fuzzbawl

Having just purchased the new Thornley cd, me and my girlfriend decided to drive around Sunday night and listen to it. We were trucking along pretty well when a possum decided to jump out and wave "hi". I got into the opposite lane to avoid hitting the ugly rodent. Apparently the poor ugly shih-tzu sized rodent was suicidal and continued across the road. I put on the brakes pretty hard and turned harder as to avoid a possum face-print on my bumper as well as a donation to the tC's underbody blood bank. While turning I hit some gravel and slid into someone's lawn. While the possum was laughing, and my tC was enjoying it's slip-n-slide move, my attention was drawn to the one foot wide peice of timber which was quickly approaching. Grasping the wheel and performing a James Bond like recovery I avoided the wooded mass. Much to my dismay I had over-looked the guide/ground cable for the phone pole. As if perfectly measured and in a movie-style stunt like action my tC's body went between the phone pole and it's associated guide cable. My mirrors however did not slide through as easily as the rest of the car and were left dangling by their control wires. Needless to say my first thought was to make sure that we were both okay. Once I knew we were both fine my next thought was to find the possum and strangle it. Then I realized the amount of damage done to my car. The driver's side has a nasty wide scuff from the guide cable. Both side-view mirrors are destroyed and there are some stress cracks in the paint from the mirrors bending the metal in the A-pillar. There were also some scratches on the bumper. I called my insurance company, got everything squared away, and dropped the car off at the body shop mid Monday morning.

I recieved a voice mail today from the body shop.
There is $2112.74 worth of damage to my car. Thankfully I have a much smaller deductable than that. They are replacing both mirrors, painting the front bumper, driver's side fender, door, and rear panel. They are doing a paintless dent removal on the passenger side door and panel along with buffing. My car is supposed to be done by Monday but perhaps this week if the mirrors come in.

Moral of the story: If you see a possum or other creature in the middle of the road, prepare yourself, slow down, and run over the bastard.

dlaluan

Sorry to hear that. But look on the bright side, you're a great story teller with lots of detail. You should be a writer.

defytrends

hmm time to install that cow catcher in front of the tc

fearturtle44

Glad you and your girlfriend are okay. Hopefully you will get your tC back real soon.

However, you will need to chuck the new CD as it will always be a reminder of what happened. Instead buy the new Springsteen or John Prine CD!!!

Kevin

bOhEmIo82

The car is just a material possesion. They can be very expensive to fix, but they are fixable. You can't bring a living organism back from the dead. The opossum, as insignificant as it may be to you, has a life! You did the right thing. (hears a wind chime....)

jmiller20874

I must say that is one of the most amusingly funny stories I've heard in a while (from a storytelling standpoint, not the plot). Just glad you guys are alright, the car can be fixed.

glitterboy

Possums are worth 15 points. You should have just hit it.

scoobyroo2002

I thought it was 25points? Damn this whole time it hought i was ahead of the game! DANG IT

ltj42884

next time just run the damn thing over...or dont overreact

wyldkard

Well normally, Possums are worth 15 points, but that's when they are doing what they are supposed to be doing: playing Possum(dead). 15 points is the standard for a Possum sitting still, however a moving Possum is worth 25 points as scoobyroo pointed out. There are other variables to the equation as well. For Instance:

A Night Time kill adds 5 points
If you catch them with front and rear tire it adds 10 points for difficulty
If you can paint the side of your car with blood is 3 points, guts are 4 points, and a skull lodged in the wheel is 5 points.

Now you could have had a grand score of 52 points, but some factors take away.

Risking the damage to a 1 year old or less vehicle is -5 points
Killing on God's Day(Sunday) is -10 points

That would have brought your total back down to 37 points, which is still a very respectable level. However, I'm not sure that you're a high enough level driver to get that score since you wrecked your car dodging....rookie!

-Z

fuzzbawl

Hey, it happens =P Besides, gravel was involved. I haven't driven the car on gravel before let alone know how it drives while sliding on gravel after breaking from 40mph to 10mph. That's a bit of momentum built up there.

FrankenScion

There is no way in hell that rodent is worth $2000 in damages.
The only animals I swerve for are dogs and anything over 100 pounds.

GT4Dreams

it's just reflex and reaction! Anyways, I've been lucky that I've never hit anything. If I were to hit anything in my mr2 that's lowered, i would be scooping that sucker with my bumper pushing him down the road. lol

SoulOnFire

I was coming back from a friends b-day party late at night and was extremly late so i was doing about 65 in a 40 when a few bunnies tried to run across the road before i came through, well i saw them in time and slammed on the brakes but it seemed like i stopped at the right momment for me to basically (and im sayin this awfully) punt the poor rabbit a few meters up the street.....and i'd hate to say it but it was actually the coolest (yet most horrible) thing ive every seen and/or done!


O btw! nothin happened to my car except a minor dent by the lower grill on my frount bumper Thank God!

bOhEmIo82

To you it is only a rodent, to me it is a life. Life is worth more than gold. If things are done by accident, then karma will take pitty on you, but if done intentionally, you will feel karma's rath. Karma is real

Shadow_tC

Wyldkard, thanks for the tears of laughter...I needed it today.

fuzzbawl, I'm sorry to hear about your car. I'm glad you guys made it out okay...and hope your car is returned to you soon.

- Desirée

glitterboy

Someone should make a sticky on point vaules for roadkill.

KevinxB

I'm sorry, that was the most well-written car mishap story ever. This thread is downright hilarious. Sorry about the damage, fuzzbawl; glad you're ok.

jdub

Yeah would have nailed the thing. I hit a something on the freeway once it made a pretty loud thud, but never saw it, only the mess. The girl I was with was prety upset, but I'm not swerving for an animal it's a deer or larger.

Huey

lol i never swerve out of the way, i always figure it will only be worse. i had these two squirrels run out in front of me i didn't even slow down i just kept driving at about 45mph. one made it across, the other made it to my front driver side tire.