What have you hit while driving your Miata?

[The Driver]

^ Dude, bambi tastes so good!

[Andy]

As promised, I am now home.

I was at MATG last year with my car half in primer half flaking paint. The paint place that was repainting my car got pushed back by a month on the job and I needed my car. So I took the car to the gap mostly in primer. While at the gap I went on the fat buddies run. On the way back from fat buddies, as a group of 40 or so miatas, we went on a drive through something called "Road to nowhere." The story goes that the road has a tunnel that was suppose to connect to the Tennessee border, but Tennessee could not get the required permit back then so the road literally goes up a mountain and just ends. I imagine not many cars go through it as it is a large dead end, so animals must run in the road often.

To paint a picture this area looks like a road was placed in the middle of a forrest. I am car number 34 in the group of 40 or so. Right after a corner out of the blue a black bear comes running down the side of the mountain, jumps the guard rail, and bolts right into the road. I did not have ample time to stop, and in hindsight if I did I probably would have been rear ended by the guy behind me. So i had two options. Drive straight and hope he runs faster than i am moving (Would have ended in a head on collision with a bear) or option 2, swerve. I swerved and the bear just glanced off of my passenger side fender spun and then hit my door. The bear was fine and ran off.

The fender was ultimately destroyed beyond reasonable repair. It was pretty dented in multiple places and it would have been more work to fix than it was worth.

At the end of the day I avoided a much larger collision than could have happened and I was able to drive my car back home 1000 miles to miami. I still have that fender in my garage. I am debating hanging it from the wall.

The picture of the fender doesnt look too bad but the whole creased area next to the wheel well was pushed it. It would never have been fixed properly.

[Big Red]

Hit a Kangaroo @ 60mph

I had no way of avoiding the kangaroo :/ so I decided to make a split second decision.
1.- If I went left I would have put myself in the marbles on the left shoulder & most likely putting myself off into the trees.

2.- Hit him straight on & have the chance of the kangaroo hitting the front of the car taking out my cooling system & the off chance of going straight through the middle of the windshield & who knows what else could happen?

3.- Maneuver to the right lane (oncoming) & try to beat him or minimize the damage to the front of the car. (Being 6am & being early there was no traffic around.)

It all happened pretty quickly. The kangaroo was moving at full flight out of the bushes from my left.... No time to brake basically & would have locked the front wheels most likely anyways.... So I took option 3. I wasn't lucky enough to get around the front of the roo. this experience of me seeing the kangaroo's head bounce off the windscreen was a very sobering moment. The noise of the impact & the dust and small pieces of glass floating around the cabin in nearly like a slow motion state. after the roo hit the screen & "a" pillar it took out my mirror clawed my side window & rippled my passenger door. Also left some fur jammed in my door handle & mirror stalk. And buffed some paint off the damage guard. :/


So the Damage :'(

-Bonnet
-Left front guard
-Front window
-Passenger door + Glass
-Passenger door mirror

About a 3 days after the impact I my wonderful girlfriend tracked down a decent panel shop to do the work. The owner came over on that Saturday to my house to asses the damage & quote the job. I'm usually a DIY guy & that's the whole spirit of things here I took the option of the panel beaters because they could produce a far better finish than what I could ever dream of.

Geez, Crocodile Dundee had to show up, and take the wreath! :jelly:

No, not really... Unless she somehow cracked your windshield, then all bets are off...

Sorry for the thread revival.... but after a long time I finally got the old girl back on the road took the painters 12mths :'(
all worth it in the end

[Demon I Am]

Are those the MS03, or the Advans? Either way, beautiful choice on the wheels!

[—Martin—]

Sorry for the thread revival.... but after a long time I finally got the old girl back on the road took the painters 12mths :'(
all worth it in the end

I'd go crazy if I had to wait 12 months for a repair! But the car looks great now.

[Big Red]

Are those the MS03, or the Advans? Either way, beautiful choice on the wheels!

Thanks for the compliment on the wheels, They are Mazdaspeed MS03's 15x6.5" +38's. I get mixed responses from the wheels, It's not everybody's cup of tea. But I like them & that's all that matters ;)

Trying to make my car look like a period correct car thats straight off the Pages of InitialD

[Demon I Am]

Period correct, they are. I've wanted to pick up a set for a while, but now that I'm in an NB, I don't know that they'd work well. The MS01r seem to work well for both.

[horribleR]

back when I was much happier in my Miata days... I hit a speed bump and got beached at my grandmothers condo.

[Demon I Am]

Even looking at this thread makes me anxious