Life after the "Terminator"

[AustinSN]

Is your arm/shoulder back in business? I hope you have a full recovery.

Also, you seem to have left us hanging on the rest of the rebuild

 

[jbrown1238]

Is your arm/shoulder back in business? I hope you have a full recovery.

Also, you seem to have left us hanging on the rest of the rebuild

The shoulder is about 95% now after two years. That is about as good as it is expected to get. Thank you for asking.

I will try to continue with the story later this evening and post some more photos of the progress. I got tied up over the last few days.

 

[jbrown1238]

35 days after the crash: With the help of my son on pretty much all of this repair the truck is quickly approaching the final stretch. The bed, left side quarter panel, tail gate, and rear bumper all needed to be replaced. The left rear corner of the cab had a fair size dent from the bed being pushed forward. All of these pieces and areas needed to be prepped for paint. The right rear quarter panel survived the collision without even a scratch. Although the rear glass was moved 1/8 of an inch to the left it did not break and only needed to be moved back into place.

 

[jbrown1238]

43 days after the crash (Saturday): Once my son finished all of the prep work I sprayed the panels early Saturday morning using my left arm. One way or another the truck is going back to work in less than 48 hours.

 

[jbrown1238]

44 days after the crash (Sunday): This is the last day and the push is on. Several family members jump in to help as my ability is still pretty limited. Shortly before the sun comes up the sheet metal pieces are color sanded and polished and the bed is dropped into place.

 

[jbrown1238]

45 days after the crash: The truck returns to work Monday morning as planned. A quick stop at my son's work is made that morning to offer a big thank you for all the hard work.

At the time of the crash I had thought that the Ranger was far beyond a rapid repair. At the accident scene I was running through options in my head and thought the entire frame would need to be replaced. With that type of repair everything would need to be moved on the truck. Being injured the way I was made the thought of this amount of work difficult to consider. Realistically, that would have been a 12 month process. Fortunately the forward section of the truck was square and basically unharmed. That stroke of luck alone probably saved the Ranger.

 

[jbrown1238]

This chapter of the story consumed about 22 months of my life. Bringing the truck back from the dead was only a small part of it. The injuries were fairly severe and some were permanent. Surgery, months of physical therapy, pain, insomnia, loss of work, and a great deal of stress made this a very difficult time in my life. One of the hardest things to consider was asking other people for help when I had become use to always being the one that helped.

During my recovery, and really all through the process, I promised myself that there would be a plan for compartmentalizing this experience and putting it behind me. Some type of "medicine" to keep my mind right and keep me moving it forward. In June of 2019, after six months of searching, I found that plan in the form of a one owner, low mileage 2007 GT 500 convertible. I just couldn't say no!

It's ironic how this thread started off with a Grey SVT Mustang and approaches the end with another Grey SVT Mustang. I guess history does find a way to repeat itself.

 

[mysteed]

Great ending to the story! Very rare find that 07 GT500 is.

 

[TBCobra]

Didn't ready every page but hate to hear you were in a wreck and hope you're making it alright.

The GT500 looks great! I loved my 08, quite the improvement in ride quality over the 99-04's for sure.

Enjoy it and congrats!

 

[ZWilson07]

Cant wait for the new build lol.

Also was the your sons silverado?

 

[jbrown1238]

It was an exciting day. I wanted a Tungsten Gt500 convertible when they first came out but I just wasn’t prepared to pay the ADM at the time. It was a crazy time with all the excitement surrounding the new release. But now the market has allowed many of these vehicles in outstanding condition to be found at great prices.

 

[jbrown1238]

The GT500 looks great! I loved my 08, quite the improvement in ride quality over the 99-04's for sure.

Enjoy it and congrats![/QUOTE]

Thank you. We plan to drive it as much as possible on nice weekend days.

 

[jbrown1238]

Cant wait for the new build lol.

Also was the your sons silverado?

I think I am going to keep this one completely as is. Although it had a few minor cosmetic upgrades the original owner had all the oem parts. It has now been returned to factory condition including the Motorcraft paper air filter.

Yep, that is his truck sitting in front of his business. It is turning into a pretty serious little project. He is going back through the motor now and adding a twin turbo set up.

 

[tbraz]

Jeff,
All I can say is WOW. I have not checked on this in a long time and was devastated to see what has happened to you and the truck. Glad to see that it still lives and that you are on your way to a good recovery.