Deer damage/repair & paint/backdate dilemma

[WCN621]

In a limbo regarding the direction of my 84 911 due to this past weekend being hit by a 6 pt buck. He impacted the entire passenger side, not missing the mirror and right headlight also. I was planning a windows out repaint in a couple of years (after retirement and saving the funds for it), as well as, a backdate.

Now I have to make repairs & paint and then the dilemma appears. The current paint is a respray from a PO and very poor at that. In the area over the rear wheel well that was hit, the paint peels off in chunks. The passenger half of the car will have to be repainted, then the choices begin as I’m now getting into an area of unknown cost, time, time of not being able to use the car. Already set up and paid for 3 Rallyes in 2023, the first in April and worried now I won’t make it.

Do I have enough time to have the car prepped and painted by April?
Do I have them repair the damage and just paint those areas?
Do I have them completely strip the car ( or I do it - “time permitting”) and repaint?
Do I do the body backdate now, as I already have the major parts? And how long will that take? With that, what am I adding to the list of “to do’s”?

Insurance will estimate and advise their support by Christmas.

Your thoughts and experiences will help figure direction. Thanks!

[Uwon]

Damn buck. Must have been frightening!
Repair and re-spray entire car-possible.
Backdate as well-No, unless you devote 30 hours per week.
How confident are you that there isn’t any rust behind the rockers, A-post behind front fender, front slam panels, just to name a few usual rust areas?
M2CW
Good luck.
Johan

[WCN621]

Thanks Uwon. It literally happened in an instance @75 mph and swerved left to prevent it from going over the hood.

Bought a southern 911 so I could minimize the rust issue, but you never know until you take it apart, so fingers crossed. Will really have dedicate my time if I start the backdate, of which I have little.

[gtc]

I think it really depends on the body shop you take it to.
Out here you would have trouble getting it repaired by April, let alone a complete repaint or backdate.
Time to start interviewing shops. Discuss your plans, see what timelines they give you, and double the time they expect to take.

[ADDvanced]

Backdates aren't financially smart. If you want a backdated car I'd just fix yours, get it resprayed nicely, sell on BaT and find a car that's already backdated. Just my opinion.

[Mr. Merk]

Same thing happened to me about 5 or 6 years ago. I sped up to avoid eating the deer as my last meal and she went down the driver side from the headlight to caving in the rear fender.

My guy removed the pre-existing filler and straightened what was there. Best part is that insurance covered most of it and it was better than when I bought it.

[Mr. Merk]

Same thing happened to me about 5 or 6 years ago. I sped up to avoid eating the deer as my last meal and she went down the driver side from the headlight to caving in the rear fender.

My guy removed the pre-existing filler and straightened what was there. Best part is that insurance covered most of it and it was better than when I bought it.

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[Mr. Merk]

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[76FJ55]

I hit an 8 point buck with my 84 in Nov 2019.It took me over a year to get it back, hopefully the shop you choose will be much quicker. It was COVID so it wasn't like I was going anywhere anyway tough. It took a whole lot longer than I anticipated, but at least they were good to work with me.
I did all the wrenching of disassembly and reassembly to offset his cost in exchange to doing a full repaint instead of just the damaged front half.

Ideally I think it makes the most sense to to do it now and do it once, but I think your April schedule may dictate differently.

[ADDvanced]

lol @ the #ohdeer

[blucille]

I was recently rear-ended HARD by a driver who was flat-out accelerating full-bore (their words) while the rest of the cars one the road were braking very hard. I avoided the car in front of me, but was pushed - no- launched HARD into the ditch or culvert along side the road, rear end is squashed. Hard. My car, original paint 83 SC, western car, no rust anywhere.

I'm thinking it will likely become an IROC car with salvaged title, body shop doesn't have estimates yet, says it can be fixed, but is 100% sure the insurance will total the car.

If a backdate is what you want, now is the time to do it. Me, personally, I'm not a fan of back-dating. I grew up with Impact Bumper cars, they are the cars I dreamt about and the cars I love....I have a long hood, I love the way it drives. A backdated car doesn't just start driving like a longhood unless you lighten it dramatically. Build what you will enjoy owning or buy what you want. Do what is right for you, but now you have someone else covering most or all of the bill.

