Elan vs. rock - all better!

[RotoFlexible]

You know from the title that this isn't going to turn out well - but it could have been worse...

Sunday evening, I was returning from an enjoyable outing to the Berkshires with the local Lotus club. I was on the highway (Mass. Rte. 2) entering a construction zone where two lanes reduced to one, with no cars immediately in front or behind. I caught a brief glimpse of some yellowish large thing (volleyball sized or possibly basketball) coming across the road from my left, entering the beam of my headlights just before it disappeared under the nose of the car. Immediately there was a loud bang and a tremendous jolt, and the headlights went out. The car seemed OK - no vibration, it steered and braked, oil pressure fine, engine ran fine. I carried on to the next exit, carefully found my way to a lighted parking lot, and assessed the damage.

The fiberglass under the front bumper on the right side was very dinged up, and various things inside the nose were dislodged - the K&N air filter, headlight actuator relay, the windshield washer reservoir. The nylon pull rods that work my (electrically actuated) headlights had snapped from the impact, explaining the loss of forward visibility. But there was no damage to the chassis, suspension or wheel, not even a sign of contact, and no fluid loss.

As best I can tell, a large stone somehow came rolling from the center of the highway into my path. How that happened, I haven't a clue. At first I thought it might have been an animal but the impact was too violent, there were no signs of blood or fur, and the damage had obviously been caused by something hard. I think the right side of the car was launched into the air by the impact, the chassis and RF suspension cleared the object, which exited stage right before the car could come back down on it.

The lights were still working, so I taped them into the raised position with duct tape (don't leave home without it) and gingerly continued on my way. The Elan completed the trip with no signs of distress. Considering what could have happened, I think I was very lucky. I'm starting to look at options for repair, and hoping that I won't find hidden damage. A call to the state police yielded no information about large rocks spontaneously rolling across the highway, so that remains a mystery.

So the 2010 driving season ends with a bang!

[69S4]

Ouch, that looks nasty but as you said it could have been a lot worse. At least there's no damage to you and no damage to the core bits of the car. How does a rock that size come rolling out into the road? Is it a hilly area? You wouldn't want to think there would be a human hand involved.

Many years ago, just after I'd bought my Elan, I was driving it home from work on a stormy evening and came round a corner to find a large tree branch in the act of falling in front of me. The torn end of the branch hit the front of the car and I ended up with damage very similar to yours. If I look closely even now I can see where the repairs were not done quite as they should have been. Hopefully you'll have a better insurance company than I did.

[rgh0]

Kids throwing rocks onto highways for "amusement" at the damage it causes is an ongoing problem here. Sounds like you may be victim of a similar stunt. A person was badly injured here recently when it went though the windscreen and hit them not the car sounds like you were lucky a few inches higher and it may have come up over the bonnet and not gone down under it
cheers
Rohan

[garyeanderson]

Hi Andy

Glad to hear that you (or anyone else) were not hurt. I was lucky when I hit the dead raccoon, it was not moving and as you said it lifted the whole Elan up as I went over it. No damage to my Elan at all. Maybe Bill and I will stop over to look at the damage tonight, Chris has the gearbox from John Esposito and we will be inspecting after lunch today.

Gary

[adigra]

Ouch. Very sorry to see this, but as you say it could've been a lot worse. My father in law had a Sprint restored after a road barrier ripped the nose in half, so, although upsetting, fibreglass is at least forgiving.

I hit a pheasant in the Elan without any damage to the car, but it was quite a thud. The damn thing was on the other side of the road, just standing there, with about two Elan widths left on my side to go by it. But just as I was about 20 feet from it it just bolted straight into my path.

But years ago in Seattle I was going about 70-ish on a freeway when I noticed something really large bouncing from across four lanes of traffic and heading diagonally straight into my path. It happened within seconds and I had nowhere to go and before I could react I collided with this grey wheelie bin. It smashed the right front corner of the car really bad (it was a 90's Nissan 300zx).

Adi

[Frank Howard]

Adi,

What's a wheelie bin?

[alan71]

not sure what you call a bin in the US, trash can?
but it's a bin with wheels on.

Alan.

[Carlos A]

It does not look that bad I think. You will find that fixing the lower part of the nose maybe done for $1000-1500, and in any case the insurance should cover it. I am glad you are OK and that no one was injured. Best, Carlos

[ftsoft]

You know from the title that this isn't going to turn out well - but it could have been worse...

Sunday evening, I was returning from an enjoyable outing to the Berkshires with the local Lotus club. I was on the highway (Mass. Rte. 2) entering a construction zone where two lanes reduced to one, with no cars immediately in front or behind. I caught a brief glimpse of some yellowish large thing (volleyball sized or possibly basketball) coming across the road from my left, entering the beam of my headlights just before it disappeared under the nose of the car. Immediately there was a loud bang and a tremendous jolt, and the headlights went out. The car seemed OK - no vibration, it steered and braked, oil pressure fine, engine ran fine. I carried on to the next exit, carefully found my way to a lighted parking lot, and assessed the damage.

Where are you in the Berkshires? I belonged to the Pittsfield car club from 1966-1968.

Frank

[RotoFlexible]

Thanks all for the good wishes. The body shop that replaced my front clip 25 years ago is still in business, the owner remembers me, the car, the color etc. so I will be checking there first. (The shop specializes in Corvettes.) I hope it can be fixed without a new body section, but we'll see.

Where are you in the Berkshires? I belonged to the Pittsfield car club from 1966-1968.

Frank

I don't live in the Berkshires - I'm in the eastern part of the state - but the club put on a nice ride from W. Springfield (Mass.) to Connecticut, then up Rte. 8, through Pittsfield to N. Adams, lunch, then back over the hill on Rte. 2. Lots of twisties along the way, and I found that I run out of brave well before the Vredesteins run out of grip!

[Ross Robbins]

Andrew,

I'm glad you are OK, that's the important thing. The only way to avoid such a thing is to leave her in the garage and that is not an option for me. As Rohan says if the bounce were different the outcome might be as well.

As to the repair, I think you'll find it repairable with cloth and resin and no new body part. When my S2 was burned I acquired a new front clip after much effort and expense. When I took it with the car to my "Glass Guy" he decided fairly quickly that it was better to repair than to cut out and bond in the new clip. You saw the result and it looked pretty good, no?

Good on you for being out driving the car. It is what they are for. Besides, you need a winter project

[Elan45]

My deer hit last October caused more body damage than this and I've pretty much got it ready for paint w/o a replacement panel. I am thinking about replacing the LH headlamp pod, but don't have a replacement yet and the broken one has been put back together. So glad no one was hurt and that the car bounced over the rock and the chassis was not damaged.

Roger

[RotoFlexible]

The Elan is back from the body shop and it looks great. The gentleman who did the repair has been working on Corvettes since forever. He owns five, and a bunch of other cars including a vintage slingshot-style dragster, the kind I was brought up on. He reinforced the entire width of the nose and painted everything under the bumper. The cost was reasonable.

Given this fresh canvas, I am going to re-install the original vacuum headlight system. My old vacuum pods are still good, I fixed the leaky switch, and obtained a new check valve (in-line, not the kind that screws into the manifold). The reservoir is vacuum-tight. No reason it shouldn't work.

[stugilmour]

Looks good Andrew. That was quick!

[garyeanderson]

Hi Andy

Great job and a fast turn around time to boot. Good to see you are returning the lamp system back to stock.

Gary