Dead Red G20

[George Roffe]

Well my journey with my G20 started with a thread with this name.  It's
only fitting that it ends this way as well I guess.....

THE BEGINNING:

Just under 4 years ago I decided to look for a G20 in need of an engine
since I had just replaced my SE-R engine with The Beast.  Around late
August, early on a Saturday, I came in from the garage to a post with the
same title as this one.  Rick Koch of St. Louis was reporting that his G20
has a *serious* rod knock.  I immediately fired off an e-mail telling him I
could help him a lot if he decided to rebuild, but if not, I'd like first
rights to buying his G20.  After about a month of pondering, Rick decided
to sell the G20 and he sold it to me.

The short story is Kerry and I put a lot of sweat into cleaning, fixing,
and refurbishing the car and have put 90k miles and 3.5 years on the
car.  Tonight it all came to an end.

My boss and I cut out of the office early tonight and on the way home, as I
was driving in the right lane of the feeder road for the freeway (3 lane
feeder), a young lady who just got off the freeway decided she wanted to
enter the gas station I was driving by.  While I was driving by it.  I saw
it coming at the very last minute and while I tried to take evasive
maneuvers, it was too late.  She hit me in the driver's door and I almost
saved it.  Almost.  Since I was driving perpendicular to her, she
eventually got to the somewhat stronger C pillar door jamb.  With that she
spun me into a Saturn waiting to exit the gas station.

When accidents happen (at least to me) time dilates.  I remember thinking
"damn, I knew it" when she first tagged me.  When I hit the Saturn that I
was trying so hard to avoid I thought "that's gonna leave a mark."  When I
stopped and got out and looked at the passenger side I thought, "cool 4
wheel steering."  Oh, and the rear license plate ended up wedged between
the trailing edge of the passenger rear tire and the wheel well.  Go figure.

So, this story ends where it began (sort of).  I'm 98% sure the insurance
company is going to write it off.  The structural damage is too extensive.

At the moment I'm not sure what I'm going to do beyond renting a car for
the next week or two.  There are many things to consider and some potential
complications thrown in.  Mostly it's bad timing and a PITA.  Thank God no
one was hurt.  I hit my head on the driver's grab handle and have a lump
and perhaps a slight concussion, but that's it.  Cars can be replaced.  The
young lady is a student and she was all apologetic.  She felt so bad.  I
told her not to worry about it.  They are just cars and can be fixed and/or
replaced.  She wasn't street racing or anything else so foolish, so why
yell at her?  She thanked me for being cool about it.  She was really nice.

So, in the meantime, I'm going to work on getting my SE-R back on the road,
even if only temporarily.  Not having driven it for so long I have some
worries about it.  I'm also even more worried about something happening to
the SE-R.  Classics are becoming hard to replace now and I want to keep
mine forever.

More as it happens.  Reporting live (sort of) from Kingwood, TX.

George Roffe
Houston, TX
http://www.nissport.com