Hail damage update

[baja]

I posted a few weeks ago that my really nice 87 Grand G'neer got caught outside in a nasty hail storm.
Well it was totalled. When I took it to the body shop, the owner said it was the worst vehicle damage he had seen from this particular storm.
Then he seen our car. It had the worst damage he had seen in his 30+ years of buisness. I didn't bother taking the WJ in for estimates, it looked as bad as our car.
Anyway, I had my Grand Waggy insured through JCTaylor for an agreed value. They send their insurance claims through Foremost Insurance Claims. I am very pleased with the whole experience, other than my Waggy getting trashed.
Foremost contacted me very quickly, asked for some pictures and told me to get a quote.
They agreed it was definitely totalled. To determine a "buy-back" value, they post the totalled vehicle on CoParts, a salvage yard connected service for salvage vehicles.
They then offer the vehicle back to you for a little less than the bids they recieve from the salvage yards for the vehicle. Basically they have a bunch of paper work to do if it goes to salvage so they deduct their paper work cost and offer it to you. Luckily for me, most 87 Wagoneers are not worth a lot in salvage value around here.
So, I recieved a check for the agreed value minus the buy-back. The whole process went very smoothly and plenty quick.

[fulsizjeep]

.wow.

Sorry to hear of your losses. Good to hear you were treated right by insurance company. So now the 87 is destined to be a wheeler?

[baja]

So now the 87 is destined to be a wheeler?

I am really leaning that way and my wife is pushing pretty hard too.
It's really weird having a vehicle totalled by hail, from a distance, it still looks really good, it's still all nice and shiney etc. And I would like to keep it looking good. But to wheel it the way I would consider wheeling, I need to at least to get Wide-Track flares on it, the fronts are no biggy, other than paint so they match, but my biggest hurdle it the rear Wide-Track flares on a 4-door. I am not a body man, I consider good bodywork to be art. I am not an artist. But then also, the thing is totalled, it's got 1000's of hail dents in it, all over, how concerned should I be about the paint matching? This thing was/is my baby, I'm having a tough time thinking about making cuts on the body. But I want to wheel it, wheel it hard.
For a mid-west vehicle it's in really nice shape, very little rust. What little rust there is would be cut-out for the flares etc. and my rockers are super solid yet, but I would want to put rocker guards on it, maybe even cut off the rockers and replace them with square tube, but they are solid!

Dinged & Conflicted in the North...

baja

[grandwag89]

If it were me, I'd give it a moderate lift and not wheel it too hard. The damage really didn't look too bad IMO, it would be a shame to trash what's left. Just my 2 cents.

[El_Diablo]

its still a nice wag, hell, if i had some money to spare i would make an offer on it!!

if i were you i would slowly repair it as time allowed.... just because its a wheeler doesn't mean it cant be nice

[threepiece188]

So now the 87 is destined to be a wheeler?

I am really leaning that way and my wife is pushing pretty hard too.
It's really weird having a vehicle totalled by hail, from a distance, it still looks really good, it's still all nice and shiney etc. And I would like to keep it looking good. But to wheel it the way I would consider wheeling, I need to at least to get Wide-Track flares on it, the fronts are no biggy, other than paint so they match, but my biggest hurdle it the rear Wide-Track flares on a 4-door. I am not a body man, I consider good bodywork to be art. I am not an artist. But then also, the thing is totalled, it's got 1000's of hail dents in it, all over, how concerned should I be about the paint matching? This thing was/is my baby, I'm having a tough time thinking about making cuts on the body. But I want to wheel it, wheel it hard.
For a mid-west vehicle it's in really nice shape, very little rust. What little rust there is would be cut-out for the flares etc. and my rockers are super solid yet, but I would want to put rocker guards on it, maybe even cut off the rockers and replace them with square tube, but they are solid!

Dinged & Conflicted in the North...

baja
It sounds like your plans to turn your Wagoneer into a wheeler involve considerable work. Why not get a Wide Track as a wheeler and work to repair the Wagoneer? I would guess the hood and roof suffered the worst damage, those parts should be easy to find and replacing the roof is a straight-forward repair, nowhere near the amount of work as adding flairs to your Wagoneer.