I found this book in my dads old shop quite a while back. From time to time I pick it up and skim through it. It's titled as Automobile Sheet Metal Repair by Robert L. Sargent and is part of Chilton's Automobile Mechanics Series. The book is copyrighted 1961 but it also lists a third printing in 1965. It has chapters covering tools, methods, principles etc and then there are some chapters documenting actual repairs. I went through and scanned the photos that document one of the repairs to share with you guys ( I think I even spotted an old hot rod/racecar in the background of one of the shots as well). I hope you guys dig it. Is that a car outside the window of the shop? Seems to have numbers on the door and lettering on the side?...Maybe??
The book mentioned that this car had been totaled by the insurance company. It had been bought to fill in during "slack periods" of the body shops regular business. Supposedly to keep from loosing hard to replace employees...and was described as a test of skill.
Cool stuff..thanks very much for posting this. It's interesting- maybe a coincidence- that the well known body repair book "The Key To Metal Bumping" is by Frank Sargent and is about the same age, I think. Relatives?
According to the rear dust jacket of the book... Mr Sargent cooperates with his brother, Frank, in the preperation of a monthly article on body shop work for The Autobody, a trade magazine published in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Yes, Robert and Frank are brothers. Robert passed away several years ago living in Newfoundland. Frank passed away in November '09 at the age of 100. Frank used to write for a magazine called 'Auto Body And The Reconditioned Car'. Robert started to write articles after Frank. Bodymen in the early 70's used to complain about the thin tinny sheet metal the "new" cars compaired to the 50's. Here's a fender Robert brought back to life on a 70's Pontiac. He also repaired and metal finished the hood.
The Jalopy Journal
