Can't go to work this morning, have a look why

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Fri May 25, 2012 7:27 am

There I was going out to my car to go to work this morning like I do every morning. It was dark so I didn't notice straight away. I saw the light on the dash to say the drivers door was open and I was worried I'd left it open and the battery would be flat. Tried to unlock the door but it was jammed. Tried to close the door/open the door and it wouldn't. I look down to see as shown in the pictures below:

Now I can't go to work as the door doesn't close which means I'm losing money. I need a new door which will cost me. That will be most of my weekend shot to pieces as I search for and install a new door. And the B@$!@%&'s didn't even leave any trace of their presence, no note, nothing in the letterbox not even a tag scrawled in spray paint to say sorry.

As you can see the door is practically folded in half so it wasn't a gentle nudge, they slammed into it. Even more annoying is there will be no damage to their car, and they probably saw my old bomb and thought "Who cares it's an old piece of crap". Amazingly from the inside you can't tell there's any damage apart from the door not closing.

I know it's not likely I will find who did this, it was probably someone who took a wrong turn in the middle of the night and not realizing it's a court decided to do a 3 point turn in the ONLY part of the street with a car parked across the road. I will ask the neighbors over the road though if they heard anything, the car is smack bang directly across the road from their steep driveway but I'm definitely not insinuating anything. I will keep an eye out as well for any cars with a tow bar visiting today, hopefully I find one with some silver paint smeared on it.

Needless to say I am totally pissed off. Nothing like this has ever happened to us.

David D · Post by **David D** » Fri May 25, 2012 7:40 am

That sucks. It annoys me when people don't even leave a note or anything but they never do. My dad told me once he was in a car park and saw someone hit another car, leave a note then drive off. Turns out the note said something like, 'Anybody watching will think I'm leaving my contact details but I'm not.'
Hope you manage to get it fixed soon.

David

Johnny T · Post by **Johnny T** » Fri May 25, 2012 8:05 am

Sorry to hear that m8, hope you find the fool who did it,
hope you are able to find another door in good condition for your car

Keep us posted if your neighbours know anything

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Fri May 25, 2012 9:18 am

that is a BIG p1ss off

, if only you had a cheapy alarm that detected voltage drop when the door light went on ...... go to work late and tie inside of door to other side - at least you'll get paid , enough to buy nother door.....

AshR · Post by **AshR** » Fri May 25, 2012 9:37 am

man that's crap news... hope you can get it sorted quick smart.

best bet to give the police a buzz too. never know your luck

thunder039 · Post by **thunder039** » Fri May 25, 2012 9:59 am

sorry to hear mate that is really crap

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Fri May 25, 2012 10:48 am

Suppose I should start ringing around looking for another door, hopefully there's one that isn't too much of a color difference. Luckily there is nothing broken on the inside so I can change all the interior bits over. Can I swap the lock over as well? Having a look in the daylight I can see the door has sagged downwards as well, I'm really hoping the hinges on the car are ok so the replacement closes and seals properly around the glass.

I won't bother calling the Police Ash, they wouldn't be interested in investigating something like this on such an old car owned by a 1st year apprentice. I guarantee the answer I would get would be "We'll look into it"

taza · Post by **taza** » Fri May 25, 2012 10:56 am

Sorry to hear mate, I've had my car vandalised a few times here where I live, I know how it feels.

RSR 555 · Post by **RSR 555** » Fri May 25, 2012 11:20 am

That is sh!taz bro

from the looks of it (and I know you shouldn't blame without proof) I reckon that is definitely been hit by a towbar tongue and most likely caused by a car that has rolled down a hill. I would be checking the neighbor's car for silver paint and taking a picture of it if you see it.

I also reckon you should report it. Even if the police don't do anything about it, at least you have an incident report number for insurance stuff.

This happened to one of my 84 Touring Wagons and the rest of the car is pretty tough. I'm thinking you shouldn't have too much trouble fitting a new door and you can change the door lock barrel over.

purp · Post by **purp** » Fri May 25, 2012 11:30 am

I'd ring the police anyway. You might get lucky and they busted someone DUI last night s block away who did it... nah, it is pretty obvious you aren't lucky today.

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Fri May 25, 2012 11:32 am

RSR 555 wrote: This happened to one of my 84 Touring Wagons and the rest of the car is pretty tough. I'm thinking you shouldn't have too much trouble fitting a new door and you can change the door lock barrel over.

That's good to know, thanks. Should I go through the insurance company and all their admin? I've found a silver replacement door that I can pick up tomorrow, and I need the car on Monday. Would the insurance business slow this down? I've never had to make a claim so I have no idea how this works.

