In Dec 2013, we noticed the exhaust had started leaking, so Pepe was headed to the exhaust shop for new exhaust when he was in a 4 car chain accident. Unfortunately, he was the first car hit and took the brunt of the damage. However, thanks to Pepe, the other 2 vehicles took minor damage.

The bumper of the Saturn in front of Pepe did some damage to the grill, front bumper, and headlight. By the antifreeze on the ground, we suspected the grill had punctured the radiator.

The glass that is shattered outside the truck is from the driver's head impacting the inside of the glass! The rebuilt truck will have headrests.

The rear bumper and tailgate took the brunt of the impact and had the worst damage, on this initial assessment. That is BMW's front license plate on the ground beneath the rear bumper.

However, the BMW MX5 took major front end damage. When we saw it later that day at the tow lot, both front fenders and the hood had been removed.

The BMW's airbag deployed, but no one else's. Overall the damage doesn't look that bad to Pepe, but we knew that due to the age of the truck, the insurance company would probably total the vehicle.

The front end damage seems minor, so we were very curious about the raditor leak.

Tow lots are horrible to deal with. The fees are high and get higher per day. Even just a few hours cost over $500 and they give you no help in loading it out. I'm glad we have our own trailer.

The driver of the BMW had USAA insurance. Maybe they take care of their customers, but the sure don't take care of the other party. Their "value" process is to find the several of the same vehicle for sale in the local are and offer that selling price. Needless to say, there are not many '89 Ford Rangers for sale. They extended the range to 50 miles and found 2 trucks that were very beaten up. The value offered was laughable, considering the work already into the truck. We argued and got them to come up some, partly because of this website detailing the work in the truck as well as the receipts for the parts and the original paint job. Sometimes the extra effort pays off. But they did not come up much.

Once we got Pepe home, we could thoroughly inspect the damage.

The bed is buckled, so the rear quarter panel is damaged. The rear glass was damaged when my daughter's head hit it. We always knew she had a hard head, but she didn't have to prove it. The bench seat will be replaced with either bucket seats or a bench seat with headrests.

Her knee hit the dash and busted out the clips. This could be hard to locate. Ebay time.

The deer whistle survived, but the grill and the headlight surround did not. Neither did the hood latch, which was jammed. Nor the radiator which was punctured and being hit by the fan blade. But Pepe still pulled himself onto this trailer to come home from the tow lot.

Looking from this angle, the bumper and grill are damaged, but the truck looks good.

Due to the offset of the vehicles, the passenger side is where all the damage is.

The bed bumped forward, into the back of the cab. Unfortunately, this area is double walled. Time for a stud gun to pull the dent out.

The exhaust snapped where it was leaking.

Both sides of the back of the cab took damage, but the driver side is much less. Still, the stud gun will be needed to pull this out.

So the first thing to fix was the front end. The hood latch had to be removed to get the hood open, then the radiator was removed so that the fan blade could turn. The core support is spot welded into the vehicle to provide structural reinforcement.

Once the major damage was removed, we investigated further to see what else might need repair. That's when we found the problem.

This is the passenger side motor mount. It failed and the bolt snapped.

As did the driver side, almost 2 inches between where the mount should be and where it was. The grill did not shove the radiator into the fan- the engine shoved the fan into the radiator.

On a good note, the replacement rear engine mount held, twisting the mount bar in the process. This may be the only thing that prevented more damage.

The drive shaft was pulled almost out of the transmission. And we drove it onto and off of the trailer in this condition!

The radiator core support was minorly bent in the accident but had some rust and other issues. Since we had already purchased one, we decided to replace it despite the spot welds holding it in.

The driver bushing for the core support is very dry rotted. It took some convincing, but I finally got Dad to agree to replace the bushings and bolts. But not until after he disassembled the area and our son pointed out the concave shaft of the bolt where the rust had eaten it away.

A scary sight. Now we just have to remember where everything goes.

The new core support was scuffed and painted engine black for durability.

The engine was lifted and slid back into place. All three motor mounts were replaced.

The rear transmission brace was bent, but it held. The dirty replacement one is straight.

The bend in the brace is easier to see from this angle.

One of the sheared motor mounts. The replacement is a sealed, one piece unit. Pepe took quite an impact.

The new radiator core support was fitted and clamped into place. Most of the work was done in the attached garage, but the welder is in the back garage. Pepe gets to go for another very short drive.