moral of the story: pay attention even when you dont think you hafta. you just might end up with a 250 USD mistake like me.

Want a free passenger side headlamp and bracket? The headlamp is faded, but I can buff it up before I send it.

no ty. Im gonna put the damaged one back on when she goes to the shop. I sure appreciate the offer, though.

Ok, just be careful. Those armadillos are dangerous, you never know when one will jump out of the bushes and into your car.

ouch, what happened?

Which one a Coyote or a rabbit did you hit?

What the heck happened? This happen today?! Sorry to see the bad news!

Ouch! Very sorry to see that, Rick...

rick, what did you hit?

hey rook, im needing a passenger headlight bracket, one i peice is broke and makeing my corners not stay in place. willing to send it

gosh you live in the desert and you cant keep the ride clean lol jk jk what happened

well, I was going from US-70/Main St in Las Cruces, NM to Picacho (I think the cop said WB). There was a sizable gap in traffic, I saw the Escape move, assumed it was just gonna keep going. I was watching the cross traffic for my gap, and BLAM!!! 5 MPH.

no injuries, no 'bags popped.

just marked and crumpled the Escape's plastic and rubber bumper. I think the upper headlights hit her steel bumper or towing frame by how crumpled all my stuff is.

I hafta call Progressive tomorrow and give them info. Call Pontiac for a body shop reservation on Monday. Hopefully I can get a GP loaner while Colleen is getting surgery.

I was alone when it happened. Funny thing is: I think the cop that took the accident report is the same one that helped search the 'Bird for drugs not even half an hour later.

that sux... are you saying you got pulled over in the bird a half an hour later?

no, half an hour later I met the cops at a restaurant so they can search the 'Bird for drugs. The neighborhoods my car's been in are, uh, less than secure. I wanted to make sure no one was using me as a drop point or mule. just precautionary measures to protect some of the advantages Ive gotten by being in the Army and the job the Army gave me.

oh okay... i c

hey rick, keep the racing at the track haha, glad to see your ok and the car i think is telling you to get an sd or f1 hood.

i agree...

x2, it would look really good ... they are going to replace the hood anyways, if i was you get quotes and get the ins money they would give you or see what they are going to pay out then you can spend that money on a set of new headlights and a f1 hood and you still might even have some left over to paint the hood. getting parts from a body shop is so spendy. and make shure you have talked to someone about what bodyshop you went to, yes i might look good when it leaves but how does it look a half a year later

I'll ask. I doubt they'd bite on it, but maybe, just maybe. honestly, I think Im gonna wait for the SpyderAuto projector feedback to buy any headlights. I may lose out on the group buy discount, but at least Id know about workmanship on the product. The hood...hmmm, yummy...

where can I go to get a close estimate on how much the OE hood is? window shopping and contrasting, ya know?

hey rick i could send you my hood free shipping if you pick me up an f1!!!!

lol, yeah, Alex, keep holdin yer breath, dude.

I just came back from lookin at WBS and PFYC. 500-700 USD for hoods? Wow. Tell me that OE hoods are like a grand. Please.

the reason after market are more is because they are made of fiberglass, our oe hoods are steel. im actual looking at getting the mpd f1 hood, its a combo of steel base hood with fiberglass on top.... oh its also almost 900

if GMperformanceparts.com is to be believed, OE hoods are only 300. I doubt Progressive will let me get an aftermarket hood, and have it painted on that one claim. Grr. eh, oh well, Colleen is sexy without the gimmicks.

I also had my car search from my K9 buddy and his dog. It did stop at my drivers door, but that was a hickup. Thank goodnees. But I have had the car all apart and didn't find anymore money nor did I find any drugs. After finding $800 cash in the trunk, I figure I get it sniffed out!!!

Hey Rick, why don't you get ahold of the crumpled one after you get her fixed and tool around with it. Try some custom stuff on that. Did you think of that?

hmmm...interesting suggestion. I'll ask Progressive and the shop about it. again, I doubt they'll allow it, but you never can tell.

You rang?

LOL, oh lord, you're horrible, dude.

If you want aftermarket you can pay the diff between the estimated cost of oem and the part you want.

...and it shouldn't be a problem if you want the damaged parts back. I've gone and taken the emblem off my old wrecked bumper before. Wish I had done it the first time too.

Call the dealership, the OEM hoods are ridiculously overpriced, get the estimate from there.

