Sleper

My car is officially written off today. The car was a 76 and I have owned it for 35 years. My son got into an accident where he put the car in a ditch. At the start, it did not look bad as the driver's side was basically untouched. The problem is it hit the rear right corner and the damage was done. The passenger window was broken inside the door. bottom of passenger door folded, frame bent. The good news is My son is ok only a broken arm. The car has given me my family and friends lots of great memories. RIP

Douglas Mariani

The Corvette can be replaced, your son can't.

Jebbysan

Exactly...it is just fiberglass and steel......
Buy it back!!!!!

BTW...Saulte Ste Marie is an absolutely beautiful place.....stopped a few times on our way to Hayden, ONT......and the Picture Rocks further north at the Park.....Algawan Park? Been a while. Snatched a Salmon out of stream up there with my bare hand.....amzaing territory.

Jebby

69L88

Glad to hear your son will be ok.

I agree with Jebbysan, if your insurance will be totaling it, offer to buy it back. Post some pics.

66RAY

Good to hear your son is OK. Given the length of time you've owned the car I presumed you considered a repair. I too have a 76 and although maybe not highly collectible I love that car. I am doing a 73 body off restoration in my garage and have discovered how easy these cars are to work on. With the help of this forum, youtube, google, craigslist and trial and error I have been able to tackle just about every aspect of the work and I'm no mechaic or bodyman. If a frame shop can straighten the frame fixing most other components is doable with all parts available and realtively inexpensive. Doors are pretty basic and if your major components survived no reason your car can't be saved. If the car can't be saved hopefully some of the parts will survive for others to use.

Corvette-ZL1

Echo what the others have said. Glad to hear your son is OK. Everything else can be fixed. Owning a car for that long, it's basically a member of the family with fiberglass skin. I wouldn't hesitate to buy it back from the insurance company at basically pennies on the dollar, and repair. Show us pics.

Late last year, I went through a compete rolling chassis replacement on my '69 (not for accident, but for rust), and it's now completely stripped down for color change/repaint. What started as a simple brake caliper replacement became a full restoration. Yours can't be any worse than that.

If you're handy, have the tools and facilities, you have options. Front/rear clips, door skins, frames, hoods are all readily available, and neglected mid 70's C3s are so cheap, you could buy one as a parts/donor car and cannibalize it to make yours whole again.

Salvage title would mean nothing to me if I had a special car for so long.

69_Shark

Again, as stated.
Glad your son is OK!

Good luck with the car!
Scott

Mark G

I'm surprised you let your son drive it.

I remember on several occasions when I was in high school ...my buddies would get their license and drive over to my place afterwards to show me. Of course it was obligatory to to take me for a ride to celebrate. What a mistake, can't believe i lived through those! One buddy in his Gen2 Camaro Z28, of course took it up to 100mph or whatever, and we ended up going airborne over a railroad tracks at like well I don't know what the final speed was. The car went this way and that ...still can't believe we didn't roll that car! Another buddy going around a corner too fast had two wheels in the ditch but it was a steep ditch had we gone down it. Couple other stories like that. These were on rural country roads. Knowing this, when my daughter's friends got their licenses, we didn't let her ride with them for a bit till they learned how to handle things. There's been some teen driver deaths in our area. Darwin award kind of things.

Fortunately your son wasn't hurt.

Yeah, buy it back and put the body on a C6-inspired rolling frame! That would be like a new car, all new performance, but with the C3 look.

mbp

Good to hear that it was only a broken arm. The rock at the side of some of those roads can be very unforgiving to a person and car.

Sleper

Thanks for the kind words. My son is 31 so really not a kid and he drives easier than his old man.

Mark G

Any idea what caused the accident?

Blown tire, deer, another driver??

Bills17n72

glad he is ok

Sleper

he said his foot slipped off the clutch and mashed the gas He was just turning from a stop sign

gjohnson

I hope you have the correct insurance on it

doorgunner

It's great to hear. He is O.K. Buy the car...you two have plenty of time to restore it.