It's been a while since there was an update to this thread, but I've had several related since then:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ter-33536.html
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ght-33582.html
Long story short, the car was wrecked, and for a brief time I was uncertain whether it would ever get back on the road again.