I m thinking of the classic 1/4" steel rod bent to the shape of the fender bead and brazed into the bead to 'fix' cracks in the fenders. Top it off with trying (and failing) to braze the crack itself, totally ruining the steel for an attempt to properly weld the crack. Any other common fixes you run across that have to be corrected?
Street signs and other cheap metal that is pop riveted and covered in inches of Bondo to fix floors and even outside body panels.
Loose bolt or bracket? Just weld it to the chassis (Make sure to use a splatter stick). It'll never come off again.
This wasn't common - I've only seen it once - 1938 Cadillac Sixty Special sedan. The driver's door was caved in when the car was young. The body man cut a big X from corner to corner, pulled the metal out roughly even, tack welded the cuts every 3 or 4 inches then filled it level with lead. We tried to get a good door but couldn't find one. So we put it back as it was. It took 3 men to lift it into position and bolt it back on. But, the old repair was still perfect, not cracked or lifting so we sanded it down and painted it. Have also seen rust holes stuffed with steel wool and filled with lead, and lead fill in dented fenders 2 inches deep or more. So don't tell me lead body work is superior, or old time body men didn't cut corners.
Just put a cab corner on a buddys OT 68 chevy pickup, the last idiot beat the rust with a claw hammer it looked like then put card board in to create a sum what of a curve, the it looked like used bed liner on the inside 6 to 8 applications to stiffen it up for the inside the smeared bondo over the cardboard, primed and deliver it to my buddy. He brings it over and wants me to spot it in,I was outta town or he said he would have let me fix it, but took it sumwhere else. I look @ it and say now way. Took 2 hrs to get all the crap out and set it up for a new cab corner, 30 minutes later the new corner was welded in. Then he tells me the guy only charged him $300. Pay me now or pay me later. The cab corner only cost $40.
This, this a lot! I personally believe that the 70s and 80s were the decade of the pop rivet scrap metal repair. This "repair" on my 1949 was backed by household screen door, and straps of some sort of 22 ga sheet metal riveted on randomly. It also had some remnants of a cloth material wedged in to push the screen up to the inside of the fender and hold in place for the Bondo brand slathering. I think it was a sock. Needless, to say, I had to use most of an entire another fender to cut it all out and weld in all new to repair it.
Sadly....I did not take a picture...But I pulled the body off a `40 Ford Tudor and the gas filler tube into the tank was a length of copper pipe, The trunk floor had been cut and bent back to make room for the 15#`s of molten lead someone poured over the joint.
I bought a 37 dodge 1 1/2 ton truck that was a log hauling truck from a local sawmill,it had the usual cracks in the fenders over the front wheels,the patches were put on the inside of the fender,they had them secured with about 10 or 12 stovebolts,had nuts and washers on them,would have drove me nuts trying to do it that way.Also on the rear brakes they had a small C clamp to block off the port for one of the rear brakes,they were hauling big loads of lumber like this,it was in about 1954 or so,the last plate on it was a 1955. Harvey
Roofing tin or flashing pop riveted over rusty floorboards or trunk floor and then coated extra thick with rubberized undercoating top and bottom.
Most common, is to find an old car that has been sitting for years, with spare parts in the trunk sometimes brand new parts. This is an important clue of what was wrong when they parked it. Somehow buying the parts and throwing them in the trunk never fixes what's wrong but that does not stop people from trying it over and over.
I've lost track of how many Model T and A and similar fenders I've seen with patches riveted over a crack and painted over. That seems to be a regular farmer fix around here where most of the farmers had a supply of rivets for their sickle bar mowers.
Bailing wire or tie wire holding things on. Clothes hangers as well. No telling how many exhaust pipes I’ve seen tied up with wire. Seen pickups and larger farm or woods trucks that had wires to keep the doors closed. Even seen driveshaft hanger bearings wired to the frame a few times.
Pieces cut out of other cars and screwed/riveted on, sign in the floorboards, little squares of galvanized riveted in place and bondo'ed over. All on the same car. Front fenders weighed like three times what the set with no filler did.
Carpet glued down inside and a hefty under coating underneath to hide rust holes. Only got fooled by that one once luckily. Sent from my SM-G965U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Nobody yet has mentioned old socks. t-shirts or other random crap shoved into rotten rockers and bondoed over. Also seen the expanding spray foam insulation sprayed into cavities and then covered in bondo. Shot some motorcycles for a guy that had been "restored" in india. No clue what their filler material really was, their paint went over it, but any of mine just wrinked up like cottage cheese. Once I ground it off I found dripping gobs of bronze covering the rust. Quickly mudded them back over, got them looking decent and told him I didn't want to work on any other bike he brings back from there.
I think, probably, that most of us that have "found" stuff like this have also "done" stuff like this in our younger, poorer days. I know I did. Gary
I was hired to restore an older El Camino by a guy who bought it from a "pro" body man. (so the guy told him) Some paint was flaking off near the gas filler door so I stuck a putty knife under it while the owner was watching. It revealed about two inch thick still not cured bondo, about a foot in diameter. Behind it where enough plastic grocery bags to reach the inner panel. He wasn't happy. If you do this kind of work for 40 years, you see lots of sins.
Some of these "common" repairs back in the day,and even some still now, show that some people take no pride in what they do, sad.
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