Sorry about the car man

Man, I'm sorry to see that. Brings back bad memories...

well, OE hoods are 300-ish. the cheapest a/m hood is like 550-ish. I dunno...I just might stick stock for now. Progressive is willing to pay me for the stocker and have me pay the difference. and also pay me for the headlight that I had laying around.

she also told me that she will be researching a repair done in Savannah. what that means is that I may be getting the splashguard for my Fwd Lft well. FWI? I believe soooo...yum yum yum.

get an estamate from the $tealership, get your check from insurance, buy ur hood, take ur can and hood to a cheaper shop and get the work done, you will more then likely have to pay alil more then the insurance check will have but onloy a few hundred more for a much nicer hood and hainv the insuance pick up the bill for paint and prep work, ...worth it.

i would shell out the extra 200 for a hood if ins would pay for a oem just to get a nicer one lol

Go for the after-market hood, RICK!!! Colleen is buttering you up! Go to the $tealership, get an estimate (might have to get 2 others), take it to your insurance company, have them cut a check, deposit your check, and shell out the extra $200-$300 to get the SD or F1 hood. If you plan on getting an A/M hood, might as well get it now. Think of it as a $300 group-buy coupon! ...JUST DO IT!

bummer is my wife didnt like any of the 3 hoods we saw. OE for me, thanketh thee. Good news: my car will be done WED night or THURS morning.

They put me in a Mazda CX-7. Decent SUV. LOTS of room for how small the truck is. I really dont much care for the instrument panel. Anyone deal with ocsilloscopes? Ya know the hood that you use to see real faint signals? Yeah, thats what the guages remind me of. Better yet, for you football fans: those TVs that refs use to review plays on? yeah, something like that. Only three pieces. I'll take pics tonight of the cluster.

you get allot of cars for rent dont ya? Out of all that you have drivin, whats ur fav so far?

Grand Prix.

Or the (one car I havent driven so far) 94 Impala SS 350 or the 96 Impala SS 454.

Other honorable mentions are the W-body Impalas, Malibus, the Cobalt SS, and the C6.

Other nice not-cars are the late-90s Silverado Z71. The Chevy Equinox is an ok-soccer-mom-wannabe-truck-SUV. Good room for a large purse right under the driver's right arm rest.

ISn't the red your car? What's the wife have to do with the hood decisionk, you wrecked it you fix it, LOL. So make fix it right, aft hood!

my wife often knows me and my tastes later on better than I do.

Take for example: she told me to quit playin around and get a brand new 03 GTP when I had the chance. Instead, I got the 00 GT, since I couldnt handle the power. At the time. She's the only reason I havent rolled Belen down a cliff yet.

All that AND she's my wife. She's my partner in everything I do. Since she may very well end up being the primary driver of Colleen, I hafta listen to her. She's all I got, after all.

So, dropped by the tranny shop to take Belen to the body shop. The dude at the body shop actually gave me some props for Belen and was surprised that I had 2 Ponchos. Anyway:

They said that they will be painting the bumper AND the new hood. Im most likely to expect a left Fwd splashguard and new crash foam. Dude, the car looks so silly without front fascia. He also said that they'll clean the car for me before I pick it up on Thurs or Fri. Expect Thurs. If I DO get a splash guard, I believe a FWI is in the somewhat near future for Colleen.

And Belen's tranny is working beautifully. That gutless wonder.

gettin the GP back in about an hour and a half. As promised, here are pics of the Mazda CX-7 that they had me in.
the o-scope-hood-inspired cluster:


who, in their right mind, puts the clock and radio station this far out of sight and in such a small space? Freakin Ford...


another shot (albeit blurry) of the cluster when light up:


for Auto-stick, push up to shift down, pull down to shift up. will not let you shift down above a certain RPM range, and will not let you shift up below a certain RPM range:


More pics tonight of the car when I get her home.

i drove one of those do you like how it talks to you when you start up the car or idk if the ones without nav do but the one i drove talked to you every time you started it

this one dont talk to no one. maybe itself at night when it cries itself to sleep trying to convince itself its ok to be gutless all the way through first gear.

We got home too late for me to snap any good pics of Colleen. Suffice it until tomorrow for me to say that the bumper and hood look GORGEOUS!!! The wash and detail they did was awesome!

I would certainly recommend ABC Paint & Body at Valley and Hadley in Las Cruces, NM to anyone who ever needs work done in this neck of the sagebrush.

The body shop tried to talk Progressive into respraying the fenders to allow for a smoother fade into existing paint, but couldnt do it. oh, well. it really is the thought that counts on that one.

I FINALLY GOT MY COLLEEN HOME!!! It's been a long, hard week without her! but oh, we had a couple of really fun passing events on I-10 today...