Hi all
a few weeks ago my 1990 Turbo R suffered a catastrophic engine bay fire that then burnt though the fire wall and took out the dashboard etc, melted the windscreen, and so on. Car is a write off. I have a settlement offer from the insurance company that is not nearly enough for what I have into the car, and have to decide whether to accept the offer, with or without salvage rights on the car..
car had 51,000 kms, was in great mechanical and cosmetic shape, and I had just finished fixing everything over a two year period. Unfortunately the car was in my home garage/shop when it caught fire, gutted my garage as well.
decision to be made is to whether to buy it back from the insurance company for parts. Everything under the hood is ruined except the basic engine itself, all ancillaries under the hood are literally "toast". Hydraulic reservoirs are melted. Both front tires exploded when they burnt, although the front rims might be salvageable. Hood itself is now warped, both front fenders are warped and bare of paint, Interior was mint but now heavily smoke damaged.
for parts, engine block complete, transmission, rest of the drive train, lots of little parts, most things pretty much from the fire wall back would be salvageable.
opinions on buying it back from the insurance? Not to repair it, but to break and sell off parts to recoup some of my loses if I take the insurers best offer? Is there a market for used parts, and what parts have value, or should I just let the insurer keep the car and move on? I might buy the car back if I found a similar car with a blown motor/trans for example, then swap in this drive train from my burnt car. Any cars like that presently available?
Next, I am looking for a replacement car. Last time around I decided on a Turbo R as being something modern enough to drive on long trips with decent handling and performance, but not so complicated that I could still fix things myself as required. I had decided against the later Turbo R's as being progressively more complicated and possibly prone to head gasket issues, etc. so I wound up looking for 89/90 cars and found a really nice 1990 that I bought.
now I am wondering about looking at later cars, Bentley or RR. At what year/model do they become so complicated that a home mechanic can no longer look after them? Higher mileage would not be a bad thing, would look at higher mileage well maintained cars, after my recent experience recommissioning a low mileage car.
Suggestions and opinions welcome as to what to buy next! I am in western Canada, buying in Canadian dollars, currently weak against the USD.
Paul LeClair
ps, no I do not intend to post any photos of burnt out car and burnt out garage, too depressing, nor will I speculate on possible causes of the engine bay fire on an open forum. It is burnt up, I need to get on with dealing with the situation and buying another car.
a few weeks ago my 1990 Turbo R suffered a catastrophic engine bay fire that then burnt though the fire wall and took out the dashboard etc, melted the windscreen, and so on. Car is a write off. I have a settlement offer from the insurance company that is not nearly enough for what I have into the car, and have to decide whether to accept the offer, with or without salvage rights on the car..
car had 51,000 kms, was in great mechanical and cosmetic shape, and I had just finished fixing everything over a two year period. Unfortunately the car was in my home garage/shop when it caught fire, gutted my garage as well.
decision to be made is to whether to buy it back from the insurance company for parts. Everything under the hood is ruined except the basic engine itself, all ancillaries under the hood are literally "toast". Hydraulic reservoirs are melted. Both front tires exploded when they burnt, although the front rims might be salvageable. Hood itself is now warped, both front fenders are warped and bare of paint, Interior was mint but now heavily smoke damaged.
for parts, engine block complete, transmission, rest of the drive train, lots of little parts, most things pretty much from the fire wall back would be salvageable.
opinions on buying it back from the insurance? Not to repair it, but to break and sell off parts to recoup some of my loses if I take the insurers best offer? Is there a market for used parts, and what parts have value, or should I just let the insurer keep the car and move on? I might buy the car back if I found a similar car with a blown motor/trans for example, then swap in this drive train from my burnt car. Any cars like that presently available?
Next, I am looking for a replacement car. Last time around I decided on a Turbo R as being something modern enough to drive on long trips with decent handling and performance, but not so complicated that I could still fix things myself as required. I had decided against the later Turbo R's as being progressively more complicated and possibly prone to head gasket issues, etc. so I wound up looking for 89/90 cars and found a really nice 1990 that I bought.
now I am wondering about looking at later cars, Bentley or RR. At what year/model do they become so complicated that a home mechanic can no longer look after them? Higher mileage would not be a bad thing, would look at higher mileage well maintained cars, after my recent experience recommissioning a low mileage car.
Suggestions and opinions welcome as to what to buy next! I am in western Canada, buying in Canadian dollars, currently weak against the USD.
Paul LeClair
ps, no I do not intend to post any photos of burnt out car and burnt out garage, too depressing, nor will I speculate on possible causes of the engine bay fire on an open forum. It is burnt up, I need to get on with dealing with the situation and buying another car.