AshR · Post by **AshR** » Fri May 25, 2012 11:40 am

Insurance; that depends on how much your excess is and how much the door costs, if it's structural damage (that'd be extreme if the hinges actually pulled the pillar out of whack) then you'd go insurance.

Deff report to police though especially as they did a runner, the person who did it could be in a bit of trouble if caught.

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Fri May 25, 2012 12:47 pm

or how much the perps excess is - if you ever catch up, but I'd be watching neighbours cars for hints of a touch up, or need of.Get the silver door b4 it sells to another....get it in and on the road. How much the door ?

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Fri May 25, 2012 2:02 pm

$120 plus gst for the door, just the door shell only. Import from Japan so hopefully in good nick.

I've already taken the door off so that's probably not too good for reporting to police

I had to do something though, couldn't seal it so I took the door off to seal the space with plastic.

While I was working on it I saw a car with a tow bar; a taxi. Dropped someone off at the house over the road, could have been picked up last night with taxi parked on their steep driveway I suppose, let the handbrake off but didn't hit the brakes in time. Wouldn't have been the same taxi though. Needless to say I won't be leaving the car on the street ever again.

Off topic but kinda related; while I was taking the door apart I got to know the big thick service manual I've never used because it's so hard to navigate. Anyway I found that it has detailed drawings of all the separate pressed steel panels for the doors, chassis etc. Also shows the moulding shapes for the steel around every window and the profile of every weather strip. Since I work at a press shop that makes and runs the tools for stuff like this (not body panels though) I got to thinking if the tooling for these cars still exists? They wouldn't be used anymore obviously but I wonder if Mr. Fuji has the press tools still stowed away somewhere in storage? Press tools are bloody expensive I doubt they would just throw them away, and their made of hardened tool steel so I'm not sure if melting down for recovery is possible.
Wonder if it's worth finding out if the tools still exist?

spike · Post by **spike** » Fri May 25, 2012 2:56 pm

IF (I say if because i dont have insurance for this sort of thing) you have insurance ring the police, if the cops get someone you can get them to pay your insurance if not well its best to see.

BUT if you dont ring the police insurance wont touch you, had my sisters car covered in glue and sand and didnt think it was worth ringing the police, tried to wash it off about 8 hours later and wouldnt come off. Insurance wouldnt cover it at all because i didnt see the police in a reasonable time frame.

revmax · Post by **revmax** » Fri May 25, 2012 4:48 pm

bloody pooftas.

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Fri May 25, 2012 5:45 pm

lol thanks for that revmax

Reported it to Police, got a card with a number on it and that's all they can do, I wasn't expecting any more than that anyway. Maybe it will be in the next neighborhood watch newsletter

I Won't get insurance company involved, don't have 3rd party or comprehensive or whatever it is so I can't claim without the other driver.

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Fri May 25, 2012 6:30 pm

and ask the cops to go WAY beyond their duty ( usual view is - no insurance ? STIFF, if you have - go through them if you wish, don't expect a stressed copper or two to solve your mystery ) and enquire of taxi companies getting a booking across the street.

Tweety · Post by **Tweety** » Fri May 25, 2012 6:46 pm

Ok, yes that's shit alright...and once you get over the initial shock then what.?

See I figured out a long time ago that I was almost self harming myslef when something totally unextected happens. So I set about doing something about that rotten feeling. Stay with me now guys...

Well its like speeding tickets. I travel 60,000kms ayears and 3 years ago 100,000kms. It would be unreasonable for anyone to assume I'd never get a ticket for speeding. But I'd bang my head against the bonnet each time. Then I thought...if I get speeding fines not more than say $300 a year and no more than 3 demerit points then I'll be ok.

That way if I go one eyar without getting even one speeding fine...I'm in front. And when I receive a fine for say 12kms over, 3 points and $250 I ok about it because it was- planned.

So in this case silverbullet- an event like this can happen say once every 10 years. it wont happen for another 10.

Great theory....until like this week when I got two speeding fines....my quota for this year and...gulp...next year!!

so it still sucks

Cliff R · Post by **Cliff R** » Fri May 25, 2012 6:49 pm

Geezz. I think what everyone else has said is the go.
I'm gonna cry as your car is very much the same as mine

Dont know what I would do in your situaiton.
Here I was going to winge over the dog chewing up the car cover over my touring wagon.
Hope things work out and there is no harm in putting out an e mail in "find a parts" on line Aust wide with what you want and the paint code.
This is how I got my MY touring wagon instrument panel a while back.
Bastards !!!!!
They obviously knew what they had done.
Lets hope for Karma (spelling)