, but, it is what it is. most important thing is that you're not hurt & tomorrow you wake up & look forward to better things.
Moving on to vanquish, that's exciting that you already have a plan. what year and options are you looking for
