Frame Damage

When I was just out of college, I rumaged through the local paper for an affordable passenger car that would take me accross cuntry to New York. I happened upon a model that was labeled as salvage. Not knowing anything, and not getting help from my Grandma who was the only person around at the moment - I thought "Why not"? Well, after 2 terrible years with that car, I have learned why not.

After getting into another accident with it and finding that they would not repair it because of the previous damage,I defintely learned my lesson. It turns out the the frame of the car is the most important safety feature it has. In an auto collision, your frame is what ultimatey protects you during a crash.

In modern cars and other vehicles, the frame is a highly engineered crash-absorption component that can help to protect you and your family in a car collision New York by dispersing impact forces more predictably. Every year, hundreds of thousands of used vehicles with hidden frame damage to that very component are bought and sold, usually for one of two reasons:

1. Typical visual frame inspection procedures for new or pre owned vehicles used by even the most reputable car dealers can actually fail to detect hidden auto frame damage from a car collision.


2. Unscrupulous individuals are "passing off" a salvaged car that has been totalled and refurbished, but not repaired correctly or to vehicle safety specifications.


When I learned these things, I sold my little sports car or a song - and felt good about it.

A Lesson In Restoration

A father-daughter project turns a passion for cars into a family tradition.

Bill Miller has made a career out of restoring old vehicles—a passion that started at age seven when he built his own spray booth in his bedroom to put custom paint jobs on his model cars.

Since then, Miller has restored and sold more than 50 cars. And he’s done far more than that since opening Livermore Collision Center Inc. in 1993. The 6,000-square-foot shop in Livermore, Calif., does 75 percent collision repair and 25 percent restoration work.

Miller’s most valuable project was one he completed with his daughter, Rachel. She’d fallen in love with cars at age 16, after watching Disney’s 2006 movie, “Cars.”

“She was hooked,” Miller says, noting that he was delighted when his daughter expressed interest in his lifelong hobby. Miller jumped at the opportunity to introduce her to vehicle restoration. He searched for a project the pair could share, scouring the Internet until he came across the perfect job: a 1963 Fiat for just $1,500.

The father-daughter duo worked together on the tiny Fiat for a year. And now, the medium yellow-colored coupe with suicide doors is quite the attraction in Livermore Collision Center’s parking lot.

The Restoration
Miller says the Fiat was in decent shape when he picked it up, but there was still enough work to be done to give his daughter a sense of the entire restoration process. The car had been driven for only eight years—from 1963 to 1971. With just 46,000 miles on it, the car sat untouched for 36 years until Miller bought it in 2007.

The Fiat needed both mechanical and body work. It was filled with rust, dents and a ripped up interior. Mechanically, the suspension needed work, and the transmission and engine had to be replaced.

Miller put out $7,500 to fully restore the Fiat. The investment, he says, was well worth everything the process taught his daughter about cars. She learned how to strip a car to bare metal, repair rust and dents, replace chrome, repolish aluminum, fix the suspension and replace the transmission. She learned how to install new parts: a water pump, carburetor and hoses.

The big challenge was in finding an engine to drop in the car. Ironically, a replacement engine sat just next door—in their neighbor’s backyard. Miller’s neighbor just happened to have a similar Fiat sitting under cover.

The neighbor’s Fiat was in rough shape, Miller says. He thought about restoring that one, too, but the body was too rusted out to safely repair. There were, however, parts that could be salvaged from the car, Miller says, most notably a well-running 650 cc, 35 horsepower engine.

Finally, the Millers added a few aesthetics to the car. They installed a modern gray cloth interior and added 12-inch rims to the tiny wheels. Miller’s daughter wanted the Fiat to have a race car feel, so they installed a roll bar and racing seat belts inside as novelties.

Miller also taught his daughter that every restored classic should be given a name. She got into the spirit of it, dubbing the restored two-door, four-seater “Luigi” in honor of her favorite “Cars” character. “It was great for her to see the restoration process from beginning to end,” Miller says.

The Talk of the Town
The Fiat has become something of an icon in Livermore, and a staple in Livermore’s downtown parades.

Rachel doesn’t drive it much—the car has only 4,000 more miles on it than it did when they picked it up—but Miller says it does get recognized every time she takes it out for a spin.

And the car is an eye-catcher even when it’s just sitting in Livermore Collision Center’s parking lot. Miller says his shop has become known as “the shop with the little yellow car in the parking lot.”

“People stop to take pictures of the car,” Miller says. “We even had some people from Italy ask to buy the car so they could export it back home.”

In fact, Miller’s obvious talent for restoration earns him a second income selling his works for profit. But the Fiat is one job that’s not for sale.
The sentimental value of the time spent with his daughter, he says, is priceless.

