Hhumph. Well....

[TurnpikeBoy]

Guess stuff does happen after all. Beautiful day yesterday, out for a nice long ride to the shore, coming home after dark and a suicidal deer ran into the drivers' side of the car. I was running around 65 mph, she musta been at same speed 'cause she pushed the car over about 3" at impact. Killed her clean and - almost unbelieveably - put only a couple very small nicks in the rear right fender paint. No cracks, no gouges, some smudges of deer fluids on the flanks. But she did also cause the windshield to crack, dead-center at the top.

So - Alan - what's the cost for a new piece of glass these days?

[pgermond]

Wow! You dodged a bullet on that one!

[Slither]

Wow! You dodged a bullet on that one!

Indeed! Thank God you're OK and the car is, too.

[TurnpikeBoy]

Yeah, man, thank God is right! Rattled my cage really well - had I been a quarter-second slower she woulda been thru the windshield and into my face.

Equally amazing is just how tough the glass in the car is. I fully expected to find big cracks at a minimum, more likely missing a chunk of the right rear wheelwell area - but it's solid as the day the Weavers laid it up. There is even wads of deer hair wedged between the rear wheel rim and the tire - truly amazing. In daylight, examination does reveal some clearcoat cracking right at the fenderwell lip, but it doesn't extend more than about 1/2" up.

Grateful to still be upright and intact!

[weaver]

Call Maurice later today and he will get you a price. Glad your OK.

Alan

[Wareagle]

Always had that fear with convertables at night. Would be easy for one to get in the car.

Good statement of the integrity of the car. Last year a deer got my wife in the doors on passenger side and did $3500 damage to our Ford Fusion. She was about ready for CPR when I got there. All the damage was from the momentum of the deer.

RW

[arrowdriver]

Like the others have said, "glad you're not hurt". Stuff happens and often it is just being in the wrong place at the wrong time that determines whether you live or die. I have lost friends who hit animals while driving, the first was one who hit a horse one night with his Chev Van. He always told me I drove too fast and he was right. Strange that he is dead for the past 35 years and I'm still driving too fast.

[Slither]

About a year ago, I had a dog run into the driver's side door of the van as I went by at about 55mph. Didn't do any damage to the van, but I imagine the dog was darn sore for awhile... made a heck of a noise, though.

Then again, the black bear I hit on a New Hampshire interstate probably didn't fare as well. It did, however, run off under its own power. State trooper didn't believe t was a bear... 'til he saw the hair on the bumper. Plenty of repair work on that one...

[arrowdriver]

Where I live there are a lot of deer and some moose around so we see lots of vehicles that have hit them. The moose are by far the worst as they are so big and tall they usually crush the roof and often kill the occupants. So far my encounters with animals while driving is limited to two times hitting deer (actually one time it was them who hit me as they slammed into the driver's side doors and rear quarter one night). I once hit a dog that didn't fare so well as he got hit square on the bumper of my Ranchero in a big cloud of fur. He came out of the tall grass along side of the road so I never even saw him till after I stopped to see what I had hit. One of the strangest things that hit a vehicle was a big hawk that hit the door of one of my company trucks causing a big dent around the door lock. I sort of doubted the guy's story till I saw the pin feathers stuck around the edge of the lock. I have had a bear run across the road just in front of me while driving in the mountains and when I glanced in my mirror saw her cubs race across just behind me. Like I said, lots of this stuff is just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Drive safe.