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Had some service done on SpongeBob at the Prevost facility in Goodlettesville, Tn this past week. I was traveling home yesterday during a light rain shower on I-40 just west of Knoxville rounding a sweeping left hand bend. Me in lane 2 when I suddenly heard a loud crashing noise and felt the bus heave towards the shoulder. A young lady in a small sedan lost control in lane 1 and slid from lane 1 into the bus broadside. I can see the full indentation of her car's profile in the side of my bus. The damage to the bus is about 2.5 basement doors long. I can't detect any damage to the bus's steel space frame. Two basement doors are cracked all the way thru, there's damage to three sections of stainless steel trimwork, damage to the Vantare fiberglass panels at the base of the doors, and also damage to the leading face of the rear fender. I'll post pics. Be careful out there. The lady has insurance and she was cited; there's no contest on who's at fault. The hassle is the huge inconvenience in having body work and paint performed on a Prevost conversion. I called Prevost to see about availability of basement doors and they are available. The other pieces need to come from Vantare.
that was a bit scary
It wasn't good Ernie. The bus got shoved quite hard. The impact was broadside so the energy was spread out and the damage appears to be restricted to the exterior bolt-on pieces. These buses are tough! On a side note, and speculating a bit. SpongeBob may have saved the young ladies life. I expected her to ricochet off and spin out. Traffic was heavy, there almost certainly would have been collisions with following vehicles. Instead SpongeBob absorbed the energy and she stayed straight and in control. Kudos to SpongeBob for a good deed done!
David
Sue and I are so sorry about the accident, glad you are OK, things can be replaced.
We just returned from a visit to San Francisco to see our son and daughter-in-law, saw your post about your bus. I replayed once but the post did not go through. Anyway this is the second try. I will call you tomorrow if you have the time to talk.
Hish and Sue
Hi Hish, I enjoyed our talk today. Thanks for the call, the guidance, and the well wishes. Today I pulled off the fenders, opened the basement doors, and took a 4' straight edge to all the tubes comparing the driver's side with the passenger side. All the metal work is straight. I washed the bus and will post some pics shortly.
Pics of SpongeBob:
David,

So sorry to see damage to SpongeBob. Fortunately, it appears there is no structural damage. Just a couple of new bay doors and a few trim pieces. The biggest issue is matching the paint. If Featherlight did the paint scheme originally, I believe I would depend on them to repaint it.
Thanks Chuck,

I already spoke with Donnie Myers. I'll be dropping it off at DMRV on the 17th. He now has Frank from Parliament Coach working with him and he has a full paint booth. They may need to paint from tire to tire (below the belt line) to get it all to match. What a hassle. It's a little hard to see in the pics but both bay door exterior skins are distorted. The impact was sufficient to crack the interior door panels which are fiberglass. I'm not sure exactly what material is used for the bay door exteriors but that skin didn't crack. It absorbed the energy nicely. These are tough buses!
Dropped the bus off at Donnie Myers Luxury Coach. Donnie's going to paint the coach from wheel to wheel below the beltline. This should work out well because of how the paint is smoked from bottom to top. Frank, the long time painter from Parliament Coach is now working with Donnie. He'll be doing the work. The only challenge for me is to resist the temptation to spend on the many, many upgrades DMRV has to offer!
The only challenge for me is to resist the temptation to spend on the many, many upgrades DMRV has to offer!
Save some for me~
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