Two nights ago, I decided to take the 26T to the grocery to try out the new heater. The good news is the heater works great. The bad news is I met a deer coming home about 100 yards from my driveway. Left headlight Headlight bar Left fender Grille shell Hub cap Front wheels toed out about 6" Front wheels now have a lot of negative camber? Can't figure that out yet. I 've been too disgusted to even look at it, yet. I was pretty proud of the fact that it was all original steel. My metal shaping skills won't fix that fender. It was already so thin after blasting, I considered not using it to start with. DAMMIT!
That's a bummer......but its fixable and no one got hurt. At least it wasn't dead center of the grille.
I didn't kill him. I drove it on in to the shop, it took 2 stabs with the toe out. Then I walked back. He got up and ran off. Probably die back in the woods. Be hard to find. No bright spot there.
Same thing happened to me back in August. I bent a fender and lost a door. I keep donor parts on hand, (I call them insurance parts) so If I really mess it up, I can get it back on the road without to long a delay.
You know, since I posted this, I have been sitting here looking at it. The thought occurred to me that about one month ago I leased the hunting rights on my farm to 2 deer hunters. I guess that was enough money to fix the car, and maybe the hunter will get some revenge for me. But now I'm kinda worried about the Karma!
Do you know that if you file a police report, you do not have to pay any insurance deductible for a deer strike? I didn't know, until I hit one and a passerby was kind enough to stop and tell me. I did file a report and found out it is true. Sucks about your T.....it sounds like you built the car, so I'm sure you can fix it. I'll keep my eyes open for a fender.
Liability and property damage only, no comp. Real cheap insurance on the T. But I wish had known that because last fall I hit another one with the OT red car in one of my pics. No report. I paid the deductible. These deer are getting expensive.
That sucks. Had an o.t. 75 olds 98, 4 door hardtop. Nice car. Running late for work, I splashed a doe an blew the header panel all apart. Looked for months till I found parts to put it back on the road. Two weeks later smashed another one with the new header panel. That really pissed me off... It gives me a little satisfaction to shoot one every season. Maybe I'll shoot two this year. If I do, it shouldn't effect your karma any. Maybe mine.
I don't know why Bow hunters wear camouflage... the friggen things can't see a full size pickup with the lights on...! They're thick as thieves in my city and they literally run into stopped cars... makes you think twice about driving a Roadster or a murder sickle!
Bummer!----All I can say is after repairs are finished,---Install deer alerts, I have them on my roadster, the human ear can't detect the whistle they make, but I have witnessed their long ears twitching upon passing in a field 50 yds. away.
I can't imagine that deer alerts work. I drive my semi past grazing deer, blaring the air horns; they don't even look up.
About 7 years ago we were driving home and just before we were about to cross the bridge a deer darted out in actually jumped over the hood of the roadster,,the hoof actually cracked the windshield,,it scared the crap outta me. If I had been driving a little faster his hoof might have gotten my head...I installed deer whistles under the roadster after that encounter. HRP
Deer whistles are a real puzzle. You read about as many saying they don't work as you do ones that say they do work, and I've yet tto see any sort of evidence pro or con that is anything other than anecdotal such as we see in this thread. Anybody ever see anything really scientific in testing deer whistles? We're loaded with them around here. Turned in my driveway Wed. night about 7:30 or so and there were 3 in my front yard. I have a motion detector light in back that turns back lights on when I arrive after dark, and they go on and off all night from deer wandering around.
In SW Colorado, FedEx, UPS and several other companies have deer alerts on their vehicles. Like Don, I've seen the deer "perk up" when driving by with deer alerts.
More anecdotal evidence. In my 30 years in the autobody and now insurance field, I have replaced countless deer whistles on vehicles that were damaged in a collision with a deer.
I can't say that when I installed deer whistles under my roadster they worked or not but I never saw any deer when I was driving my roadster again. HRP
I've heard that a sub woofer drives them crazy. A neighbor had one in his car and he played it constantly, just a soft "ba-dump ba-dump ba-dump"! He said it was crazy watching deer asses disappearing into the brush. I would imagine it sounded like guns to the deer.
I had one of those idiots behind me at a traffic light yesterday,not only could you hear his car rattle but the windows in my truck rattled every time the bass pumped. HRP
HRP, this guy wasn't loud and obnoxious, no buzzing or rattling, it wasn't much louder than a tire thump.
Might be a good idea to try the deer whistles. It can't hurt and they're not too expensive whether they work or not. Worth a try. If it works its gotta be cheaper than fixing cars every year.
As you probably know that's an awfully light hit from a deer, very fortunate it wasn't centered or it didn't come through the windshield. I have seen cars totaled by a deer strike! BTW, did you know if you put the deer whistles on backwards they attract deer!?
I worry all the time about that happening. I have so many on and around my property, also bear. Sorry but at least you are coming up on winter to do the repairs. Glad you did not get hurt.