My Car - Before & After Pics

My beloved car has been looking rough. Her outer rockers have been rusting badly and getting some holes...and the inner rockers were starting to get the same way. Not good. I was discouraged when I first started inquiring about getting her fixed. One place gave me a quote that was really high and advised me to not have the work done and just drive her until she falls apart. Seriously! He said that the body will fail before the engine does, so just keep driving her until the body just can't take it anymore. Um, no. She's too good of a car to let her turn into a rust bucket. He advised me to take the money I would spend to have her fixed up and put it aside to put towards buying a new car eventually.

I guess that's what happens when you get estimates at a dealership, eh? Well, they had done some mechanical work to my car last year that I was extremely happy with. I previously had my car at another garage for that work but was very mad with how they were handling her, so I paid for what they had done and took her to this dealership to get the rest of the work done. I had been hoping that maybe they'd be the place to go to for body work, but no luck.

I went to a local collision shop...and they refused to even write me an estimate. They wanted nothing to do with rust work. The lady looked like if she got within 10 feet of my car that she'd combust or catch a disease or something. I was VERY discouraged.

But then...I tried another collision shop. The guy there has been running his business for about 30 years, and he was very nice. He felt exactly the same way I did about my car. Everybody else was telling me, "Time to buy a new car!" But I wasn't ready to give up on my car, and the guy there agreed. We were completely on the same wavelength. He also quoted me a price that I thought was extremely fair (I had expected higher!).

So...I finally dropped my car off last week. I was told it would be probably a 9 day job. Yesterday (day 9), I was able to take her home. I was charged exactly what the estimate had been, and he aligned my headlights for me. I had asked if he could check them for me, as I thought they seemed off, and I said I'd pay extra for the additional work. He told me I was right...they were waaaay off. Very messed up. He didn't charge me though.

I love having my car back! She looks so good!

Okay, here are some before pics.

Passenger side:




Driver side:



A few other before shots:





Oh my gosh...horrible...




And.........how she looks now!

Passenger side:





Yay!! No more rust bucket!!!!!! I am so happy. Ernie has two trucks, so I was borrowing one of his while my car was in the shop. It was actually more fun to tool around in a truck than I'd thought it would be...but I really missed my car.

For the second year in a row though, I've had to spend my tax refund (and then some!) on getting my car fixed. Last year, it was a whole bunch of things. The main things were the intake manifold and the A/C condenser, but there were several other things too. That was extra painful because I had replaced my A/C condenser the previous year. From the damage that had been done to the condenser, we think it was from when I had gone into a ditch in the winter (I had swerved to avoid hitting a lady who pulled out in front of me). No way to prove it though, of course...so...tough luck for me!

Ernie also replaced her washer fluid pump recently...which also had been replaced last year. It's neverending!

That car is lucky I love her so much!!!!!