The accident!

My 17 year old daughter Stefanie has had her first car accident. While she is severely shaken up, she is not injured at all. The car on the other hand, did not fare so well. The fact that she was not hurt when her car was hit by a vehicle weighing almost twice as much, is a testament to the quality of VW engineering 26 years ago.
A little background on the car before we get too far. This 1982 VW Golf Cabriolet was purchased new in Los Angeles for my brother by our dad. My brother Patrick was studying to become an automotive designer at the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Both my brother and I are certifiable car nuts and have always enjoyed maintaining and modifying our cars. This little car would get lots of attention over the next 26 years. By the time my brother left for Europe to work for BMW and I became the custodian of the cabriolet in 1985, it had been transformed into quite the little beast! The original and anemic 74 hp 1.7-liter engine had been transformed into a 1.9-liter blueprinted Eurospec Gti powerhouse with close to 140 hp. Euro Gti bits and pieces included: exhaust manifold, downpipes tied into a Gillet gruppe B powersound exhaust system. A G-grind cam, adjustable sprocket, neuspeed throttle body, oil cooler with stainless steel hoses and various other upgrades were carried out by renowned Porsche tuner TRE Automotive in North Hollywood. The suspension was also upgraded to the Bilstein BTS-172 kit, Neuspeed front and rear swaybars and stressbars, vented front rotors, and 15" Exim wheels with low profile (for back then) 195/50vr 15 tires to replace the 13" donuts on steel rims. The exterior lost it's bulky US impact bumpers in favor of the sleek black Euro bumpers. Black wheel arch flares were added along with a BBS front spoiler and a black rubber VW Motorsport decklid spoiler. Patrick further customized the exterior with a Hella quad light grill, red Gti trim, Hella fog lights and a rear Porsche fog light. The interior wasn't left alone with a new sound system and speakers, inflatable lumbar supports in the seats, "golf ball" shift knob, a European gauge cluster and an UngoBox alarm system, which was state of the art in 1982! Over the next 26 years the car went from LA to Montreal twice, visited the Grand Canyon, chauffeured me to the church on time for my wedding, and carried my wife to the hospital when she was pregnant with our eldest daughter and future VW driver. I made a few changes and upgrades through the years as well. The Exims were replace with better and lighter BBS wheels off a 1990 Jetta Gtx, the BTS-172 suspension blew out and I replaced it with more progressive Eibach springs and Tokico shocks along with new strut bearings. The windshield was replaced 3 times (1 baseball, 2 stone hits)! The convertible top twice (vandals)! And the radio twice (theft) as well. All in all, much more than the original purchase price was spent on upgrades to make it special. Believe it or not, but by the time Stefanie started driving it in spring of 2007, the odometer only registered 110,000 kms. The truth is, that:
1- it was never winter driven
2- I always had other cars
and
3- Well, I started getting more "interesting" sports cars (MB Clk's and Porsche) and stopped driving it in 1998.
I stored the car in my garage with the intention of selling it, but after putting up with annoying "tire-kickers", I decided to keep it for my daughters. Last year, once Stefanie had successfully completed her Young Drivers of Canada schooling and had her driver's license, I sent the car over to Bero Motors for a thorough service to get it ready for the road. The owner Andre, fell in love with the little car and how well preserved it was and did a fantastic job of insuring that all belts, hoses, fluids were renewed. A new set of tires went on as well and Stefanie and I spent many hours detailing the car to near concours condition. Anyway, back to where we are today: the accident. Again, most importantly nobody is hurt, the car did what it was designed to do and that should be it, right? Well, unfortunately Stefanie feels a huge sense of guilt and remorse at having been the one responsible for wrecking this family "heirloom" and is adamant about making it up to us; I have the best daughters in the world. As far as responsibility in the accident, nobody was charged and the police feel that both parties share some responsibility. With the insurance company, it means we will see nothing or next to it...it's a really, really old car in their eyes. Having had it towed to Bero Motors, the prognosis from a visibly saddened Andre is not good; the body is bent and unrepairable...but he says he might have an idea. Stay tuned.