Serious Crash Repairs - East European Style

[Citroënbender]

Massive repairs to a written off BMW exported from the US to Lithuania, fixed with a blend of OEM and donor parts. English language comments mostly follow the Slavic language ones in theme and banter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR2f-q4WPfs

[carlo rossi]

i wonder what it would cost to send an  alfa to him to restore ?
probably cheaper than here and looks as if he can manufacture small parts

[kaleuclint]

Impressive skills, but ultimately do you want a BMW manufactured by BMW in Germany or by Arthur in Lithuania?  Not to say the latter might not be better, but then why start with a compromised shell?  Reminds me of those wonderful looking Vespas restored in Ho Chi Minh City.  If you ever saw what those scooters are subjected to you'd never contemplate buying one even though they look great after the resto (disregarding also that they are made from three frames welded together...).

I agree with CR -- he'd be great for resto work though. 

[poohbah]

Given he does all the pulling by eye, I can't believe the chassis would be straight (or factory-rigid anymore). So if I were heading to Lithuania, I certainly wouldn't be buying any used beemers.

Not that I'm casting any aspersions about Arthur. He's clearly talented. He can have a crack at my GTV anytime. 

[Citroënbender]

Actually they use a crosshair type laser both to set the car up on the rack and then to check alignment of repairs (this requires a nice flat floor though) . In addition he has a well-worn set of trammels you see him using frequently to check diagonals in multiple axes.  It's just the old school version of what the more exxy rigs now do with a digital probe. I'd love to bring this bloke over for a working holiday, too. 

The lack of PPE is what bothers me most; that workshop dust would be full of styrenes, isocyanates, heavy metals. That's in addition to the noise hazard and frequent lack of eye protection. 

[poohbah]

I reckon heavy metals in the local water, and diesel particulates in the air might get him first...

[warsch]

And then they will sell the car as "never been in an accident" to an unsuspecting buyer.

[Citroënbender]

I've never read the classifieds for cars sold in the area! Will have to take a look. 

As the cold season sets in, regional limits on daily utterings of "Suka Blyat!" have been lifted. The dash cam sites are chockers with fresh Eastern Bloc carnage and snow ballet.  Arthurs of the area will rejoice; it's money for jam in the winter.

[Citroënbender]

A North American take on serious repairs, albeit with a time-lapse format.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2peXCEcg_Y

[Citroënbender]

A recent repair, offside heavy hit Volvo S60 bought in the US salvage network and shipped damaged to Lithuania.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j_5vbUNOEk

I'd say it was for a dealer, purchased as the mileage low, delivered torn down and he was basically left short on donor panels - offside floors came up a bit "hrm". Another way you could tell the owner was squeezing him, was the lack of corrosion protection (weld-through and wax) during rebuilding of the damage.

[As the day goes]

Never saw the final length measure.

[Citroënbender]

Good point, maybe worth raising. I suppose implicitly I'd assumed most of the remaining bend sprung out when the damaged side was cut away.