'Nilla bit by Road 'Gator...

Drove over to Hamilton, MT on the second and Vanilla got smacked in the face with a tire tread flying at her about a foot off the ground while we were cruising at 80...

Knocked her teeth out, it did. Sad.

Tore up the ground-effect fairing, knocked all three pieces of the lower grill out, bent up some of the metal behind everything, and scuffed the Hell out of the bumper cover on the passenger side.

That was just before she was attacked by a couple monster tumbleweeds that were chasing each other across the freeway - scarred the paint on both driver-side doors.

Rough trip.

Other than that, the drive was uneventful...

She's held together with duct tape right now to keep the whistles and rattles down.

I'll be making the drive back to south of Seattle on the 7th - hopefully another road 'gator won't get hold of 'Nilla...

 

Uh.........I beleive there is a little bit of vomit in my mouth from that........not Vanilla........

 

Poor Vanilla.......did you get the info for the trucking company that tread flew off from? If so you need to contact them and have them pay for the repairs.....I hope Vanilla has a safe trip home

 

Actually the tread wasn't from the truck in front of us in the other lane...

We were in the left lane, there were a number of trucks in the right, when the one closest to us hit a big chunk of tread laying in it's lane, the tread was tossed sideways directly into Vanilla's lower fairing, about a foot off the ground. No time to dodge, and not really the truck's fault - you don't dodge a big semi around a chunk of tire on the road...

(The reason for the duct tape is the lower fairing is cracked horizontally and only has about a half inch still attached to the bumper cover on the passenger side outer edge. The mounting points for the grill - sheet metal parts - are normally vertical right behind the opening. That panel and supports are bent and twisted up out of the way, and the A/C plumbing took a hit, but still works fine.)

Vanilla has that 3M paint protection film on her nose - the same stuff, actually, that they put on store windows to make them resistant to breaking and entry. Without that stuff on the fairing I suspect the passenger side of it would have been completely ripped off. That urethane is tough stuff!

 

Glad you guys are ok Tomas. And it's good to see your duct tape skills are still tip top. I need to get you some white colored duct tape for next time!

 

Ouch, sorry to hear about 'nilla, looks like she took quite the shot in the kisser. Hopefully she will hold together for you until you get home and get her fixed up right. Hope the rest of your trip goes smoothly.

 

I actually HAVE white duct tape - at home.

Only duct tape I could find in Hamilton, Montana, though, was the usual silver-gray stuff.

It's a pretty sloppy job on 'Nilla's nose, but the main objective was to hold the fairing on, and keep the wind from catching on it and possibly tearing that side off and running the whole thing under the car... Still have no idea where the grill parts went - they were probably the black things swirling away behind us in the rear view mirror.

 

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! /cry....... i will be taking out the bottom 3 peices of the lower grill when i get my inserts from chris, do you want them (free of charge)

 

Poor Nilla!

 

Same thing happened to me, girl in a crimson tC just ahead of me ran over a retread and smashed into my tC's bumper on the driver side. Left scratches through the bumpers paint, and popped my lower grill loose.

 

Oh Tomas so sad for 'nilla right now, glad you guys are ok. have a safe trip home.

 

DAMNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!! Ouch, everybody ok?

 

Poor baby car!!!!

We were stuck camped behind a repair shop and the railroad tracks last summer in Hamilton, MT when our RV broke down south of Darby. That town (altho nice) seems to come up in lots of stories about car problems.

Last week my husband took our 1997 Quest van on a journey to Wyoming and collided with a deer suddenly. Smashed in the hood and killed the engine so the insurance company totalled it. (No one was hurt except the deer.) He left my old van that had served me well (until I got the PizzaBox) there in Wyoming, stuffed all the camping gear in a rental car and came home. Now my brave little toaster has to step up and be the big stuff hauler!!! I know she can do it!!!!

 

That sucks Tomas - at least you are safe - parts are replaceable so make it home safely and we'll help take care of it

 

Glad to hear you are okay Thomas, poor Nilla, I just got my tC fixed up and it is a good feeling once it is put back together.

 

Oh no! Vanilla has been bruised and battered but she pulled thru...
Dr. Tomas, it's time to take care of her and tend to her needs!

 

That's exactly what I thought happened to me when I found a tire in the middle of I-5 the other day. Fortunately, I just had to replace a front fender liner (~$100).

Here's to a safe journey back!

 

Yeah, neither fender liner is lashed down tight anymore, but only one looks actually damaged.

 

ouch!! hopes for a speedy recovery for nilla..

 

Any update Thomas?