Well this pretty much sucks...

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by carmine

Sorry also for your accident Patrickt. I for the longest time have been driving my cobra always looking in my rear view mirror when comming to a stop because people would always say they could not see my brake lights and because i had a lot of close calls of people almost rear ending me. One day while watching shelbys pacston cobra that sold for $5 million on Barrett Jackson being driven off the stage i couldnt help noticing that the brake light came on in the top section of the rectangular tail light. My brake lights were set up to come on the botton section. So off i went into the garage to reverse the the bulbs around. WOW what a differance in brightness. From that day on everone says they have no problems seeing when my brack lights come on. Not trying to imply in any way that this was the cause of your unfortunate accident, but am curious to know if your brake lights were set up to the top section or bottom section reflector.

Pretty sure the come on the top, and I have the enhanced reflector behind it as well. Mostly, these guys just were not paying attention.

[Excaliber]

No doubt they were just not paying attention!

It's a good point though, I think I'll check my brake lights out to see if there working all right.

[carmine]

When i say the top section im refering to the bigger of the two rectangles, the side with the circular reflective patern. There is just such a huge difference in brightness day time and night when this section is utilized for brake light. The lower section being used for turn signal.
When at the london cobra show this year one cobra almost rear ended another when exiting an off ramp and the guy in back was saying that he couldnt see the other guys brake lights. Having been close by the two of them and knowing what i new about my findings on my brake lights i asked to inspect his and low and behold his were reversed as well.
Again sorry for your misfortune.

[WarrenG]

Had a similar experience several years ago in CA. Guy rear ended my 4-Runner at a stop light. Driver had a license but was not the owner and didn't speak english well. Got all of the information and when I called the registered owner I found out that he had sold the car several weeks prior and the new owner never changed the registration. At that time in CA the seller sent in a change of ownership notice but until the new owner also sends in the change of ownership paperwork the state would not update the records (Go figure). The former owner was an attorney and told me to keep him informed and if need be he would be glad to rep me against the new owner free of charge! Actually I think he was hoping it would come to that. It took forever to get their insurance company to come around, so mine covered the loss and then went after the owners company. I had to pay the deductible up front but got it back a few weeks later.

The owner tried to buy me off for $200 to keep it away from the insurance company. He quit talking to me when the repair estimate came back at $2500. Found out there was additional damage that could not be seen from the outside under the sheet metal (tailgate was a total loss and the floor had buckled).

I have noticed that most drivers that come up behind me don't leave what I consider sufficient space between us when they finally come to a stop. If anybody ever rear ends my FIA I'll be doing the same as you, sending it back to ERA at their expense!

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by patrickt

Tapped from behind in traffic today. Anybody have a recommendation for a shop in Northern Virginia?

UPDATED:

Before:


After:


I'm updating my original post to make it easier for new readers. In short, the other driver's carrier covered everything, including the costs to ship the car back up to Connecticut Custom Car so Walt could personally handle the repairs (which he deemed as "minor"). The cost of the repairs was $8,600. The cost to ship the car up and back to CT was $1,700. Walt had done the original body work and, as expected, did a spectacular job (as you can see from the "after" picture above). It's a pleasure working with both him and his family.

Please note that I have edited my original post (copied above) to include the happy ending.

[madmaxx]

All these older guys backing into stuff, body shops love them, LOL!!!!

Fender looks great!!

[RAO-3]

Glad that it all worked out for you, and that the other insurance company paid the bill.

[aspenbubba]

Patrick,

You are not familiar to me but are you aware of the Capital Area Cobra Club? We had a couple of new ERA's last summer but they haven't been around since. I know one was David Orr and were you the other one? We meet every Saturday @7:30 AM at the Vienna Inn rain or shine. Would love to have you join us regardless if you were here previously.Glad to see the successful repair of your car.Actually going to Middleburg Saturday for a car show "Cobra Thunder" with the club. Check our website out. Really a great group of guys.

Larry

Larry

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by aspenbubba

Patrick,

You are not familiar to me but are you aware of the Capital Area Cobra Club? We had a couple of new ERA's last summer but they haven't been around since. I know one was David Orr and were you the other one? We meet every Saturday @7:30 AM at the Vienna Inn rain or shine. Would love to have you join us regardless if you were here previously.Glad to see the successful repair of your car.Actually going to Middleburg Saturday for a car show "Cobra Thunder" with the club. Check our website out. Really a great group of guys.

Larry

Larry

Yes, I have been to the VI! I don't get there often though since Saturday mornings tend to be eaten up with other stuff. I think I met Dave; he's from Great Falls as I recall and was building it along with his teenage son. I joked with him that a teenager, new Cobra, and Georgetown Pike do not mix well. I think he agreed with me.