The Loss Of My Best Friend

10/10/2007

This is not a story for the faint of heart for it is the sad story of the unexpected demise of my pristine 98 TR SHO.

Although a member of this list for about 4 years, I have only posted on very rare occasions, preferring to avoid the political and social issues and discussions instead to take advantage of the enormous body of knowledge this list maintains on that increasing rare automobile known as the V8 SHO.

Here's the sad story:

I purchased my 98 SHO in 2003 with about 45k miles on it, from my local Ford dealer where I had gotten my Gen 1 SHO and previously a'86 T-bird turbo coupe. I literally slammed on my brakes while driving by the car when I first saw it, it was perfect, low mileage one owner clean no nicks dents etc, full service records, toreador red with a saddle interior, (same as my Gen1) fully equipped even including a power passenger seat!

Worked out a great trade in deal with my Gen 1 (185K miles), and I was driving my V8 SHO in a matter of a few days…perfect!

Or so I thought….

A few days later while surfing the net, I learned about the cam issue, from this list, I was not too worried at first, since I had bought and extended warranty from Ford till 75K miles, and thought I was covered, until I spoke with the service manager who was a friend of mine who explained that if the motor broke, that they would total the car because the motor was worth far more than the car was worth, but he kind of reassured me that he had not heard much of the cam issue, so he said don't worry about it.

About three weeks later he called me and suggested (unofficially) that I have it welded immediately, that they had just gotten in another 98, with a broken cam….and the car was being wholesaled for about $1,500 at that time.

Two weeks later I made the trip to Spencer, Mass and was Kirk's 149th weld.

Up until September 13th 2007, the car had run virtually flawlessly, driven as far north as Maine, west to the finger lakes of New York, south to New York City, and east to Newport Rhode Island, with only minor/routine issues, had the tranny flushed, replaced a couple of ball joints, replaced a battery, and of course replaced the tires actually about four months ago with a set of Yokohamas, it never once through a code. Although by now the car had 92K miles on it, but I was proud that coming up on it's ten year anniversary, that it would have averaged less than 10K miles a year!

Although a Connecticut car, it was parked in a carpeted garage, it was never driven in the snow or in bad weather, I was lucky it was not my daily driver, so despite the mileage, it maintained its pristine look, only one or two very little dings on the rear drivers door, the rear seats still look like new, because virtually no one ever sat in them.

Through a series of recent car changes, the car had become a sort of a regular daily driver, my wife would drive it a few miles to work, while I would take the other car on my 110 mile commute into Manhattan, yes, I commute a few days a week into the Big Apple, and of course I had taken also taken the SHO in the City, but gas mileage and mileage were a growing concern.

Well on that fateful morning I told my wife to take “big red”, and I would take the commuter car. I heard her leave the house when the garage rumbled and closed.

About twenty minutes later, I get a call from her, she was in an accident….with another car.

She was fine as well as the other driver.

I then asked, did the airbags go off? Yes she said.

How bad is it? I asked, I think its totaled she said.

I said I would be there in five minutes.

As I approached the scene, a small town main street, 20-30mph zone, traffic was backed up, flashing lights, fire trucks, ambulances,
I parked my car in a convenience store lot and ran to the scene a block or so down the street.

There is was my precious pristine V8SHO sitting in the opposing lane, hit by and old 80 ish rusty Buick Century. My SHO had performed flawlessly, in her last act…. her air bags had immediately gone off sparing my wife any injuries, however they shattered the windshield. The point of impact was on the passenger side front fender, by the side turn indicator light, the headlight was partially cracked, fender destroyed, the front fascia was only scraped, while the impact bent the strut and some suspension parts, the tire looks fine, the wheel its hard to say, yet ironically, the hood was not touched, in fact I immediately opened it to view the engine, it was also untouched, and was still running after the collision and no fluid leaks. The other car apparently bounced back a bit and the hit the rear of my front passenger door, and then wrecked the lower part of the rear door, but did not damage the quarter panel.
My SHO was towed to a local body shop, (another friend), and he said to me straight up,
it's totaled, between the airbags, windshield, fender, door, there was no way my insurance company would fix it.

A few days later, the Allstate adjusted agreed. It was determined to be “a total loss”

:-(

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Very sorry to hear this Ron,

Your account sounds reminiscent of my own experience, just the other side of the car and thank goodness my airbags didn’t go off. I didn’t even feel it when I was hit, but I sure heard it. It was a very bad day for me. The other guy’s insurance company was quick to declare my beloved SHO a total loss as well. A few quick 4 letter words and a very large number of receipts later they decided that maybe there was still life in the girl yet. I was without my SHO for a few months and I can still tell the driver’s door doesn’t close the same way it did before, but the car still drives better than it did the day I picked it up back in 02. Fortunately I bought myself a new daily driver when I graduated from College so my SHO spends most of its time sitting in my garage with a battery charger on it. These are amazing cars in every way that counts. It’s awesome that when driving a Corvette around every day that I can still get into my SHO during the weekend and enjoy every second of it. And if you ever need to depend on a car to save your life, you couldn’t ask for a better one. I’m glad that everyone made it out of this okay. The Airbags complicate things some, but it sounds like you could bring it back to life if you want to. I got a new fender, door, front fascia, wheel ($900 OEM!) along with some suspension components. It also needed repair and paint to the hood and rear door in addition to the new parts. Repeat my repair plus the airbags and windshield and maybe one day you too can be amazed that with all it’s been through, it still drives like a dream. You might be able to come close to breaking even if you buy used parts to put it back together. Good condition used OEM is better than new aftermarket IMO, and much less expensive. Many of the parts you need are shared with the base Taurus or even the Sable.

Good luck!

Mike
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