The insurance company will come up with a price to fix the car and will offer to cut you a check. Then you can negotiate with your body shop to see what the backdate would cost.

[chrisbalich]

IDK your exact situation or the actual condition of the car, but if it were my car, I'd get it back together and drive it in a host of colors or primers and drive it all of 23. Then have it sprayed in 24.

I've been driving my car in primer for the last three years. I haven't missed an event for paint and don't plan on starting anytime soon.

[ADDvanced]

lol @ the #ohdeer

[76dno]

Originally Posted by ADDvanced

Backdates aren't financially smart. If you want a backdated car I'd just fix yours, get it resprayed nicely, sell on BaT and find a car that's already backdated. Just my opinion.

Agree. Good plan.

[PTRL HD]

If you were planning to back-date and paint in a few years there's no reason not to do it now.

If you're set on doing the rallies and the back-date can't be done in time then do what Chris suggests - drive it as is. I'd hope by April you could source the parts and get the critical one's in place. You could make an appointment with the shop of your choice to complete it next winter.

I had a similar situation with mine about 25 years ago. I'd been eyeing up this Strosek style kit with the 993 headlights and hoped to do it some day. Some day came when an oncoming car thought they had the right of way to turn on a green light (no arrow) and clipped my front fender. Turned out that the insurance estimate was almost exactly what the kit cost shipped to me so I took the settlement money and bought the kit. A buddy of mine was working at the best shop in the area and we did most of the work on it after hours to keep costs down. I know forward dating is typically looked down upon but I still like the look of mine. And, ultimately, with my car that is what matters.

With your car, what you want is ultimately what matters. If you want the back date, do the back date.

[Otter74]

Oof! Sorry to hear about that. I hit a doe in my Saab SPG in the Hocking Hills this summer. Glad it wasn’t my 911, as she would have gone over the hood and into the windshield, maybe up and over and into the cabin. As it was, she just hit the front end. Finally getting the car fixed (I had to find the parts myself). If I were you, I’d fix it and get the whole car painted, and skip the backdate unless you *really* want a backdate. I think you can get the car fixed and painted by April, but I doubt you’d get a backdate done by then.

[ed317]

Backdating takes more time and money but its a perfect time to do it.
Make sure you go to a good EXPERIENCED body shop, by that I mean someone that has done backdates before. To bad you are not in San Diego I use a great shop here.
Good luck, Ed

[blucille]

Originally Posted by Otter74

Oof! Sorry to hear about that. I hit a doe in my Saab SPG in the Hocking Hills this summer. Glad it wasn’t my 911, as she would have gone over the hood and into the windshield, maybe up and over and into the cabin. As it was, she just hit the front end. Finally getting the car fixed (I had to find the parts myself). If I were you, I’d fix it and get the whole car painted, and skip the backdate unless you *really* want a backdate. I think you can get the car fixed and painted by April, but I doubt you’d get a backdate done by then.

Sorry about the Saab. Glad you are ok. They are tough to put back together just right. The slide/tilt hood mechanism defies most body shops. Glad you were able to get it back together. Even back in the day, finding Saab parts was always a challenge.

[chrisbalich]

OP,

Let's see some pics of the damage. It'll give us all a better idea of what you're in for.
It sucks now, but it'll be worth the trouble later.

[Showdown]

For what it’s worth, I am embarked upon a backdate and repaint of my car, including lots of interior work and an EFI/ITP conversion allocating just one day every weekend and the odd hours I could pick up during the week and the total project took about eight months. I had no experience working on cars before this and still don’t know what I’m doing!

I think it’s certainly possible to do all of the work by April, but the extent of the damage will really determine what needs to be done. In addition, are you going to be buying all new parts for the car or scrounging the classifieds for pieces that need ancillary work? And as always, are you ready for the possibility of finding additional damage or rust that needs to be addressed and turns this four or five month project into a year long project?

Are you going to be doing the bodywork and paint or are you going to be sending it to a shop? I think if you are doing the bodywork and paint then April is realistic but unless you have very deep pockets, I can’t see a Shoppe committing to such a short timeline, particularly if paint is involved as it takes forever .

Also, ignore all the comments about financial decisions, and whether or not it’s wise to do any of this work. It’s your car, do what makes you happy and drive off into the sunset.