I went to the Gilgandra Speedway on Satyrday night. Regina and I needed a night out and it was a good night.

Gilgandra is about an hour and a quarter from home. We were about an hour out of Gil on the way home at about midnight. Regina said to me "have you seen that kangaroo". I said "what kang......" Bang. !!!!

We were in the commodore and we rolled to a stop, checking, lights, steering, brakes etc and then stopped to get out and inspect the damage. Couldn't get out the drivers door and the roo had walked down the side of the car bending panels. It was the very last thing we needed financially.

Anyway, I spent the day panel beating and apply the the principles learned from my paintless panel beating DVD I bought off fleabay. It looks fairly straight, no bog and no spraying done. Cost me a light and an indicator from the wreckers and that was $25.

The roo - well, the last I saw of him was as he flashed past my peripheral vision down the driver door. Judging by the splatter patterns learnt from CSI shows, it was;
kangaroo - 1
car - 1

sigh !!! Bloody drought.

kangaroo - 1
car - 1
mini - 1

.

Shard

ahhh...
that is no fun. how frustrating.
you cant even put him in jail.
You'd thing bloody animals would look before they crossed

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too bad Mike
if you were in the Mini it would of missed you as Minis are narrower

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May not have missed me as well.

The commodore is high enough and heavier enough to knock the kangaroo down mostly. It my case, I braked quickly enough that the roo met with the drivers side front corner and was spun down the side of the car. It could have been knocked over and gone down under the commodore with just front panel damage.

However, with a mini or any other small car, the tendancy is for the lower mass to pick up the roo and either pass it over the windscreen (doing damage all the way) and down the roof. On occasions, they even bring the windscreen into the cabin with them and that alone has resulted in two fatalities in our area in recent times. A 100 kilo roo at 100 kmh does big damage in a small car. I was just lucky that the roo was sideswiped and that I was in a bigger car.

My wife hit a dog while driving out near Wagga one night. I had to panel beat the front apron of her Laser to put it right again.

Mike, hitting a roo can be nasty sometimes. Sounds like you got off pretty easy.

Ironicly, there was a typical low budget Aussie movie on Ch 9 on Saturday night, about 2 yanks who hit a roo and get into some trouble.

I was driving my old Jag, an e-type, and roo went over it. Low car, high roo. Straight over the roof. I didnt touch it, scared the crap out of me though.

HOLY SH>>

at least there were no injuries other then the roo.......

mike is not only a very skilled mechanic ! ! but now a skilled panel beater...



hope everything is ok......

tait

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Reminds of the time that I was on my way home one night from Broke to singleton in the old family people mover which was the beaut old A team styled Bedfore van. A Massive Red jumped out and belted the side of the van which pushed us onto the marbles making the van lurch sideways and almost spin. Fortunatly Dad caught it. We stopped turned around to see if we could see the roo. The thing was standing in the middle of the road looking at us almost as if to say, "This is my Turf, Don't mess with me!" It was enormous, Bigger than any roo i have seen in NSW.
I can understand what it's like mike, it's a scary moment. Fortunatly the van's side only had one huge ding which we were able to push out with a trusty size 12 boot. They certainly don't make cars like they used to.

Glad you guys are ok

Cheers
Aaron

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I can remember driving out of an area near shepparton in a land rover 110 when a roo hopped out in front of us, tried to turn, skidded, went under the wheels, did the funky chicken dance then hopped away.... Those things are designed to withstand some heavy hitting.

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With great power comes great responsibility. It also comes with one kick ass ride.

I got a mid sized roo one night in my Morris 1100 on the Hume Hwy down this way. It hit the right hand side headlight with its shoulder and then it rolled down the drivers side of the car leaving a couple of dents in the doors and rear guard. It is a heck of a jolt when you hit! It never broke the headlight but it pushed it back about an inch! A couple of hours with a hammer and it was all good.

I big roo jumped into the side of the land rover on the way to a hotbricks meeting one night. Just a few hundred metres down the road and around the corner. No damage amazingly! After hitting our car he turned around (fell over and landed 180) And hoped (unskillfully) away, we only saw they thing for a seconds, it scared the s**t out of me. I was looking out the window randomly, and out of the darkness a big roo's head! Good times, poor roo....

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1964 Morris 850, 1330 Supercharged - 81.8hp atws.
1975 Leyland Mini S 1100S powered - Nice and reliable.
1977 Leyland Mini LS - Project LS-T

Canberra is great for seeing dead roos

Jones Panel Beating, Gulgong's premier (and only) panel shop has a litany of hard hits from wildlife.

I remember in 2001 when the summer dried up something terribly. I was driving on a back road near Warren. It had been dried and grassless for some time and the only grass growth was on the sides of the roads. The roos were lined up along the road waiting for the green pick from the dew to come.

They were so weak and skinny that a car at a 100 kph only made the roos look up. They were just so weak they didn't want to moved.

The one on saturday night was fatter and fitter - the b....... just got in front of me.
Remember that they appear from the side of the road and leap in front of the car 15 metres from the car. A bang is going to happen.

glad you were all ok Mike. i too have had collisons with wildlife and had to do emergency panel beating on the fly, so i understand where you are coming from.

i hit a parrot in the mini once. damn thing put a dent in the right hand headlight surround. fearsome sight that parrot was. must have been, oh, about 8 inches tall. bright colours too.

my mate was driving his greek girlfriends corolla, with me in the passenger seat whenhe rear ended a FSM Niki. it must have been about the size of a Fiat Cinquecento, and it flew through the air. lucky for us it landed in the back of a ford falcon, stopping it from striking the pedestrians on the crossing. anyhoo, we had to repair the front of the corolla quick smart, so her greek dad did not find out she was seeing some skippy bloke (sad but true). So it was over to a mates, where we stripped the front end and beat it all out without removing the paint, also managed to do the front bumper without losing any chrome. i swear we gave it back straighter than we got it.

sorry, not meaning to trivialise your heartstopper Mike, its late and i am supposed to be finishing my last assignment.

My real scary one was with a moose in canada that came charging over the railway next to the highway we were going down. lucky for us it took evasive action which allowed me to accelerate, because there was no way known i was going to stop before it hit us.

incidentally, does anyone out your way, including yourself, use those roo shoo thingos? you know the ones that whistle? If you had them on the commode, then i am not getting any

Incidentally

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the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page
66 Mini Minor sponsored by http://www.lifeonthehedge.com.au/ The Dog Harness Specialists
It was a pleasure ausmini. I'll miss all you misfits and reprobates