Hello, I'm 37. I'm not new to forums in general and over the years I've been a part of dozens of them in the course of my hobbies(beer brewing, gun collecting/restoration, ect.). I've always been reasonably good at learning mechanic work and after a decade or so of driving new vehicles I started to miss the older cars I drove 15-20 years ago. My family has been doing dirt track race cars in the Midwest for a long time and I learned some while I lived there. I've owned 79 Camaro Z28, 72 Nova, 67 Galaxy, 55 F100, 74 Ranger, 75 Malibu, Mustangs, Camaros, and a handful of newer vehicles. I've only taken a car to a shop once or twice and that was because it was under recall or warranty. Most recently I have been driving a newer F150 that I paid off with about 60k miles on it. I bought the Optima($12k below book price, 30k miles and factory warranty in place still) and intended to sell/trade the F150 and get my wife something newer to replace her 2005 Convertible Beetle which was the worst car I've ever owned or worked on. With an eye towards buying an old beater truck to project on. However, I let my nephew drive the F150 to work and he totaled it. I let the wife have the Optima and bought a Bronco. I've been taking care of mechanical stuff on it the last year or so and I've recently started doing body work and the like. I've never used body filler and I've never painted a whole car. Much like most of you I found a big bubba done pile of bondo on one corner. I decided to do it semi-right and I went ahead and made patch panels and the like and welded them in after I bought a welder and learned to use it. I found that a huge number of the questions I asked led me to these forums. I can't count how many things I've read here over the last year both in preparing myself mentally to start doing body work and painting. Nearly every question I found myself needing an answer to that involved rust, paint, and body work brought me here. I think I understand pretty well what I need to do as I start prepping to paint the Bronco but as I am not a shop with a full tool catalog and I've never done it, I'd like a place to go over my plans to make sure I'm not doing something totally wrong. I'm not a perfectionist but I like to toe the line between doing it right and doing it good 'nuff. I don't want people to look back at my work in 20 years and say "Damn that Bubba!" like I do when I find old military rifles all chopped up in a goofy way with spray paint on them. I don't expect anyone to put my work on display either though. I'm not the guy who "builds" a car by letting a dozen shops do the work for him and just throws money at it. I'd be doing everything myself unless it was cheaper/cost effective to have someone else do it. It seems like that is a big part of what you all do here. I get the advice that is correct, right, acceptable, and half assed all in one shot when I read things here. I like that. Once the Bronco is done(6 months or so), I feel like I'll have the confidence and ability to start on something a little older. There is a 67 Impala down the road that has been there for 10 years for sale that I think I could get for cheap. It has some rust spots but I think I have the skills to fix that now. That and my wife would be excited to have the Supernatural car. Of course, I see lots of relatively rust free 30s, 40s, and 50s cars here in Florida on a daily basis for cheap. I'll go ahead and stop ramblin now. I look forward to participating in the forums. RFG
Welcome from Southern Illinois, thanks for the introduction. Don’t forget to fill out the rest of your information, this way we will know what region you are from if you need help. This has to be done from a desktop. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Hi & welcome. But with that said every vehicle you mention is many years newer than what this forum is about. Perhaps it is time to check this out - https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-h-a-m-b-rules-guidelines.44274/ Jimmie
I did read that. The threads I've read are more technical and not about the vehicles themselves. I didn't think discussing paint and body work would be an issue even if I happened to be working on a newer vehicle. If I am incorrect, I can certainly move along.
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