cow jumped over the metro

[redpepe]

been meaning to follow up on the baja cow incident. thought y'all'd get a kick too.

for the moment i can only find these polaroids .... 3/03 .... using the backhoe w/ comealong, chain and visegrips to straighten the window pillar. the fit for the windshield came out great eventually. the top leading edge had come down near my head and i had to push it up to get out of the car.

the rest was done with hammer and 'anvils' and prybars. the paint was relatively untouched. i still find bits of shattered glass ocassionally.

i'll find and paste a link for the story ....

here she be .... 11-26-07 ... the deer thread ....

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Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 29


Re: Have any metros hit a deer?
howdy all,

just catching up with this thread / site. many years ago driving south to la paz and watchfully aware just after sundown .... 10 miles from my destination for the night ..... i hit a very large steer. i'd gotten around the first one but the second fooled me. going relatively slow anyway, i was almost stopped at contact but it still went almost over the top. the roof came down and the beast slid off back left. i wound up on the left shoulder of hwy and as i got my bearings, watched the cow slowly get up and walk off.

i pushed up the roof, shooed away some of the broken glass and eventually limped into a pemex station north of guerrero negro. i slept there and next day made some better adjustments. a talented glass man taped a well cut windshield into the opening and i spent a good ten days with friends down south.

got home with a bit of effort and started repairs. i beat out all the dents and shaped the windshield opening very well .... new proper glass fit perfectly. i sometimes used my backhoe as a stationary / hydraulic puller with chain attached to visegrips. there was little damage to the roof beyond a foot or so back from the rear of the windshield though the back left window had broken.

the steering wheel and instrument cluster had been damaged .... replaced the cluster ... rebent the wheel.

i left the adjusted hood on the car and wear it as a merit badge though i bought a replacement that now gathers moss / lichen in the backyard.

i was impressed with the safety of the structure overall .... and extremely lucky that a hoof or horns had not come through the windshield. in my case, along with cautious low speed [not low enough evidently], i believe the low wedge shape was the significant factor that lifted the steer .... 1000 lbs maybe? .... big! the roof beyond the leading edge proved very sturdy and apparently designed well, bearing the full weight until the wildlife wiggled off.

i did not have a digi camera at the time but will post some friends photos if i get a chance.

thanks for all the continuing good info.