First off, what a damn shame. I had the same thing happen to me about three weeks ago. I was just sitting in the car, listening to a CD, and some kid who said "he fell asleep at the wheel" just hit me, along with a passenger in the front and back. The kid landed on his roof after a Dukes of Hazzard jump over my left rear! I was in neutral with no emergency brake, so it was just a really big push, no kickback. Sore necks all around of course.
Anyway, the '98 toreador red 4 cyl. has $9000Cdn. worth of damage, but with a book price of $12000, it was fixable. Luckily, we persuaded the adjuster to do us in, so it was a write-off. I now own a 98' 6 cyl, with sideskirts and the megaspoke wheels, so I've had a happy ending. In your case, there is no where to go after the SVT. Bummer. Finding a Contour is easy if you don't mind auto, but get ready to travel if you want a 5-speed! SVT?! I can only imagine!
Put it this way - a repaired car is never better than a car that hasn't been hit, but sometimes you don't get the choice. Hope that the car was in gear and jammed the tranny. Oh yeah, check the roof - mine buckled and I didn't even notice it!
HOWEVER, don't let people tell you that a repaired car can't be brought back to decent shape. Make sure you bring it somewhere good, where they can show you some success stories etc. Don't settle for any corner collision shop. They basically weld a new ass-end on, and you should be good as new. The back-end was never quiet anyway, so you probably won't notice that much more noise. Just use this as an excuse to install a great stereo system!
Sorry, I feel for you.
jpb
