Got Rear ended Thursday. Thankful for 3 point belts, wife OK.

[sals54]

Truly a bummer as far as the wagon goes, Ross - but good to hear that the wife's seemingly seriously unhurt. Also a GREAT lesson for the doubters here.
When my old Rammer Cross-Country wagon was whacked in the rear (THREE TIMES IN A ROW!), the wagon was at a full stop in each incident - and in two of those incidents, the young female drivers feigned aplogies and contrition only to find out later that the insurance info they gave me was deliberately bogus.

Hey Brother, I'm sorry to hear about your past accidents and subsequent troubles with insurance lies. Now days, its important to take pictures of everything including the license plates and driver of the other car. That puts them at the scene and behind the wheel. See if they can lie their way out that to the cops or in court.

[Rosstude]

Thanks for the kind words everyone. She is feeling much better today, and has a doctors appointment tomorrow, time will tell. She took pictures at the accident site, and a neighbor stopped and took some video as well, these cell "phones" are great things. So along with the police report, we have excellent documentation.
Auto club treated us very well when a drunk hit our 64 Dart, and I went t the cash out option, and fixed myself; they researched replacement part costs and were very fair. If AAA is true to form, I will go for the cash option, I can stretch the money further, CASO and all. I may still give you a call Warren, thanks for the offer.
The belts from Julianos hot Rods came with nice, thick, and well designed reinforcement plates included in the kit. The top mount was just trimmed a bit, fished up the B pillar, and I used some button head allen bolts to affix in place up front, and on the rear C pillar I put some little plug welds.
This thing got me to thinking about other safety upgrades. Maybe I'll start by juicing up the rear brake lights. How about, head rests or new seats? Or collapsible steering column?

[deco_droid]

Sorry to hear about your accident, but when I saw the photos all I could think was, "Man, now THAT'S what bumpers are supposed to do". i.e. -- keep your car from being totalled. I know everyone says how great crumple zones are, but the side effect is your car can be destroyed in relatively minor mishaps.