Howdy all,
My name is Dane, and I'm a 27 year old attorney here in OKC, OK. Avid mustang enthusiast however, I am a "stock/original" kinda-guy. I have an all original, red on red 1988 hatchback 5.0 with just under 120K on it, a gift from my father the original owner. I have an all original, oxford white 1998 SVT Cobra with tan leather interior with just under 80k on it (it WAS for sale at $8.4K but now I may have to keep it).
But my question is regarding my newest baby, which is now a heart-break story. Anyway, I'm looking for some advise hoping to mend my broken-pony-heart on my newly acquired legendary lime, 2006 gt.
I haven't even had it long enough to put insurance on it, which is my major dilemma here. All I have had time to do is put brand new tires on it. It is in PERFECT condition (prior to Monday's ice storm) with 37k on the motor. One prior owner. tan leather, shaker sound, only run with mobile 1 fully synthetic, premium wheels, custom moon roof, and was gonna be my new, all-stock, baby.
I wrecked it-never wrecked in my life before, wasn't hot-dogg'n or being negligent and it wasn't at a high rate of speed (probably 30mph at most), but because of damaged parts- is likely totaled. I hit a wall, head-on, after sliding on ice. I managed to get it home and had it towed to a collision repair shop the following day. Its bad though. Here is the damage:
front clip- hood, bumper, bumper reinforce bracket, passenger fender, grill, lights, radiator, radiator support bracket, shroud, windshield (my head) and finally, the driver airbag...(there is probably some coolant lines and other small lines in need of replacement too but the above are the $$$ pieces). All-in-all, those parts from Ford are 7.7k w/o the labor costs of replacing. I was quoted $10,222.00 to have it back to perfect.
So where do I go from here? What is your advice? There is no other damage- the engine (37k), the frame, trany (5-speed), all doors, rear, interior, undercarriage, electric, etc. are all still in perfect shape. It still turns over and sounds perfect, absent the broken radiator.
Would you fix it? Would you use after-market parts? Used parts? I just bought it and this is the worst, non-death related experience of my life...the estimator told me that after-market products are cheaper for a reason and he can't guarantee a fit and will charge for labor if he has to take them off after his attempt. He also said used parts end up being almost as expensive if not more with labor, especially because of my pony's color. I need advice...
If your advice is to scrap it, which may be the case as it is hard to justify $10k plus in restoring a wrecked '06 gt, how much should I expect to recover? A salvage plunky offered my $4K on the spot for it but I told him I need to do some research...
I cannot do any of the work myself, but my body guy will use any parts that I choose, but I have never done anything like this. Really, all I have ever done, is buy nice originals and keep them cherry until I want a new one. Please help me blue-oval fans, tell me I didn't just explode 15.5grand.
My name is Dane, and I'm a 27 year old attorney here in OKC, OK. Avid mustang enthusiast however, I am a "stock/original" kinda-guy. I have an all original, red on red 1988 hatchback 5.0 with just under 120K on it, a gift from my father the original owner. I have an all original, oxford white 1998 SVT Cobra with tan leather interior with just under 80k on it (it WAS for sale at $8.4K but now I may have to keep it).
But my question is regarding my newest baby, which is now a heart-break story. Anyway, I'm looking for some advise hoping to mend my broken-pony-heart on my newly acquired legendary lime, 2006 gt.
I haven't even had it long enough to put insurance on it, which is my major dilemma here. All I have had time to do is put brand new tires on it. It is in PERFECT condition (prior to Monday's ice storm) with 37k on the motor. One prior owner. tan leather, shaker sound, only run with mobile 1 fully synthetic, premium wheels, custom moon roof, and was gonna be my new, all-stock, baby.
I wrecked it-never wrecked in my life before, wasn't hot-dogg'n or being negligent and it wasn't at a high rate of speed (probably 30mph at most), but because of damaged parts- is likely totaled. I hit a wall, head-on, after sliding on ice. I managed to get it home and had it towed to a collision repair shop the following day. Its bad though. Here is the damage:
front clip- hood, bumper, bumper reinforce bracket, passenger fender, grill, lights, radiator, radiator support bracket, shroud, windshield (my head) and finally, the driver airbag...(there is probably some coolant lines and other small lines in need of replacement too but the above are the $$$ pieces). All-in-all, those parts from Ford are 7.7k w/o the labor costs of replacing. I was quoted $10,222.00 to have it back to perfect.
So where do I go from here? What is your advice? There is no other damage- the engine (37k), the frame, trany (5-speed), all doors, rear, interior, undercarriage, electric, etc. are all still in perfect shape. It still turns over and sounds perfect, absent the broken radiator.
Would you fix it? Would you use after-market parts? Used parts? I just bought it and this is the worst, non-death related experience of my life...the estimator told me that after-market products are cheaper for a reason and he can't guarantee a fit and will charge for labor if he has to take them off after his attempt. He also said used parts end up being almost as expensive if not more with labor, especially because of my pony's color. I need advice...
If your advice is to scrap it, which may be the case as it is hard to justify $10k plus in restoring a wrecked '06 gt, how much should I expect to recover? A salvage plunky offered my $4K on the spot for it but I told him I need to do some research...
I cannot do any of the work myself, but my body guy will use any parts that I choose, but I have never done anything like this. Really, all I have ever done, is buy nice originals and keep them cherry until I want a new one. Please help me blue-oval fans, tell me I didn't just explode 15.5grand.