[66sprint6]

Update:
I went to go look at the car in the wrecking yard. Mostly to make sure that the car wasn't messed with or stripped of any parts. I was glad to see it was all there. It's a good yard, they even put a stretchy kind of Saran wrap over the windshield and side window to keep water and snow out.
Of course the car is a disaster. I was able to snap a few pics but I didn't have much time as they were shuffling smashed vehicles around. They had to bring mine up to the front so that I could see it, as they arent allowing anybody to walk the yard. It was painful to see the guy bring it up with a front-end loader with 20 foot long forks. But what are you gonna do.
You can see that the cowl is smashed to nothing. If you can make out in the one pic that shows the bottom fender bolt, the frame literally ripped like paper. The rockers are a lot shorter from the compression and the door pushed back on the jamb and buckled the quarter panel. We're having the car towed to the storage facility and the disection will likely have to wait until spring.

[GT182]

I know how you feel. I totaled my first 66 GTO in April of 1971. The right front tire blew going around a curve and I rolled it over a snowbank up in Northern NY. I ended up paying 2 years worth of payments for a car I no longer had because the insurance company I had only put liability on it, no comprehensive which was mandatory if you had a car loan. It was $47.96 a month, but I paid my debt. I know it's hard to do but you've got to get on with something else, don't keep thinking about it. Both of you start another project. Your son to help because he was driving, and you to help him and yourself take your minds off it.

As said, buy back the car and salvage all you can out of it. That's all worth money, and can also be used to build up another Tempest, or sells to someone that needs the parts. Don't throw it away like I did. I still kick myself for not stripping all I could out of that GTO, even tho it wasn't a collector car back then.

[mgarblik]

I have been following along with this thread. Now that you have made the decision to keep the car and will have it in secure storage soon, you can spend the winter making plans for it's rebirth. It's a fair assumption that most of the mechanical parts and pieces will be salvageable and lots of interior goodies too. Seems like a possible solution may be to give a call to someone like Steve Barcak who has 400+ Pontiacs in a dry part of the country with good frames and bodies just waiting for you. With the border closed, getting a usable frame and body to you may be an issue until spring which might work well for your time schedule. I don't know for sure, but with all hose Pontiacs, it seems like a Tempest/Lemans donor car isn't a huge stretch. Good luck with your search for the next version of your car. pontiacheaven.org