Projects Shade tree Model A speedster kind of thing

The Good Wood Thread never stops delivering...

 

All right, this is the last gauge (or the famous last words?). I debated about ammeter vs voltage meter, settled on volts because it's so much simpler, tells me what I really need to know about the battery, and I found a cheap one that looked about right to me. Hahaa. I like that it's s 6v. Problem is, the car's 12v. My brother is an electrical genius, so I asked him what could be done. (That's not hyperbole, and also not the limit of his genius. Smartest dude I know). He walked me through the process, which is simply to measure the internal resistance of the gauge, then add in a resistor of the same value. This will result in a gauge that reads half of the actual voltage. I ended up needing 200 ohms. Found a pack of 10 rated for 20a (which matches the size of my one fuse) for 7 bucks shipped. What a world. Now I just mentally double the reading, which even I can do. Anyway, it was a pretty simple install. I just wired it to ground and to the output of the ignition toggle, with that resistor soldered in line. Works fine and, much like the temp gauge, just gives me peace of mind.



I opted to do this in the car, so I didn't have to un-route that long temp lead. Didn't have the right size hole saw, so...





That white block is the resistor.



There you go. 13v. Double checked with a multimeter, and it's spot on. Y'all know I'm not worried about the mismatched nature of this business, right? Why start now? Hahaaa

 

Spent the last hour or so reading this from 1-now and I've got to say I'm blown away this thing looks like it has always been!! LOVE THIS!

 

First of all, everybody is OK. Except for poor old Shade Tree. I was making a right turn into our dirt driveway off of the 4 lane road that runs past it, had the old hand signals going, and I know for sure the brake light was working, because I saw it light up when I was backing out at the beginning of the drive (this all happened after dark). I was about halfway into the driveway when a guy behind me clipped the left rear tire. Knocked the wheel off and spun me around 180 degrees from my original direction. I ended up out of the car and sliding a good little ways on the driveway and shoulder of the road. Fortunately, I was wearing a pretty heavy canvas jacket. Got a little scratched up and my glasses cut the side of one eye as they left for parts unknown, but I was incredibly lucky. Guy that hit me and another car had pulled into the median, so I sprang up and checked if anybody was hurt (thankfully, they were all fine) then drug the left rear wheel out of the road. You can see in the pictures that the whole "passenger compartment" separated from the rest of the vehicle along with me. Again, I was incredibly lucky.





That's not a liquor bottle in the bottom of the first picture, it's my spare coil. Hahaha. Also, that heavy-gauge converted air tank I was using for a gas tank was lying about 20 feet away, pretty much unscathed and still full of gas (I had just filled it this afternoon with ethanol free. Aint that the doggone dickens?)

Anyway, I'm writing this tonight because for one, I'm still pretty adrenalized, and two, I want to solicit advice from the vast experience here. The other guy was charged, and has insurance. I declined to go to the hospital, and I don't want to hear anything about how I should have tried to milk his insurance for every penny I can. Not my style. I was just there 2 weeks ago with my mother-in-law, and we had to wait 6 hours. Fooey on that. The guy that hit me was really nice about it, and genuinely relieved I wasn't seriously hurt, so I'm really not pissed at him.

What I am interested in is finding out how best to deal with the insurance company so that I can retain possession of my car. Any and all advice along those lines will be greatly appreciated. It obviously has a lot of sentimental value, but I don't expect that to carry much weight with Progressive. Haha.

Anyhow, please feel free to share your opinions on how to deal with insurance companies. I feel pretty confident they will total it, and I know I might be able to buy it back for salvage prices, just not clear on the specifics of how to proceed. Thank you in advance.

 

Your insurance company should total it. Then they should estimate the value and pay you then offer you a buy back price on whats left. Make it clear you want to buy back whats left! They should never take your car at all....just send an inspector out to appraise the damage/value. I am so sorry for the wreck! Loved this build!

 

I don't have any advice on dealing with insurance, but am glad you came out of this with relatively minor injuries. Make sure that the next day or so don't reveal anything additional, you did say the adrenaline is flowing now. Really sucks about your car, so much creativity in the build.

 

Wow! Glad you and everyone else is fine.

 

Glad you are OK, sorry about the speedster!!

 

So sorry this has has happened but very glad you and everyone else involved are ok.

Ss far as insurance, when I was rear ended in my roadster, Grundy was who I was insured with. They had a case worker assigned to my case and they wirked hand in hand regarding the repair. The adjuster haf to come out three times to assess the damage as we dug into it and found more that needed repair. They also kept the other insurance company off my back trying to get a quick settlement. All in all, it was a very good experience and my avatar has been back with no further issues.

Hopefully my experience will be even better for you. Biggest thing is that you are still here and in one piece.

Good luck …..

 

Oh no...say it isn't so...but glad you are OK. As @TomT says....work with your insurance company as that is part of what you pay for. Best of luck

 

Glad you're OK! Sorry to hear of the incident and hope you can work something acceptable with insurance.

I followed your build and was always interested to see your ingenuity in building your speedster.

Lynn

 

Glad you came out of it ok, so sorry this happened. No advice just wish you the best of luck.

 

Glad all are well. Glad no fights broke out!
Remember to emphasize to your insurance adjusters
your car is one of a kind and almost not replaceable!

 

Glad you're OK. Really sucks about the car.

