Bought my first car this week!

[Electronic M]

Last night we had terrible thunder storms...After being awoken from a dead sleep at 3 AM by what sounded/felt like a small nuke. I observed the trees blowing more than I can remember in a LONG time. A few subsequent boomers that interrupted my sleep hours later revealed that a limb was in our yard from a neighbors tree. Once I awoke, and the storm was no longer making the windows difficult to see thru I found it was a bit worse than I thought it was...
More pics here:http://s1095.photobucket.com/user/El...?sort=3&page=1

The net sum of the damage to my car that I can see: a $90 weatherproof car cover, and a big scratch on the back of the trunk lid that the pictures don't fully capture...It ain't deep so I may be able to polish it out. Another 6" and that big branch would have connected with the rear end, or 25-45 degrees rotation and it would have landed on the roof. Thank god the bulk of it missed! Dads car was around 6-12' behind mine and took some damage too (that is what ya get fer parkin me in all the time), but he left for work well before I had a chance to see how bad it was hit (it don't sound too bad though).

The vinyl is definitely going bad some of the places where it has come loose from the trim it is clear that is has shrunk/gotten brittle, and there are cracks forming on top that were not there last year. I think I'm going to start researching ways to deal with it.

Originally Posted by Username1

PS - I have has vinyl roofs replaced before, you can find small shops that can
do a great job for around $3-400. I had mine done back in '86 for $180, and
they did it at the house.... The hardest part is doing the underside of the roof...The part inside the car....

Thanks, I have not tried to price it so that helps put it in perspective. I like the look of the vinyl half roof, but a part of me worries that even if all the rust is removed and it gets painted that putting new vinyl on is just going to help the rust eventually return...Though maybe I'm just worried over nothing. When you mention rust on the inside of the roof did you get that from rust through? I'm fairly sure there are not any holes in mine, and I'm sure there ain't no leaks (save for the rear corner of the door windows which only leak when hit with high pressure nozzles).

Originally Posted by Username1

EM, Also, I can agree - we simply disagree on the things we are not suppose to know about or talk about here. I still wish you well with house, home, car,
jobs, family, and your parents & their jobs....
.

Fair enough. I'm fairly sure the forum does not and legally can't tell us what we are allowed to know...What we can say here is a different matter though.
Thanks.