Sourche: http://www.fenderbender.com/FenderBender/September-2010/A-Lesson-In-Restoration/

National Two-Second Turn-off Day

National Two-Second Turn-off Day is sponsored by AAA, Seventeen magazine and the U.S. Department of Transportation. Almost nine out of 10 teens admit to driving distracted and almost as many admit they know it is dangerous, according to an AAA survey.

Car accidents are the leading cause of death for teens and 36 percent of teen drivers admit they have almost been in an car collision due to cell phone use while driving.

“Taking your eyes off of the road for two seconds doubles your risk of a crash or near-crash and National Two-Second Turnoff Day is an opportunity for young drivers nationwide to take control of their own safety behind the wheel by making the wise and responsible decision not to drive while distracted," said Kathleen Marvaso, AAA vice president of public affairs. "National Two-Second Turnoff Day is a reminder to drivers of all ages that they should keep their eyes and attention on the road while driving at all times."

For more information, go to TeenDriving.AAA.com.

State Farm about texting while driving

New State Farm survey results show that teens do not believe texting and driving is as dangerous as drunken driving, despite academic research that shows it is.

The majority of teens, 55 percent, said drunken driving could be fatal, where as only 36 percent said texting and driving could be fatal, according to the State Farm survey. Of teens that do not text and drive, 73 percent believe that, if they did, they would get into an accident; however, of teens that admit to texting and driving, only 52 percent believe they could get into an accident.

The United Kingdom’s Transport Research Library (TRL) said, in a 2008 study, that reaction time of 17- to 24-year-old drivers was reduced by 35 percent when typing a text message, compared to 12 percent when driving after drinking to the legal limit.

"Some teens still think the consequences of reaching for a cell phone are less severe than reaching for a beer bottle," said Laurette Stiles, vice president of strategic resources at State Farm. "We have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to helping teens understand that texting while driving can be every bit as dangerous as drinking while driving. It's an awareness gap that must be addressed."

Tips for Car Seat Safety

Sept. 20-24 is Child Passenger Safety Week (CPSW) sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

CPSW’s goal is to educate parents about proper car seat installation and use. On average four kids younger than age 14 die in car accidents every day and more than 500 are injured. The proper use of car seats and seat belts decreases that risk, according to NHTSA, but more than 75 percent of car seats are improperly installed.

Dorel Juvenile Group, one of the sponsors of CPSW gives the following suggestions for proper car seat use:

1. Face children to the rear;
2. Use car seats that fit the child’s weight and height;
3. Do not buy used or expired car seats;
4. Replace car seats that were involved in an accident;
5. Consult the experts, such as fire fighters or local police officers.

Additional car seat tips can be found at safety1st.com. For more information about CPSW, go to nhtsa.gov.

Fender Benders

Every time I'm in a Walmart parking lot I have several opportunities for a fender bender - or worse. There are so many people swerving wildly around the parking lot looking for who knows what and fewer people who are really doing thier best and most aware driving. It's situations like this that make me nervous that I might need to call my auto insurance company or visit a New York Collision repair shop rather than doing the fun things I had planned.

Fortunately, things usually go fine. However, there are many close calls and I think it's important to have a plan in mind in case a car collision really happens. So, what to do? Do you solve the problem with the other party without the police? Should you call the insurance? Will it rack up your premiums? Will the other driver change their story tomorrow?

If your local police force will handle this type of minor accident, then it's best to consultant the police. It's been my experience that police in more rural areas like the rural parts of Westchester County will handle the situation. However, I have lived in urban areas where the police are too busy to deal with fender benders - in this case, it's important to document the situation and exchange contact information. Write the driver's license down and license plate and have a disposable camera on hand to document the damage to both cars.

If you plan to involve your insurance company - you'll need to involve the police most likely.Insurance companies usually require that any and all accidents, regardless of their magnitude, have to be reported and this means that a police officer has to come to the scene of a reported accident and document his or her observations about the accident and the drivers. Even though an insurance company will eventually cover the repair costs and medical claims, sometimes there are other legal issues which could arise from a minor thing such as a fender bender and we'll talk about them later in the article.

If the damage is minimal to both cars and this is a no fault situation, it's probably best to leave the insurance company out of it. For one thing, the deductible might be too high to cover the collision damage. Or, you might increase your premiums. If this is the case, talk to the other driver and agree upon the total cost of damage and what the other person will pay, or if itis your fault, what you will pay.

If the other driver involved in the car collision is combatitive, you should definitely call the police because this person may change their mind later on and request further damage claims.

In any case, figure out how you're going to handle this type of situation if it arises and keep whatever you need on hand, such as a pencle, paper and camera, if you need it.