Have been restoring my apollo for the last four years.Finally last weekend was time for paint. After the third coat of base and while it was flashing , the body shop catches on fire and burns to the ground. They towed it out but not before it took quite a bit of heat. Don't know if i have what it takes to do it again.I could just cry! before and after IMG]http://i169.photobucket
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Did the shop have insurance? It should be covered. Though ya know how they sayit comes in 3s, wasn't there a few similar post on here a while back???
I really don't know if it's repairable and will have to wait and see what my insurance will tell me . I had it appraised 5 years ago before i started so everything i've done since is not really covered . Was going to have it reappraised when it was done next spring .Bad mistake!
No insurance on the shop . Just a good friend that does this in his spare time and is real good and affordable . I think he feels worse than me if thats possible
I think I'm gonna cry too. If the shop has insurance it seems they would have to return the car to its original condition, not what you had it appraised for 5 years ago. Rick
My heart goes out to you. But if you stop & think about it it really was not that affordable. If your going to save it you need to get on it like yesterday before the rust sets in. :Brow: IF:Brow: your buddy owns the car his homeowners might . but then again if they find he was running a buisness out of his home. man slippery slope so sorry. Rob
That is awful, sorry to see that happen to anyone. How did the fire start? Paint fumes/furnace ignition?
Sorry, Buy a lottery ticket, you luck couldn't possibly get worse. Glad no-one was hurt! Thats something to be thankful for.
That really sucks. I think I would take a deep breath (maybe some turkey and cranberry's will help), and then get all the crap from the fire cleaned off of the car and take stock of what is left. If the biggest problem is scorched paint and a slightly melted and smoky interior, then I would save it, or at least get some primer on there before it rusts. If the damage is more severe, then it might be easier to find another body and swap your salvagable parts into it. Don't give up yet! I am sure some of the X-body fans here will be able to run down some parts to help you get it back together. Later, Randy
Clean up all the cinders & get the flaking paint off. sand it prep it & treat it & get some Epoxy primer or something on it ASAP! Then you can see how much if any warping you got going on. I am assuming the rear window was out for painting ? I mean now ,with more consideration if it had to get burnt that was the best area. I did not do any damage under the dash or hood fuel lines wires & all that when you have a complete motor melt down. Just hurry up & get her back to primer & you will feel a lot better about it. If you were not so far away I would come & do it for you. I know its got to be frustrating but Don't let the bastards grind you down!!! Rob :TU:
? The car was in my friends 84 year old dads garage.A backyard body shop he used to work in when he was younger.He lost more than I did ,about $35,000 in tools and his shop. I doubt if the house insurance will cover. We're not really sure how it started . Val (the bodyman ) was outside cleaning his dads yard of snow that fell last saturday and the first thing he noticed was thick black smoke coming from the eves. He had only been out of the shop about 15 mins to let the base flash before spraying the clear coat.It almost looks electrical because if you look at the car all the heat came from up above.He said there were no flames when he went in just thick black smoke and lots of heat . He even put his respirator on and tried to get in the car but couldn't for the heat and all this time in his paint suit full of fumes.I love this car but when you think of what could have happened, I could have lost a friend. I can't even imagine As a matter of fact it does have quite a bit of sentimental value.My dad left me the car when he passed on .So it was his one and only new car in his whole life. I have all the records since it was new,bill of sale, right down to service reciepts . The car I went for my drivers test with in 1974 , it was not even a year old, so yes it does for me . Plus the car itself only had 39,000 miles on it,hard to replace. NO the back window was there but when the firemen sprayed the cold water on it, it exploded.The windshield was out because i had to replace the dash panel because of rust Other than smoke dammage ,under the hood is not bad, I started it up after a quick inspection of the wiring and the powertrain seems ok .Like I said in the previous post, most of the heat came from above. The only wires that look cooked are the two for the dome light.Thanks for the offer of help if you weren't so far away . I just have to kick myself in the a** and get over felling sorry for myself. I am looking for a donor car but the apollo is starting to be hard to find . Took me three years to find the bumper fillers for this car and they were hanging from the ceiling along with my tail light panel and the front fillers,all gone now. Sorry for the long post but it seems like the more i talk about it the easier it gets .I don't think i've slept 6 hours in the last three days. Here it is 4am and i,ve been here for an hour all ready looking at the pics . I was so close! Thanks for all the kind words ,Mike
