Disaster today with my Mach 1

Many of y'all have seen my 71 Mach 1. It is the one that I just got painted that is that awesome yellow color with the matte black stripes and matte black hood.

Well, I have only had it back from the paint and body shop about a month. I have been working on it quite a bit modifying this and modifying that. I was noticing that it was pulling to the right a bit so I decided to take it to a local shop to get it aligned. When the guy at the shop was driving it up one to the lift instead of hitting the break, he somehow slammed on the gas. To my horror, I watch the car do a burnout on the lift and ramp over the stops on the front of the lift and crash nose first into a pipe bending machine that bends pipes for mufflers. Needless to say, the front end of the car was smashed up fairly bad. I was able to drive it to my body shop that was only a few miles away. I have full coverage with Hagerty insurance, and called them to make a claim on it. They are going to pay to have the car totally fixed and then they go after the car shop that caused the damage to get their money back. I will let y'all know how Hagerty does. Because, I know some people have asked questions about Hagerty in the past. Needless to say, I was quite upset and am going not going to have my car for several months now.


Oh and one other thing. The front stops on the lift stick up a good foot and a half. The fenders behind the tires came down on those stops and it pushed the fenders up into the car.

No way!!! A full burnout over the lift? How dumb can that guy be to do that? I'm sorry to hear that man.

Got any carnage pics?

wtf was te guy drunk on the job?

I don't have any carnage pics just pics I took while they weren't looking of them trying to get the car back on the lift in case they try to give my insurance company grief. I wanted documented proof since the only witnesses were me and the people who worked their. It is going to need another hood, grill, headlight mounts, bezels, bumpers, possible fenders, cowl, etc. I know it will get fixed, but the weather is starting to turn nice, car shows are starting, so its just a major pain in the a$$ and a big dissapointment.

Sorry to hear about this. I would have been quite overt about taking pictures and ripping heads off--probably worse than ripping heads off... Kudos to you for staying calm.

Sorry to hear about your Mach 1.

Tha really sucks local or national chain shop?

Somebody get that idiot a driver's license. The skinny pedal is the GO pedal, not the STOP pedal! Sorry to hear it man, that really really sucks bad.

Sorry to hear about that. We had to use Hagerty twice for my wife's 66 coupe. They were a dream to work with.

Man that sucks big time. Sorry to hear about the incident, but on the bright side, you have Hagerty insurance to get the car put back together correctly. Is it going back to the same shop that painted it? I'm following this thread as I also have Hagerty on my car.

OMFG.... Reading your post made me ill.

omg!

That totally blows..

When I had my Camaro aligned they had no problem letting me drive the car on & off the rack...I even brought towels & taped them on the fenders before the tech adjusted the upper arms...There's some interesting case law concerning liability when you give permission to a shop to drive your car..YOU SHOULD NEVER GIVE A SHOP PERMISSION to drive your car..or remove it park it off their premises..You can be held liable for their actions..You would think not..But that's not the case..One of my customers is a very astute attorney who's written some interesting articles concerning this..Here's one of his articles

http://www.shaynedachs.com/wp-content/themes/sdcsdlaw/inc/Dachs-vehicle-traffic-law.pdf

Thanks for sharing this. And I hope things work out well with Hagerty, I'm sure things on their end will go smooth but when it comes time to go after the shop the problems will start. High five to you for keeping a cool head, I know my first reaction would be to grab the driver by the throat with both hands !!! I have never, not been the driver when my car goes on a lift.

David, sent you a PM

Also after re-reading this...

"Oh and one other thing. The front stops on the lift stick up a good foot and a half. The fenders behind the tires came down on those stops and it pushed the fenders up into the car."

Depending how hard it landed / hit

Go look at the door gaps

Check the rockers, cowl area and floors.

It should be OK but make sure the shop checks that it did not bend / tweak the car.

That is an " odd " accident, doubt the engineers designed support for that type of hit.

This is the most saddening story I've read or heard about in a long time. I got angry just reading it. You must be a lot more even tempered than most. Don makes a good point concerning possible "frame" damage. Sorry this happened to you. Hang in there. Chuck

That totally blows..

When I had my Camaro aligned they had no problem letting me drive the car on & off the rack...I even brought towels & taped them on the fenders before the tech adjusted the upper arms...There's some interesting case law concerning liability when you give permission to a shop to drive your car..YOU SHOULD NEVER GIVE A SHOP PERMISSION to drive your car..or remove it park it off their premises..You can be held liable for their actions..You would think not..But that's not the case..One of my customers is a very astute attorney who's written some interesting articles concerning this..Here's one of his articles

http://www.shaynedachs.com/wp-content/themes/sdcsdlaw/inc/Dachs-vehicle-traffic-law.pdf

Click to expand...

Interesting article. Once again it points out why the system is now referred to as the "legal system" and no longer referred to as the "justice system". We continue to find ways to mitigate the crimes of the guilty and transfer the guilt to the innocent. Chuck

Wow, sad story. What did the shop owner say! Did he deny any responsibility?

Stories like this are exactly the reason why I don't trust anybody to work on my stuff. I've had similar issues (not to that extent) with taking my vehicles to the local 'Bubbas' around here.

Good luck with the insurance and getting if back in shape.

That sucks.

I don't know about you guys but often times when I get in my mustang my shoe lace wraps around the brake pad. When this happens I can't apply the brake and when I try my foot gets 'pulled' down to the skinny pedal. I am not saying this is what happened to this guy but I have got in the habit of applying the brakes before shifting. I know in newer cars it makes you do this.