 

Wow. So sorry to hear this. Glad you’re ok and sorry about the car. Bu it can be fixed.

 

Its really gonna boil down to agreed upon value i think....

 

Wow! Haven’t followed this thread for a while, and to see this. You are very fortunate. If you were insured (I’m assuming your speedster was appraised) and road legal, I can’t foresee why his insurance company wouldn’t pay out. Of course it depends if you have no-fault.

 

Glad You and the other people are all ok .

 

This is pretty much what happened to me when I had a misshap with a deer....
Totaled my 63 Ranchero and killed the deer... I never even got a scratch...
Rebuilt the car and put it back on the road...

LynnW

 

WOW! "LUCKY" GUY YOU!
Glad You're OK!
Good to see all the Shade Tree's built in Safety features worked out.
- Detachable Fuel Cell!
- Safety Ejection flooring & Seat - removes driver from crash site.
- Invisible Seat Belts!...Cold have been worse if you wore seat belts?
Did it rip the steel out of the wheel or the Bolts or Nuts of the axle?

Again Glad You're OK! ..........the rest will "Buff Out"!

 

Thanks for all the well-wishes. No kidding about the luck. Haha on the safety features, although, the heavy duty construction of the gas tank was actually a benefit, I think. I have been wondering whether seat belts would have helped. I certainly ended up farther from the car than the seats did, but the seat/floor contraption weighs a good bit, might have been better off not to have been rolling around with all that. All the lugnuts are still on the lugs, pulled through the wheel. The car is at a local towing outfit, you can see the wheel a bit in the picture. It's hard to see in the photo, but the driver's side rear wishbone is bent up in a pretty good zig-zag, too. I can't tell yet if the frame is bent but if it is, it's not jumping out at me. Also don't know if any damage was transmitted through the torque tube to the trans or engine. I'll have to wait until I can get it home (hopefully). I went by first thing Monday morning and talked to the towing guys. They were real nice, and real interested in the car. Said they would absolutely not release the car to anybody but me without my written permission, so that felt good. Called the other guy's insurance and started the claim process. They had a lot of questions, including "did the airbags activate in your car?" Hahahaaaa

 

I am so sorry to hear about old Shadetree but very happy that you are ok and still with us on the hamb .
Surprised nobody mentioned it but omg the irony of the personal injury lawyer sign across the road! Glad you didn't need to call there! Anyway I hope you put her back together and continue with the thread. I would be glad to donate another cast item to the cause.

 

First of all, I'm happy you're okay. Secondly, I have to say that people in general show no respect for 90 year old vehicles that are on the road. They follow too close behind and are rude as f*ck with their driving habits. They give zero shits about the ancient technology in our cars. While they are RIDING in their cars, we are OPERATING a piece of machinery. There's a real difference that they have no idea about and it creates a dangerous situation for us when we are out and about in our mo-sheens. The guy that hit you was just too close and not paying enough attention. If he WASN'T too close and WAS paying attention, you wouldn't have been hit. End of story. We have to be SUPER aware of all other drivers at all times.
Andy

 

Glad your OK, bummer about the car, but it can be fixed or replaced if need be. Rebuild getting turn signals and a second brake light?

 

So, the insurance finally contacted me just to say that they would only pay for 5 days of storage, and that the car had to be removed from the wrecker yard or I would be responsible for the daily rate. They were going to scrap it, but agreed to let me pick it up. This turned out to be a sketchy operation, but my tolerance for sketchy should be pretty well established by now. The only trailer I had access to today is a converted boat trailer, but I decided to try it before renting a uhaul or the like. I had less than 5 miles to cover, so... Anyway, you can probably see from the pictures that it wasn't really quite big enough, but I was able to strap old Shadetree down adequately.







I brought an old roller wheel and tire with me, and took the opportunity to take some pictures of the tire that got punched off past the lugs. The guy that loaded my car at the scene said the other car's right front wheel was back against the firewall. Accident report says he never saw me. Must have been going about 55 when he hit me.





Luckily, the car was sitting so that I could winch it up back-to-front, so the engine was over the trailer axle to help with the tongue weight. The trip home was slow, but uneventful. Still no word at all from the insurance company on how we are actually going to settle all of this.

In response to a couple of comments, I think the other driver must have been distracted by something. I won't speculate on what, but it is very possible that another brake light and a turn signal might have gotten his attention. My one (as required) light was plenty bright, and mounted pretty high up, so I'm not sure about that. Couldn't have hurt to have more, though. He had a long, straight, level stretch of road leading up to me, and it was a clear night, so if he never saw me he just wasn't looking.

Anyway, I'll end this post with a shot of poor old Shadetree back home. If you zoom in on that wheel in front, you can get an idea of how twisted it is. Thank you all again for the good thoughts.

 

I have no dog in the fight but "scrap it" got my ire up. Especially when a settlement is still open.

 

WOW! It pulled the lug nuts right through! almost "perfect" six point holes...
I bet the other cart is totaled...

 

Damn I just looked at you thread. I’m so bummed for you and happy your still with us. Crap happens so fast.

 

So glad you are ok, hopefully you can rebuild with the settlement & that you aren't too deflated to do so. Take care & thanks for keeping us in the loop.

 

You didnt have an agreed upon value? Whenever I use haggerty they ask me how much value I want to insure it for... highly impacts my rate but also allows me a lot of protection