racoons and 8's dont mix
 

so lastnight im driving home from my girlfiends house, and the biggest coon ive ever seen runs right out in front of me. tearing the front spoiler right out from under my car. grr

Lost my undertray to a large raccoon carcass... Hope you didn't have the appearance package?

he said he lost his front spolier.... i think he has the appearence package.... that gotta hurt the racoon..... but the car's probally more hurt....

I narrowly missed an Armadillo here the other night. 'Posssum on the half shell!

Yea I just had a racoon run out in front of me late last night (actually early this morning) glad I missed it. The other day I had a wild turkey walk out in the middle of my lane on a highway. Luckly I saw him coming out of the grass meridian. Thats the first time I ever had to stop for a turkey in the road, at least one with feathers.

Sorry about your luck.

I ran over a coon that was about 20-25 pounds, when I had 4k miles on my car. Twistie 20mph S curve and I was doing around 45. Feckker was right in the middle of my lane in the end part of the S turn and there was a car comin, so I ran the bastid over. I have a full appearance package and thought it was gone for sure. Pulled over in a parking lot 60 years up and took a look at the damage. Nothing seen or felt at night. The airdam felt fine. Lost a couple clips, but no damage... to body parts. Went back to check the carcass, and it was gone. I know I ran the critter over and felt it under the car as I went over it!!!

You're right, critters and the 8 don't mix. Sorry to hear of your unfortunate meeting with Mother Nature. :(

I don't know about those pesky coons, but some rx-8's are partial to the Colonel...

http://home.comcast.net/~store0001/c.../dsc00005_.jpg

My undertray was also cracked by a critter. Perhaps an aftermarket, aluminum replacement development would be good source of income :D

the end result
 

they had to replace my whole under tray front, and bumper cover. ended up costing about $1000. at least it didnt get my oil cooler or something, i do have the full appearance package if i forgot to mention it before.

I don't think the word "coon" flies so well anymore.

Nope.

DANG....you must get like a billion miles per gallon...LOL, what's the future like? LOL

Sorry about the "coon"...some of them do grow pretty big...it's all that human garbage they are eating. But, it's a form of population control since most "coons" die early from heart problems...lol

yummmmmm! looks like you need to get the power sprayer out for that one

Or some Durkee's sauce and Blue Cheese.

i have similar damage on my car, but its from hitting a cooler on the freeway that came off a truck. same result, but luckly i had less clean up.

i didn't even know what that word meant until I watched Forrest Gump.. I don't think the original author meant what it possibly implies.. but ya, not a good word


MrJynx

I've had a couple of close calls involving: two moose, (seperate occasions), five deer, too many antelope to count, and a small herd of big horn sheep. I've hit several prairie dogs. Initially, I did try to avoid the prairie dogs, but once I realized that they are small enough not to do any damage, I gave up. Especially with the speeds that are possible when driving across the badlands... :D
Haven't seen any raccoons on the road yet, see them all the time in town, though.

im from the midwest and the word "coon" is perfectly fine. ive used around some black buddies of mine, when i was telling them about my car.

Be sure you dodge those adult turkeys folks. Common sense says to go ahead and take the hit on small things like ducks, cats, crows, squirrels and rabbits, but wild turkeys can be big.

My neighbor and coworker was driving his wife's nearly new PT Cruiser (just a couple of months old) when a turkey crossed the 2-lane highway in front of them (right to left). It walked across their lane, but then a car in the oncoming lane was closer and honked which spooked the bird. The turkey turned back and started flying so it was positioned perfectly at the top, center of the windshield when the PT Cruiser reached it at 40mph.

My friend had slowed down, but not too much because he saw it was moving on out of his lane. Never expected it to turn back.....

Anyway, the turkey crushed the roof really bad and shredded itself coming through the windshield. Most of the guts and gore went between the front seats and splattered all over their 6-year-old daughter in the back seat. Everyone was covered with safety glass shards. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but they sure could have been and I would give a lot to shield my daughters from the nightmares that follow such a trauma. I think it was about $7,000 damage - they replaced all of the interior seats and carpets, cut the roof off the car and welded on a new one.

We raised turkeys on our farm for a few years. We got some toms up to 50lbs live weight. A wild turkey can easliy have a body about the same size and weight at as large cinderblock and you wouldn't want that to hit your windshield at any speed.

anyone gotta frying pan?

despite the story, I still swear by the idea that you just hit the damn things. I assure you, a 50 lb turkey, will do a LOT less damage than a tree or another car.


Being from south Georgia, I have known too many people who tried to miss a deer, a turkey, a coyote, a fox, whatever the animal kingdom has to offer, and hit a tree. A lot of those sotries end at a funeral, don't become one of those stories. A car can be fixed, your life can not be replaced.

Er, right - you should always chose the least of the presented evils.

I only meant to say that while you can ride over a rabbit with little threat to your car a stinking turkey that flaps its way a couple of feet into the air is a huge hazzard.

It would have been worse all around if my friend had swerved left into the oncoming car or right to the 60 foot sheer drop. He had to take the hit, but he did wish he had taken the threat of the bird's mass more seriously and braked more aggressively when he first saw it in the road.

I love your stories, Cool Blue :Eyecrazy:

OH MY F*CKING GOD..... I hit a raccoon friday at 1am coming from from college station (visting friends on vacation)

It sucked, and by the picture below yeah i have the appearance package. I was doing about 65mph at the time what I hate is the road was deserted (country roads here in TX) i hit the brakes and tried to swerve and i WOULD have missed him but the smart little bastard thought he would turn around and run backwards from where he came hence hitting my car.

I dropped it off at my dealership yesterday and went ahead and got a rental (i drive lots for business), the whole front bumper is damaged cracked and will need to be replaced, im betting over 1000+ dollars to fix all this crap, and my full coverage insurance BETTER pay for it and my rental.

anyways, I know exacly how you feel man ive only had my 8 for 1 month and THIS happens. *tear* Oh yeah my rental i got stuck with is a shitty ass crown victoria *gag*
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/2903/15mz.th.jpg