JimC

Following a pickup on I-94 - lots of traffic and we were out of the construction zone. None of the cars up ahead swerved, hit brakes, or anything. Suddenly, out from under the pick up, an orange traffic cone laying smack in the middle of my lane about 3 car lengths ahead - and too much traffic and no shoulder to avoid it.













Broke the lower grille in a couple of places, tore the splash plate or whatever it is called off at the front. It was dragging under the car folded back. Looks like some scrapes in the paint on the bumper so may need some refinishing or just buff it out if I'm lucky. The lower grille was hanging by just one clip when I was able to pull over and it just lifted right out.

Anyone know what the plate is called that goes from the bumper back to the engine? There are two, one is attached right below the engine and you drop that to drain the oil, this is the front one.

Anyone have a GT/CS lower grille for sale? Rather than my stock MCA in grey I'd like to get the black GT/CS.

JimC

Some guy had a couple of bungee cords with him to pull the lower splash guard up so I could drive it home. Didn't notice it was dragging out on the highway, just pulled the lower grille out. When I got off I thought I could hear something and stopped in a parking lot - he heard me coming in and walked over to see what was dragging. It had folded right back but guess it did its job of protecting the engine.

Fader

Man, that SUCKS! I hit a jackrabbit in the Nevada desert after having mine for only 4 hours. Cracked the lower part of the bumper, and my lower-grille exploded. I can't even begin to describe the instant nausea, and furious anger at that poor bunny.

amyhughes

Also on I-94, a truck in the left lane ran over a big chunk of truck tire between lanes. It was airborn when I hit it at 70 mph in my Taurus. Felt like I ran over a body. The plastic around my headlight was a bit crooked after that. It felt like it did a lot more damage than that. I credit the rounded shape of that late 90's design.

JimC

Stopped by my friends' body shop so he could take a look. His trained eye spotted more damage that I didn't notice - chin spoiler was bent and dropping in the middle, with creases in it, the bumper was creased, dented, and you can see the paint stretch marks. Once he pointed them out and told me what to look at I could see the problems.

So 9/23 he will take it in and fix everything. And since he has my new cowl hood, he will have the time to test fit it and get it done at the same time.

MADSCOTSMAN

DANG... That's alot of damage from a traffic cone!!!! Looks like italso flipped your tribar gill emblem backwards (Pony always runs to the left)... At least your getting your hood put on at the same time as the other repairs.

JimC

I had the pony running the other way, but since it was on the passenger side it was "running off" the car everyone said. So when I had to replace it because someone decided to see how well the tail was attached, I decided to have it run across the grille front this time. And with the air intake on the driver side I didn't want it mounted in front of the intake.

And yes, the damage was surprising. I thought I just had to replace the lower grille and engine guard - and that I got lucky on the rest of the bumper; until my body shop owner friend pointed out the damages. Now I see them every time I look at the car!

Andy13186

I almost hit a traffic barrel at night that had been tipped over and rolled into my lane with the bottom facing me -while i was riding a motorcycle and at about 80 mph. It actually hit my foot. I got pretty lucky because i think I defiantly would have crashed if i hit it directly, i just glanced it thankfully. Sold my bike a few months later after a lot more close calls.

JimC

That would be scary on a bike!

Here is a photoshop of what the car will look like when I get it back from the shop - hopefully everything goes smoothly on Monday with the adjuster. Replacing the hood, it is already at the shop and we were trying to find a time for me to get it in for a test fit so it could be prepped and painted - so now get the damage fixed at the same time.

JimC

The hood is delayed but the damage is fixed. Carl painted the new chin spoiler and I like it a LOT better. The Roush lower grille looks better than the stock one too.