Don't hit a large whitetail in an X1/9

Fiatfiend

Fiatfiend

True Classic
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This is the account of the crash I just wrote for Facebook:

"Thirteen days after getting laid off (don't worry - I have prospects) I took my Fiat x1/9 south on Highway 50 to a twisty road that follows the Platte River west. Kind of a cheer-me-up run. It's running very well -- not particularly fast but very eager. And considering it's a mid-engine design, I can take 45 mph curves at 75 mph.

Great fun under the moon.

The trouble was, coming home driving the 65 mph speed, or perhaps a still-reasonable 70 mph, and just a couple miles from home, I saw a flash of brown, tan, and white in the headlights. I had only enough time to think "whitetail -- pretty big" before I hit it.

I pulled over for a minute to catch my breath but there was nothing to do but drive it home. I'm fine.

Attached are a couple pictures of the damage, a picture of the undamaged rear of the car and a shot of the frontend shortly after or while I was working on it.

It's fairly heavily modified. In addition to taking off the enormous bumpers from the front and rear, I purchased the right fiberglas parts (the gray in the front) and right black grille to completely close the area where the bumper supports were. On the rear, I welded shut those holes, removed the giant protruding license plate lights (installing a license frame that has an integrated light), welded up those holes, welded up the cutout for the exhaust, etc. I even removed the antenna, replacing it with a Bluetooth system I figured out.

The plan is to have a very clean car. Well, looks like I have some work to do, huh?
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The tough part will be straightening out the fender. Even the passenger door, for Christ's sake, has a deep dent."

OK, that's what I wrote for Facebook. I have already obtained some replacement parts. But IO need the grille that doesn't have ANY cut outs. The straight-up rectangle. Anybody got one???

I'll be selling a bunch of stuff, too, coming up.

Dave
 
Glad you are OK Dave.

At least it wasn't worse. It could have done a lot more damage to the car and you.

I will keep an eye out for a 74 grill. 75-78 have the bumper tube cut outs. Somewhere the is a post showing someone using a black expanded metal screen for a grill that would look decent till you find a good replacement. I will look for the post later.
 
Ouch! Good to see you are ok & the car is mostly good. Definitely could have been much worse if it had come up over the hood..

Repairing the fender tip/nose section looks like a PITA - based on my experience cutting it away, the multi-layer sheet metal sections would probably be easier to simply cut off & replace with another sectioned nose/fender. Hard to see that pulling back out satisfactorily.
 
Thanks, Jim. The whole look of the car is based on being clean. I would pay top dollar for a 74 grille in excellent to very good condition. I have two later grilles in perfect shape, may end up using one of them in a pinch.
 
Ugh. Well, I'm good and patient at metal shaping. I've done so much welding on it already, I'd love to just pull it back into shape.

But, I repeat, ugh.
 
I seen two mule deer go flyin over the top of my X. Two different x19s actually. my route home is a 35 mph..i'll usually go 55 -60..so hitting the deer can be scary..both times impact was right in the center of the nose. It suprizingly strong..but still involved some serious repair. no insurance,as I just carry liability on the x. And now I do cool it a bit speed wise in the deer danger zone! Good luck to you.
 
My project cars carry comprehensive only when they are done. And truth be told, as a car currently being worked on and not driven much, right now it doesn't even have liability.

We're hoping the deer doesn't sue.
 
The crash at least solved a puzzle I was working at. I wanted to use the auxiliary switch on the console for SOMETHING usful. Going to use it to switch a hyperaudible deer repellent siren.
 
I am trying to salvage some good from this, so if it's all the same to you, I'm not going to click on that link.
 
I'd pay to see that movie!

Honestly, living in a rural area, especially in the northern half of the country where deer tend to be larger, it's just about the scariest thing there is. They are hard to spot everytime. And hitting one is like hitting a small tree, unless it lands on top of you, when it can kill you. People die from these things. Good thing they are tasty.

Is there an equivent danger down under? Kangaroos? :)

Dave
 
I was in Australia many years ago and was surprised at how "armored" the over the road trucks were. There were trucks that had devices like a train's cow catcher low at the front bumper and then chain link fence sections covering the wind screens.
 
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