I am looking for some guidance (and a shoulder to cry on) with body repairs on my 1941 180. On the way to our Florida Packard Club Meet, as my light turned green and I started forward, a Dodge Ram ran her red light and clipped my front driver fender and bumper. My uninformed eye says there appears to be some bending or misalignment with the bottom of the grill, bumpers, possibly bumper supports, and that banged fender. The hood seems to be unaffected for alignment. I am thankful that no one was hurt and also that she hadn't Tboned me. This being Florida, after the horror subsided and the sheriff finished up with us, the most startling thing was to find out that she did in fact have insurance (Floridians will understand). I had the car towed back to my garage, and in the process of unloading, they managed to also damage the rear driver's fender and spacer between the body and the bumper.
I have contacted my insurance company and that whole process has started. Now that the mania in my head has subsided some and rational thought slowly returns, the guidance I am looking for is how to go about getting my Packard repaired. Body shops all want to do collision insurance work on new cars. Should I be beating the bushes for some hidden gem of an under the radar body man? Should I be thinking about sending it to a restoration shop that will incur additional shipping and tremendous labor charges?
I am sure others have had this horror to deal with, so any input is much appreciated. I am in Sarasota, Florida if that helps with any recommendations.
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