Stacey's Mazda RX-7, Finished!
This document last modified May 21, 2003.
By now, many will be wondering what the final cost was to
restore this car. The total came to about $8,500 Canadian, or about $5,300 US.
That includes the cost of the buy back from the insurance company. As with any such
projects, there will probably be a few more small items and repairs that have
yet to be identified, so the initial $9000 insurance
payment was just enough to cover it all.
On the other hand, can you really put a price on the mental
anguish that such an ordeal puts a person through? Or on pride in the completed project, or the friendships
that develop along the journey?
In the end, though, the finished product was an immaculate, red RX-7 GSL-SE,
with pristine paint and a spotless interior:
A Few Loose Ends
Stacey had a chance to stop by the insurance company's
offices shortly after the restoration was finished:
I had an appointment in Langley, a town about 30 minutes
away, and I was early. So I swung by the insurance
company claim center. It was just about closing time, and I asked to see my
adjuster. I was told that she was gone. I told the
receptionist "No, no, if she's still in the building, tell her that I am
NOT a mad customer. What I want to see her for is ALL GOOD, and the best way to
end a work day."
She came down. I had the nasty tow yard pictures with me, in
case she didn't remember me, but when she saw me, she
remembered -- I didn't have to show her the pictures. She asked "is it here?"
"Yep," and we went out
the door.
"Oh my god! Is that the same
car?" she asked.
"Yep."
She went back inside and came out with a digital camera, and
snapped many pictures inside and out. Behind her came the estimator, the man
that wrote it off, as well as some other adjusters. The manager had already
left for the day. I had a long discussion with the adjusters, and I ended up
apologizing to the estimator. That day in the tow yard was bad, but the next
day at the claim center was worse for me -- horribly emotional. It was all bad,
but I never thought about how it might have affected anyone else. How selfish
of me! Today, the estimator told me that he went home and cried that night.
He didn't know then that I was a broker. Today, I told him that if the same scenario was
to be repeated, I would have made the same decision he did.
Other Helpers
A few other folks deserve some recognition for their efforts
and support:
One of Stacey's employees, Amie,
was always there for Stacey, helping her all sorts of internet and computer
problems, and even rushing to the school once when Stacey's daughter got
hurt.
Dave Nunuk is a professional
photographer and a long-time friend of Stacey's. When Dave was home
recently, instead of romping around Europe on
photojournalism assignments, he was good enough to point his camera at the
finished product of Stacey's efforts. We're
talking about high end equipment here. The panoramic camera that took the photo
of the car that is hanging in Stacey's office is worth nearly twice what
the insurance company paid for the car.
Unfortunately, the cheap scanner that I have at work doesn't do justice to Dave's work:
Cory and Diane are neighbors and are among Stacey's
closest friends, and were a constant source of support, as were Stacey's
family, especially her mom and daughter. And Wendy is
Stacey's best friend. Stacey describes:
"She was the one who drove me to the tow yard when the car was first
recovered. She had already called the tow yard and knew what I was about to
deal with. She showed up at my office with coffee laced with Grand Marnier, and
ordered me to drink it. Then she drove me to see the car. That's a
friend."
I mention these three people together, because they're all crazy people! More on
them in a moment.
Now, somewhere in the credits, I need to mention my own
role, and I'm not one for tooting my own horn.
As you may have figured out by now, those first few e-mails that Stacey and I
sent were followed up by several hundred more, plus a
fair number of phone calls, and most importantly, a good friendship, all over
the course of a year and a half. All of this took place at a time when my
network administration job had slowed to an excruciatingly slow crawl, and I
actually needed to occupy myself
constructively while I waited for my company to figure out what they wanted to
do with our business. So Stacey's project became
my own project, and the tech support and hand-holding that I usually provided
at work just extended across a continent, via the internet. At the same time,
Stacey's ordeal with this car happened at a difficult time in her life,
and she needed all of the support that she could get.
A very solid friendship emerged, even though we had never
actually met face to face. We had seen pictures of each other, and had always
expected that we'd get together eventually, most
likely if and when I was sent to the state of Washington
on business, but we had never made any plans to make it happen.
Here's where it gets really
fun: Stacey's friends and family, "the crazy people" that I
mentioned above, were well aware of my role in her support group, and thought
it would be fun to surprise Stacey on her birthday with something a little out
of the ordinary. That would be me.
When Wendy called me a few weeks before Stacey's
birthday, asking if I'd be willing to get on a
plane for a surprise visit, it didn't take much convincing. What I found
when I arrived in British Columbia
was that my good friend also happened to be a truly beautiful woman. Typical of many pretty ladies,
she's a little camera shy, but I did get her permission to publish one picture of her and her daughter
with the car. Click here to see. :)
I also met all of Stacey's close friends, and can now count them among my own. And
perhaps the highlight of the trip was spending a day in the mountains of
British Columbia with Stacey and her extended family, a group of fun-loving,
warm, and maybe a little bit crazy people who made me feel that I'd
always be welcomed among them. How cool is that?
Oh, and I got to drive the car! I'm one of a handful who have ever driven that car,
and Stacey even let me drive it in the rain. She doesn't even do that, given a choice.
Pictures do not do it justice. The interior appears to be showroom mint,
and the paint is actually better than anything that I've seen on any Japanese or European vehicle,
including the ultra luxury lines. And it drives just like a car with half of its 100,000 kilometers (60,000 miles).
Ummm... we'll work on that, Stacey. :)
Without a doubt, this story is not over. (I would elaborate, but I was sworn to secrecy.)
Stacey can be reached at
*deleted*
and I can be reached here. Feel free to write, but neither of us are going to tell
you about the next chapter to this story. :)
