Really long story short: I rear-ended someone and took out the front left corner of my 91 camaro. Everything from the left rail over is gone, which is a good thing considering how the engine, trans, and both radiators are fine along with most all the mechanical parts under the hood. As for what’s gone:
- the hood is gone
- the windshield has another crack in it (I bought the car two weeks ago with a dent in it)
- the front left fender = gone
- the left headlight, turn signal, ect
- on the note of the above: heck, a lot of the left side of the nose is gone too
The steering and suspension also are going to need a bit of work.

To top it all off, I managed to bend the left rail some...

I know that I can save the car; it's just a matter of money. My question is this: how much do you think it would be to get the car back on the road? Also, please tell me where you would get the parts from.

Personally, I think that I could spend less than $1,000 on a parts car and do it that way. On Monday I plan on calling a few local wrecking/salvage yards to see what they have to offer in terms of parts.

Pictures coming monday when I get the car home.

 

If the frame is bent or out of allignment, consider the car gone unless you are ready to fork over alot of cash. All the shops around here charge at least $1600 to throw the car on a rack and pull it back to spec. You might be better off finding a 3rd gen with a good body and a bad drivetrain, and swap everything good from your wrecked car over to the other car.

If the frame is fine, scour the local yards, ask people you know that own thirdgens for parts they might have, and search the internet for bargains. You could probably bring the car back to life for pretty cheap.

Good luck,
Matt

 

I was actually thinking of trying to do what you sguested.

I got a chance to go out and look at the car today and I realized that the left shocktower was against the firewall, so I would call the car gone.

Where do you think I could find a third gen without an engine/trans thats still in decent shape? I have plenty of parts from my current car...

 

Have a look at ebay.

 

That's exactly what I did. My 89 Formula was rear ended pretty hard after having alot of work done to it-but I was able to buy an 86 T/A(same color and options--tpi, auto, ws6, t-tops, 3.27 posi disc rear, etc)from my friend for $400. Car had a ratty interior good trans and blown motor but the car was all there and the body was in good shape. I swapped everything over to the 86-EVERYTHING!! complete body and motor wiring harnesses(which wasn't hard just tedious). Car ran great til my coil burned out again.
I'm sure you'll find a good deal like that, you just have to look hard enough.
BTW--whatever car you find when you start swapping stuff over from your car you'll be able to recover some of your cash! You'll automatically have doubles of everything!
The donor:

 

End result

 

What a guy , thats a really nice result. How long did that take?

 

Thanks!I finished everything in a few months before I took it all apart again. It's still an ongoing project.

 

Yeah Tony, thats a real nice job Looks great!

 

Thanks guys, I really appreciate that!

 

Well if you feel like going through the hassle of getting a title. My brother in law just got an 87 IROC. Seems the real owner dropped the car off at a shop here 5 yrs ago for some work, and never came back. He yanked the engine and tranny for his TA, and is planning on parting out whats left of it. It needs a nose and a drivers side fender but the rest is there and in ok shape. It needs paint badly, and interior. The plastic is all black and fine, the seats are shot. I can put you in touch with him he might consider selling the car cheap.