Let me put it this way: Most cars I ended up being disappointed with were the ones I bought as "finished", nice and ready to drive.All of them looked nice but after all these are old cars, and some of them were driven a lot and have had bad repairs OR they were just sitting around for a long time , had a great body and interior , low miles but lots of mechanical issues from just sitting around a a lot. The better ones or let´s say, the ones I wasn´t surprised by as much or positively surprised by were the cars I bought as projects or parts cars.
I've done my own for myself,going back to the 1950s,when I first learned from some very trusted an skilled. Fixed a lot of work by others,that was a bit short of safe. But also seen a lot of real well done work. Having raced for over 40 years,have also seen things work,that didn't look as though it would. Maybe held together or worked by the "Power of stupidity" ! The world can be wired.
I bought an old T bucket frame. I plated the kickup welds on both sides of the tube as they were not mine.
Our cars and trucks have usually been around the block a time or three but it makes me appreciate when I find an untouched one.
A lot of old jalopy race cars back in the day I am sure we would of just shook our head at . I have seen some even up to 2019 that makes you wonder or gives you the sense of “this is going to hurt” when they wreck. Poor welds, roll bar installation and scabbed together frames and chassis parts.
==========. Only about a half dozen experiences with this, but my conclusion is body shops very typically don't know or maybe just don't care about the "mechanical bits." -Thick layers of bondo and paint dust on engines with no air cleaner. -On cars that don't have readily available front clips Body structure around the engine bay engine bay "rebuilt" with strips of sheet steel Migged every which way. - The craziest danged fasteners stuck in any old hole. 3/8" bolts (available at Home Depot) in bumper brackets meant for 7/16" bolts ( not available at Home Depot) - Truly amazing use of wire nuts for wiring "repairs." - Plastic inner fender liner on an off topic car that popped loose within 100 miles or so of a fender bender repair. At hihway speed so the liner instantly melted to sh*t and was generally destroyed. The dark geen-blue fender paint looked darned good though. I'm getting kind of p*sssed off thinking about this so will stop now. To be fair some "repair" shops aren't much better at mechanicals.
Due to carpal tunnel in both hands and lack of metal fabrication tools I recently had some rust repairs undertaken by a well know local 'High end' shop, NEVER again would I use or recommend these fabricators. To say I'm disappointed is an understatement if this is an example of the work. All repairs looked impressive until I got the body home and onto the rotisserie. The plan was to seam seal and paint the underside to match the exterior colour before reattaching the body to the completed frame. Upon inspection I identified a litany of poor substandard repairs, goodness knows what's under the bondo and paint on finished cars I've seen if this is what they looked like when metal finished! I won't waffle on or identify the shop however the quality is pretty mediocre and did not meet my expectations nor would it pass scrutiny from anyone else. I've now a lot more work ahead to rectify all the identified deficiencies before I can even think of seam sealing and painting the underside. I'll now need to spray the underside in certain areas with film to mask repairs. A short list of issues:- new floor pressing don't match OEM floor nor do they line up correctly, welded panels not crimped together with visible air gaps, multiple pinholes in almost every butt welded patch panel, substandard metal finished repairs, inadequate plug welds. I was able to cut and tack weld in all cowl patch panels before hand surgery, however one was removed for UK reason and NOT welded back in! Both sides of replacement cowl are the same, poor fitment and not dressed up with correct radius. All inside welds were not dressed to allow hammering the panel into correct shape.
Been down both roads. Sometimes I will get a car already built as a roller just because the little parts add up. Then sometimes I just put 4 chalk marks on the floor and start from an idea. checking out who did the work and what was done and buying the unknown can be very frustrating when you get that jewel home and find out it cost more to redo your new purchase than what it would cost to start from scratch. Here is a good example. This Torino came to my shop with a fresh paint job and this is just part of the bullshit that I found. Fiberglass just poured in the lower trunk area and ground off and bondo'ed in. Ended up spending over 200 hours fabbing and replacing rusted out areas on this car.
You’re right @Jalopy Joker, I wouldn’t trust repairs like that , it’s unsafe (dangerous that is, not right) there were a few areas on my F-100 that I was disappointed in ( one spot had a hole which was full of body filler, long story) Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The Jalopy Journal
